ISAAC FISHER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

OGDEN — Things were slow-going.

Facing a Portland State team that gave up a porous 12.5 yards per play the week before at Washington State, Weber State football couldn’t quite break through.

At one point, the Wildcats had outgained PSU 350-128 and pushed the Vikings back negative-4 yards in the third quarter but led just 19-10.

After a fourth-quarter blur that spanned less than 10 minutes, Weber State had a four-touchdown win — double the margin of victory expected by formulas from analysts like Bill Connelly and Jeff Sagarin.

Give up a 37-yard run and a game-tying touchdown in the second quarter? Lightning-quick quarterback Dante Chachere gets loose for a few first downs?

ISAAC FISHER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

A good bit of persistence goes a long way.

“Just sticking to the course, not changing stuff up when they may get rolling,” junior safety Angel King said. “We let up a big run early in the second … so just being able to stay together as a unit and play the next play. That’s the biggest thing for us.”

In the end, even after PSU put together a fourth-quarter touchdown drive in which Weber State had started rotating deeper into its defensive units, the Vikings averaged just 3.5 yards per play, disoriented by WSU after racking up 449 yards on 5.4 per play at Washington State.

King and head coach Mickey Mental credited defensive coaches for their game plan, one that included lining up fast and physical safeties like King and BJ Carey at defensive end to make Chachere uncomfortable.

But Mental said it’s an attitude and culture that prevailed most.

ISAAC FISHER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

“They play 11 as one. They do their own job at a high level, high motor,” Mental said. “It’s not just one guy, it’s always a team, 11 hats to the ball. And that’s when you get really successful.”

Part of King’s evaluation: “We’ve got a lot of guys in every room who can play.”

Senior defensive tackle Steven Bryant was one of many to showcase that. Portland State quickly took its second possession past midfield but cornerback Montae Pate led a host of Wildcats to drop a run play for a big loss.

Chachere, who reportedly ran a 4.39 40-yard dash this summer, appeared to be on his way to pick up the ensuing third-and-20. He bailed on a pass play and ran right to the wide side of the field. With receivers in deep routes, there were zero players, offense or defense, for 20 yards ahead of him.

But Bryant hit the gas and caught Chachere from behind at midfield, stopping him for a gain of just 9 yards. PSU punted, and Weber followed by completing its first touchdown drive of the season for an early lead.

While the defense stuck with the plan, WSU’s offense stuck with things from an attitude perspective but made some adjustments that ultimately gashed the Vikings for 316 rushing yards — even though WSU only rushed for 43 yards in the first quarter and 28 in the third.

“They were trying to obviously take away our run game so we opened it up through the air,” Mental said. “I thought our receivers competed at a high level today, and our quarterback put the ball where it needed to be most of the time.

“I think our tempo wore them down at the end of the game … I feel like we’ve just got to finish when we get across the 50 a little more efficiently.”

Given PSU’s lack of defense in Week 1, and that WSU running back Damon Bankston eclipsed 100 rushing yards against a much tougher Washington team, it was surprising that Bankston had just 58 rushing yards on 4.1 per carry through three quarters against the Vikings — though many of those were well-earned yards after first contact.

Bankston’s fine with that.

“I don’t get down on the short runs because my mindset is, when (a big play is) there, I’m going to take advantage of it,” he said. “So these 3-, 4-yard runs is just staying on schedule, really … I (always) want to have a long run play but that’s not reality, so keep 3, 4 yards a carry, that’s just good football.

“I know I’m going to break one. It’s rare that I don’t.”

Weber State has consistently rotated carries between Bankston, Adrian Cormier and Clarence Butler through two games, so Bankston only got one carry in the fourth quarter.

He took it 75 yards for a touchdown.

“All game, really, they were stuffing it inside. They were making sure we did not run the ball inside,” Bankston said. “It was an inside zone and as expected, they pinched everything so I just took it outside and when that corner kept running with the receiver … it looks perfect.”

The overall approach was positive, according to King.

“Us being able to persevere … there was a point in the first half, we weren’t really moving the ball and that — so just sticking together as a unit, that’s the biggest thing,” King said. “I’ve been on teams where, especially coming off a loss, you go into that next week and as soon as things don’t shoot out the gate for you guys, it’s like, ‘Oh, here we go again.’

“But I didn’t see that from any of our guys today.”

Newsletter