Wyoming Football: First Look at the Portland State Vikings

The Cowboys will host FCS Portland State as part of its non-conference slate this fall. Here’s a first look at the Viks.

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A reasonable FCS test.

Wyoming Football: First Look at 2023 Non-conference Opponents

Texas Tech | Portland State | Texas | Appalachian State

After opening the 2023 season with a big-time home clash against Texas Tech, the Wyoming Cowboys will finish a season-opening two-game homestand against the Portland State Vikings.

While it may be tempting for Pokes fans to chalk up an automatic “W” in Week 2, this team nearly took down another Mountain West team in non-conference play last year and boasts a potent offense that could surprise if Wyoming looks past them.

Location: Portland, Oregon

Conference: Big Sky

Series History: This will be the first meeting between Wyoming and Portland State.

2022 Record: 4-7 (3-5 Big Sky)

Head Coach: Bruce Barnum (ninth year, 30-50 overall). The Big Sky can be a tough place to make headway, which explains in part why the Viks suffered their seventh straight losing campaign in 2022. After opening the year with a narrow road loss to San Jose State and a blowout defeat to Washington, the Viks couldn’t put it together against the class of their conference, losing by a combined 196-61 margin to the four FCS playoff teams on their schedule.

Key Players

Dante Chachere, QB

The younger brother of former San Jose State star Andre Chachere didn’t need much time to establish himself as a bonafide dual-threat quarterback. In his first full season as PSU’s starter, the Fresno native completed 59.7% of his throws for 1,956 yards and 19 touchdowns against a 3.2% interception rate and led the Viks with 609 rushing yards and seven more touchdowns on the ground.

Parker McKenna, LB

After establishing himself as one of the Big Sky’s top young defenders as a freshman in 2021, last year didn’t go quite as smoothly for the Beaverton, Oregon native as injuries limited him to just three starts. Even in that limited stint, though, he picked up 27 total tackles, a forced fumble, and 1.5 tackles for loss, so a return to health should mean a return to form.

Jaymason Willingham, LB

McKenna’s 2022 injury provided an opportunity for Willingham, who’d transferred to PSU from Utah State last off-season, to step into the starting lineup. He ended up making seven starts altogether and tallied a total of 53 tackles, the most of any Viks defender back for this year, as well as five tackles for loss, so chances are the two might end up as running mates in the middle of the Portland State defense in 2023.

Nate Bennett, WR

The Viks will have to replace a big chunk of their passing production, but Bennett provides Chachere at least one reliable target. According to Pro Football Focus, he had a team-high 78 targets in 2022 and led PSU with 47 receptions totaling 517 yards.

Tyreese Shakir, S

If the name sounds familiar, that’s because Tyreese’s brother Khalil was a former Boise State standout. In two seasons with the Viks, Tyreese has started to make his own name, though injuries limited to him to seven starts as a sophomore last year. Nonetheless, he collected 37 total tackles, three tackles for loss, and two interceptions, doing a little bit of everything in Portland State’s defensive backfield.

Overview:

Offense

PSU’s offense had a fair bit of talent in 2022 but it scuffled against the tougher teams on its schedule, which helps to explain why the Viks finished 10th among Big Sky offenses in converting red zone opportunities (69.4%) and 11th in third-down conversion rate (36.5%) despite averaging a respectable 5.63 yards per play and 25.6 points per game. They’ll look for better results this fall while replacing Beau Kelly and Mataio Talalemotu, two of their top three pass catchers from last season.

Chachere has proven he can do some heavy lifting, but the rushing attack will benefit if Joby Malary and Quincy Craig (96 combined carries, 576 combined rushing yards, five combined touchdowns) can remain explosive with larger workloads. The offensive line returns lots of experience, as well, led by swingman Shiloh Ta’ase, who has seen plenty of reps at tackle and guard dating back to 2019.

The passing game could be a little more of a mystery, but the Viks have lots of options from which to choose. Bennett and Maclaine Griffin (14 catches, 175 yards, three touchdowns) lead the veteran contingent while Jaden Casey converted from quarterback in the spring and showed promise, Jermaine Braddock transferred in from San Jose State, and Darien Chase (54-579-4 in 2021) returns from an injury that wiped out his 2022 season.

Defense

Key injuries didn’t help, but PSU’s defense was clearly a weakness in 2022: The Viks gave up 6.7 yards per play, the sixth-highest average among all FCS teams, and 36.5 points per game. On paper, it may not get much better since Portland State has to replace its leading tackler and all five players who had at least six tackles for loss in 2022.

Needless to say, a lot will be expected of players who had part-time roles over the last couple seasons like defensive linemen Dino Kahaulelio and Kennedy Freeman and linebacker Isaiah Henry, who should fill in some of the gaps around McKenna and Willingham in the front seven.

The secondary, on the other hand, brings back a wealth of experience despite losing star safety Anthony Adams. Shakir and David Joseph (44 total tackles, three pass breakups, one interception) both have experience at safety and nickelback while Isaiah Avery (28 tackles, four PBUs) held his own as a season-long starter at cornerback. It’ll be crucial for the Viks to improve the 63.7% opponents completion rate and 8.43 yards per attempt they gave up in 2022 if they want to surprise this fall.

Early Prediction

The Cowboys aren’t likely to win this one in a walk — they beat an inferior Northern Colorado State by only 23 last year — but their defense should be more than good enough to put the clamps on anything the Viks might hope to do for a workmanlike victory.

Wyoming 28, Portland State 13

Story originally appeared on Mountain West Wire