Montana Grizzlies Sports, Football and Basketball : Grizzoulian

There's a chance Condrew Allen would've never made the Green Bay Packers' final roster anyway--let alone play in an NFL game--but had certain circumstances not arisen, he would've made it at least one more day. Those circumstances: the cargo-shorts-wearing savior that is Brett Favre climbed off his private plane and took his roster spot.

Condrew Allen, a safety with Portland State, played in 11 games last season and recorded 29 tackles. On November 3rd, he picked off a Cole Bergquist pass and took it for six at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Well, Griz Nation can smirk now.

It's not the worst case scenario though as Allen was placed on the injured reserve and will get his full 2008 base salary.

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It wasn't just the wins. It was the way the Lady Griz played the game that drew outstanding support from the community.

The way the Griz played and the atmosphere this past weekend made those two games some of the best Griz sporting events I've ever attended. Honestly, they're up there with the Stanford upset, "The Zoo" night and Bagley's catch against EWU. The actual number of people was great—4,265 for the Portland State game and 5,016 for MSU—but it doesn't do an ounce of justice to what it was like in the D on Friday and Saturday night.

The Lady Griz were having fun and so were the fans. There were times when the Lady Griz would make a series of hustle plays—someone would dig out a rebound then kick it out for a dagger three from Cote, Mandy would give a little shimmy and knock one down right in someone's grill, Ena would bang her way to the rim before getting the hoop and the harm—and the whole crowd would stand and cheer in agreement that what they were seeing was amazing. That's how they played: filled to the brim with confidence and completely devoid of all selfishness. They supported one another and wore the Lady Griz uniform with pride.

The Lady Griz put on a show and gave the fans a good deal of entertainment, but when Lady Griz needed something themselves, the fans provided it. The fans didn't only respond to great plays, they helped cause them. When the Griz needed a stop or a run, they were there. They were there because they knew the Lady Griz would respond. When the Lady Griz were down, there was no doubt they'd make a run; whenever there was an opening, they'd stomp their collective foot on the chest of the opponent as they buried any doubt over the final outcome.

But it wasn't all like this. It wasn't all smooth. No one knows if they needed it but Coach Selvig kept them grounded. I'm damn-near 100% convinced that the reason he walks with a small limp is because he stomps so much.

There was a time in the MSU game when the Lady Griz were up comfortably by somewhere around 15 and Sonya Rogers made an ill-advised pass into the post on a fast break. It was picked off and as Sonya hustled back on defense, Robin stared into her back and screamed "SONYA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!" It was terrifying. Sitting front row in the student section, his scream and stare were so intense I almost felt like I messed up. But these girls are tough. They don't get flustered, they don't think it's all a show. They know they screwed up and do not want to do it again.

There are so many things that went into this amazing season that's it's impossible to accurately describe even 1/8th of what it was like. For those of you who missed it, I'm sorry.

I'm also sorry for giving very little recognition to this great team here on The Grizzoulian. They should've gotten many more entries than the few written about them.

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Tonight, the Lady Griz face a dangerous Portland State team who beat them by 10 less than a week ago. Lady Griz will play the second game tonight at about 7:45 with Montana State and Northern Colorado playing in the first at 5:30.

Mandy Morales sprained an ankle in the last game so this should be interesting. I'll be there, hope everyone else can make it out.

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Contrary to what I was hoping for, Portland State did not choke. They beat Northern Arizona 67-51 for their first tourney appearance.

I tried to watch what I could of the Big Sky Tournament but it was tough. I always need a break from sports after my team loses. To be honest, during the semis, I was catching up on LOST. The title of episode that came up: Not in Portland. Swear to God. I couldn't even make that up. Too fitting.

This is the second year in a row I've had to write one of these posts, it better not happen next year. Apologies for the lack of updates lately. Been a busy week with midterms and papers. In the next week or so leading up to another hiatus (Cabo), I'll be writing a series of posts titled What I want to see next year. So, yeah, look out. Also, LG coverage. I'll try to make this nonstop joyous celebration a little more bearable for those of us who aren't doing it.

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I cannot imagine how that could've possibly gone any worse. Here are Tinkle's words with reporters. Sorry for the low volume. As could be expected, everyone was a little quiet tonight. The second question is about Jeremiah Dominguez.

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At it again. Live photos and comments straight from the student section.

Photos can be found at flickr.com/grizzoulian. Not guaranteeing that I'll have as many as some previous games but I'll try to toss a couple up there.

Live updates can be found at twitter.com/colinokeefe. Also available in the flashy thing below. Use arrows to scroll through.

This post can also work as a live thread for the game. If you have any comments or questions, leave them. While I may not respond in the comments section, I'll get them and may respond in the Twitter feed.

Also, if you have anything you want me to ask coaches and or players after the game, leave those in the comments as well. Not guaranteed that I pose the suggested questions but I will take a look at them and strongly consider it.

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Two years ago, the Montana Grizzlies played Northern Arizona in the final game of the regular season. The Lumberjacks had already wrapped the conference title up earlier in the week and rendered the game mostly meaningless. The Griz rolled over them and sparked a run that left the Grizzlies as one of the last 32 teams standing in the country.

