Montana State football coach Rob Ash said Wednesday he and his staff are unsure who will start at quarterback Saturday against Portland State.

Cody Kempt and Mark Iddins have shared duties under center in the last two weeks.

"We don't know for sure who is going to start yet," Ash said, adding that offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Jim Svoboda "is keeping it up for grabs this week. They split reps in practice yesterday. We do know we're going to use both guys. We'll play both of them in the first half."

After throwing for nearly 400 yards in relief of a struggling Iddins two weeks ago at Eastern Washington, Kempt earned the starting job last week versus Idaho State.

But Iddins came in for Kempt later and played the majority of the game, throwing for 169 yards in a 41-10 win.

"I bet this week we won't know until Friday," Ash said. "Coach Svoboda is going to split the reps between them in practice and then we'll sit down and talk about it.

"We're trying to create a situation with those guys where it doesn't matter who plays first."

Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. Mountain time at PGE Park in Portland, Ore.