Cal Poly to Open Big Sky Slate at Montana State on Saturday Afternoon
9/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
WEEKLY NOTES:
CAL POLY | MONTANA STATE | BIG SKY
AUDIO STREAM | VIDEO STREAM | LIVE STATS
MUSTANGS REMAIN IN TOP 25 OF POLLS
MALCOLM DAVIS FOLLOWS FOOTSTEPS OF DAD
VIDEOS: TIM WALSH | BIG SKY COACHES CALL
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — No. 20/22 Cal Poly (1-2, 0-0 Big Sky), which has played a Pac-12 school and two top-10 FCS teams in the opening three weeks of the 2015 season, kicks off Big Sky Conference play Saturday afternoon at No. 13/15 Montana State (1-1, 0-0 Big Sky) in Bobcat Stadium (17,777).
Kickoff is set for 12:35 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 game also will be televised live on Cowles Media Montana (Chris Byer (play-by-play), Mike Callaghan (analyst), Rob Jesselson (sideline)) and relayed by The CW 5, available on Charter, Comcast and Cox cable systems in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, over the air and on DirecTV 7. Links for video and audio streams as well as live stats are available at www.GoPoly.com.
Montana State, ranked No. 15 by the media and No. 13 by the coaches in this week's polls, opened its 2015 season with a 45-14 triumph over Fort Lewis. After a bye week, the Bobcats dropped a 55-50 non-conference decision at Eastern Washington in a game featuring 1,385 total yards, 105 points and 58 first downs, including a school-record 40 by Montana State. The two teams combined to average 8.6 yards per play. Bobcat quarterback Dakota Prukop rushed for 196 yards and one score and completed 29 of 46 passes for 353 yards and four touchdowns.
Cal Poly, ranked No. 20 by the media and No. 22 by the coaches this week, beat Montana 20-19 on Alex Vega's 49-yard field goal with four seconds remaining. Junior safety B.J. Nard intercepted three passes. The Mustangs, playing a Pac-12 member for the first time in its 97-year football history, rallied from 14-0 and 21-7 deficits to tie Arizona State at 21-21 before allowing two scores in the final eight minutes of the game to avoid the upset.
Last week, Cal Poly surrendered 21 first-quarter points and never fully recovered in a 34-20 home-opening loss to Northern Iowa before the seventh sellout in the nine-year history of Alex G. Spanos Stadium. Senior quarterback Chris Brown rushed for 184 yards and two touchdowns and completed 12 of 21 passes for 77 yards for the Mustangs, who turned the ball over three times and failed to score on three of their five red zone possessions.
Coached by Tim Walsh (seventh season, 40-32, 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. Senior quarterback Chris 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 junior slotback Kori 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 Chris 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 three games, Cal Poly is No. 3 in the FCS in rushing offense (321.3 yards per game), No. 14 in time of possession (33:29) and No. 21 in turnover margin (+3). Brown is No. 8 in the FCS in rushing yards (339) while sophomore fullback Joe Protheroe is No. 24 (277). Defensively, Nard is No. 1 with his three interceptions while senior linebacker Tu'uta Inoke is No. 2 with his three forced fumbles.
Coached by Rob Ash (ninth season, 66-33, Cornell (Iowa) '69), Montana State returned 45 lettermen, including 11 offensive and defensive starters, off last year's team which went 8-5 overall, finished tied for third in the Big Sky Conference at 6-2 and lost to South Dakota State in the FCS playoffs. The Bobcats have appeared in the FCS playoffs four times in the last five years, claimed at least a share of the Big Sky title three straight season (2010-12) and captured the FCS national title in 1984.
Montana State's top returnees include offensive guard JP Flynn (21 consecutive starts, 2014 All-Big Sky First Team), offensive tackle John Weidenaar (38 career starts, 2014 All-Big Sky Third Team) and quarterback Dakota Prukop (171 of 263 passes for 2,559 yards, 18 TDs, 170 carries for 966 yards and 13 TDs in 2014). The Bobcats are averaging 264 rushing yards, 306 passing yards and 570 total yards per game while giving up 216 on the ground, 257 through the air and 473 overall.
In two games this season, Prukop has rushed for 265 yards and two touchdowns while Chad Newell has 139 yards and three scores to his credit. Prukop has completed 43 of 70 passes for 550 yards and six scores while the top Bobcat receivers are Mitch Griebel with 10 catches, Mitchell Herbert with nine (four TDs) and Newell with nine. On defense, linebacker Mac Bignell has 18 tackles (four for lost yardage) while defensive back Bryce Alley has the lone Bobcat interception of the year.
Ash, 242-132-5 in 34-plus career seasons, was head coach at Division III Juniata for nine seasons (51-36-3) and Drake for 18 years (125-63-2) before he was hired at Montana State in 2007. He has led the Bobcats to seven straight winning seasons and three Big Sky titles (2010-12). A 1973 graduate of Cornell College (Iowa), Ash was an assistant coach at his alma mater for four seasons (1976-79). He was a quarterback at Cornell from 1969-72 and has earned master's degrees in history (Michigan) and physical education (Iowa).
The Mustangs and Bobcats, who last fall met for the first time in nine years, are meeting for the 15th time since the series began in 1958. Cal Poly owns a 10-4 advantage in the series, winning the last eight contests. In 2014 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium, quarterback Chris Brown rushed for two touchdowns and passed for another as Cal Poly stretched its winning streak to five by upsetting No. 8/9 Montana State 35-27. Brown rushed for two scores and passed for another, finishing with 97 yards on 29 carries and completing eight of 11 passes for 107 yards. Luke Daly kicked a 41-yard field goal with 1:47 left in the third period to pull Montana State to within a point at 28-27, but the high-powered Bobcat offense was held off the scoreboard the rest of the way. Brown's two-yard run with 2:38 remaining in the game capped a 17-play, 79-yard drive, all plays on the ground and consuming eight minutes and two seconds, giving Cal Poly a 35-27 lead. Cornerback Karlton Dennis intercepted Prukop at the two-yard line with 1:01 to play to clinch the victory.
Rob Ash is 0-1 against Cal Poly while Tim Walsh is 7-5 against Montana State, including a 6-5 mark while at Portland State from 1993 to 2006. The Mustangs are 6-2 against the Bobcats in San Luis Obispo and 4-2 against the Bobcats in Bozeman.
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 53 of their last 67 home contests. Overall, the Mustangs have won 54 of their last 88 games (61 percent) and 88 of 141 contests (62 percent) going back to the 2002 finale and have won 16 of their last 32 and 35 of 70 on the road (3-4 in 2014).
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.
Next week, Cal Poly hosts Idaho State in its Hall of Fame Game at 6:05 p.m. in Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
Photo above of Chris Brown running the option with Joe Protheroe courtesy of Alexander Bohlen