This game is not meaningless because if the Griz win, they will likely get the four-seed and a home game against Idaho State. Sorry fellas.

On top of that, a win here would go a long way towards establishing confidence in this team and putting a bit of fear into others. Giants-Pats serves as another great example. Right now, the Griz are considered the top team in the conference's second tier, behind the trio of PSU, WSU and NAU. A win wouldn't necessarily put them in that group but it would make them very wary of playing a Grizzly team that could be peaking at the right time.

Oh, and a heads-up: Drew broke his nose in practice yesterday, good start to Senior Night.

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Dammit. This is getting really, really hard. I don't think a sports team could be any tougher on its fans. I've been cheering for sports teams my entire life and have never come across one that could take this much out of its supporters.

The Griz were down 17-2 early. I was at the Lady Griz game, checking scores on my phone and was so mad at how flat the guys came out that I barely noticed the ladies were pissing away their own matchup against PSU. Then things turned around. The Lady Griz won in OT and Matt Martin pulled the Griz by their shaggy, ridiculous-looking hair to a 37-34 advantage.

Back to the fires of hell it went. In the second half, Martin sees less of the floor than a blind man and the Griz are down twelve with 9:00 to go. Then CET (gets career-high 15 points) hits a three and a two. Killa Cam knocks down back-to-back treys and Stads knocks down a pair of deuces and the Griz are right there.

Flash forward. :41 left, tie game, Griz ball after Qvale's fourth block. Cam dribbles it down to nothing (intentionally, nothing wrong with that). Ball goes down to Drew. He misses. Dominguez, hustles it out, gets fouled with :05.7 left. Nails both and the Griz are in a position they've been in before. See: Weber State, Idaho State. That's just in conference. There's more.

Griz break the press and push the ball up the court. Cam gets what Mick called a good luck from 13 feet. It goes in and out. If it's me, I do give the ball to Rundles in that position only because Martin's been sitting so long and the D is looking for him.

That's the Griz season. This game defines the whole damn season more than anything else. But hey, EWU lost so we're still looking at a 6-seed. God, this season is horrendous.

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Matt Martin has 15 in the first half as he comes off the bench and drags the Griz's asses back into the game. And the debate is on: starter or 6th man?

Let's lay out the facts, Griz were down 17-2 but are up 37-34 at half. Once again, Martin had 15.

I don't want to discuss it completely because I'm sure it'll come later via Gar and Sanchez but here's what I do with Martin: give him starter minutes but bring him in off the bench. Who knows what happens if he gets stuck in the same funk the starters were in or if he's out there when the Viks are knocking down everything?

He was perfect coming off the bench. He did exactly what he was supposed to: played like his hair was on fire and provided a giant offensive spark.

Great game so far by Martin. Finish it off.

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It's the Colts-Pats, Pats-Cowboys, Cowboys-Packers of the Big Sky Conference. I wish there were roman numerals for BSC championships so I could label this Big Sky Championship game XX and 1/2. Damn, isn't over-hyping regular season games spectacular?

Nonetheless, this game should be enjoyable. Last season, the Lady-Griz lost a single game during the conference's regular season and ran away with the regular season title. At this point in the season, things are a little more interesting, especially with the schedule ahead.

From Montanagrizzlies.com:

After Saturday night's three league games, the first half of Big Sky play will come to an end. With just two home games and six road games over the back half of the conference schedule, Montana and Northern Arizona will face the toughest stretch over the final five weekends leading up to the 2008 Big Sky Conference Tournament.

Northern Colorado and Eastern Washington both have six of their final eight at home, Portland State and Idaho State have five, Weber State has four and Montana State and Sacramento State three.

Now the big question, go to the Lady Griz game or listen to the fellas? As of 5:42, I'm undecided.

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When trying to get a feel for games, it's interesting to find out what the opposition is thinking. Here's what Vikings blogger Ian Ruder had to say about how the Vikings matchup against our shiny new big lineup.

Via the grizzlyjournal:

I would think the Vikings would want to be the aggressors Thursday to take advantage of the team's superior depth and athleticism. PSU has a surplus of big bodies to throw at Hasquet, Strait and Qvale and I think Murray and Huff (and freshman Justynn Hammond) will be tough matchups on the perimeter. Tinkle's reliance on the bigs should play to PSU's strengths, whether they can execute will be the question.

Before I respond, here's what grizzlyjournal's Glenn Junkert had to say in his scouting report on PSU:

...it’s been 5’-6” junior transfer point guard Jeremiah Dominguez who has been the key cog in Portland State’s success so far. Dominguez leads the Big Sky Conference in steals (2.00 per game), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.65) and ranks third in assists (3.94 per game). He also paces the Vikings in scoring with a 12.1 per-game average. Dominguez is a slasher who creates havoc when he penetrates into the key. Morrison and Huff are the key benefactors of Dominguez’ penetrate and kick style.

