Brown Sparks Cal Poly to 34-16 Victory Over Rival UC Davis

Saturday, November 2

Davis, CA

4 pm

4-5

UC Davis

3-7

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Cal Poly

UC Davis

Brown Sparks Cal Poly to 34-16 Victory Over Rival UC Davis

11/2/2013 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

DAVIS, Calif. – Sophomore quarterback Chris Brown rushed for 195 yards and three touchdowns as Cal Poly snapped a two-game losing streak with a 34-16 victory over rival UC Davis in the renewal of The Battle for the Golden Horseshoe on Saturday in Aggie Stadium.

Brown (pictured at right), who completed just one pass, scored on runs of 29, 5 and 5 yards while Chris Nicholls and Kori Garcia both ran a yard for touchdowns as Coach Tim Walsh's Mustangs won in Aggie Stadium for the first time since 2007 and improved to 4-5 for the season and 3-2 in Big Sky Conference games.

UC Davis fell to 3-7 and 3-3.

Brown, who missed the last three games with a hip injury, carried the ball 22 times, averaging 8.9 yards per trip, as Cal Poly amassed 414 yards on the ground. Nicholls added 67 yards on 10 carries and Garcia 43 yards on 11 trips for the Mustangs.

"I think the last two weeks we played our hearts out and lost a couple of difficult games," said fifth-year Mustang head coach Tim Walsh. "At halftime, we found ourselves in the same situation and I said, 'Hey man, it's about time we learn how to win these close games.'

"Overall for us, we needed to win," Walsh added. "We needed to have that winning feeling. I think we deserved it again today. I think we played hard enough and emotionally enough to get a win and I'm proud of my players."

Brown's 195 yards are the most by a Mustang quarterback in program history and No. 10 on Cal Poly's Division I list and 22nd overall for rushing yardage by any player in a single game.

UC Davis scored first on the first of three field goals by Brady Stuart, spanning 30 yards almost 12 minutes into the game.

Cal Poly answered with a 40-yard, four-play drive that was set up by a Bijon Samoodi interception, his second of the year and fourth as a Mustang, and capped by Brown's 29-yard touchdown run on an option keeper around left end for a 7-3 Mustang lead.

Cal Poly would not trail the rest of the game, but the two teams battled to a 13-13 halftime deadlock.

Stuart kicked a 26-yard field goal, Nicholls' one-yard run on a pitchout around left end gave Cal Poly a 13-6 lead and Aggie quarterback Randy Wright hit Taylor Sloat on a 16-yard scoring pass to tie the game at intermission.

Cal Poly outscored UC Davis 21-3 in the second half to pull away.

"The buck starts, and stops with me; we just gave the game away," said first-year UC Davis head coach Ron Gould. "I am not very excited about that.

"We made some halftime adjustments, and thought we had things solidified," Gould added. "Their offense is very potent and requires us to be extremely disciplined and get to that (running) alley. Those guys were running north-south, and we wanted them to go east-west."

Brown ran 72 yards on a third-and-11 play to set up Garcia's short run for a touchdown midway through the third quarter as Cal Poly snapped the 13-13 deadlock.

"It was a great job by the O-line selling it perfectly, by the H-back selling it perfectly," Brown said of the 72-yard run. "It basically turned into a draw and I just tried to get what I could out of it. I came up a little short right in front of the end zone. I got the air knocked out of me and that's what made me come out for the last play."

After Stuart kicked a 35-yard field goal to cap a 69-yard UC Davis drive, Cal Poly took advantage of a pair of Aggie turnovers to clinch the victory.

Brown ran five yards through right tackle after faking a handoff to fullback Matt Rulon for a 27-16 Mustang advantage with 5:41 to play in the game. That 42-yard drive following Alex Hubbard's first interception of the season and third of his Mustang career was kept alive by Brown's only completion of the game – a 15-yard pass to Akaninyene Umoh on a third-and-12 play.

"We knew that we had to contain the run," said Gould. "There was a third-and-12 late in the game where they gained the first down. That was a critical moment where we could have made a stop. Instead, they gained a first down and made that big play. We had the opportunity to make some plays."

Cal Poly completed the scoring with two minutes to go as Brown scored on another five-yard run. Samoodi again kickstarted the drive by recovering a UC Davis fumble that was forced by Sullivan Grosz.

Cal Poly compiled advantages of 23-18 in first downs and 429 to 336 in total offense but trailed UC Davis by four minutes in time of possession. The Mustangs converted nine of 14 third-down plays.

"The thing we wanted to do was play to our strengths," said Walsh. "We wanted to do what we thought our players could do best and one of the things was put the ball in (Chris Brown's) hands because we think he is a dynamic runner and, I think, he proved he is.

"I think we have four really good quarterbacks," Walsh added. "It's just this day, Chris got his opportunity and definitely took advantage of it and it was great to see."

Gabe Manzanares rushed for 141 yards on 29 carries while Wright completed 18 of 31 passes for 188 yards and one score. He was sacked twice and his favorite targets were Tom Hemmingsen with six catches for 70 yards and Sloat with five for 54 yards.

Manzanares became UC Davis' first 1,000-yard rusher since Matt Massari in 2002. He has 1,031 yards this season.

Mustang linebacker Nick Dzubnar collected 13 tackles while Hubbard and Johnny Millard each had eight. Grosz and Nick Leyden earned the sacks.

Charles Boyett notched 14 tackles for UC Davis, which still leads the series, 19-18-2.

Cal Poly plays its next two games at home, hosting Sacramento State next Saturday at 6:05 p.m. and No. 3-ranked Eastern Washington on Nov. 16 at 12:40 p.m. in Alex G. Spanos Stadium.

Photo of Cal Poly quarterback Chris Brown courtesy of Ian Billings/Mustang News