Portland State Vanguard Volume 76 Issue 23

VOLUME 76 • ISSUE 23 • OCTOBER 12, 2021

VIKINGS MOVE TO 2ND PLACE IN BIG SKY CONFERENCE ARTS & CULTURE

SCIENCE & TECH

NEWS

The Oregon Symphony has a resurrection P. 4

Facebook reaches a crisis point P. 6

Where Oregonians can find rental assistance P. 7

CONTENTS

COVER BY SHANNON STEED, COVER PHOTO BY ALBERTO PUJAZON

ARTS & CULTURE AFTER 18 MONTHS, LIVE MUSIC IS BACK AT THE OREGON SYMPHONY

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NIGHTSTREAM PRESENTS WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR

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SCIENCE & TECH FACEBOOK’S MOMENT OF NO RETURN

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STAFF EDIT ORI A L EDITOR IN CHIEF Nick Gatlin MANAGING EDITOR Karisa Yuasa NEWS EDITOR Victoria Calderon PHOTO EDITOR Sofie Brandt SPORTS EDITOR Eric Shelby SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Ryan McConnell

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Béla Kurzenhauser ONLINE EDITOR Lily Hennings COPY CHIEF Mackenzie Streissguth CONTRIBUTORS Tanner Todd Analisa Landeros Allison Kirkpatrick Nova Johnson Alberto Pujazon

NEWS WHERE OREGONIANS CAN GO FOR COVID-19 FINANCIAL SUPPORT SPORTS VOLLEYBALL VIKS CONTINUE TO DOMINATE IN A 3–1 WIN OVER NAU

PHO T O A ND MULTIMEDI A MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Olivia Lee

A DV ISING & ACCOUN TING COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Reaz Mahmood

PRODUC TION & DE SIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Shannon Steed

STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT Maria Dominguez

DESIGNERS Whitney Griffith Mia Levy Astrid Luong Anastasia Pargett T ECHNOL OGY & W EB SIT E TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS Juliana Bigelow Kahela Fickle George Olson

STUDENT MEDIA TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR Corrine Nightingale To contact Portland State Vanguard, email editor@psuvanguard.com

MIS SION S TAT EMEN T Vanguard ’s mission is to serve the Portland State community with timely, accurate, comprehensive and critical content while upholding high journalistic standards. In the process, we aim to enrich our staff with quality, hands-on journalism education and a number of skills highly valued in today’s job market.

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A BOU T Vanguard, established in 1946, is published weekly as an independent student newspaper governed by the PSU Student Media Board. Views and editorial content expressed herein are those of the staff, contributors and readers and do not necessarily represent the PSU student body, faculty, staff or administration. Find us in print Tuesdays and online 24/7 at psuvanguard.com.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @psuvanguard for multimedia content and breaking news.

WE’RE HIRING Contributors International Editor & News Editor EMAIL RESUME AND COVER LETTER TO EDITOR@PSUVANGUARD.COM

PSU Vanguard • OCTOBER 12, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

AFTER 18 MONTHS, LIVE MUSIC IS BACK AT THE OREGON SYMPHONY

THE SYMPHONY OPENED THEIR RETURN SEASON WITH MAHLER’S RESURRECTION SYMPHONY THE OREGON SYMPHONY PERFORMING MAHLER'S SECOND SYMPHONY. JASON DESOMER/OREGON SYMPHONY TANNER TODD As he took the stage before a crowded theater at the Oregon Symphony, acclaimed Austrian musical director David Danzmayr introduced the night’s performance to a masked audience. The feature of the night was Mahler’s Second Symphony, better known by its subtitle, “Resurrection.”

“We chose it tonight,” Danzymyr explained through the black fabric of his mask, “because for us, it is like a resurrection.”

With the Symphony’s doors opening after being shuttered for the last 18 months, it isn’t hard to follow Danzmayr’s sentiment. For the assembly onstage, it was the first time performing in the hall before a live audience in well over a year, and for the concert-goers in the audience, the performance represented a welcome return to live music for the first time since the pandemic began.

Despite the ongoing status of the pandemic— and fears of reduced vaccine effectiveness from the new Delta variant—love of the symphony brought throngs of classical music lovers into the symphony’s red-curtained halls; among them was Oregon Governor Kate Brown, whose presence gave the event a symbolic gravity. One patron, Scott Tell, observed the concert’s larger importance, describing the rituals of the reopening night as “almost like a ceremony of state.” Everywhere the air was charged with excitement, and at the intermission, concert-

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ARTS & CULTURE

goers, young and old, enthusiastically talked about the symphony's first three movements.

