Nov. 17, 2005

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CP's Brennan, NDSU's Itterman, SUU's Perkins Earn Weekly Honors; Cal Poly Clinches Share of Second Straight Title
One player each from Cal Poly, North Dakota State and Southern Utah have been selected as Great West Football Conference players of the week for their performances in games Saturday, Nov. 12.

Cal Poly redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Brennan was named offensive player of the week while North Dakota State junior linebacker Brett Itterman earned defensive player of the week honors. Southern Utah senior punter Brandon Perkins was named special teams player of the week.

In GWFC games on Nov. 12, Cal Poly clinched at least a share of the league championship with a 20-10 victory over Southern Utah in San Luis Obispo, Calif., while North Dakota State won the "Dakota Marker" game with a 41-17 triumph over South Dakota State in Fargo, N.D. Northern Colorado was a 24-3 winner over Sam Houston State in a non-conference game at Greeley, Colo. UC Davis had a bye.

This Saturday's schedule includes one GWFC game -- Northern Colorado (4-5, 0-3) at South Dakota State (5-5, 2-2) -- and four non-conference contests -- Weber State (5-5, 4-3 Big Sky) at Southern Utah (1-8, 1-4), Idaho State (5-5, 3-4 Big Sky) at No. 13 Cal Poly (7-3, 4-1), No. 20 North Dakota State (7-3, 3-2) at No. 11 Southern Illinois (7-3, 5-2 Gateway) and UC Davis (5-4, 3-1) at No. 18 Eastern Washington (6-4, 5-2 Big Sky).

Brennan (6-2, 205, Huntington Beach, Calif.) passed for one TD and ran for another as No. 15 Cal Poly held off Southern Utah. In his third career start, Brennan had his best game, completing 16 of 27 passes for 213 yards, including a 15-yard scoring pass to Ramses Barden which snapped a 10-10 tie late in the second quarter and gave Cal Poly the lead for good. Brennan also ran one yard for a touchdown and, for the game, rushed for 94 yards on 14 carries.

Itterman (6-1 1/2, 223, Aberdeen, S.D.) led the North Dakota State defense with a career-high nine tackles, including seven solos, 3.5 tackles for loss, a pair of sacks and his first career interception in the Bison win over South Dakota State. NDSU limited the conference's top-ranked SDSU offense to 17 points and 268 yards of total offense, recording four interceptions. The Bison also recorded a blocked punt for the second straight game.

Perkins (6-1, 205, Sandy, Utah) averaged 43.4 yards per punt and hit a 42-yard field goal in the Thunderbirds' loss at No. 15 Cal Poly. He punted seven times for 304 yards, pinning the Mustangs inside the 20 four times and inside the 10 twice, with a long punt of 51 yards. His net punting average was 41.4 yards as Cal Poly managed just 14 punt return yards (on four attempts). He was 1-for-2 on field goal attempts, but his miss was a dead-on-target 60-yard attempt which came up just short, landing in the end zone. A safety in the SUU defense, Perkins also tallied a pair of solo tackles.

