Great West Weekly Release -- Week 11 :: UC Davis and Cal Poly can each clinch a tie for the championship with a win.

One player each from North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Northern Colorado earned Great West Football Conference player of the week honors for their performances in games on Saturday, Nov. 6.

North Dakota State running back Kyle Steffes was chosen as offensive player of the week. for the second time this season while South Dakota State safety James Epps picked up defensive player of the week honors for the first time. Northern Colorado kicker Justin Zaitz was named special teams player of the week for the second time.

Northern Colorado defeated Southern Utah 42-7 in the only Great West Football Conference game Satuday. In non-conference contests, North Dakota State was a 31-17 winner over Weber State while South Dakota State beat Augustana (S.D.) 38-9 and Cal Poly fell 38-21 to Eastern Washington. UC Davis had a bye.

Games scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 13, all Great West Football Conference matchups, include Northern Colorado (2-7, 2-1) at Cal Poly (7-2, 3-1), South Dakota State (5-4, 1-2) at Southern Utah (4-5, 1-3) and North Dakota State (7-3, 1-3) at UC Davis (6-2, 3-1).

Steffes (5-11 1/2, 204, So., Dickinson, N.D.) rushed for a career-high 176 yards and two touchdowns in North Dakota State's win at Weber State. Steffes, who has 979 yards entering this week's final game, accounted for all the yardage in a pair of second-half scoring drives. His first touch of the second half came with 1:30 left in the third quarter. His second was a 50-yard scoring

run near the end of the third quarter and capped an eight-play, 61-yard drive in the fourth quarter with a two-yard TD run. In that second drive, Steffes rushed for 41 yards and also caught a 20-yard pass. Overall, he has rushed 177 times for 979 yards (97.9 avg.) and 13 TDs. Steffes has also caught 12 passes for 109 yards (9.1 avg.).

Epps (6-2, 195, Jr., Kansas City, KS) had two interceptions in South Dakota State's victory over Augustana, including a 62-yard return for a touchdown with 24 seconds left in the first half which gave the Jacks a 24-3 halftime lead. He also had a 12-yard return of an interception in the fourth quarter, a play which launched a 42-yard scoring drive to make it 31-3. He had one solo and one assisted tackle.

Zaitz (6-3, 185, Jr., PK, Boulder, Colo.) made all six extra points and had three touchbacks on his kickoffs in Southern Utah¹s loss to Northern Colorado.

This Week's Action
North Dakota State at #20/21 UC Davis - Davis, CA - 1 pm (PT)
North Dakota State University (7-3, 1-3 GWFC) will close out its season on the road at UC Davis (6-2, 3-1 GWFC). The game will be broadcast on television on Comcast SportsNet West. North Dakota State defeated Weber State 31-17 on Nov. 6 in Ogden, Utah. UC Davis had an open date last weekend following a 36-33 win over No. 5-ranked Cal Poly on Oct. 30. That win snapped a two-game losing streak as the Aggies fell to nationally-ranked Stephen F. Austin 22-19 and Southern Utah 19-15. This is the seventh meeting between the two schools and the series is tied at 3-3. UC Davis has won the last two meetings, 35-7 at Davis in 2002 and 23-14 before 14,548 at the Fargodome in 2003.

South Dakota State at Southern Utah - Cedar City, UT - 3 pm (MT)
Southern Utah returns home this week for its final Great West Football

Conference game of 2004 and the penultimate game of the season as the

Thunderbirds host South Dakota State University Saturday afternoon.

The Thunderbirds (4-5, 1-3 GWFC) will be taking the first step toward closing

out the season with a pair of wins, thereby notching their first winning season since

the 2000 squad posted a 7-4 mark. SUU will also be looking to bounce back after

their most lopsided loss of the season, a 42-7 setback at Northern Colorado.

South Dakota State (5-4, 1-2 GWFC) comes into Cedar City following a 38-9

home win over Division II Augustana. That win snapped a two-game skid for the

Jackrabbits, who are 1-4 on the road so far this season.

Northern Colorado at #18 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo, CA - 6 pm (PT)
The University of Northern Colorado Bears will look to keep its alive in the conference title race this Saturday at No. 18-ranked Cal Poly. The Bears trail Cal Poly by 1/2 game in the league standings. Cal Poly jumped out to a 7-0 record this season before falling to UC Davis (36-33) and Eastern Washington (38-21). Cal Poly was picked by the coaches to win the league title, while the league's media members tabbed UNC as the league favorite prior to the season. The Bears enter the game having snapped a seven-game losing streak by defeating Southern Utah on Saturday, 42-7. Cal Poly leads the series, 4-2. The teams have not met since the 1982 season when UNC scored a 14-13 win in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Last Week's Games
Northern Colorado 42, Southern Utah 7
After a seven-game losing streak, the University of Northern Colorado football team (2-7, 2-1 Great West Football Conference) launched the monkey off its back as it struck down the Southern Utah Thunderbirds 42-7.

