Cal Poly Continues Big Sky Conference Play by Hosting Southern Utah
9/29/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | SOUTHERN UTAH | BIG SKY
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly (1-3, 0-1 Big Sky), which let several leads slip away in a 38-35 loss at Northern Arizona last week, returns home and continues Big Sky Conference play Saturday night by hosting Southern Utah (1-4, 1-0 Big Sky) in Alex G. Spanos Stadium (11,075).
Kickoff is set for 6:05 p.m. PDT and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN Radio (1280 am) with Tom Barket providing the play-by-play and former Mustang quarterback Lloyd Nelson serving as an analyst. Links for audio and video streams as well as live stats are available at www.GoPoly.com.
Southern Utah earned its first victory of the season last Saturday, opening Big Sky play with a 31-28 triumph over winless Weber State. The Thunderbirds scored the first 10 points of the game but had to overcome several Weber State leads for the win, taking advantage of four turnovers. Ammon Olsen hit Mike Sharp with an eight-yard touchdown pass 40 seconds into the final period, taking the lead for good, and the Southern Utah defense stopped Weber State four times the rest of the way.
Coached by Tim Walsh (sixth season, 33-28, UC Riverside '77), Cal Poly opened the year with two games on the road, dropping a 28-10 decision at New Mexico State and 44-18 at South Dakota State. After a bye week, the Mustangs compiled 470 yards on the ground and scored the first 35 points of the game en route to a 42-14 non-conference victory over Big Sky rival Portland State in their home opener. Last week, Cal Poly led 28-17 midway through the third quarter in Flagstaff before Northern Arizona mounted its comeback, capped by Chase Cartwright's 12-yard scoring pass to Casey Jahn with 21 seconds left.
Cal Poly joined Northern Arizona and 11 other schools in the Big Sky Conference prior to the 2012 season. Southern Utah also became a member of the Big Sky in 2011 and earned its first-ever FCS playoff berth in 2013, finishing 8-5 overall and tied for fourth in the conference. The Thunderbirds lost to Sam Houston State in the opening round of the FCS playoffs.
Cal Poly football, presented by French Hospital Medical Center, opened Fall Camp with 61 returning lettermen, including 16 players who started at least four games in 2013. Topping the list of returnees are senior linebacker Nick Dzubnar and senior defensive lineman Jake Irwin, both third-team All-Big Sky Conference selections a year ago, and four others who earned All-Big Sky honorable mention praise -- offensive linemen Matt Fisher and Stephen Sippel, defensive tackle Chris Lawrence and linebacker Cameron Ontko.
Juniors Chris Brown and Dano Graves return at quarterback and waged a two-man battle throughout the spring and fall. The duo combined for 10 starts, 1,052 rushing yards and 111 of the team's 136 pass completions a year ago.
Brown, who has started the first four contests this season, started six games last year and passed for 836 yards and 11 touchdowns while rushing for eight scores and 685 additional yards, including 195 yards in a win at UC Davis, a school record for a quarterback. Graves started four games and rushed for 367 yards while passing for 416 yards.
Getting most of the carries this fall likely will be Garcia and seniors Chris Nicholls and Kenny Mitchell at slotback and seniors Brandon Howe and Brent Michaels at fullback. Among the top receivers on the roster are juniors Jordan Hines and Roland Jackson and sophomore Carson McMurtrey at wide receiver and senior Austin Albison at tight end.
With numerous vacancies to fill on both sides of the ball, expect several transfers and even some true freshmen to step in right away, including freshmen Alex Suchesk and/or Lance Mudd at slotback, Nevada transfer Burton De Koning at linebacker, Washington State transfer Logan Mayes at defensive end and Wake Forest transfer Andrew Hauser and freshman Fino Elisaia at defensive tackle. American River College transfer Tyler Alsey at defensive tackle and freshman Jonathan LaBonty at safety also will get some playing time along with freshman fullback Joe Protheroe.
A year ago, Cal Poly was No. 1 in the FCS in rushing offense (309.1). Two years ago, the Mustangs broke the Big Sky record for rushing yards in a season with 3,890 yards in 12 games. Expect more of the same from the Mustangs' Triple Option in 2014. The Mustangs netted 259 yards against New Mexico State, averaging 5.3 yards per carry, added 226 more yards at South Dakota State, 470 against Portland State and 271 at Northern Arizona and lead the Big Sky in rushing offense, averaging 306.5 yards a game, No. 3 in the FCS.