This Week's Action - Nov. 19
Northern Colorado (4-5, 0-3 GWFC) at South Dakota State (5-4, 2-1 GWFC) -- Brookings, S.D. -- 1 p.m. South Dakota State will close its 2005 football season Saturday hosting Northern Colorado ... Kickoff is 1 p.m. at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium ... While some might feel there is nothing at stake in this game, consider this: for SDSU, it will make a difference between a winning (6-5) season and a losing (5-6) season, and will be the difference between a winning (3-2) and losing (2-3) season in Great West Football Conference play; for Northern Colorado, it's another step in what could be a strong finish for the Bears, who started 2-4 but could be 6-5 by winning their last two games. UNC is 0-3 in GWFC action ... UNC doesn't finish its season until next weekend (Nov. 26), and that game will determine whether the GWFC has an outright champion, Cal Poly, or co-champions ... The Bears host UC Davis and Davis can share the title with a victory ... Saturday's game is also Senior Day at SDSU, with 14 Jackrabbits playing in their final collegiate game ... Last year, SDSU turned in a stellar defensive performance in beating UNC 14-7 at Greeley ... This will end SDSU's two-year GWFC rivalry with UNC since the Bears will become a member of the Big Sky Conference next year ... Saturday's game is the latest any game has been played at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium ... It's the fifth time a game has been played on the third Saturday in November, but previous games have been on Nov. 15 or Nov. 16 ... Northern Colorado is fresh off a 24-3 victory over Sam Houston State in its home finale and hits the road for its final two games ... In an interesting side note about the two schools, this will be the second time in a week the programs have locked horns on the playing field ... South Dakota State and Northern Colorado played on the basketball court on Monday, when the two men's hoops squads played in Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., as part of the Guardians Classic ... SDSU came out on top 61-59 when a UNC 3-point attempt at the buzzer fell just short ... The meeting is the 33rd in the history between the programs, dating back to when both were members of the Division II North Central Conference ... Northern Colorado leads the series 18-14, including 9-7 in games played in Brookings ... UNC has won 9 of the last 11 against the Jackrabbits ... Without an injured Andre Wilson and after Jahir Waterman suffered a slight injury against Sam Houston State (Nov. 12), redshirt freshman Patrick Ealy made the most of his opportunity ... Despite blazing speed, Ealy has seen most of his time this season on special teams ... He rushed for a 65-yard touchdown against Fort Lewis College (the first of his career) but made a statement with a 104-yard performance against the Bearkats ... In that contest he broke another long run, rushing for a 53-yard touchdown ... For the eighth time in nine games this season, senior safety Reed Doughty reached double figures in tackles, notching 13 in a 24-3 win over Sam Houston State (Nov. 12) ... Doughty also intercepted a pair of passes and moved into fifth on the UNC career list (14), tying him with current Bears assistant coach Brad Bunting ... Doughty leads I-AA with 14.0 tackles per game, a full tackle over second place (Chad Nkang of Elon - 13.0/game) ... SDSU cornerback Hank McCall was a second-team all-GWFC selection last year when he finished third on the team in tackles, with 78 ... He had two interceptions and five passes broken up last year. Hank has 196 career tackles with 104 solos ... He has five career interceptions, 14 passes broken up, two fumble recoveries and a blocked kick during his career ... South Dakota State wide receiver Josh Davis became SDSU's all-time leader in pass receptions last season when he caught five passes at Southern Utah ... Through eight games this season, he leads the team with 47 catches for 751 yards ... Hadn't scored this year until he caught 3 TD passes vs. Georgia Southern when he had nine catches for 177 yards ... Now has 223 catches, 50 more than the previous career record of 173 set by Jeff Tiefenthaler (1983-86) ... He is second the second SDSU receiver to reach 3,000 career yards receiving at 3,130 behind the SDSU record held by Tiefenthaler (3,621) ... also has 26 touchdowns ... Davis had 12 catches for 138 yards at Southern Sept. 25, 2004 ... Became the sixth player in SDSU history to reach 1,000 yards receiving and 14th to record 100 career catches.

