2015 Portland State Vikings football team

The 2015 Portland State Vikings football team represented Portland State University during the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by head coach Bruce Barnum and played their home games at Providence Park, with one home game at Hillsboro Stadium. They were a member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 9–3, 6–2 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they lost in the second round to Northern Iowa.

2015 Portland State Vikings football
FCS Playoffs Second Round vs Northern Iowa, L 17–29
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 10
FCS Coaches	No. 10
2015 record	9–3 (6–2 Big Sky)
Head coach	Bruce Barnum (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Steve Morton
Defensive coordinator	Malik Roberson
Home stadium	Providence Park (Capacity: 20,674) Hillsboro Stadium (Capacity: 7,600)

2015 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 18 Southern Utah $^		7	–	1					8	–	4
No. 10 Portland State ^		6	–	2					9	–	3
No. 14 Montana ^		6	–	2					8	–	5
North Dakota		5	–	3					7	–	4
Northern Arizona		5	–	3					7	–	4
Eastern Washington		5	–	3					6	–	5
Weber State		5	–	3					6	–	5
Northern Colorado		3	–	5					6	–	5
Montana State		3	–	5					5	–	6
Cal Poly		3	–	5					4	–	7
UC Davis		2	–	6					2	–	9
Idaho State		1	–	7					2	–	9
Sacramento State		1	–	7					2	–	9
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

On October 10, 2015, the Vikings beat North Texas, 66–7. The 59 point margin was the largest margin of victory by an FCS team over an FBS team since the split of NCAA Division I football in 1978 into the groupings now known as FBS and FCS.[1] Portland State also became the first FCS team to defeat two FBS teams in the same season since North Dakota State in 2007.[2]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	11:00 am	at Washington State (FBS)*		Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	P12N	W 24–17	24,302
September 12	3:05 pm	at No. 23 Idaho State	No. 24	Holt Arena Pocatello, ID	WBS	W 34–14	7,075
September 26	2:05 pm	Western Oregon*	No. 17	Providence Park Portland, OR	WBS	W 31–0	5,017
October 3	2:05 pm	North Dakota	No. 16	Hillsboro Stadium Hillsboro, OR	WBS	L 17–19	4,765
October 10	2:00 pm	at North Texas (FBS)*	No. 25	Apogee Stadium Denton, TX		W 66–7	19,801
October 17	12:30 pm	No. 16 Montana State	No. 17	Providence Park Portland, OR	RTNW	W 59–42	8,110
October 24	6:05 pm	at Cal Poly	No. 14	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA		W 38–35	11,075
October 31	2:05 pm	No. 17 Montana	No. 12	Providence Park Portland, OR	WBS	W 35–16	11,045
November 7	11:00 am	at Northern Colorado	No. 10	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	WBS	L 32–35	4,173
November 14	2:05 pm	No. 18 Southern Utah	No. 15	Providence Park Portland, OR	WBS	W 24–23	6,122
November 21	2:05 pm	at No. 18 Eastern Washington	No. 11	Roos Field Cheney, WA (The Dam Cup)	WBS	W 34–31	8,649
December 5	7:00 pm	No. 15 Northern Iowa*	No. 5	Providence Park Portland, OR (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	L 17–29	8,022
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

[3]

Game summaries

at Washington State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings	0	0	10	14	24
Cougars	3	7	0	7	17

at Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#24 Vikings	17	7	7	3	34
#23 Bengals	7	7	0	0	14

Western Oregon

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wolves	0	0	0	0	0
#17 Vikings	0	17	7	7	31

North Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
North Dakota	3	3	10	3	19
#16 Vikings	7	3	7	0	17

at North Texas

	1	2	3	4	Total
#25 Vikings	14	31	14	7	66
Mean Green	0	0	0	7	7

Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#16 Bobcats	14	7	21	0	42
#17 Vikings	14	21	21	3	59

at Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
#14 Vikings	13	0	15	10	38
Mustangs	14	0	14	7	35

Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
#17 Grizzlies	0	10	0	6	16
#12 Vikings	7	14	7	7	35

at Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
#10 Vikings	7	10	0	15	32
Bears	14	7	7	7	35

Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
#18 Thunderbirds	10	0	7	6	23
#15 Vikings	7	10	0	7	24

at Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
#11 Vikings	13	0	14	7	34
#18 Eagles	10	7	0	14	31

FCS Playoffs

Second Round–Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
#15 Panthers	7	9	0	13	29
#5 Vikings	0	3	7	7	17

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	NR	24	19	17	16	25	17	14	12	10 (1)	15	11	5	10
Coaches	NR	RV	20	18	16	23	17	13	12	9–T	16	11	5	10

References

1. Vito, Brett (October 10, 2015). "North Texas' Dan McCarney Fired Following Mean Green's 66–7 Loss to FCS School". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
2. Sherman, Rodger (October 10, 2015). "FCS Portland State Beat North Texas So Badly, the Mean Green Immediately Fired Their Head Coach". SB Nation. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
3. "Football Schedule". Portland State University Department of Athletics. Retrieved March 13, 2014.