In simple terms: the Viks offense essentially revolves around Dominguez' ability to get into the paint. Dominguez is 5'6". This fascinates me. I wish the game were on TV. Define playing into another team's hands: having your offense revolve around a 5'6" guard driving against a giant front line anchored by 6'11" swat-machine Brian Qvale. If all works out, Dominguez can't get by the bigs and the perimeter players have no need to collapse—eliminating any penetrate and kick-out game. It'd be like tossing a hand grenade into a wet cardboard box. If it doesn't work out, Qvale gets in foul trouble and we start tossing sh*t at the wall. Should be interesting.

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By no stretch of the imagination is tonight's game against the Portland State Vikings a "must-win game." However, it is one of those games you'd really like your team when you look at all they have to gain from it. Here are a few things the Griz are looking to prove and stand to gain from a big win tonight.

• Three is a streak. For this inconsistent Griz team, winning back to back games is nothing to scoff at. At the same time, winning two games over teams in the conference's lowest tier isn't something to rest on. A win tonight would legitimize this streak and set them up nicely for a road sweep and four-in-a-row with EWU up next. That's a sizable chunk heading into the second half of conference play.
• The big lineup doesn't suck. At this point, the Qvale-Strait-Hasquet-Staudacher-CET lineup looks phenomenal. Tonight, they will face a balanced, versatile Viking team with skilled players in both the front and backcourt. A blowout loss at the hands of the Vikings could send the Griz coaching staff back to the drawing board. This season has been flipped over enough times, we do not need that again.
  
• We can play with the contenders. Going into this season, who would've  thought we'd be asking ourselves if the Griz could play forty minutes with the best teams in the conference? At this point, I have no idea. I'd like to think we can after dominating league-leading NAU for one half of basketball but who knows? A win over PSU (tied with the leaders in the loss column) would prove that the Griz can play with anyone in the conference.
• Time to re-evaluate goals. After the loss to Weber State, there was a team meeting in which coach Tinkle asked the players what their goals were for the rest of the season. They said they were content just making the Big Sky Tournament. A win here should change that. I mean if we pick up a couple wins, at some point you have to once-again look at making the real tournament and maybe getting a bye-week on the way.

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The 2008 football schedule is out. As reported on here first, the Griz will open their season down San Luis Obispo against the Cal Poly Mustangs.

Here's the complete schedule:

Date ..... Opponent ..... Time
9.6 ..... at Cal Poly ..... TBA
9.13 ..... Southern Utah ..... 1:05 p.m.
9.20 ..... UC-Davis (Homecoming) ..... 1:05 p.m.
9.27 ..... Central Washington ..... 1:05 p.m.
10.4 ..... at Weber State * ..... TBA
10.11 ..... at Eastern Washington * ..... TBA
10.18 ..... Sacramento State * ..... 1:05 p.m.
10.25 ..... at Northern Colorado * ..... TBA
11.1 ..... Northern Arizona * ..... 12:05 p.m.
11.8 ..... at Portland State * ..... TBA
11.15 ..... Idaho State * ..... 12:05 p.m.
11.22 ..... Montana State * (108th meeting) ..... 12:05 p.m.

* Conference game

The OOC is alright. We probably shouldn't be playing a DII school but whatever. Here's O'Day's rationale on playing schools from a lower division. It's his response to playing Ft. Lewis last year but fits around the fact that we're playing Central Washington:

Last year, we played Fort Lewis (Don Read loved the Division II schools to let young kids get experience) and UM Athletics netted about $300,000 - not counting what the Adams Center received for ticket fees ($1 per ticket), or what dining services produced in sales, or the bookstore... not counting what the Missoula economy saw by another home game (estimated at between $5-$7 million per home weekend).  We admit that was a "money game," as do most teams at our level.   Still, it is no different than Oregon hosting Montana for $450,000 or Iowa hosting Montana for $650,000.  Their fans expected big wins at our expense, and they, too, need to produce funds to pay their bills.

After the non-conference slate, what should be two of our toughest BSC games are on the road: we have to go to Portland to play the Vikings and to the Cheney to play the Eagles. Those should be two very challenging games. Then we cap off the season with the Brawl in Missoula and hopefully another Big Sky Championship.

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This weekly feature is actually becoming weekly as it's back for consecutive weeks.

Griz get two game lead with victory over NAU. It's the Griz's most impressive win of the season and it almost guarantees them at least a share of the Big Sky championship. Lex carried for 130 yards in the second half and essentially carried the Griz to victory. Finally, we are starting to see the team everyone thought to compete for a National Championship.

Montana State embarrassed by Northern Colorado. Northern Colorado finally got its first win over a Big Sky team since joining the conference. It wasn't over a bottom-feeder like Sac State or Idaho State either. It was over 19th ranked Montana State. This will undoubtedly knock MSU out of the rankings, the BSC title chase and probably the playoffs.

Weber State 73, Portland State 68. Um, what the hell? It's the most points scored in an NCAA football game since these types of things were first recorded. Freshman quarterbacks—one a redshirt and one a true freshman—combined for 13 passing touchdowns. Portland State QB Drew Hubel, a true freshman making his first start, passed for nine touchdowns. I'm sure Mouse Davis likes to see that but I doubt this is what Glanville had in mind when he said PSU would have the hardest hitting defense on the West Coast.