UC Davis (5-4, 3-1 GWFC) at #18/19 Eastern Washington (6-4, 5-2 Big Sky) -- Cheyney, Wash. -- 2:05 p.m. Needing one win to secure its 36th consecutive winning season, the UC Davis Aggies travel to Cheney, Wash., for their first-ever game against Eastern Washington (No. 19 The Sports Network/No.18 ESPN/USA Today) ... The high-powered Eagles, whose offense is ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division I-AA at 492.60 ypg., are fighting for a berth in the I-AA playoffs ... Eastern Washington can earn the Big Sky Conference's automatic bid to the tournament if No. 22 Montana State upsets No. 3 Montana on Saturday, but also has an outside opportunity for an at-large berth ... The Aggies are coming off their second bye of the season as they head into the final two games of the season ... Besides this weekend, UC Davis will also play Northern Colorado on Nov. 26 which, if the Aggies win, will deliver them a share of their Great West Football Conference Championship along with Cal Poly ... Temperatures will be chilly for this weekend's game with Saturday's high expected to be 44 degrees and mostly cloudy ... Besides bringing I-AA's top overall offense into Saturday's game, the Eagles also bring a passing attack ranked No. 2 (355.8 ypg.) ... The Eagles will mark a tough challenge for the Aggies, who have the No. 3 rushing defense (84.2 ypg) and No. 9 overall defense (280.1 ypg) ... The Eagles are 13th in scoring offense (35.8 ppg) while UC Davis is tied for No. 9 in scoring defense (16.2 ppg) ... Offensively, both teams feature a pair of the country's top receivers in the Eagles' WR Eric Kimble and the Aggies' WR Tony Kays ... Kimble has 73 catches for 1,203 yards and 9 TDs, while Kays has a school-record 78 grabs for a regular-season record 1,049 yards and 3 TDs ... Both squads also showcase outstanding quarterbacks ... Eastern Washington's Erik Meyer is averaging 360.0 ypg. of total offense (348.2 passing ypg) while Jon Grant is averaging 277.4 ypg of offense (270.7 passing ypg) ... Saturday's game between the Aggies and the Eagles is the first-ever meeting between the programs ... UC Davis does have a history of games against teams from Washington, however, owning a 7-1 mark against Central Washington, a 2-1 record against Puget Sound and a perfect 7-0 record over Western Washington ... Head Coach Bob Biggs is 14-1 against teams from Washington, coaching all of his games against Central and Western Washington ... While the Eagles and Aggies haven't faced each other, they do have three common opponents this year in Sacramento State, Portland State and Cal Poly ... Both teams beat Sacramento State, while UC Davis beat Cal Poly and lost to Portland State ... Eastern Washington downed Portland but lost to Cal Poly.

#20 North Dakota State (7-3, 3-2 GWFC) at #11 Southern Illinois (7-3, 5-2 Gateway) -- Carbondale, Ill. -- 3 p.m. No. 20-ranked North Dakota State University (7-3, 3-2 GWFC) is scheduled to close out the 2005 season on the road at No. 11 Southern Illinois University (7-3, 5-2 Gateway Conference) ... Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 19 at McAndrew Field (17,000) ... North Dakota State has won three straight games including last Saturday's 41-17 win over South Dakota State to claim the "Dakota Marker" ... The Bison finished the Great West Football Conference schedule with a 3-2 record for the second year in a row and is currently alone in third place behind league champion Cal Poly (4-1) and UC Davis (3-1) ... NDSU has an Illinois connection: QB Steve Walker (Lockport), LB Joe Mays (Chicago), RB Cinque Chapman (Chicago), P Mike Dragosavich (Oak Lawn), DE Demeatric Fowler (North Chicago) and DT Mike Fairbairn (LaGrange) ... Fowler and Fairbairn are redshirting this season ... Kyle Steffes rushed for 141 yards and three TDs, which put him over 1,000 yards for the second straight season currently with 1,006 ... Southern Ilinois lost a 25-24 heart-breaker at Northern Iowa on Saturday ... UNI, SIU and Youngstown State tied for the Gateway Conference regular season title with the Panthers receiving the league's automatic bid to the NCAA I-AA playoffs ... The Salukis had won two straight including a convincing 31-17 victory over then No. 1-ranked Western Kentucky ... Southern Illinois is facing a must-win situation Saturday in order to make the I-AA playoff field ... North Dakota State's league-leading defense will have its hands full again this weekend ... Southern Illinois is putting up 39.5 points per game ... The Salukis have a balanced attack with Arkee Whitlock, one of NCAA I-AA's top running backs leading a ground game that averages 190.3 yards per game ... Whitlock, who rushed for 167 yards against Northern Iowa, has ran for 1,156 yards (128.4 ypg) and 10 TDs this season ... He has seven 100-yard games this season ... Whitlock is also one of the leaders nationally in all-purpose running at 193.4 yards per game ... If that isn't enough, SIU veteran quarterback Joel Sambursky has completed 158-of-243 passes for 2,151 yards and 20 TDs ... Sambursky is No. 9 nationally in passing efficiency (160.8) ... North Dakota State is No. 3 nationally in turnover margin (+1.40), forcing 24 turnovers overall and committing only 10 ... The 10 turnovers lost is the best in NCAA I-AA ... Over the last three games, North Dakota State is outscoring opponents 40.7 to 12.7 points per game ... The Bison are averaging 446.7 yards of total offense including 266.3 yards rushing ... NDSU has held a time of possession advantage of 36:45 to 23:15 ... North Dakota State's defense is limiting opponents to 74 yards rushing and 258 yards of total offense overall ... The Bison are 23-of-43 on third downs for 53% during that stretch ... The 307 yards rushing the Bison rolled up against South Dakota State was the most since the 353 yards gained in the 2004 opener against Valparaiso ... North Dakota State's four interceptions was the highest total since the Northwestern State contest during the second game this season ... Free safety Nick Schommer had two picks against SDSU, while linebacker Joe Mays had a pair against the Demons ... The Bison have 15 picks this season ... North Dakota State held the ball for 74 plays and over 35 minutes against the SDSU ... For the season, the Bison have averaged 31-minutes, 57-seconds in time of possession compared to 28-minutes, 3-seconds per game for opponents ... Junior strong safety Craig Dahl has 91 career solo tackles and has passed Steve Nelson (88, 1971-73) on the all-time list ... Dahl's within striking distance of Nick Cichy (93, 1971-74) and Tim Jacobsen (96, 1992-95) ... NDSU is No. 11 in NCAA I-AA attendance with an average of 14,160 fans over four home dates ... Four NDSU opponents are ranked in the Top 25, while five others are receiving votes toward the national polls.

