Cal Poly to Host Sacramento State for California FCS Championship
11/8/2013 12:00:00 AM | Football
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (4-5, 3-2 Big Sky), which beat San Diego in August and UC Davis last week, bids for a sweep of California's Football Championship Subdivision teams Saturday night, hosting Sacramento State (4-5, 3-2 Big Sky) on Heroes Day in Alex G. Spanos Stadium (11,075).
Kickoff is set for 6:05 p.m. PST and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN Radio (1280 am) with Tom Barket providing the play-by-play and Kyle Shotwell serving as an analyst. Links for video and audio streams as well as live stats are available at www.GoPoly.com.
All military personnel as well as first responders will be admitted free to the game with proper ID.
The Mustangs, who fell out of the top 25 in both the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision coaches poll and The Sports Network media poll after losing to Yale 24-10 five weeks ago, snapped a two-game losing streak with a 34-16 victory over UC Davis in the Battle for the Golden Horseshoe last Saturday in Aggie Stadium. Cal Poly took advantage of three Aggie turnovers, converting all into touchdowns, and sophomore quarterback Chris Brown sparked a 414-yard Mustang ground attack with 195 yards, the most ever by a Cal Poly quarterback in a single game, on 22 carries and three touchdowns.
Sacramento State, playing its third overtime game of the season, fell 51-48 to Montana last week in Hornet Stadium. The Hornets amassed 32 first downs, 412 passing yards and 580 yards in total offense. Quarterback Garrett Safron completed 41 of 58 passes, four for touchdowns, and rushed for 93 yards and two more scores. DeAndre Carter caught 12 passes and Morris Norrise had 10.
Sacramento State, under seventh-year head coach Marshall Sperbeck, dropped its first two games to San Jose State and Arizona by a combined 79-0 score, then won four of six prior to the overtime loss to Montana.
Cal Poly's defense under second-year defensive coordinator Josh Brown has played well of late. After surrendering 428 yards and 30 points per game in the first five weeks of the season, the Mustangs have allowed just 11 points and 275 yards in their last four games. Cal Poly has recorded five of its nine interceptions in the last three weeks.
Cal Poly football, presented by French Hospital Medical Center, finished 9-3 overall a year ago, falling 18-16 in the second round of the FCS playoffs to Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas. In earning their third FCS playoff berth, the Mustangs finished with a winning record for the 10th time in the last 12 seasons.
Cal Poly opened Fall Camp with 58 returning lettermen, including 17 players who started at least four games in 2012. Topping the list of returnees were a pair of second-team All-Big Sky honorees -- linebacker Johnny Millard and defensive tackle Sullivan Grosz -- and eight others who earned All-Big Sky honorable mention praise.
Junior Willie Tucker returned at wide receiver after leading the team with 28 catches a year ago while three of the five starters on the offensive front -- Giovanni Sani, Mike Freeman and Lefi Letuligasenoa -- returned as well. Tucker is lost for the season due to a knee injury. Also returning were junior Kristaan Ivory, the No. 2 rusher a year ago with 728 yards and eight touchdowns, and fellow slotback Cole Stanford with 241 rushing yards and 17 catches for 486 yards and four scores.
On defense, all four starting defensive linemen of a year ago -- ends Andrew Alcaraz and Jake Irwin plus tackles Grosz and Chris Lawrence -- returned. At linebacker, junior Nick Dzubnar moved from the outside to replace Kenneth Jackson in the middle (Mike) while Millard shifted from Will to Sam. Junior Cameron Ontko took over at Will. Eight of the nine defensive backs who played six or more games last fall returned along with senior three-year letterman Bijon Samoodi, who sat out the 2012 season with a hip injury.
Bobby Zalud, who handled all kicking duties (55-for-55 PATs, 12-for-16 field goals, 40.6 punting average), and return specialist Chris Nicholls (24.0 average per kickoff return, 8.5 average per punt return) returned as well.
Nine games into the current season, Ivory is ranked No. 5 in the Big Sky and No. 41 in the FCS with his average of 91.3 rushing yards per contest. The junior is averaging 6.1 yards per carry, scored three touchdowns against San Diego on runs of 81, 2 and 61 yards en route to a 185-yard performance, accumulated 184 yards and one score against Portland State, made a career-high eight catches against Yale and scored three times, two via rushing and one on a pass, against Weber State, rushing for 100 yards. He added 121 yards, his fourth 100-yard game of the season and fifth of the year, in the loss at Montana two weeks ago. Ivory also leads the Mustangs in receiving with 23 catches for 123 yards and a score. He has been limited to just four carries in the last two games due to an ankle injury.
