Prukop Leads Montana State, Other Big Sky Recaps
Eastern Washington's Kupp sets all-time record
Jon Oglesby, Football Communications Director
BOZEMAN- In the only game between nationally-ranked FCS teams this weekend, Montana State entered the game with a chip on its shoulder.
Fresh off a missed opportunity and defensive struggles in a 55-50 loss to Eastern Washington, the Bobcats came out with an early edge in a
45-28 Homecoming victory over Cal Poly at Bobcat Stadium.
A week after throwing for 353 yards and rushing for 196 yards, Bobcats quarterback Dakota Prukop followed that marquee performance up by completing 19-of-26 yards for 399 yards and three touchdowns. One of the highlight plays gave Montana State a 21-0 lead, as he found a wide-open Jayshawn Gates on an 88-yard touchdown.
Chad Newell also rushed for 111 yards and three touchdowns.
Cal Poly’s Joe Protheroe rushed for 156 yards and a touchdown. The Mustangs got the score as close as 31-21 to end the second quarter, as Kori Garcia ran for a six-yard touchdown late in the half.
However, Montana State outscored Cal Poly 14-0 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.
EASTERN WASHINGTON 28, SACRAMENTO STATE 20- The box score from this game will reflect an Eastern Washington win, but what the box score doesn’t tell is how one player- Eastern Washington’s Cooper Kupp- became the Big Sky’s all-time receiving touchdown scorer.
With a 22-yard touchdown catch from Jordan West with 1:53 left in the third quarter, Kupp passed Eric Kimble for all-time touchdown catches. Kimble previously held the record with 46, and Kupp now has 47 grabs.
“The record he broke was by a student-athlete who had an amazing career here at Eastern, and it was a pleasure to coach Eric Kimble,” Eastern Washington coach Beau Baldwin said. “It was an incredible record that was going to be very hard to break. But Eric would be the first to say he would like no other person to break a record like that because Cooper works for everything he achieves.”
The story would have been bitter sweet had Eastern Washington not gotten the victory. Sacramento State opened hot, taking a 20-7 lead into halftime. However, a 98-yard touchdown pass from West to Kendrick Bourne ignited the Eagles in the third quarter.
Kupp finished with ten catches for 133 yards and two scores. West completed 29-of-47 passes for 491 yards and three touchdowns.
NORTH DAKOTA 31, UC DAVIS 24- A week after struggling offensively, UND put on a solid offensive performance to pick up a win to open the conference slate.
A Keaton Studsrud-to-Zach Adler touchdown pass gave North Dakota a 14-0 lead with 8:25 to go in the first quarter, and helped UND survive a late charge, led by UC Davis quarterback Ben Scott.
Scott completed 14-of-20 passes for 174 yards and three touchdowns, including two second-half touchdowns. A fourth-quarter touchdown pass from Scott to Alex Cannon brought the score to 31-24. However, UND milked the clock to end the game.
North Dakota running back John Santiago rushed for 152 yards and two touchdowns.
WEBER STATE 38, NORTHERN COLORADO 17- After starting 0-2, Weber State has picked up two straight wins over conference opponents.
The Wildcats held a 17-0 lead at halftime, as Weber combined to rush for 254 total yards. Wildcats running back Eric Wilkes rushed for 122 yards on 22 carries.
Both Jadrian Clark and Justin Shaw played quarterback for the Wildcats, and both threw touchdowns.
Weber State held a 31-0 lead, before Northern Colorado scored 17 straight points. Jacob Knipp threw two touchdowns- one to Theron Verna, and the other to Sean Leslie. Knipp completed 17-of-32 passes for 228 yards.
MONTANA 23, NORTHERN ARIZONA 14- After losing two competitive games, the Montana Grizzlies responded to win one on Homecoming Saturday.
Grizzlies quarterback Chad Chalich found Chase Naccarato for a touchdown with a 4:05 left to put the game out of sight, after the Lumberjacks cut the lead to 16-14 after a Case Cookus-to-Emmanuel Butler touchdown with 5:26 to go in the third quarter.
The Grizzlies held a 16-0 halftime lead, before Cookus and Butler connected twice for touchdowns in the third quarter.
Montana gained 476 yards, while Northern Arizona contributed 266 yards.
During the game, the Grizzlies celebrated the 20
th anniversary of the 1995 national championship team. Coincidentally, Northern
Arizona coach Jerome Souers served as defensive coordinator for that squad.
PORTLAND STATE 31, WESTERN OREGON 0- The Vikings, fresh off a bye week, were tied with Division-II Western Oregon 0-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Portland State went on a 17-0 run in the second quarter, starting with a two-yard scramble by quarterback Alex Kuresa. Kuresa threw for 127 yards in the game, and rushed for 55 yards.
The Vikings’ secondary also had two interceptions in the game.
SOUTHERN UTAH 55, BREVARD COLLEGE 7- The Thunderbirds held a 41-0 lead at the end of the third quarter, in a rout on Homecoming Saturday in Cedar City.
Southern Utah quarterback Ammon Olsen threw for 195 yards and three touchdowns- two of them to Malik Brown.
UNLV 80, IDAHO STATE 8- The second of back-to-back FBS opponents didn’t end well for the Idaho State Bengals, as the UNLV Rebels took out frustrations from a rough start.
Idaho State's lone score came on a 25-yard pass from Michael Sanders to CJ Hatchett.