The night had its own theme, whispered in the auditorium and spoken under the marquee whenever someone said the concert’s informal name: resurrection. As the crowd flooded back into the auditorium after intermission to hear the symphony’s final two movements, t h e y were washed with the sounds of M a h l e r ’s chorus, sung in their original German lines.

A translation of the lyrics tucked into the concert program captured the sentiment of the night perfectly, reading, “I died so that I may live.”

True to theme and posturing, the symphony has, in fact, improved on itself going into its self-professed rebirth. The 93-yearold building has been retrofitted with cutting-edge Meyer Constellation Acoustic Technology, bringing the nearly centuryold auditorium solidly into the 21st century.

If the hall had been filled with sound before the post-pandemic upgrade, it is practically overflowing with music now. With the new

renovations, the string section of the concert’s first movement almost vibrates the seat rests, and the percussion’s already thunderous output is given teeth-rattling force.

In the onstage assembly, the difference was felt by the performers as well. “We are all just so happy to be back in the hall, with the new sound system,” said bassoonist Nicole Haywood, after the premiere. “It’s like we’re in a brand-new hall.”

Outside of a few practice concerts, the Saturday performance was one of the first times Haywood and her colleagues had experienced the sound of Mahler’s Second in the upgraded theater. “I think our artistic product is even better...I can’t believe we get to play Mahler three more times,” she said.

Besides the physical additions to the building, some of the people filling it with music are new as well. Austrian conductor David Danzamyr is joining the symphony this season as Music Director Chair, filling the space left behind by his predecessor, veteran conductor Carlos Kalmar.

Danzamyr grew up near the birthplace of Mozart and brings almost a lifetime's worth

I DIED SO THAT I MAY LIVE.

of conducting experience to the Oregon Symphony, and his directorial debut of the 2021 season will be the first of many this year.

In the coming months of the Fall season, the Symphony is scheduled to play a live-score rendition of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, Legends of the Harlem Renaissance and more.

As much of a milestone as the symphony’s return to live music is, signs of the ongoing pandemic still cling to the venue’s operations.

Under the marquee, greeters formed an ad-hoc vaccination enforcement team, ensuring that only vaccinated ticket holders passed through the ornate brass doors. In the theater itself, the crowd was actually even fuller than it appeared—hordes of patrons were viewing the event from the safety of their homes, a seating option that could hardly be imagined 18 months ago. Onstage, the performers themselves remained masked, and even the choir had to sing their heavy German lines through black cloth masks. Only the sopranos stood maskless in the sea of covered faces, performing for an equally well-protected crowd.

But by the end of the concert, as the shocking wave of Mahler’s fifth movement swept the auditorium, all these details faded into the background, leaving behind the simple fact of the music, which seemed to capture the age-old credo: the show must go on.

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NIGHTSTREAM PRESENTS WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR A NEW BRAND OF HORROR FOR A DIGITAL GENERATION BÉLA KURZENHAUSER It was inevitable that the horror genre would play a crucial role in the early development of internet culture. Horror is most frequently a response to cultural strife, wherein fear and imagery are born from the seeds of some collective cultural disruption; the boom of slashers in the ‘70s and ‘80s was largely due to the explosion of serial killer cases and the media’s fascination and craze over them.

Modern “social horror” films have gestated out of an increasingly hostile political climate and it could be argued that the success of zombie and post-apocalyptic media in the 21st century can be owed to the modern panic over mass industrialization as well as the rise of overpopulation concerns.

The internet, from the very beginning of its existence, has fostered a specific kind of loneliness. Message boards, file-sharing websites, IRC channels and the open plains of the world wide web catered to all the disillusioned weirdos, oddjobs and isolated scavengers destitute of some real attachment to the real world. The result—a landscape familiar to anyone who grew up on the internet from the beginning of the 2000s to the

early 2010s—was a jungle of abstract, terrifying imagery, a library of r/nosleep stories of the paranormal and distressing and a vast, Daedalian labyrinth suited perfectly for the collective, creative individuals seeking to be truly terrified out of their mind.