Weber State (5-5, 4-3 Big Sky) at Southern Utah (1-8, 1-4 GWFC) -- Cedar City, Utah -- 3 p.m. Weber State plays at Southern Utah at 1:00 p.m. (MST) Saturday at Eccles Coliseum (8,500/Grass) in Cedar City ... Southern Utah (1-8, 1-4 Great West Football Conference) is coming off one of its best performances of the season but the result was not satisfying as the Thunderbirds came away from Cal Poly with a 20-10 loss despite jumping out to a 10-0 lead ... The Thunderbirds have lost three straight since picking up a 20-17 win over Northern Colorado, Oct. 22. SUU will be playing just its fourth home game ... Weber State (5-5/4-3 Big Sky) had a three-game winning streak snapped last week at Portland State ... The Wildcats had notched home wins over Sacramento State (26-14) and Idaho State (30-21) as well as picking up a victory at Eastern Washington (28-23) before the Vikings claimed a 39-14 verdict ... The Thunderbirds are averaging just 12.9 points per game and giving up 33.4 ... SUU is averaging 205.0 yards passing ... Wide receiver Jerome Eason, who transferred from Utah State last season, has been a bright spot on the offense ... He has 40 receptions for 375 yards and four touchdowns ... Wes Marshall and Zac Conners have alternated at quarterback this season ... Connors has thrown 177 times and Marshall 182 ... Marshall, however, is the better runner with 83 carries for 118 yards ... The leading ball carrier is red-shirt freshman Jamar Lee ... He has 61 carries for 208 yards and one touchdown, averaging 23.1 yards per game. ... Defensively, veteran linebacker Steve Smith is the team leader in total tackles with 78 (40 unassisted) ... Weber State leads the series, which began back in 1984, 12-3 ... But Southern Utah has won three of the last four meetings ... In last year's 34-31 win over Weber State in Ogden, WSU defensive coordinator Kevin Clune was on the opposite sidelines for the win. Clune served two seasons as SUU's defensive coordinator under Gary Anderson and Wes Meier ... Weber State defensive end Brady Fosmark will end his four-year career with 40 starts in 40 career games ... He is the WSU career QB sack leader with 31.5 to date and tackles for loss Leader with 64.5 to date ... WSU career forced fumbles leader with eight currently ... He has 260 career total tackles with currently ranks 11th on the WSU career charts. His 137 career unassisted tackles is the sixth best mark in school history and needs eight this week to tie Scott Shields for fifth ... His two career blocked kicks put him in a nine-way tie for third on the WSU career charts.

