Cal Poly Football Plays Final Great West Game Saturday Afternoon at UC Davis
11/4/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
CAL POLY NOTES | UC DAVIS NOTES | GREAT WEST NOTES
SOUTH DAKOTA VS. CAL POLY VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (5-3, 3-0 Great West), which has won each of its three Great West Conference games by a total of 11 points and has had to come from behind for all three victories, plays its final Great West Conference game Saturday afternoon against UC Davis (2-6, 0-2 Great West) in Aggie Stadium (10,849).
Kickoff in the Battle for the Golden Horseshoe is set for 2:05 p.m. PDT and the contest will be broadcast live on ESPN Radio (1280 am) with Tom Barket providing the play-by-play and Kyle Shotwell doing color commentary. Links for an audio stream as well as live stats will be available on www.GoPoly.com.
Cal Poly clinched at least a share of its fourth Great West title last weekend with a 27-24 win over South Dakota inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium. The Mustangs rallied from a 14-3 second-quarter deficit to beat defending Great West champion and No. 22 Southern Utah 31-27 on Oct. 15, climbed back from an early 6-0 deficit to beat No. 20 North Dakota 23-19 on Oct. 22 and erased a 17-0 halftime deficit to beat No. 17 South Dakota last week. Cal Poly has won its last three home games despite trailing at intermission.
The Mustangs are still receiving votes but not ranked in either the Sports Network media or FCS coaches polls despite winning three straight games against teams who were ranked in the top 25. The Mustangs, however, are in the top 20 in a pair of computer rankings -- No. 11 by Jeff Sagarin of USA Today (105th among all 246 Division I schools, ahead of Duke, Minnesota, Colorado, Indiana and Army, among others) and No. 23 in last week's Grid Power Index (similar to the Football Bowl Subdivision's BCS rankings).
Cal Poly football, presented by French Hospital Medical Center, is tackling another ambitious schedule under third-year head coach Tim Walsh, taking on a pair of FBS teams, five FCS squads that have been in the national polls and another team that was undefeated the last two seasons. Both San Diego State and Northern Illinois won bowl games in 2010, Montana has a pair of FCS national titles to its credit and Eastern Washington claimed the FCS crown last fall. South Alabama did not lose a football game in the program's first two seasons of existence. Cal Poly's 11 foes in 2011 posted a combined 76-53 win-loss record in 2010.
"We have as tough a schedule as you could want at this level," said Walsh. "Our goal is to win the Great West Conference championship and, as far as the playoffs go, we have to win some tough road games to get there. Every game, we will have to play our best."
The Mustangs opened the 2011 campaign armed with nearly 50 returning lettermen, including 14 starters, off a team which finished two points shy of a postseason berth, letting a 21-3 halftime lead slip away in a 22-21 loss to rival UC Davis in the final game of the 2010 season.
Against South Dakota last week, a 44-yard punt return by Greg Francis set up a game-winning 39-yard field goal by James Langford as Cal Poly rallied from a 17-0 halftime deficit for the win, Cal Poly's fourth in a row following a 1-3 start. The Mustangs won three of the previous seven Great West titles and are hoping to capture bookend conference championships -- the first and last in the Great West (2004 and 2011) as well as in the first and last seasons for 18 of Cal Poly's seniors this fall (2008 and 2011).
Cal Poly scored the final 17 points of the game in less than five minutes. Quarterback Andre Broadous scored his 12th and 13th touchdowns of the season on runs of two and one yards, the first with 4:47 to play and the second with 2:05 remaining, to tie the game at 24-24. The Coyotes were forced to punt on their next two possessions. Francis' 44-yard return set up Langford's game-winning kick with 36 seconds remaining.
Cal Poly accumulated 17 of its 21 first downs and 261 of its 334 total yards in the second half. The Mustangs' 217-yard ground game was led by fullback Jake Romanelli with 88 yards on 20 carries. Broadous completed 13 of 22 passes for 117 yards and one score. His favorite target was Romanelli with four catches for 29 yards.