The first thought that is most apparent when watching Jane Schoenbrun’s explosively bizarre fiction feature debut We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is that its presence is not just merely an outcome of the internet age, but an alchemical congealing of internet artistry and filmmaking. This is less so a film influenced by the internet and more so a film that embodies every facet the internet possesses, detailing an intricate panorama of internet culture and hysteria that is certainly familiar to veterans of the digital era.

It’s challenging to talk about We’re All Going to the World’s Fair without inadvertently exposing what makes it tick. It is, loosely, a coming-of-age film about a girl named Casey who decides one night to take the “World’s Fair challenge.” As the weeks and months progress, she documents the strange changes occurring to her as a result of the challenge. She

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uploads these videos to the internet, catching the attention of others, including a concerned observer.

Appropriately, the film is shot quite nontraditionally. The few conversations in the film are captured as screen recordings over Skype, and a large majority of scenes are filmed through Casey’s laptop camera as if the whole movie was just an extended vlog— which, in a sense, it is. Additional sporadic videos filmed by Casey or other anonymous users blend together into a stream of consciousness, acting as an interlude between scenes depicting her deprecating condition. Here, the internet is a tangible entity, whose grooves and rough edges are tactile, granting the entire film a specific kind of texture that’s elevated by the way it’s shot. Digital noise coats every shot, making the film feel like it’s always about to peel off its own skin.

It’d be remiss to label We’re All Going to the World’s Fair as just a horror film. Attempting to assign it to any genre is a challenge due to the lack of structural formalism found in the film, but in regards to proximity, it is closest to the horror genre not just due to the un-

settling atmosphere found in its depiction of loneliness and internet paranoia but also due to its themes that connect it to the larger “social horror” subgenre. If Cronenberg sought to depict body horror as an analogue for the effects of modern society and technology on the human condition, then Schoenbrun uses the established techniques of the horror and thriller genres to display the degrading effect of the internet on the psyche.

This kind of digital horror isn’t exactly a new thing. Films like Unfriended and Host have attempted to relay stories of the new through the frame of a computer screen and small indie horror games have helped to revolutionize horror for a new generation. As We’re All Going to the World’s Fair rolls out of film festivals and into theaters and HBO Max early next year, one can hope its freshness and innovation will inspire and rejuvenate a new era of internet horror. To quote legendary horror icon John Carpenter: ”Horror never does go away. It’s always there.”

CASEY (ANNA COBB) RECORDING A VIDEO. WE'RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD'S FAIR/NIGHTSTREAM

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SECTION

FAC E BOO K’S

MOMENT OF NO RETURN THE COMPANY FACES A CRISIS OVER OUTAGES, WHISTLEBLOWERS AND PROFIT—AND POLITICAL PRESSURE OVER WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT RYAN MCCONNELL Facebook Inc. has had quite a rough start to the month.

On Oct. 4, 2021, from about 11:40 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. EST, Facebook encountered a nearly six-hour outage affecting all of its encompassing products, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. In an ironic twist, the news was publicized from Facebook via Twitter.

The cause of the outage, Facebook claims, was due to themselves and not a hack. The routers that Facebook’s internal systems rely upon to network traffic had an error occur in its update, causing a cascade effect that shut down not just its products, but its own major internal systems.

Employees reported they had to literally break into their own offices because the headquarter’s security and access system wasn’t operational.

It was reported that a second outage hit Facebook’s systems on Oct. 9, although it did not affect the entire user base, nor were there reports that Facebook’s internal systems were down during the second outage.

For many consumers in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries, the loss of social media was an inconvenience. However, in many parts of the world, including developing countries, Facebook functionally acts as the entire Internet, and the outage shut off many essential services and communications for these countries. Many small businesses in the U.S. also rely heavily upon Facebook’s platforms for their own revenue and product placement, many coming from businesses run by people from marginalized communities.

That, however, was not the only headline that appeared with Facebook’s name on it this week.

On Tuesday, Oct. 5, former Facebook data scientist and whistleblower Frances Haugen testified before a Senate subcommittee. The details of her accounts bring to light many of the well-

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SCIENCE & TECH

FACEBOOK WHISTLEBLOWER FRANCES HAUGEN TESTIFIES BEFORE THE SENATE ON TUESDAY, OCT. 5, 2021. DREW ANGERER/AP IMAGES guarded secrets Facebook holds in what could be Facebook Inc.’s most historic scandal, surpassing the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

In the testimony, Haugen released internal research regarding how Instagram was negatively affecting the mental health of young teens, and how the company was researching and targeting children under the age of 13.

