BRANDON: Keeping an eye on … Nigel Burton and Henry Furman

Published 12:00 am Friday, November 22, 2013

Two things I’m keeping an eye on:

How does Saturday go for Portland State football coach Nigel Burton, who is wrapping up his fourth season on the Park Blocks, and Yale quarterback Henry Furman, who hails from Lincoln High.

• Can Burton’s Vikings shock Big Sky leader Eastern Washington in their game at Cheney?

Or will PSU lose and finish the year 6-6 overall?

The bigger question is, what happens to Burton after Saturday? He reportedly has one year left on his contract — a year that would be as a lame duck unless the Vikings give him an extension.

Burton says the Vikings just need to be more consistent.

“We’ve played some unbelievably good football at times,” he says. “And other games we haven’t been able to figure out what’s going on.”

The Vikings are coming off a 43-42 home loss to Sacramento State. Late in the game, PSU turned down a short field-goal opportunity that could have given the Viks an eight-point lead. The Vikings failed to convert on fourth-and-1, then allowed Sac State to drive 85 yards for the winning touchdown with 30 seconds to go.

And the thing is, it wasn’t the first time in recent years the Vikings have blown a lead in creative fashion and lost a winnable game in the final moments. That kind of stuff didn’t help Jerry Glanville keep his job at PSU, either.

There’s been plenty of Jekyll and Hyde the Vikings for years. Big Sky football is known for some wild games and crazy finishes, and PSU has lost in some very Hyde ways.

One thing the Vikings have showed in the Burton era, previously with Cory McCaffrey and former QB Connor Kavanaugh and now with running back DJ Adams, is that they can produce a lot of yards on the ground when Burton points the pistol offense that direction.

However, avoiding turnovers, playing solid defense and being consistent, as Burton says, have been more the issues.

Saturday will be Adams’ final game as a Viking. He has 1,456 yards and 18 TDs this season, averaging 6.4 per carry.

PSU has gone through three quarterbacks this season, lately settling on (and for the most part winning with) Collin Ramirez, who sat much of the season as the third-stringer.

The Vikings are still a ways from being in Eastern Washington’s neighborhood — the Eagles are ranked third in the nation and, with a victory on Saturday, figure to be a high seed in the 24-team FCS playoffs.

PSU’s six victories this season have come against NAIA Eastern Oregon, D-II Humboldt State and four Big Sky teams that have a combined conference record of 7-22.

The Vikings are 3-4 in the Big Sky, which puts them ninth out of 13 teams.

Their signature win, so to speak, was against UC Davis, which is 4-3 in the conference, 4-7 overall.

PSU also beat North Dakota (2-6, 3-8), Weber State (0-7, 1-10) and Idaho State (1-6, 3-8).

Are they becoming more like a Jekyll, let alone a program that can be near the top every year like Eastern Washington, Montana and Montana State?

Athletic director Torre Chisholm, who was traveling to the Midwest on Friday and could not be reached for comment, will have to decide what identity he sees in the PSU football program after the Vikings take their shot at a huge upset on Saturday.

• Henry Furman wraps up his Ivy League career with not just the biggest game, but with The Game — Harvard at Yale, 9 a.m. PT (NBC Sports).

What a ride it’s been for the former PIL Cardinal. The 6-4, 210-pound Furman, who in a way was more of a baseball player as a youth, got moved to wide receiver last season after a couple of years as a Yale JV QB. He did well out wide, catching nine passes and scoring a touchdown in six games.

But injuries to three Yale signal-callers led to the Bulldogs turning to him as their emergency quarterback, and he responded. He played well enough down the stretch to earn a shot at the starting job for 2013.

One of his memorable performances last year came off the bench at Harvard. Twice, he rallied underdog Yale from deficits, and he completed 13 of 20 passes for 158 yards and a TD, with one interception, but the Crimson Tide pulled out a 34-24 victory.

Furman has started most of this season at QB, although he has missed the last 1 1/2 games with a shoulder injury. He set a school record for single-game completion percentage, hitting 29 of 36 passes (80.5 percent) versus Cornell. He also leads the team in rushing touchdowns, with six.

But, as been the case in recent years, Yale is a decided underdog going into the Harvard game.

Harvard still has an outside shot at first place in the Ivy League, with 6-0 Princeton going to Dartmouth. Harvard is 5-1 in league play, 8-1 overall.

Yale is 3-3 in the Ivy, 5-4 overall.

Yale leads the storied series, which began in 1875, 65-56-8, but Harvard has won the last six years and 11 of the past 12 meetings.

It’ll be a big day at 99-year-old Yale Bowl, with a lot of eyes on the former quarterback at Lincoln High.

Basketball update

An update from previous column mentions:

• Shoni Schimmel scored 13 points Thursday night and sister Jude Schimmel had 7 points and 4 assists to help the fourth-ranked Louisville women beat Ohio 90-33 and improve to 5-0. Louisville is home again Sunday against 4-0 Florida State

• Terrence Ross of the Toronto Raptors had a season highs 17 points and seven rebounds Wednesday in a 108-98 win at Philadelphia. Ross, who has been coming off the bench at shooting guard in his second season, played 32 minutes. The former Jefferson High player made 7 of 11 shots from the field.

• Terrence Jones had another good game as Houston’s starting power forward, but the Rockets lost 123-120 Wednesday at Dallas. Jones had 18 points, going 8 of 13 from the field. The Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki scored 35, however.

• Nigel Williams-Goss, the freshman point guard for the University of Washington who used to live in Happy Valley, had 13 points, five rebounds and three assists as the Huskies (2-2) fell 102-84 Thursday night to Indiana (5-0) at Madison Square Garden. UW plays Boston College at MSG in a Friday consolation game.