Eastern Washington hands Sac State another close loss. Half the conference decided they weren't going to play defense this weekend. The Hornets and Eagles amassed more than 900 total yards in EWU's 31-24 win.

Idaho State thumped by Cal Poly, 48-28. Here's another team who felt defense really wasn't essential. Cal Poly quarterback Jonathan Dally threw for 453 yards and ran for 119 more. Idaho State is now 3-5 overall and 2-3 in conference.

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Photo by Todd Goodrich for Montanagrizzlies.com

This weekly roundup on action in the Big Sky has been less than weekly but here it is for this weekend's games.

The Bears are who we thought they were, but are the Griz? The Griz racked up an impressive 627 yards and 52 points in their dominant win over Northern Colorado but who really knows what that means? Will the win set the Griz offense on a track that leads toward Chattanooga or is this simply a good win over a bad team? Griz fans can hope for the former but the next two games should be a better indicator than this win over a team that hasn't beat a Division I team since moving up.

Bobcats survive Sac State. As many Griz fans expected/hoped for, the MSU offense had a bit of trouble against the Hornet defense. The Cats were down 6-0 at the half but outscored the Hornets 20-3 in the final two quarters. They've now won eight straight in what has effectively been dubbed "The Ashtray."

Weber ends NAU's two game BSC win streak. Not a whole lot going on in this one. The Lumberjacks had a chance to tie it with about 9 minutes left in the game but a two point conversion was batted down. A few plays later, Weber scored and the game was out of reach.

Portland State falls to Idaho State, 38-20. Going into this season, Portland State had hopes for a Big Sky championship. It doesn't look like that's going to happen. Sorry Jer. The Viks were up 13-3 at halftime but the Bengals scored four third quarter touchdowns with two of them being on defense. The Vikings are 2-5 overall and 2-2 in the Big Sky. The only thing that may salvage their season: an upset over UM. I'm not too frightened but it is on my mind.

Eastern gets crushed by BYU. Fans of FCS, or at least Big Sky teams, hoped EWU's impressive offense would at least put a little fear into BYU, maybe make a game out of it. That did not happen. While the Eagles suffered a 42-7 defeat, they did get $325,000 for making the trip.

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It wasn't here last week, but this weekly recap of Big Sky games is back for week 5.

Montana very unimpressive against WSU. It was a lot like the USC-Washington game. Both the Trojans and Griz were ranked number one but put up less than inspiring performances against decent yet unranked teams who wore purple and had school names starting with a W. I don't think the Trojans committed nearly as many penalties though.

Portland State beats Eastern Washington, 28-21. The Viking offense looked very strong in the win as they racked up 520 yards of total offense. Even so, it was a close game. The game ended when Portland State picked off a desperation pass in the end zone.

Sac State rolls over Northern Arizona, 38-9. NAU head coach Jerome Souers didn't give the Hornets much credit, saying "it was one of those games that whatever could go wrong, did go wrong." You know what, you got stomped. It wasn't just things going wrong. Sac State obviously played well.

Montana State rallies from 10-0 deficit to beat Idaho State. The Bobcats had a strong third quarter and Demetrius Crawford ran for 173 yards on 23 carries as the Bobcats' 40-20 win put the Bengals 0-2 in the conference.

Northern Colorado loses to Cal Poly, 56-21. What can I say? They got this losing thing down.

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The Griz sit in their usual spot while Montana State moved from 20th to 18th. Eastern Washington debuts in the poll at #25 and Portland State is working on climbing its way back in.

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Portland State saves their season with a 35-24 win over Sac State. The Vikings probably went into this game the same way Michigan will go into their conference schedule. PSU will not get great playoff seeding but they can still win the conference and make the playoffs. Unlike the Wolverines, the Viks can still win a National Championship. It's not likely, but as a Cubs fan, I like to think anyone can win once they get in the playoffs.

Montana State kills Dixie State, 61-7. Nice job guys, nice job. Some people mark this as some sort of sign that MSU is fine and will be something of a contender. The win is what it is. If you're proud of a D-II shilacking, that's not good. I'm not saying the Cats will or will not be a factor in the 'Sky but the only message this sends is that they can blow out a team from a lower division. Good to know.

NAU falls to Appalachian State, 34-21. It would've been nice to see a Big Sky team get mentioned on SC for beating the giant-killers from Boone, but it didn't happen as the Mountaineers won their 17th straight game. It could've been worse. If NAU can keep it within two possessions, maybe the Griz can pull off a win.

Weber State blown out by Cal Poly, 47-19. The Weber State secondary allowed Mustangs quarterback Jonathan Dally to rack up Colt Brennan-esque numbers in the loss. The kid tossed 6 TDs on 328 yards.

Northern Colorado loses to San Diego, 49-13. This type of score was expected with the Bears coming off a huge loss to D-II Chadron State. On a positive note, they did find a running back. David Woods finished with 180 all-purpose yards.