When personal information is collected by an ad network for targeted advertising, this ad network comes into direct violation of COPPA, or

the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The problem Haugen expressed in her testimony is that, while Facebook may not directly save or record personal information about a user under the age of 18, its algorithm’s artificial intelligence, or AI, can still create targeted ads towards younger demographics because of how the algorithm is designed.

The information Haugen provided brought forth a substantial amount of concerning data regarding how Facebook’s AI algorithms and en-

gagement-based ranking, or EBR, can both lead users down a rabbit hole of misinformation that they can’t get out of.

In the leaked documents, internal research within Facebook showed how seemingly innocuous ads, such as ads for healthy eating recipes, can steer young women towards pro-anorexia advertisements and groups within a substantially short amount of time.

Other important information included the faulty safety mechanisms behind how Facebook curbs misinformation and virality.

Facebook’s safety mechanisms and content moderation are only able to curb roughly 13% of its misinformation content online, and these safety mechanisms stop working on users who scroll over 2,000 posts a day. These users also tend to be the most vulnerable demographics, such as recently widowed individuals.

This testimony was the first glimpse into the realities of Facebook and how it operates. Facebook is driven entirely by metrics inside a one-room office stretching a quarter mile long. Its modus operandi is both its driving force and its biggest threat, according to Frances Haugen.

In a space driven entirely by profits, growth and short term metrics, where each employee is working in parallel with their colleagues, there is no one able to step up and make decisions that enable the platform to enact systems that keep its users safe.

This is a pivotal moment for Facebook—and perhaps a moment of no return. Now that individuals are given a glimpse into the tech giant’s underbelly, it’s vital that the U.S. government act to make change inside Facebook’s operations.

Otherwise, its users and the generations that follow will be at a substantial risk to their mental health and safety.

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WHERE OREGONIANS CAN GO FOR COVID-19 FINANCIAL SUPPORT

HOW TO ACCESS SUPPORT AND GRANTS FOR RENTAL ASSISTANCE, UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF AND MORE

VICTORIA CALDERON For Oregonians struggling to find financial stability due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the place to start looking for rental and utility assistance is the Oregon Emergency Rental Assistance Program (OREAP) which, according to the program’s website, “helps eligible low-income households with their past due rent and utilities.” A collective total of $280 million was allocated to Oregon, the City of Portland and counties within the state, using funds from the federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program.

After most applications are approved, rent is sent directly to landlords and bill payments to utility providers, rather than sent to renters themselves. After submitting an application, eligible applicants receive “initial approval,” a letter that can be provided to landlords and rental properties to avoid eviction.

OREAP funds cover three months of future rent and twelve previous months’ rent, excluding anything before March 2020.

Currently, applications take more than 90 days to be reviewed, and if rent payments are made while an application is being processed, OREAP will not cover them. OREAP funds apply only to unpaid or future rent owed to the landlord or utility company.

Smaller organizations like FreeFrom have been providing safety grants, typically several hundred dollars, to victims of domestic abuse. More information on this organization, including how to apply for financial assistance can be found on their website, https://www.freefrom.org.

Haymarket Pole Collective, a sex-worker relief fund, has also provided grants, equipment and safety supplies throughout the pandemic. The organization holds events and offers gift cards and grants for things like missed wages, food and housing. While the organization is focused primarily on serving Black, Indigenous, and people of color, the Haymarket Pole Collective also provides resources and information for all sex workers. For more information see https://www.haymarketpole.com.

The Living Room Youth in Clackamas County, Oregon, is an organization that has provided a safe space and support for LGBTQ+ youth (ages 14–20) for years. Since the start of the pandemic, the organization has changed its assistance models and is now doing hybrid style meetings. More information can be found at https://www.thelivingroomyouth.org.

The Oregon Workers Relief Fund is “a program that provides financial relief to Oregonians who have lost wages due to the pandemic but are denied unemployment insurance and federal stimulus relief due to their immigration status,” according to a press release sent to the PDX Food Press. According to the statement, those who have already received a one-time temporary disaster relief payment through the program will be issued second payments, as well as allowing new applicants to receive relief. The organization works to improve conditions for undocumented workers by supporting those who were unable to receive the complete pandemic payments or potentially not receive any at all. Assistance is available to all racial and eth-

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nic groups and provides a much needed resource for those who are unable to qualify for other assistance based on documentation status. More information on them can be found at https:// workerrelief.org.