Idaho State (5-5, 3-4 Big Sky) at #13 Cal Poly (7-3, 4-1 GWFC) -- San Luis Obispo -- 6 p.m. No. 13 Cal Poly (7-3, 4-1 Great West), which clinched at least a share of the Great West Football Conference championship last week with a 20-10 victory over Southern Utah, plays the last of three consecutive home games Saturday night, hosting Idaho State (5-5, 3-4 Big Sky) for Senior Night (16 seniors will be honored in a pregame ceremony) in Mustang Stadium (cap.: 7,500) ... Kickoff for the non-conference regular-season-ending game is scheduled for 6 p.m. PST and is the 15th meeting between the two schools ... Cal Poly holds an 8-6 advantage, snapping a four-game losing streak in the series with a 35-20 victory a year ago in Pocatello ... Idaho State, which knocked Cal Poly out of the chase for a playoff berth in 2003 with a come-from-behind 38-31 victory Nov. 15 in Mustang Stadium -- the Mustangs led 23-7 late in the first half -- suffered losses to Weber State and Northern Arizona over the past three weeks, ending its playoff hopes ... The Bengals, 3-8 a year ago, let a 28-21 lead slip away as Northern Arizona scored the final three touchdowns of the game ... Idaho State is 3-16-1 at Flagstaff, losing its 10th straight even though quarterback Matt Hagler completed 26 of 53 passes for 258 yards and Eddie Thompson caught eight passes ... Idaho State, which averaged less than 70 yards per game rushing a year ago, has two talented running backs this fall in Josh Barnett (802 yards, 5.1 avg., four TDs) and Ken Cornist (688 yards, 4.4 avg., 13 TDs) ... Sophomore quarterback Matt Hagler has completed 56 percent of his 273 passes for 1,820 yards and eight scores, but has been intercepted 14 times ... His favorite targets are Eddie Thompson (36 catches, 407 yards) and Shedrak Okoebor (33-363) ... The Bengals have seven receivers with 10 or more catches ... Cal Poly has received strong contributions from several redshirt freshmen this fall, including running back James Noble (1,057 yards, 7.6 average per carry), quarterback Matt Brennan (39-for-79, 466 yards, three TDs in three starts), wide receiver Ramses Barden (31 catches, 514 yards, eight TDs), wide receiver/return specialist Tredale Tolver (15 catches, 248 yards, 10.1 punt return average, 18.1 kickoff return average), center Stephen Field and linebacker Mark Restelli (59 tackles) ... Other top Mustangs are defensive end Chris Gocong, No. 2 in balloting for the Buck Buchanan Award in 2004, along with wide receivers Jonah Russell and Jason Holmes, offensive linemen Beau Finato and Brett Gauld, linebacker Kyle Shotwell and safeties Aaron Williams and Kenny Chicoine ... Shotwell leads the team in tackles with 115, including 86 solo stops (No. 3 in I-AA), while Gocong is the nation's leader in sacks (1.65 per game) and second in tackles for lost yardage (2.10) ... Noble has produced 100-yard games in six of his eight career starts, including a 221-yard performance against Eastern Washington on Nov. 5 -- the 15th Mustang to rush for 200 or more yards in a game ... He became the 12th Mustang running back to surpass the 1,000-yard mark for a season with 118 yards last week against Southern Utah ... He missed the UC Davis game with a sprained ankle and did not play in the opener at Troy.

Last Week's Action - Nov. 12
#20/22 North Dakota State 41, South Dakota State 17 Kyle Steffes rushed for 141 yards and three touchdowns to help No. 20-ranked North Dakota State defeat South Dakota State 41-17 in a Great West Football Conference game played before a crowd of 15,777 at the Fargodome on Saturday.