Eastern beats UC Davis, 41-31. It wasn't Bengals-Browns but the Eagles and Aggies combined for almost 1,000 total yards. The Aggies had more yards and the Eagles had more points.

Idaho State trounced by Oregon State, 61-10. You know the deal. Big Sky team plays FBS opponent, Big Sky team loses by 30+ while the FBS team puts up huge numbers. Whatever pays the bills.

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This is a weekly segment quickly recapping the past week's games in the Big Sky.

Montana beats Fort Lewis 49-0. If there was college fantasy football and you had a few Montana Grizzlies on your team, you would've looked pretty good this weekend. Too bad there's no such thing as college fantasy football and we just wasted our time watching our school trounce a Division II squad. At least the offense was rolling.

Portland State loses again, this time to UC Davis 26-17. This past offseason I said Jerry Glanville has done everything he possibly could to promote and manage the PSU football program. Well, there's more to promoting. The Vikings have flopped coming out of the gate. It will be interesting to season if the preseason hype can survive this awful start. The Viks were up 17-3 at one point before giving up 23 unanswered. Not good.

Northern Arizona fell to the University of Arizona, 45-24. These are the type of games FCS powers need to schedule. Games against beatable FCS teams. NAU isn't a FCS power and was just looking for a local and almost but not quite rivalry-esque game. Those are fine too. The UA offense rolled over the Lumberjacks as their quarterback passed for five touchdowns.

Northern Colorado gets reamed by D-II Chadron State, 31-0. This is the second year in a row a Big Sky team has lost to Chadron St. Why are the Griz playing all these easy games now? What are we preparing for? Conference games? Come on. Sure, Chadron State is one of the best teams in D-II, but so was Northern Colorado before they moved. You can't get shut out, at home, by a team in a lower division.

Idaho State beats NAIA Southern Oregon "respectably," 37-11. That's kind of close for an NAIA school. Probably too close. The Bengals' freshman quarterback Russell Hill completed 20 of his 31 passes. They played well, but it was NAIA so it doesn't really matter.

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The Portland State Vikings came into this season with as much hype as any team in college football. There was a Jerry Glanville feature story in every paper in the Northwest. Well, things opened with a huge dud as the Vikings fell to McNeese State, 35-12, down in Louisiana. As Ian Ruder notes, the game did not go well. The Cowboys tried to give the game away and the Viks wouldn't take it.

On top of looking terrible and getting blown out, the Vikings lost their starting quarterback and fullback for the season. Quarterback Tygue Howland is out with a serious injury to his foot while fullback Bobby McClintock blew out his knee.

Colorado transfer Brian White takes over at quarterback. I wasn't too impressed at first but he showed last year that he's capable of running the offense. On McClintock: he's the second fullback they've lost for the year so there will be a couple running backs behind the line for the remainder of the season.

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It's Vikings Day here at the Grizzoulian. Portland State officially announced the arrival of their new uniforms and it's not pretty. The helmet design is original, but doesn't look great. The jerseys look decent at best but are far from original.

Some quotes and images:

Todd Van Horne, Creative Director for Nike, led a team that created the stylized and Viking-inspired spear logo and uniforms. The Viking uniforms lean heavily toward Glanville's favored black color scheme, while the helmets will have the new spear logo running over the crown.

"When Coach (Glanville) came to town it was an opportunity for inspiration," Van Horne said to the media. "We (at Nike) huddled together and said 'there's energy here'. We needed to bring that energy very visually to the field. So we came down, had a nice conversation with coach and said 'hey, we've got a different point of view.'

"Coach describes black as not a color but an attitude, and we thought 'well, there it is.' Let's bring a new attitude and show a visual difference where Portland State University is now," said Van Horne. "I think you will see the very distinct difference of color, and the distinct difference of spear design that is much more aggressive, fitting into that new attitude."

I like the idea behind the spear. The way it runs up the helmet is something we haven't seen much of on a football uniform. The problem is, it looks like a retarded tatoo.

I don't like the jerseys. The plain black and white color is somewhat original but the jerseys are the same thing we've seen countless places. It looks like Nike just swapped out the colors on the Montana template.

Glanville has obviously brought attention and attitude to Portland State. I was hoping the new uniforms would match the enthusiasm. Nope, just another gimmicky Nike design.

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This is why I love YouTube. You can pull up ridiculous things from any celebrity's past. Also, there's video of someone playing a videogame. Why is this on there? Who is watching this besides me?

Anyway, the footage is from Jerry Glanville's Pigskin Footbrawl. Wait for the 1 minute mark to see what Glanville did with his previous Vikings team, where he was the "leader of a renegade band of WARRIORS WITH A BAD ATTITUDE." Is Jerry modeling his real Portland State team after a fictional videogame squad?

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You can add the Portland State Vikings to the list of teams getting new Nike uniforms this season. Word of this first came from Ian Ruder's Vikings Blog, but it looks like a new Portland State uniform can be found at the same site where the Griz jerseys first surfaced.