Portland State students may also locate sources of financial assistance in communications sent out from the university, as well as major, club or departmental emails. Additionally, the Financial Wellness Center is the on-campus resource with availability for students to speak with financial coaches, and Student Financial Services continues to have an open petition for students to file an appeal if COVID-19 has impacted a student’s, or their family’s, income to reevaluate their financial aid award.

Many Portlanders are still struggling to find financial stability due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The development and availability of vaccines have enabled many businesses and campuses across the United States to reopen. However, global COVID-19 hot spots still present risks to human and economic health.

While the U.S. government approved three pandemic-related relief payments, many Americans are still financially unstable, facing risks of potential foreclosures, debt collections and back rent. Almost two years into the pandemic, people are still feeling the reverberating effects of COVID-19, while accessing grants, funds and other forms of financial assistance is often easier said than done.

ASTRID LUONG

NEWS

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VOLLEYBALL VIKS CONTINUE TO DOMINATE IN A 3-1 WIN OVER NAU VIKINGS ARE NOW TIED FOR SECOND PLACE IN THE BIG SKY CONFERENCE

ERIC SHELBY

VOLLEYBALL

The Vikings had their first home game on campus with classes back in session and swept Southern Utah 3–0 just like their last opponents. PSU dominated all around in all three sets (25–14, 25–16, 25–19). Senior Maddy Reeb had a total of 10 kills and three blocks. Senior Parker Webb had six kills and two blocks and led the team with three aces. Senior Zoe McBride and sophomore Ashleigh Barto both had four blocks.

Their 12–set winning streak was cut short when the Viks played the Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona. The Jacks won the first set 25–18 catching the Vikings off guard, but Portland State bounced back and won the next three sets (25–20, 25–21, 25–19). Outside Hitter Makayla Lewis led the team with 15 kills and one ace in that match.

Parker Webb wasn’t far behind with 13 kills, three blocks and one ace.

Portland State Vanguard spoke with Webb and Lewis after the match.

“The first set we definitely came out a little bit slower,” Webb said, “but, for us, when we’re in a huddle and we’re talking to our teammates...we all know who we can be and what we work on every single day in practice. And if we just come through with that energy, there’s nothing that we should worry about. You have to want it more than the team that’s across from us.”

“It helps a lot to just have someone there to want you to do better,” Lewis said, “so our teammates are pushing us to want to get that same kill that we want to get—but it’s not only us enjoying that kill, everybody’s getting a part of it.”

With Northern Arizona holding a 4–2 conference record, this

was the first challenge Portland State has had in a while.

“Every team is completely different, so we start off by scouting them, seeing what their hitters do, seeing what their blocks do,” Webb said. Regarding the team’s ability to make changes mid game, Webb spoke about their constant communication and ensuring that if “someone else is seeing something that we can’t see, we tell them.”

The Viks have now won five straight games and are currently sitting tied for second with Northern Colorado in the Big Sky Conference, at 5–1 and 11–6 overall. Weber State is still in first place with a clean 6–0 record in conference play. The Viks have a lot of volleyball to play with 10 games left of the regular season. They start their three– game road trip to Montana, Montana State and Sacramento, before they head back to the Pavillion to play Northern Colorado on Oct. 23.

VIKINGS CHEERING ON THE SIDELINES BEFORE THE WINNING POINT OF THE GAME IS SCORED. ALBERTO ALONSO PUJAZON BOGANI/PSU VANGUARD

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SPORTS

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WOMEN’S SOCCER

The Park Block Vikings played Montana on Oct. 3, resulting in a draw in double overtime. Portland State now has one win, one loss and one tie in conference play, making their overall record 3–6–1 with Montana now at 7–4–1 (3–0–1).

Abi Hoffman had three shots, with one shot on goal, that match and Chloe Huling had two shots, with one shot on goal. Even though Montana outshot Portland State 19 to 11, Vikings goalkeeper Sidney O’Billovich gave the team their first clean sheet of the season with nine saves in this match. The Viks came back home and couldn’t get it done with the Eagles, whose early goal in the minute 22 was enough to secure their win. This was a slow match with the Eagles having only 11 shots with six shots on goal, and Portland State having 20 shots with six on goal. Hoffman had almost all of the team’s shots on goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Sidney O’Billovich had a total of five saves in that match, leaving the Viks now 3–7–1 and 1–2–1 in conference play this season.