The Bison (7-3, 3-2 GWFC) took a permanent lead when Steffes scored his third touchdown on a 3-yard run midway through the second quarter. That made it 21-14.

The go-ahead drive was set up when Bison safety Nick Schommer returned an interception 21 yards to the SDSU 47. It was the third interception of the half for NDSU, and the second for Schommer. Joe Mays and Brett Itterman each added an interception as North Dakota State picked off four passes overall.

NDSU's defense clamped down on the league's top-ranked offense as Itterman, a linebacker from Aberdeen, S.D., sparked the defense with nine tackles including seven solos, 3.5 tackles for loss, a pair of sacks and the interception. NDSU free safety Craig Dahl had eight tackles and added a blocked punt that was recovered by Kole Heckendorf in the first quarter.

The Jackrabbits (5-5, 2-2) had taken a 14-7 lead with 11 seconds left in the first quarter when Chris Molitor hauled in a 41-yard touchdown pass from Andy Kardoes. The Bison scored on the next possession, with Steffes' 1-yard run finishing off a 66-yard drive.

Steffes reached 100 yards for the sixth time this season on 31 carries and the 12th time during his career. He also surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the second straight season. Steffes currently has 1,006 yards entering NDSU's final game with Southern Illinois next Saturday in Carbondale.

The Bison tacked on 10 points in the third quarter to go ahead 31-14. Cinque Chapman scored on a 4-yard run to cap a 58-yard drive and Cory Vartanian kicked a 30-yard field goal as NDSU reeled off 24 unanswered points. Chapman finished with 96 yards on 13 carries.

It didn't take long for the Bison offense to answer Parker Douglass' 23-yard field goal that cut the SDSU deficit to 31-17 early in the fourth quarter. Steve Walker hooked with AJ Cooper for a 63-yard touchdown pass, the longest scoring play of the season for NDSU, with 10:02 remaining. Vartanian booted a 22-yard field goal to close out the scoring with 3:39 left.

North Dakota State outgained South Dakota State 477-268 as the Bison rushed for over 300 yards (307) for the first time since the 353 yards gained in the 2004 season opener against Valparaiso University. Walker completed 15-of-20 passes for 170 yards, hitting five different receivers led by Tyler Jangula's five catches for 27 yards.

Koenig led the Jackrabbits with 19 rushes for 87 yards and a TD. Ryan Berry came in relief of starter Andy Kardoes and completed 10-of-16 passes for 120 yards and two interceptions. Josh Davis hauled in three passes for 67 yards, while Molitor caught three for 52 yards and a TD. Billy Ray Kirch led the SDSU defense with 13 tackles, while Marty Kranz finished with 10.

The Bison earned the Dakota Marker trophy, which was established last year when the teams jumped from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I-AA. The Jackrabbits jumped ahead early when nose tackle Mitch Pontrelli recovered a fumbled handoff on NDSU's first drive. Cory Koenig's 16-yard scoring run made it 7-0.

#15 Cal Poly 20, Southern Utah 10 Redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Brennan passed for 213 yards and one touchdown and also ran for another score while the Cal Poly defense recorded nine sacks as the No. 15-ranked Mustangs defeated Southern Utah 20-10 in a Great West Football Conference game Saturday night before 5,763 in Mustang Stadium.

The victory clinches at least a tie for the Great West Football Conference championship as Cal Poly improved to 4-1 in conference games and 7-3 for the season. UC Davis is 3-1 in Great West games and hosts Northern Colorado on Nov. 26.

Southern Utah fell to 1-8 overall and 1-4 in the conference. Cal Poly now leads the series against the Thunderbirds, 13-6, winning five straight. Brennan completed 16 of 27 passs for 213 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown pass to Ramses Barden which snapped a 10-10 tie with 3:19 to go in the first half.