Ian's description of what he saw differs a bit. It sounds like he saw a schematic of the road uniforms during his interview with Jerry Glanville.

The Nike helmets opt instead for a gray spear running straight down the top-center of the helmet, coming to a point above the face hole. The spear is stylized with a feather-like gray tail at the back of the head. The rest of the helmet is black, the overall look being very minimalist.

The jerseys follow suit. The majority of the uniform is white with the shoulder pad area black. There is no green and as far as I could tell no lettering. That could change I guess.

The uniforms are not flashy but evoke the understated-seriousness that many associate with the Oakland Raiders. Whether fans will miss the green and Viking logo mainstays remains to be seen, but the new unis would seem to be in line with Glanville's emphasis on black and the hard-hitting image he wants for the team.

After Ian's description, it's hard to say how close these will be to the final product. The site's depiction of the Griz jerseys wasn't exactly the same as the final product but it was very close.

My opinion on this:

• It's great that Jerry Glanville made an effort to design a uniform. So what if he didn't 'design' a uniform so much as take another logo and alter the colors. Just try to imagine Bobby hearing that Nike was designing a new Griz uniform then stomping into his office yelling "F that, I'll design the damn jerseys."

First off, the Vikings have to get it done on the field. And if they do, Jerry has to stay. But if both of those fallsinto line, Glanville is just the type of coach to push for some major change at PSU. He has the charisma to demand and maneuver for a move to the FBS. I've mentioned this before: from an off-the-field perspective, this is an excellent hire.

• It's good to see a majority -- well at least two -- of Nike's new designs moving towards a simple look. 'Clean and simple' is in. Training bras and metal plates, not so much.

Saw your post on the jersey redesign. The photo you posted is definitely not the new jersey. My understanding is that Nike only designed one new jersey and it is VERY different than anything psu has ever had – ditching the green for a mainly white look with black and a totally new spear logo on the black helmets. I think the photo you posted is an old replica jersey nike makes. I’ve seen people wearing those in the past. Based on my conversations, even Glanville hasn’t seen the new jersey outside of drawings, so I doubt Nike (or anyone else) would be selling it on line. Look for an official press release in the next 2 weeks.

Still hoping they stay away from a fancy redesign. PSU had the trendy, elaborate, newfangled jerseys before so something VERY different should be more of an old-school look.

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In a move that doesn't include jumping to a team that won't get killed by teams from power conferences, Portland State head coach Jerry Glanville is looking at scheduling games with SEC teams.

"When we were at Hawaii, we had a chance to go to Alabama and I promise you, none of our kids will ever forget that trip," said Glanville, who was the Falcons' head coach from 1990-93 and the defensive coordinator from 1979-82.

Glanville said Portland State will open with a Pac-10 team for three of the next four seasons but he still wants to bring his team South. Glanville said he's talking to "a couple of SEC teams" but won't reveal which ones they are.

For what's it's worth before he's coached a single game, this Glanville hire is looking very very good. If PSU displays any kind of success in these FBS games and Glanville sticks around for a few years, I would not be surprised to see PSU take a very serious look at moving to the FBS. Based on his brash personality alone, Glanville looks like the type of coach who could get them there.

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If you pause the video, let it load all the way then click ahead to the one minute mark you'll get to see Portland State's new ad.

Well, it's not as good as the Griz football ad, but it is something. They don't have much to brag about so they put in what they could -- Jerry Glanville's swagger and the fact that season tickets are only $60. 

It will be very interesting to see just how much of an effect all this publicity will have on the Portland State Viking program. Glanville & Co have been getting exposure, but will it result in more fans and a better program? One could say that the Vikings are the only show in town that time of year, but that's not completely the case. Fans have the 'Blazers and minor league baseball overlapping either ends of the season.

Hell, Blazers hype alone should have a decent shot and completely overshadowing any mention of Portland State. Seriously, for the next few months, not a single sports fan in Portland is going to care about anything other than the Blazers.

On top of this, it's so hard to get fans of teams like Oregon and Oregon state to cheer on a I-AA team. When I first came to UM, it took a little while for me to believe that I-AA football wasn't a joke. However, it all starts with wins. Glanville will bring in some fans but he can only keep them if the team is doing well.

One more important question: what happens if the fans just don't come? From every story I've read on Glanville, his goal is to create an incredible gameday atmosphere like that of Green Bay. What if, despite Glanville winning a bunch of games, it just doesn't happen? Would he consider continuing his climb back towards mainstream ball? I'd say so.

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I woke up this morning--my third after returning from Zootown--to find Portland State and Jerry Glanville splattered across the front of my sports section. It wasn't exactly what I wanted to find on this fine Mother's Day. The story is extremely well written and I have no doubt the increasing number of articles like this will only lead to further success of the Portland State program.

The man made famous during decades spent coaching in college and the NFL, for careers in broadcasting and car racing, for, above all, the character known as Jerry Glanville, is now the coach at Portland State.

And he wants you to be a Viking.

