Cal Poly to Visit No. 7/8 Eastern Washington for Big Sky Game Saturday
10/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | EWU | BIG SKY
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PRESS CONFERENCE: TIM WALSH
BIG SKY TELECONFERENCE CALL
THIS WEEK IN THE BIG SKY: CHRIS BROWN
1990 CAL POLY FOOTBALL TEAM HONORED
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly (2-3, 1-1 Big Sky), which fell out of the polls following losses to Arizona State, Northern Iowa and Montana State but snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over Idaho State last week, continues Big Sky play Saturday afternoon in Cheney, Wash., against three-time defending conference champion and No. 7/8 Eastern Washington (2-2, 1-0 Big Sky) at Roos Field (8,600).
The game features the No. 1 rushing offense in the Football Championship Subdivision (the Mustangs average 363.8 yards per game on the ground) against the top-ranked passing offense in the FCS (the Eagles are accumulating 466.3 yards per game through the air).
Kickoff is set for 1:05 p.m. PDT and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN Radio (1280 am) with Tom Barket calling the play-by-play and Eric Burdick serving as an analyst. The contest also will be televised in the Spokane area by SWX. Links for video and audio streams as well as live stats are available at the top of this page as well as on the football schedule page at www.GoPoly.com.
Eastern Washington, which was ranked No. 9 in both the coaches and media FCS polls last week, had a bye. The Eagles opened their 2015 campaign with a 62-41 loss at Oregon and also fell 38-35 at Northern Iowa a week later before turning things around with a 55-50 non-conference triumph over Montana State. Eastern Washington opened Big Sky play two weeks ago with a 28-20 victory at Sacramento State, overcoming a 20-7 halftime deficit as Jordan West completed 29 of 47 passes for 491 yards and three touchdowns. Cooper Kupp, the national leader in most receiving categories, caught 10 passes for 133 yards and a pair of scores while Kendrick Bourne added seven receptions for 204 yards, including a 98-yard scoring strike from West.
Cal Poly, ranked as high as No. 17 by the media and No. 18 by the coaches before the loss at Montana State two weeks ago, defeated Idaho State 58-26, scoring 24 third-quarter points and taking advantage of two Bengal fumbles early in the period to pull away. Slot back Kori Garcia rushed for 146 yards and three touchdowns while quarterback Chris Brown added 132 rushing yards and two scores while passing for two more TDs, both to Willie Tucker. Cal Poly amassed 499 rushing yards, 605 total yards, 30 first downs and had a 39:24 to 20:36 advantage in time of possession.
Cal Poly had fallen behind 21-0 in the first quarter in each of its previous two games against Northern Iowa and Montana State and never scored first in its first four games this season. Against Idaho State, however, the Mustangs never trailed, opening up 14-0 and 21-7 advantages and leading 28-20 at halftime before scoring the first 21 points of the second half en route to the victory.
Coached by Tim Walsh (seventh season, 41-33, UC Riverside '77), Cal Poly began its 97th season of football with 42 returning lettermen, including 16 who started at least five games a year ago, nine on offense and seven on defense. Brown heads the list of veterans after rushing for 1,265 yards, passing for 1,465 yards and accounting for 30 touchdowns a year ago.
Other top returnees include Garcia (1,039 yards rushing, 17 receptions in 2014), senior center Stephen Sippel, senior offensive tackle Weston Walker, junior defensive tackle Marcus Paige-Allen (40 tackles), junior defensive end Josh Letuligasenoa (65 tackles), senior linebacker Burton De Koning (43 tackles) and senior cornerbacks Chris Fletcher (68 tackles, 10 breakups) and Karlton Dennis (44 tackles, three interceptions).
A year ago, Cal Poly beat Montana 41-21 as Brown rushed for 226 yards, a school record for a quarterback, and two touchdowns. That was part of a five-game winning streak that propelled the Mustangs to a 6-3 mark and in position to capture the Big Sky title and a spot in the FCS playoffs. Back-to-back losses to Idaho State and UC Davis, however, dashed those hopes.