Coached by Ed Lamb (seventh season, 35-38, BYU '96), Southern Utah returned 39 lettermen, including 16 offensive and defensive starters, off last year's playoff team. Despite a lot of returning experienced players, the Thunderbirds lost their first four games of the 2014 season to Nevada, Southeastern Louisiana, South Dakota State and Fresno State, two FBS schools and a pair of top-25 FCS teams.
Southern Utah's offensive leaders through five games are running backs Malik Brown (208 yards, 0 TDs) and Raysean Pringle (196 yards, 2 TDs), quarterbacks Ammon Olsen (49-93-4, 664 yards, 5 TDs) and Aaron Cantu (44-70-4, 449 yards, 2 TDs) and receiver Chris Robinson (21 catches, 295 yards, 3 TDs). Strong safety Miles Killebrew returned an interception 85 yards for a touchdown and has 47 tackles this season. Linebacker Chinedu Ahanonu leads the Thunderbird defense with 65 tackles. Tate Lewis averages 43.4 yards per punt.
Southern Utah is averaging 128 rushing yards, 223 passing yards and 17.2 points per game this season while giving up 251 rushing yards, 268 passing yards and 35.8 points a contest. The Thunderbirds beat Weber State despite a 492-360 disadvantage in total offense and surrendering six sacks.
From 2001-07, Southern Utah won just 17 of 76 games, but was 4-7 in Lamb's first season at the helm in 2008 and captured the Great West title in 2010. Lamb, a linebacker and defensive end at BYU and BYU-Idaho from 1992-96, was an assistant coach at Redlands (1997-2000), BYU(2001), Idaho (2002-03) and San Diego (2005-07) before becoming head coach at Southern Utah.
Though the two teams haven't met since the 2011 season, the Mustangs and Thunderbirds are meeting for the 26th time. Cal Poly holds an 18-7 advantage in the series, which began in 1986. The Mustangs won nine straight until the Thunderbirds won 20-7 in Cedar City in 2010. Cal Poly won the 2011 contest 31-27 in Alex G. Spanos Stadium as quarterback Andre Broadous scored the go-ahead touchdown on a four-yard run with 45 seconds to play and safety Greg Francis sealed the victory with an interception with one second to go. Fullback Jake Romanelli earned his fourth consecutive 100-yard game rushing, accumulating 101 yards on 22 carries, and scored twice.
Other memorable games in the series include 2009 in San Luis Obispo, won by Cal Poly 24-23, and in 2008, also in San Luis Obispo, a wild affair won by Cal Poly 69-41. In the 2009 contest, Southern Utah scored with nine seconds remaining on a 15-yard pass from Cade Cooper to Tysson Poots and set up for the potential game-winning two-point conversion, but after Cal Poly called a time out, Lamb elected to go for one. Ryan Griffith's extra-point kick missed wide left.
Lamb is 1-3 against Cal Poly while Tim Walsh is 4-1 against Southern Utah, the first two wins while at Portland State. Cal Poly is 13-1 against Southern Utah at home, winning the last 13 after dropping the opening game of the series in 1986.
A year ago, the Mustangs, 3-3 at home and 3-3 on the road, were ranked as high as No. 10 before losing to Yale and falling out of the top 25 for the rest of the year. Among the milestones achieved by Mustang players last fall, Alex Hubbard's 31.9 kickoff return average is No. 2 all-time at Cal Poly while Bobby Zalud's 148 total points by kicking is No. 4 and his 88 career PAT kicks made is No. 5. Paul Hundley's 43.8 punting average is No. 3 and he finished the season with a 41.65 career average, No. 2 on the list.
Three Mustangs, all linebackers, secured over 100 tackles, the first time that has been accomplished in one season. Dzubnar's 112 tackles is No. 8 all-time while both Ontko and Johnny Millard had 108, tied for No. 9.
This year's leaders through four games are Brown (403 rushing yards and six TDs, 479 passing yards and two TDs), slotback Kori Garcia (323 yards, 6.0 average per carry, two TDs) and fullback Brandon Howe (200 yards, three TDs). Howe, Jordan Hines and Chris Nicholls each have six catches. Linebacker Nick Dzubnar tops all defensive players with 54 tackles. Linebacker Cameron Ontko has 40 tackles while Chris Fletcher, Karlton Dennis and Dave Douglas have one interception each.
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 for the second straight season. The Mustangs shared fourth place with Southern Utah, Montana State and UC Davis in 2013.
Next week, Cal Poly visits Weber State for another Big Sky game on Saturday, Oct. 11, with kickoff in Ogden, Utah, set for noon PDT.