He wants to play you the music that will announce his team's entrance during home games, all war horns and tribal drums beating into crescendo — Star Trek meets Scandinavia. He wants you to see the Viking hull and Viking statues in his office. He wants to tell you the first city the Vikings conquered: Portland, England, in 789.

He's rolling now, ever the salesman, trying to bring Vikings into vogue. He grabs a vintage Viking helmet, made of steel, bought on eBay, from behind his desk.

"You're going to love this," he says, invoking his favorite phrase. "Everybody has worn that thing. The president. The players. Me. Put that bad boy on."

Further proof that Glanville can sell blind men glasses rests awkwardly atop your head. You wear the helmet. You met Glanville 45 minutes earlier.

You want to be a Viking.

One can only hope that his personality brings more success and attention to the Big Sky and I-AA football. One can also hope that after bringing in said attention, he pulls a Bob Huggins and peaces out before kicking the pedestal out from under the Griz.

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As most fans of college sports know, when a player becomes upset with playing time or just how things are going at his current school he or she may transfer to a school where they think they'll have more of an impact. This is the case with University of Washington freshman Phil Nelson and Washington State's Mac Hopson.

Most have probably heard but Phil Nelson, who got some starts at UW, is headed to Portland State. He's definitely going to have an impact on that program and probably the conference as a whole as any player who can contribute as a frosh in the Pac-10 certainly has some talent.

Mac Hopson, a sophomore who made some starts early in the season for WSU, is reportedly interesting in attending either the University of Montana or MSU.

As you can see there, Mac was pretty candid about just wanting more playing time in the future, and there's no doubt that he could get it at a bunch of schools out there. Hopson, you'll remember started the season as a starter for WSU and was clearly capable of making a decent contribution at the Pac-10 level, even if he was best suited as a role player right now. Should he opt for a lesser-conference school, I have to believe he can get the 30 minutes a game he's looking for. Mac mentioned Montana and Montana State to me, and said that he's looking to stay in the Northwest or on the West Coast, so we'll see how that all goes.

Sounds like this kid is very capable of making a major impact on this team. Come on Tinks, land this guy.

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As many of you have probably heard, former NFL head coach and Hawaii defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville has decided to become the head football coach of the Portland State Vikings. Jerry seems pumped going into this thing, probably too pumped for coaching I-AA football, and has said some interesting things. One thing he mentioned is that he would like to turn Portland into the Green Bay, WI of I-AA football (sorry Jer, that's already taken). This really isn't the funniest analogy in this whole fiasco; that would come from Will Leitch over at Deadspin.

The Green Bay for I-AA football. Now there's a goal! Actually, we think Portland State is to college football what Jerry Glanville's Pigskin Footbrawl is to legitimate football video games.

Needless to say, it's going to be fun having this nut in the Big Sky Conference.

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There's really no other way to say it. I hate to sound like a whiny Seahawks fan -- which, athough I'm from Seattle, I'm not -- but the officiating tonight was absolutely horrendous.

The calls were really awful all night but lets just cut to the chase because I have just enough patience to prevent myself from ripping the screen off my laptop. There's somewhere around 45 seconds left, tie game, and a PSU player with some of the worst hair I've seen -- this guy was more done up than Sandra Dee in the closing scene of Grease --is driving to the basket and Jordo Hasquet just absolutely stands him up. The block was cleaner than a dentist's office and the refs wait to see who gets the the ball; the Griz grab it and a whistle is blown shortly after. Foul on the Griz. Shocking!

David Beckham Paul Hafford knocks down his foul shots and the Vikings are up by two. The Griz's last possession was not great. Drew put up a pretty ugly and desperate hook with about 6 seconds left. It rimmed out to Ellis about halfway between the basket and the arc. He tossed up a last second shot and that missed. Then pandemonium broke lose.

I swear to God, the Vikings just acted like they just beat Duke to go to the goddamn Sweet 16. I'm surprised assistant coach Bucktooth Blush didn't grab a fucking ladder from the storage closet and start cutting down the nets. Players and coaches alike tried to taunt fans as they made they way to the locker room, where they bounced around, apparently looking for a crate of Cristal champagne.

What happened to acting like you've won before? The little respect I had for this program was completely erased tonight.

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With last night's road victory over the Portland State Vikings, Wayne Tinkle moved within 872 wins of Bobby Knight.

In more important news, this Griz team is starting to play like they're supposed to and Cameron Rundles is the future.

The Griz came to the Stotts Center, where PSU was 6-0, and won a game that was far more important to their confidence than their overall record. They go into conference play and another big game against the Eagles knowing that they are not a flop but potentially the most talented team, top to bottom, in the Big Sky Conference.

True freshman PG Cameron Rundles showed that this will not only be his team in the future, but right now has as much of an impact as the players with more seniority. Cam finished with a career high 20 as he led all scorers. He also made this team run and flow. Once last night he got a defensive rebound and just took off for the opposing team's basket, not stopping until he was fouled in the lane.

Stu Mayes, who earlier this season was kind of in the dog house with Tinks, played great off the bench as he scored 10 big points including a tip-in with 13 seconds left that sealed the win.