UC Davis, coached by Bob Biggs (19th season, 138-77-1, UC Davis '73), returned 45 lettermen, including 17 starters, off last year's team which went 6-5 and finished second in the Great West Conference at 3-1.
The Aggies have not won more than one game in a row nor have they lost more than two straight this season. In Great West play, UC Davis has lost to South Dakota 27-24 and Southern Utah 34-3, both on the road. The Aggies have beaten only San Diego 31-3 and Texas-San Antonio, 38-17, both at home.
In a 34-3 loss at Southern Utah last week, UC Davis was held to just nine first downs and lost three fumbles, netting 193 yards in total offense. Sean Kelley's 54-yard field goal in the fourth quarter accounted for the only Aggie points of the game. Quarterback Randy Wright completed 14 of 23 passes for 150 yards.
For the season, Wright has connected on 145 of 263 passes (55 percent) for 1,747 yards and 13 touchdowns with four interceptions. His favorite targets are Anthony Soto (35 catches) and Tom Hemmingsen (33 catches). Top Aggie rusher is Colton Silveria with 274 yards (3.4 yards per carry) and three scores. Colton Schmidt averages 43.5 yards per punt.
UC Davis averages 19.4 points and 320 yards in total offense (77 rushing, 243 passing) but is giving up 30.8 points and 421 yards (158 rushing, 263 passing) a contest.
A year ago, the 36th meeting between the two schools was won by UC Davis 22-21 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium as the Aggies rallied from a 21-0 second-quarter deficit. Wright hit Sean Creadick with a pair of touchdown passes in the final 10 minutes for the win, ending Cal Poly's playoff bid. Jake Romanelli scored on a pair of one-yard runs and Jordan Yocum added a five-yard scoring run as Cal Poly built a 21-0 lead in the first 27 minutes, but the Mustangs were held scoreless in the second half.
A 23-10 UC Davis win in 2009 at Aggie Stadium snapped a 16-16-2 deadlock in the series. The Aggies now lead the series 18-16-2.
One year shy of their first venture to the Big Sky Conference, the Mustangs welcomed back six starters on offense and eight on defense, plus several other players who started a few games or accumulated a lot of playing time as backups. Among those were Broadous, who started four games at quarterback last fall, all on the road, and numerous defensive players who rotated in and out of the lineup with the starters.
Broadous backed up Tony Smith for two seasons and entered fall camp as the No. 1 signal caller. A year ago, the junior from Portland, Oregon, completed 41 of 64 passes (64.1 percent) for 510 yards and four touchdowns while also rushing 87 times for 305 yards and three more scores.
The Mustangs also are led by Mark Rodgers (882 yards and eight TDs rushing; 20 catches and three more TDs in 2010), senior fullback Jake Romanelli (459 yards, eight TDs in 2010) and a veteran offensive line which includes seniors Scott Winnewisser, Art Munoz and Maurice McClure.
Top returnees on defense are Buck Buchanan Award candidate Asa Jackson (55 tackles, two interceptions in 2010) at cornerback, linebackers Johnny Millard (38 tackles, two forced fumbles) and Kennith Jackson (67 tackles) and linemen Erich Klemme (28 tackles, 2.5 sacks), Kyle Murphy 23 tackles, six hurries) and Gavin Cooper (39 tackles, six sacks, six hurries).
Cal Poly has captured three Great West Conference titles in the seven-year history of the league (2004, 2005, 2008) and earned NCAA Division I FCS playoff berths in both 2005 and 2008, reaching the quarterfinals in 2005. The Mustangs have won 64 of their last 99 games dating back to the 2002 season finale and have won 22 of their last 46 games on the road and 42 of their last 50 home contests.
Next week Cal Poly concludes its home schedule by hosting defending FCS national champion Eastern Washington for a 6:05 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, Nov. 5, in Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