UNC kept its conference title hopes alive with the victory. The Bears improved to 2-1 in Great West Conference play, while Southern Utah dropped to 1-3 in league play. Overall, UNC moved to 2-7 and the Thunderbirds fell to 4-5 on the season.

UNC senior wide receiver Vincent Jackson, a candidate for the Walter Payton Award, had another solid game as he took in nine catches for 82 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Jackson continues to rewrite the Northern Colorado record books as he extended his career lead in receiving touchdowns to 36. In addition to that, Jackson extended his UNC career receiving yards lead to 3,369 and he also is now second all-time in UNC career pass receptions with 166, leaping ahead of Cedric Tillman. He needs just three catches to break the record held by Kim Boerema.

"It's an honor," Jackson said when asked about the receptions record. "I've had a great four years here ... any accolades or anything that comes with that is good for our team."

The total offensive yards were virtually even, with the Bears out-gaining Southern Utah 391-318, but it was the miraculous improvement of UNC's defense that controlled the game. After giving up an average of 30 points for the season, the Bears clamped down on SUU's ground game, holding them to just 90 yards. The running attack had been a staple of the Thunderbirds' offense this season, particularly the scrambling of their quarterback Casey Rehrer. Reher, SUU's leading rusher this season, was contained to just 37 yards rushing.

Since UNC was able to take away the running ability of Southern Utah, the Thunderbirds were forced to pass, which was exactly what the Bears wanted. The UNC defense forced three interceptions and recovered two fumbles, which amounted to 21 points by the Bears' offense.

"We did exactly what we wanted and it feels great when you execute the game plan," said Bears' senior safety Reed Doughty. "We knew coming in their quarterback was their best athlete on offense, and they wanted to spread it out and run the quarterback draw. We took that away. He's a good passer, but that's not what his strong point is."

Doughty set the tone for the game when he intercepted SUU's Casey Rehrer and returned it 28 yards to the Thunderbirds' 20 on the first drive of the game. But placekicker Justin Zaitz missed a 33-yard field goal and the Bears were unable to score on the first miscue.

On UNC's next defensive series, sophomore defensive tackle Jacob Carlson recovered a fumble by Southern Utah running back Ryan Filipe on the SUU 28. The recovery led to a seven-yard touchdown pass by UNC junior backup quarterback Nick Hager, who started for the injured Tony Christensen. Hager had a career day as he went 18-23 passing and had 243 all-purpose yards. He accounted for four of the Bears' six touchdowns.

The Bears scored three more touchdowns before the end of the first half, making the halftime score 28-0. The Thunderbirds could never recover from UNC's 28 unanswered points, scoring their lone touchdown on their first offensive series of the second half. Northern Colorado went on to score 14 more points before deciding to call it a day.

"(The win) feels very good," said Bears' head coach Kay Dalton. "We played much smarter today. I thought we played very hard and very consistent. There was good teamwork, and that's my kind of football."

South Dakota State 38, Augustana 9
Brad Nelson threw four touchdown passes, Brian Janecek caught 11 for 141 yards, Anthony Watson rushed for 151 yards, converted linebacker Justin Kubesh caught two touchdown passes and James Epps returned one of his two interceptions for a touchdown as South Dakota State defeated Augustana 38-9 in the Hobo Day game Saturday at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.

SDSU is now 5-4 on the season, with a pair of Great West Conference road games left, starting next Saturday at Southern Utah. Augustana ended its season seven-game losing streak to finish 3-8,

Nelson completed 22-of-30 passes for 250 yards as he became SDSU's all-time leader in touchdown passes, pushing his career total to 45. That's two more than Ted Wahl had during his career 1985-88.

Janecek's shortest reception of the day was a one-yard TD catch. On the play before the score, the Janecek to Nelson combo clicked for 24 yards. His longest catch went for a 37-yard gain to set up a two-yard Nelson to Ryan Lowry TD in the fourth quarter.

Watson failed to score despite picking up 151 yards on 22 attempts for the ninth 100-yard game of his career - all SDSU victories.

Kubesh, who moved to offense two weeks ago, caught a routine 4-yard pitch from Nelson for a TD in the second quarter, then had an acrobatic 17-yard TD catch in the fourth quarter. Those were his only two catches of the game.

Epps snared a deflected pass and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown just before halftime, then had a 14-yard interception return in the fourth quarter. Freshman Brock Gentile also had an interception for the Jacks.

Hank McCall and Chris Coauette had 10 tackles each to lead the defense. D.J. Fischer had five tackles and a fumble recovery.

SDSU finished with a 403-294 advantage in total offense.