This team is completely coming together as everyone is finding out what their role is and going out and doing it. Like I sort mentioned before, this team is finding it's identity as a team that can go out and run.

Next up is EWU on Saturday. They were shocked by MSU at the buzzer so Rodney Stuckey -- this kid needs a nickname, like Mamba and Agent Zero -- is going to be pissed.

A win in this could be just as big as the PSU win, except this time for the standings. Two road wins in the conference would be a great jump start. And because I thought this was hilarious when i saw it on TV last night, another great jump start after the break.

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Tonight the Griz face Portland State in their first Big Sky Conference game. It's only the first game in conference where many are predicting a deadlocked race  where the BSC regular season champ might be only a few games above .500.

That doesn't matter, this game is huge. It is. I wish I could get the Donald Trump impersonator screen thing from Conan just so I could get him to say "it's huuuge" and then you might really understand.

This team needs to figure out exactly who it is, a talented flop or returning BSC contender? They go into the game with a long list of things to prove. Some of those are after the jump.

First off, the Griz need to show that they can play on the road. They have yet to win a game in an opposing team's gym. Their shooting has been horrendous and they lack the swagger they used to have. They lost to lowly Portland on the road in their last game.

The Griz need to show that they can play with small, great-shooting teams. In this article, Tinks says it's likely the Vikings will have four guards out there most of the time. That's scary considering  the way this team played against small teams earlier this season.

Wayne Tinkle, show me you are ready to coach this team and make the talent match the results. Tinks has yet to put a great spark into this team while LK had these guys playing like their hair was on fire. Unite them and get them pumped to play a good team on the road.

Killa' Cam Rundles, show me you are ready to handle the point. You've shown flashes but still make freshman mistakes. Prove that this team is yours. Put it together and make them run.

Andrew Strait, show that you can not only lay down a good stat line but can also lead your team to a victory.

Matt Dlouhy, show me that you will never ever go out and toss up a goose egg again.

Bryan Ellis and Matt Martin, prove to me that you should earn the #1 point guard spot. You two are older and should have this job.

Jordan Hasquet, prove that those big games last year weren't a fluke and come out with consistent play.

Ryan Staudacher, show me you can do what you came here to do and that is consistently drain threes.

Gus Chase, show me you're as good as you were touted to be coming out of JuCo. Make the most of the minutes you get.

I could go on, but won't. Everyone on this team has something to prove and should be playing like so. Most of all, the Griz need to prove they are as good as they were made out to be. They need to come out with the swagger that a team with back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances should have. Play like these guys can't even play with you. Run the court, shoot well and beat them playing small ball. Bang it low, box out, get the boards and beat them playing big. Play with confidence and show me you're still having fun.

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About a week ago, Ian Ruder, the publisher of Vikings Blog, approached me with the idea of exchanging a series of questions on our respective teams. Well, not our teams, but you know, the ones we write about.

I've been trying to network a bit more and thought this was an excellent idea. Ian has a very well run blog over at OregonLive.com, which is very up-to-date on the whole blogging scene with a blog for just about every local team.

The interview is after the jump, with questions on their impressive preseason, the return of Anthony Washington and the Cameron Indoor Stadium of the West -- The Stotts Center.

If you want to see his questions and my answers, head over to his blog.

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Grizzoulian: Does this PSU basketball season feel a little like the PSU football season? Going into the UM football game PSU was a formidable Big Sky contender but after dropping to UM in Portland and then to MSU things seemed a little out of reach. How confident are you the basketball team will do the opposite?

Vikings Blog: I haven’t gotten that vibe from fans and those around the team. It’s been kind of an odd year with the departure and return of Anthony Washington sandwiched around a stronger than expected preseason. After he left people seemed content with the notion of finishing 4th or 5th and battling it out in the conference tourney. Now, after a 9-4 preseason where no Big Sky teams other than EWU (maybe) stood out, I think people have set their sights higher with some even thinking of hosting. People expect PSU to beat the Montana schools this week but hopefully understand that a loss here isn’t the same as in football. The reality in the BSC is that as long as you make the tourney and are playing well in late February/early march you’re okay. With the 2 or 3 bottom-feeding BSC teams, one loss isn’t the end of the world. That said, I would be shocked if MSU beat PSU Saturday. Also, after watching Montana flounder last Friday at Portland I’ll be interested to see if they bounce back like championship contenders as I’m sure they would have under Krystkowiak.

Grizzoulian: What does it mean getting Anthony Washington back? An imposing force on the low post or just signs with A&W Root Beer references?

Vikings Blog: Assuming he can get into playing shape, it’s huge and could potentially decide the Big Sky tournament. Everyone made him out to be the savior last year after he redshirted after transferring from UW and it never really happened. But, he averaged nearly 18 pts on 60 percent shooting in his final three games and alongside 6-foot-11 center Scott Morrison was easily the best 1-2 big man combo in the conference. Without him this year PSU has faced a lot of mismatches in the post and been forced to play 6-foot-6 Juma Kamara –one of the team’s most versatile and talented players – against bigger players, negating his o