From left: Kamil Loud, Craig Young, Antonio Warren, Alan Beilke.
Flashback Friday: Mustangs Upset New Mexico State in OT
10/2/2020 1:39:00 PM | Football
Editor's Note: Each Friday from September through mid-December, Cal Poly Athletics will revisit a notable game from the department's history in the Flashback Friday series presented by Pacific Eye.
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Nearly twenty-three years ago, a 34-yard field goal by Alan Beilke lifted Cal Poly to a 38-35 overtime victory over New Mexico State before 15,839 inside Aggie Memorial Stadium.
The game, played on Oct. 4, 1997, in Las Cruces, N.M., is this week's Flashback Friday feature presented by Pacific Eye.
It was Cal Poly's first win over an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision team since the Mustangs elevated their athletics program to Division I starting with the 1994 football season.
The win, considered one of the biggest by Cal Poly since the 1980 Division II national championship season, was the first against an opponent from what was then called Division I-A since the Mustangs blanked Fresno State 26-0 in 1979.
Cal Poly also improved to 5-0 with the win, equalling the best start in school history since the 1990 squad also won its first five games.
The game was tied at 28-28 after three quarters. Cal Poly's Antonio Warren scored from one yard out on the first play of the fourth quarter and New Mexico State answered with a one-yard run by Damon Willson with 9:45 to go, tying the game again at 35-35.
Neither team scored again in regulation, though Beilke barely missed a 45-yard field goal attempt as time expired.
New Mexico State's Nick Cecava missed a 29-yard field goal try on the Aggies' first possession in overtime, setting the stage for Beilke's game-winning kick, which easily cleared the uprights, on third down.
"All of a sudden, I had 30 guys on me," said Beilke. "It was the best feeling of not being able to breathe that you could imagine."
Craig Young rushed for 153 yards on 21 carries and Warren added 79 yards on 25 trips, scoring twice, as Cal Poly rushed for 290 yards as a team. Mustang quarterback Alli Abrew completed 12 of 17 passes for 138 yards and two scores, both shovel passes to Keith Harter. Abrew also ran 14 yards for a score, tying the game at 28-28 midway through the third quarter.
"A lot of people didn't believe that we could compete in a game like this," said Young. "They thought we weren't legit. I think we proved something tonight."
Wide receiver Kamil Loud etched his place in the Cal Poly record book by claiming the mark for career receptions. The former Buffalo Bills wide receiver is now No. 3 in the Mustang record book with 170 career catches and is No. 2 in career receiving yards with 3,144. Ramses Barden now has both marks.
Competing as an independent in 1997, Cal Poly went on to finish 10-1 and ranked No. 16 in the nation under first-year head coach Larry Welsh, but the record was not good enough in the eyes of the NCAA Division I-AA (now Football Championship Subdivision) playoff selection committee.
"To be honest, I just assumed we were going," Welsh said. "Well, you know what happens when you assume."
The Mustangs ended Dayton's 20-game winning streak late in the season, 44-24; beat a Division I team, New Mexico State; a Division II power, UC Davis; and I-AA Northern Iowa, which was ranked 16th at the time.
"None of that was enough," wrote Ara Najarian of the Los Angeles Times.
The Mustangs had two 1,000-yard rushers, Warren with 1,151 yards and Young with 1,038. And Abrew was No. 1 in passing efficiency in Division I-AA. Loud, drafted in the seventh round by the Bills in the 1998 NFL Draft, finished with 33 receptions for 708 yards and eight scores.
"On paper, the things we did were hard to beat," Welsh said. "It was a terrific season and (the players) deserved better. But that's part of why you go to school and participate in athletics. You learn life isn't always fair. When you get knocked down, you have to pick yourself back up."
The Mustangs' only loss that season -- after a 7-0 start -- was a 49-32 decision at No. 18 Liberty in Lynchburg, Va.
Beilke currently is Senior Vice President of Business Development for Bish Creative Display, Inc., a marketing and advertising firm in the San Francisco Bay Area.
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Nearly twenty-three years ago, a 34-yard field goal by Alan Beilke lifted Cal Poly to a 38-35 overtime victory over New Mexico State before 15,839 inside Aggie Memorial Stadium.
The game, played on Oct. 4, 1997, in Las Cruces, N.M., is this week's Flashback Friday feature presented by Pacific Eye.
It was Cal Poly's first win over an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision team since the Mustangs elevated their athletics program to Division I starting with the 1994 football season.
The win, considered one of the biggest by Cal Poly since the 1980 Division II national championship season, was the first against an opponent from what was then called Division I-A since the Mustangs blanked Fresno State 26-0 in 1979.
Cal Poly also improved to 5-0 with the win, equalling the best start in school history since the 1990 squad also won its first five games.
The game was tied at 28-28 after three quarters. Cal Poly's Antonio Warren scored from one yard out on the first play of the fourth quarter and New Mexico State answered with a one-yard run by Damon Willson with 9:45 to go, tying the game again at 35-35.
Neither team scored again in regulation, though Beilke barely missed a 45-yard field goal attempt as time expired.
New Mexico State's Nick Cecava missed a 29-yard field goal try on the Aggies' first possession in overtime, setting the stage for Beilke's game-winning kick, which easily cleared the uprights, on third down.
"All of a sudden, I had 30 guys on me," said Beilke. "It was the best feeling of not being able to breathe that you could imagine."
Craig Young rushed for 153 yards on 21 carries and Warren added 79 yards on 25 trips, scoring twice, as Cal Poly rushed for 290 yards as a team. Mustang quarterback Alli Abrew completed 12 of 17 passes for 138 yards and two scores, both shovel passes to Keith Harter. Abrew also ran 14 yards for a score, tying the game at 28-28 midway through the third quarter.
"A lot of people didn't believe that we could compete in a game like this," said Young. "They thought we weren't legit. I think we proved something tonight."
Wide receiver Kamil Loud etched his place in the Cal Poly record book by claiming the mark for career receptions. The former Buffalo Bills wide receiver is now No. 3 in the Mustang record book with 170 career catches and is No. 2 in career receiving yards with 3,144. Ramses Barden now has both marks.
Competing as an independent in 1997, Cal Poly went on to finish 10-1 and ranked No. 16 in the nation under first-year head coach Larry Welsh, but the record was not good enough in the eyes of the NCAA Division I-AA (now Football Championship Subdivision) playoff selection committee.
"To be honest, I just assumed we were going," Welsh said. "Well, you know what happens when you assume."
The Mustangs ended Dayton's 20-game winning streak late in the season, 44-24; beat a Division I team, New Mexico State; a Division II power, UC Davis; and I-AA Northern Iowa, which was ranked 16th at the time.
"None of that was enough," wrote Ara Najarian of the Los Angeles Times.
The Mustangs had two 1,000-yard rushers, Warren with 1,151 yards and Young with 1,038. And Abrew was No. 1 in passing efficiency in Division I-AA. Loud, drafted in the seventh round by the Bills in the 1998 NFL Draft, finished with 33 receptions for 708 yards and eight scores.
"On paper, the things we did were hard to beat," Welsh said. "It was a terrific season and (the players) deserved better. But that's part of why you go to school and participate in athletics. You learn life isn't always fair. When you get knocked down, you have to pick yourself back up."
The Mustangs' only loss that season -- after a 7-0 start -- was a 49-32 decision at No. 18 Liberty in Lynchburg, Va.
Beilke currently is Senior Vice President of Business Development for Bish Creative Display, Inc., a marketing and advertising firm in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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