September 7, 2023 |
Photo – Portland State logo – Courtesy Wikipedia
In sports, Wyoming’s opponent this week, Portland State, will try to regroup and recover from its rough opening game last Saturday. The Vikings endured an 81-7 loss to Oregon.
As tough was the game was on Portland State, true to tradition, the Ducks mascot endured 546 pushups. After every Ducks’ score, the Mascot does one push-up for every point on the board. 8 + 15 + 22 + 29 + 36 + 43 + 50 + 57 + 64 + 67 + 74 + 81 = 546. A post-game meme showed the Oregon mascot flat on his back in the end zone not moving. “RIP Duck,” the caption read. “Cause of death, 81 points worth of pushups.”
One Portland player fared even worse than the opposing mascot. Vikings head coach Bruce Barnum said the team did not have any serious injuries, except for one player who had his “ear ripped off.”
“Not the whole ear. Partial ear detachment,” Barnum clarified. “I think it was from when he got his helmet knocked off, and I think his ear didn’t come out of his helmet.” Barnum said the unnamed player will not play in Week 2.
Portland State was tasked with facing one of its most challenging opponents in school history. The Vikings got off to a good start with 126 yards of offense and a touchdown in the first quarter. Their offense stalled out from there, putting up only 21 yards in the second. They were out of the game from there.
With the game out of hand, PSU had a host of young players on the field in the second half, both redshirt freshmen and true freshmen. Coach Barnum said the freshman who saw time against the Ducks “earned their stripes.”
Barnum said despite the beatdown, he did not hear one negative comment on the sideline. “That was pretty cool, and it tells me we have a shot,” the Vikings coach said.
The Vikings will regroup for another non-conference game against another FBS level opponent this week—Wyoming.
The Vikings are 4-45 all-time against FBS-level competition. Wins have come over Hawai’i, New Mexico, Washington State and North Texas.
The Wyoming Cowboys are coming off a thrilling double-overtime victory over Texas Tech Saturday, stunning the Red Raiders inside the War. Head Coach Craig Bohl said he and his staff are cautioning their team not to go into Saturday’s game against the Vikings with the attitude that it will be an easy contest.
The Wyoming-Portland State game kicks off Saturday afternoon at two. Bigfoot 99 will be on the air at 12:30 with the pregame show.