Southern Utah had jumped to a 10-0 lead in the first 18 minutes of the game on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Wes Marshall to Brett Johansen and a 42-yard field goal by Brandon Perkins.

Nick Coromelas trimmed Southern Utah's lead to 10-3 with a 32-yard field goal midway through the second quarter and Brennan tied the game at 10-10 with a one-yard touchdown sneak with 3:52 to go before halftime.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Mark Restelli intercepted a Marshall pass and returned it two yards to set up Brennan's tiebreaking scoring pass to Barden with 3:19 remaining in the first half.

The only score of the second half was a career-long 49-yard field goal by Coromelas with 9:37 to play in the third quarter, giving Cal Poly a 20-10 cushion.

Southern Utah's best scoring chance in the second half ended when Mustang junior free safety Kenny Chicoine intercepted Marshall at the Cal Poly 3-yard line with three minutes to play in the game.

Cal Poly redshirt freshman running back James Noble garnered his sixth 100-yard game of the season, netting 118 yards on 20 carries. Brennan added 94 yards on 14 trips.

Barden caught a career-high nine passes for 104 yards to lead all Mustang receivers.

For Southern Utah, Marshall completed 16 of 31 passes for 242 yards and the one score. Joey Hew Len and Jerome Eason each caught five pases for the Thunderbirds.

Cal Poly linebacker Kyle Shotwell notched 13 tackles, including 12 solo stops, and a pair of sacks while Buck Buchanan Award candidate Chris Gocong added seven tackles, two sacks and four quarterback hurries. Senior safety Josh Raban collected 11 tackles -- 10 solo -- for Southern Utah.

Despite scoring just 20 points, Cal Poly amassed 470 total yards -- 277 on the ground and 213 more through the air -- while holding Southern Utah to 268 yards in total offense.

The Mustangs enjoyed an advantage of almost 10 minutes in time of possession -- 34:45 to Southern Utah's 25:15.

Northern Colorado 24, Sam Houston State 3 The University of Northern Colorado football team forced six turnovers and after Sam Houston State scored the game's first three points, scored 24 unanswered points of their own on the way to a 24-3 victory on Senior Day at Nottingham Field.

After being shutout at North Dakota State 44-0 last weekend, Northern Colorado (4-5) responded in a big way holding Sam Houston State (3-6) to 239 total yards, including only 82 on the ground, after allowing 272 rushing yards to the Bison in Fargo.

The game was the final home contest for nine seniors: Reed Doughty, Shaun Farner, Bradley Forbush, Chris Gebhardt, Greg Gebhardt, Nick Hager, Brandon Joseph, Paul Sweitzer and Justin Zaitz. The group finished their careers 17-5 all-time at Nottingham Field.

A pair of those seniors came up huge defensively, as Doughty, I-AA's leader in tackles (14.1/game) had 13 tackles (including two for a loss), a pair of interceptions and a pass breakup. Greg Gebhardt ended his home career by also nabbing two interceptions.

Playing in place of the team's leading rusher Andre Wilson, redshirt freshman Patrick Ealy had a career-high 104 yards on 22 carries, including a 53-yard touchdown in the third quarter that cemented the victory. Wilson, I-AA's fourth leading rusher, missed his second consecutive week of action.

Sam Houston State scored the game's first points, on a 32-yard field goal by Lance Garner. But in an opposite of last year's game in Huntsville (which SHSU won 20-7), the team that scored first would not score again.

Zaitz evened the game with a 43-yard field goal at the 5:12 mark of the second quarter. An Andy Birkel 14-yard reception from Nick Hager 1:40 before halftime put Northern Colorado up for good.

After Ealy's run, Hager connected with Cory Sleeth for a 69-yard touchdown to cap the scoring. Hager finished the day 14-for-32 with 210 yards and the two touchdowns. Sleeth caught four balls for 105 yards. Hager completed passes to seven different players.

The Bearkats got 58 yards rushing from Jason Godfrey while quarterback Wade Pate was 13-for-33 for 152 yards but threw four picks.