Cal Poly's three linebackers top the chart in tackles. Middle linebacker Nick Dzubnar has a team-leading 92 tackles, 13 against UC Davis and 12 against Montana, while outside linebacker Cameron Ontko has made 76 tackles, 14 against the Grizzlies. Outside linebacker/rush end Johnny Millard has 75 stops, including a career-high 13 in the loss to Yale.
Sophomore quarterback Dano Graves, who earned his first collegiate start three weeks ago against Weber State and responded with 116 yards on the ground and 169 yards passing, completing 13 of 16 passes, three for touchdowns, was 13-for-18 against Montana for 95 yards and rushed for 91 yards on 14 trips. Last week against Northern Arizona, the Folsom High School graduate and transfer from Air Force connected on 11 of 22 passes for 115 yards and rushed for 86 yards. Graves is the third Mustang to start at quarterback this fall, following Vince Moraga (two starts, knee injury) and Chris Brown (three starts, hip injury).
Graves sat out the UC Davis game with leg injuries and Brown made his fourth start.
Cal Poly and UC Davis were deadlocked 13-13 at halftime before the Mustangs pulled away in the second half, outscoring the Aggies 21-3. Brown completed just one pass, but it was a key play, a 15-yarder to Akaninyene Umoh on a third-and-11 play, keeping a drive alive that resulted in a five-yard scoring run by Brown and a 27-16 advantage midway through the fourth quarter. Cornerback Bijon Samoodi made six tackles, intercepted a pass and recovered a UC Davis fumble to spark the Mustangs defensively.
After averaging 29 points and 457 yards in its first six games, Cal Poly struggled offensively, scoring just 27 points and accumulating 755 total yards in losses to Montana and Northern Arizona. The Mustangs are without Tucker, Moraga and Letuligasenoa for the rest of the season while Ivory missed most of the Northern Arizona and UC Davis contests with an ankle injury. Cole Stanford has missed playing time with injuries as well.
Special teams play has resulted in three Cal Poly field goals and a pair of Mustang punts blocked by the opposition, two Mustang punts and one kickoff returned for touchdowns and two punts hitting Cal Poly players and recovered by their foes.
Coached by Sperbeck (seventh season, 34-42, Nevada '84), Sacramento State returned 36 lettermen, including 17 offensive and defensive starters, off last year's team which went 6-5 overall -- its second winning season in three years -- and finished tied for fifth in the Big Sky at 4-4. The Hornets, members of the Big Sky Conference since 1996, are still seeking their first FCS playoff berth and appeared in the NCAA Division II playoffs three times, the last in 1988.
For the season, Safron has completed 64 percent of his passes (214 of 334) for 2,310 yards and 22 touchdowns in nine games. He has been intercepted nine times. Safron also is the Hornets' top rusher with 391 yards and five scores, averaging 3.6 yards per carry. Safron's top receivers are Norrise with 63 catches, Carter with 55 and Shane Harrison with 31. Field safety Robert Beale has three interceptions and middle linebacker Todd Davis has 93 total tackles, including four sacks, to lead Sacramento State defensively. Justin Weldon averages 44.5 yards per punt.
Sacramento State is averaging 415 yards in total offense per game -- 158 on the ground and 257 through the air -- and scoring 30 points a contest while giving up 418 yards (139 rushing, 278 passing) and 31 points per game.
Sperbeck, a 1984 graduate of Nevada, was head coach at Foothill College for 15 seasons before arriving at Sacramento State, compiling a 109-53 win-loss record and guiding the Owls to 11 California Community College bowl games. A Valley High School (Sacramento) graduate, Sperbeck was a quarterback at Nevada.
Cal Poly and Sacramento State are meeting for the 33rd time in football this weekend. The Hornets evened the series at 16-16 with a 35-29 victory in 2012 in the state capital as Safron passed for 303 yards and four touchdowns, handing the Mustangs their first loss in eight games. Deonte Williams rushed for 168 yards and Cal Poly turned two early Hornet fumbles into a touchdown and field goal, but rallied for the win.
Cal Poly won five straight games in the series by a combined score of 181-72, capped by a 38-19 triumph in the 2009 season opener in San Luis Obispo. The series began in 1967 with a 17-7 Mustang victory in Sacramento. Cal Poly is 9-8 against Sacramento State at home and 7-8 against the Hornets in Sacramento. Tim Walsh is 13-2 against Sacramento State, including a 12-1 mark while he was head coach at Portland State, while Marshall Sperbeck is 1-1 against Cal Poly.
Next week Cal Poly wraps up its home schedule by hosting 2010 FCS champion Eastern Washington on Saturday, Nov. 16, at 12:40 p.m. (ROOT Sports).