Augustana's quarterbacks Ryan DeGraff (12-25-1, 92) and Tommy Flyger (13-22-2, 139) passed for 231 yards but their leading rusher, Jordan Nordquist, gained just 27 yards and Augustana had 63 net yards rushing on 25 attempts.

Linebacker Brett Scherschligt led the Viking defense with 15 tackles, eight of them solos.

The teams each scored on their first possession, trading field goals with Parker Douglass hitting from 43 yards for SDSU and Andrew Olson from 22 yards for Augie. The Jacks moved on top 10-3 when Nelson found Kubesh with a TD pass to cap a 40-yard drive with 8:02 to play. Then SDSU scored twice in less than a minute to take a 24-3 halftime lead. First, Janecek and Nelson hooked up on a one-yard TD pass, then Epps had his interception return for a TD 24 seconds before halftime.

After a scoreless third quarter, State built it to 31-3 when Nelson and Lowry combined on a two-yard TD pitch with 13:33 to play.

Augustana countered with a 12-yard pass from Tommy Flyger to Tom Ellingson but the Jacks marched right back, going 84 yards in eight plays scoring on the second Nelson-to-Kubesh TD pass.

SDSU's 91st Hobo Day game, played on a sunny day with gametime temperature at 66 degrees, drew 13,116 fans.

North Dakota State 31, Weber State 17
North Dakota State scored a 31-17 non-conference victory at Weber State on Saturday at Stewart Stadium. NDSU was led by their offensive trio of running back Kyle Steffes, quarterback Steve Walker and wideout Travis White. White and Walker combined for the first two Bison scores as they hooked up on passes of 53 and 15 yards. Steffes provided all of the scoring in the second half with TD runs of 50 and two yards.

Nick Chournos scored WSU's only touchdowns, with a six-yard run in the first quarter and a three-yard run in the fourth. Chournos finished the game with 124 yards on 21 carries and became the first WSU player to record back-to-back 1,000 yard rushing seasons since Fine Unga accomplished the feat in 1987 and 1988.

Steffes finished the game with 21 carries for 176 yards. Walker completed eight of 12 passes for 141 yards, while White led the Bison receivers with 68 yards on two catches.

WSU's Ian Pizarro completed 18 of 27 passes for 192 yards. Wiley King hauled in five Pizarro passes for a total of 55 yards.

With the loss, Weber State suffered their first nine-loss season since 1976. North Dakota State improved to 7-3 with the win.

Eastern Washington 38, Cal Poly 21
Junior quarterback Erik Meyer passed for 417 yards and four touchdowns to lead No. 21 Eastern Washington to a 38-21 non-conference victory over No. 11 Cal Poly on Saturday at Woodward Field.

Meyer, who completed 21 of 32 passes, connected with Eric Kimble on nine passes, three for touchdowns, and with Tyler Coleman on the other score as the Eagles improved to 7-3 on the season.

Cal Poly (7-2) suffered its second straight loss after opening the season with seven consecutive victories.

Cal Poly tied the game at 7-7 and 14-14, but never held the lead as Meyer produced the fifth-best passing performance in Eastern Washington history and became the first player to pass for over 400 yards against the Mustangs since J.T. O'Sullivan of UC Davis amassed 415 yards in 2000.

Mustang junior quarterback Anthony Garnett completed 21 of 44 passes for 341 yards, his third 300-yard passing game in four weeks, and threw three touchdown passes.

Garnett connected with Anthony Randolph on an 8-yard scoring pass in the second quarter moments after an Eastern Washington fumble was recovered by Kyle Shotwell.

Garnett also completed an 89-yard scoring pass to Darrell Jones early in the third quarter, tying the game at 14-14. That score came on the first play after Shotwell intercepted a Meyer pass.

But the Mustangs would be outscored 24-7 the rest of the way as Meyer threw two more scoring passes, Sheldon Weddle kicked a 39-yard field goal and Toke Kefu ran one yard for the final score of the game with 2:30 to play.

Garnett hit Randolph with a five-yard scoring pass with seven minutes to play, cutting Eastern Washington's lead to 31-21.

Randolph finished with 10 catches for 141 yards, both career highs, and his two scoring catches tied a career high.

Cal Poly was held to just two yards rushing. Garnett was sacked five times to cut into the Mustangs' total. Adam Martinez had 38 yards on five caries while Geno Randle added 33 yards on 10 trips.

Jones matched his career high with eight catches for 163 yards.

Defensively, Cal Poly was led by linebacker Jordan Beck with 21 tackles, second-most in his four-year Mustang career. He had one sack and another 1.5 tackles for lost yardage. Shotwell finished with 13 tackles, including 1.5 sacks, and Chris Gocong had 11 tackles, including a sack.

Both Beck and Gocong are Buck Buchanan Award nominees.

Cal Poly's defense recorded six sacks, raising its season total to 31, and one interception, giving the Mustangs 19 on the year.