Cal Poly football, presented by French Hospital Medical Center, was No. 1 in the FCS in rushing offense (309.1) in 2013 and duplicated the feat last fall by averaging 351.8 yards on the ground. Cal Poly's 4,221 yards rushing and 44 touchdowns shattered both school records as well as the Big Sky marks it set in 2012 when the Mustangs finished third in the nation in rushing offense.
The Mustangs' Triple Option spread offense netted 470 yards against Portland State, 452 against Southern Utah, 393 at Sacramento State, 421 versus Montana, 376 against Montana State, 425 at Idaho State and 341 against San Diego. Cal Poly compiled at least 450 yards of total offense in each of its last 10 games in the 2014 season.
This fall through five games, Cal Poly is No. 1 again in the FCS in rushing offense (363.8 yards per game), No. 6 in first downs (119), No. 10 in time of possession (33:43), No. 13 in interceptions allowed, No. 16 in sacks allowed (4) and No. 17 in turnover margin (+6). Brown is No. 7 in the FCS in rushing yards (529) and rushing touchdowns (6) while senior linebacker Tu'uta Inoke is No. 2 with his four forced fumbles. Junior safety B.J. Nard is No. 18 with his three interceptions.
Coached by Beau Baldwin (eighth season at Eastern Washington (69-27), ninth year overall (79-30), Central Washington '96), Eastern Washington returned 43 lettermen, including 13 offensive and defensive starters, off last year's team which went 11-3 overall, finished first in the Big Sky Conference at 7-1 and split two games in the FCS playoffs. The Eagles, members of the Big Sky Conference since 1987, have earned 11 FCS playoff berths -- winning the 2010 national title and reaching the semifinals in 1997 and 2012 -- and have won or shared eight Big Sky titles.
For the season, West has completed 97 of 134 passes (72.4 percent) for 1,543 yards and 15 touchdowns in four games. Kupp has 46 catches for 759 yards and 10 scores while Bourne has made 24 receptions for 430 yards and five touchdowns. Top Eagle rusher is Jabari Wilson with 313 yards, a 5.6 average per carry, and five scores. Jordan Dascalo averages 36.5 yards per punt while Simba Webster is averaging 21.6 yards per kickoff return. Defensive leaders for the Eagles are defensive back Miles Weatheroy with 33 tackles, linebacker Alek Kacmarcik with 32 tackles, including two sacks, and linebacker Miquiyah Zamora with 31 tackles.
Eastern Washington is averaging 590.5 yards in total offense per game -- 124 on the ground and 466 through the air -- and scoring 40 points a contest while giving up 567 yards (313 rushing, 254 passing) and 42.3 points per game. The Eagles are 28-3 in their last 31 Big Sky games since an 0-2 start in 2011.
Baldwin was 10-3 as head coach at Central Washington in 2007. He is in his 22nd season as a coach, including 10 at Central Washington (one as head coach in 2007) and 12 at Eastern Washington (eight as head coach from 2008-present). Baldwin played quarterback for four seasons at Central Washington.
Cal Poly and Eastern Washington will be playing each other in football for the eighth time Saturday. Eastern Washington has a 5-2 series advantage after defeating the Mustangs 35-22 in 2013 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. The Eagles jumped to a 35-3 lead and never looked back. Eastern Washington edged Cal Poly 53-51 in triple overtime in 2011, also in San Luis Obispo.
The two teams played back-to-back in 1994-95 and 2004-05, with the home team winning each time. Tim Walsh is 7-11 against Eastern Washington -- 0-1 while coaching at Sonoma State, 7-7 while at Portland State and 0-3 at Cal Poly -- while Beau Baldwin is 3-0 against Cal Poly.
