GREELEY, Colo. -- Northern Colorado had two ways to go
following a week of tumult that included an attack on punter Rafael
Mendoza, the arrest of a teammate suspected in the attack, and the
loss of top receiver Andy Birkel to a season-ending injury.
The Bears could have folded up their tents, two games into their
inaugural season in the Big Sky Conference, or put up a fight
against Texas State, then ranked No. 23 in the Sports Network
Division I-AA football poll. They chose the latter.
"It was a tumultuous week with a lot of distractions so we kept
the goal simple," Northern Colorado coach Scott Downing said. "We
didn't give them a lot of things to think about and gave them one
thing: Just put effort into the game."
That's not to say Mendoza was totally put off to the side. The
players remembered him in a pre-game prayer and remembered him
again after beating Texas State 14-13 Saturday.
Police arrested backup punter Mitch Cozad, of Wheatland, Wyo.,
accusing the sophomore of plunging a knife into the thigh of
Mendoza's kicking leg, hoping to take his teammate's place on the
field.
In between the Bears were all business.
"Everything turned to Texas State and we talked them about
being totally committed to playing hard," the first-year coach
said. "Focus on the one thing and that's what we did."
He said the past week actually had a galvanizing effect. It
brought the team closer together and, with distractions set aside,
might have helped eliminate what had been a troublesome area.
Northern Colorado didn't turn the ball over once at Texas State
after having nine turnovers in its first two games. The Bears won
the turnover battle, 1-0, for the first time this year.
"We concentrated on avoiding turnovers all week," Downing
said. "When you win the turnover margin you have an 80 percent
chance of winning the game."
Downing had something else to crow about. The embattled team
blocked a punt and had Matt West return it for a touchdown in the
final seven seconds of the first half.
"It wasn't as if we went for an all out block but came with
normal pressure," he said. "We blocked their protective shield
right back into the punter and blocked the punt.
"We did beat an extremely football team. That was a huge win
not only to get momentum going in the right direction for us, but
we broke an over two-year long road losing streak."
Northern Colorado hadn't won on the road since beating UC Davis
on Nov. 22, 2003.
"We hope we've put that streak and all of the distractions of
the past week behind us," Downing said.
Northern Colorado hosts Western Illinois Saturday in a
non-conference game. Western Illinois used a 184-yard rushing
performance from Travis Glasford to defeat the Bears 28-23 last
year.