In their next match against the University of Idaho, Portland State completed a comeback win over the Vandals 3–2 in overtime. After being down 2–0 at the half, with Idaho goals in minutes 23 and 26, the Vikings turned things around with goals

by Chloe Huling and a late, minute 94 penalty kick by Sienna Higginbotham to win the match. The Viks had a season high total of 28 shots in the match, with nine on goal, while Idaho only had 11 shots, though nine were on goal.

The Viks advance to 4–7–1 and 2–2–1 in conference play.

With only 4 games left in the season, the Viks look to rise in the standings. Their next home game is Friday, Oct. 22, playing Southern Utah after a two game road trip to Idaho state and Weber State. The final match of the regular season is Sunday, Oct. 24, on home turf against Northern Arizona.

FOOTBALL

Portland State traveled to Moscow, Idaho to play the Vandals after an impressive 20–13 win. The Vandals dropped 21 points on the Vikings in just the first quarter, very reminiscent of the Hawai’i season opener. The Viks only scored 14 in the first half of the game, making the score 35–14 Idaho. After a quiet, non– scoring third quarter, Idaho eased up on their game and Portland State’s offense took control of the game in the fourth quarter.

PSU made 34 first downs and 2–4 on third down conversions that game, while Idaho only had 17 first downs and 1–1 on third down conversions. The fourth quarter was when the Vikings woke up and dropped 21 come–from–behind points.

Quarterback Davis Alexander went long in the fourth quarter in a 71–yard pass to Mataio Talalemotu for a touchdown, to bring it to a one–possession game. The score was 35–28 Vandals with 11:16 left in the game. Idaho brought the lead back to two possessions after the Vikings 71–yard touchdown. There was only 7:50 left for the Viks to score 14 points to tie the game.

PSU made first down after first down with 4:55 left in the game. Alexander threw for 26 to Talalemotu to bring the game back to one touchdown. The Vikings’ defense forced Idaho to go fourth and seven in Vikings territory on the 30–yard line.

The Vandals went for it on fourth, in hopes to win the game right there, right now. With only 1:21 left, the Vandals got their first down and then some. With 27 seconds left on the clock, the Vandals had the ball on the Vikings’ 10.

Instead of kneeling or wasting time on the clock, Idaho attempted to run it and make it a touchdown—except that didn’t happen. Idaho fumbled the ball which was amazingly recovered by the Vikings. The Viks didn’t have much time left and they were only down by a touchdown, looking to bring the game to overtime. Alexander—and the rest of the

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OUTSIDE HITTER GABBY HOLLINS SPIKING THE BALL TO NAU. ALBERTO ALONSO PUJAZON BOGANI/PSU VANGUARD

Viks—have a whole 97 yards to get to the Vandals’ endzone.

First down by first down, the Viks made it to the 47–yard line with only two seconds left in the game.

Looking for overtime, Alexander had no choice but to throw a Hail Mary to the end of the field. Idaho swatted it and the clock went to zero. The Vikings have tied season–high for most points in a game at 35, the same points they scored in Hawai’i. But the Vikings couldn’t complete the comeback, losing 42–35.

The Vandals advance to 2–3, leaving the Vikings now 2–4 this season, 1–2 in conference play. The Vikings out passed the Vandals 424 to 288 and the Vandals outran the Vikings 236 to 164. Alexander went 32–48 with 424 yards and four touchdowns.

Senior running back Malik Walker was a powerhouse with 26 carries for 126 yards. Junior wide receiver Mataio Talalemotu had 12 receptions for 196 yards. Wide receiver Beau Kelly, right behind him, had seven receptions for 119 yards. Kelly averaged 17 yards per carry that game. Both Kelly and Talalemotu had a pair of touchdowns to give the Viks their season high 35 points.

Portland State will now travel home next week, hosting the Idaho State Bengals on Saturday, Oct. 16. The Bengals upset No. 7 ranked University of California, Davis in a 27– 17 win, giving them their first win of the season after four straight losses to start their season. The game starts at 2:05 p.m. at Hillsboro Stadium and on ESPN+.

SECTION SPORTS

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