Cal Poly's offensive leaders through five games are Brown with 529 rushing yards and six scores, fullback Joe Protheroe with 433 yards and two touchdowns and Garcia with 367 yards and four scores. Brown has completed 31 of 63 passes (49.2 percent) for 324 yards and six touchdowns, but has yet to surpass the 100-yard mark in passing in a single game this season. Slot back DJ Peluso has seven receptions, Willie Tucker six and Garcia five for the Mustangs.
Topping the defensive chart in tackles are senior linebacker Tu'uta Inoke with 48 and junior safety B.J. Nard with 36. Inoke also has forced four fumbles, No. 2 in the FCS, while Nard's three interceptions, all against Montana on Sept. 5, place him No. 18 in the FCS. Linebacker R.J. Mazolewski and end Logan Mayes each has two sacks.
Cal Poly is averaging 363.8 yards rushing, 67.0 yards passing and 430.8 yards in total offense while scoring 29.4 points a contest. The 58 points tallied against Idaho State last week are the most since Cal Poly beat the Bengals 70-14 in 2012.
A year ago, Garcia became the 18th Mustang to surpass 1,000 yards rushing and the second that season. Brown became the first Mustang quarterback to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season when he gained 195 yards at Idaho State. Brown also holds the Big Sky single-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback. Old mark of 1,060 was set by Connor Kavanaugh of Portland State in 2011.
The Mustangs were the first team in the Big Sky to produce a pair of 1,000-yard rushers in a single season since 1983 when Nevada accomplished the feat. Cal Poly is the only FCS school to produce two 1,000-yard rushers last season.
Cal Poly, which captured the 2012 Big Sky title in its first year in the conference, was picked by head coaches this summer to finish fourth in the Big Sky and fifth by the media. Montana State was picked by the coaches to win the Big Sky crown; the media chose Eastern Washington.
A year ago, Cal Poly rallied from a 1-3 start to win six of its last eight games and averaged nearly 34 points and 483 yards per contest offensively. The Mustangs defeated perennial Big Sky powers and NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoff qualifiers Montana and Montana State on back-to-back Saturdays at home and ended the 2014 campaign with a convincing 34-3 victory against Pioneer League champion San Diego. Montana, Montana State and San Diego all earned FCS playoff berths.
While the offense lost just three starters -- Howe, slot back/return specialist Chris Nicholls and tackle Miles Williams (who has switched to the defensive line) -- the defense spent time at Fall Camp finding suitable replacements for linebackers Nick Dzubnar (school record 167 tackles in 2014) and Cameron Ontko (108 tackles for second straight year) along with safeties Jordan Williams (46 tackles, three interceptions) and Dave Douglas (44 tackles) and linemen Chris Lawrence (28 tackles) and Chris Judge (31 tackles, three sacks). Dzubnar is now a San Diego Charger while Ontko signed with the Calgary Stampeders three weeks ago.
Cal Poly finished in a tie for fifth place with Northern Arizona in the Big Sky Conference standings, both with 5-3 marks. Eastern Washington finished first at 7-1 followed by Montana, Montana State and Idaho State, all tied for second at 6-2.
With a 4-1 record at home in 2014, the Mustangs have won 54 of their last 68 home contests. Overall, the Mustangs have won 55 of their last 90 games (62 percent) and 89 of 143 contests (63 percent) going back to the 2002 finale and have won 16 of their last 33 and 35 of 71 on the road (3-4 in 2014, 1-2 in 2015).
Cal Poly captured four Great West Conference titles in the eight-year history of the league (2004, 2005, 2008, 2011) before moving to the Big Sky in 2012 and has earned NCAA Division I FCS playoff berths in 2005, 2008 and 2012.
Cal Poly has a bye next week, returning to action Saturday, Oct. 24, with its Mustang Family Weekend and Homecoming Game against Portland State. The Big Sky Conference contest in Alex G. Spanos Stadium kicks off at 6:05 p.m.
Photo above of Marcus Paige-Allen courtesy of Matt Brown | Matt Brown Photography
