Cal Poly Makes Another Trek to Treasure State, Visits Montana State

Saturday, October 9

Bozeman, Mont.

1 p.m.

Montana State

Tickets

Sam Stewart Jr. leaps over the line to score a touchdown in first quarter against Weber State last week.

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Cal Poly Makes Another Trek to Treasure State, Visits Montana State

10/4/2021 1:49:00 PM | Football

Sam Stewart scores for Cal Poly. — **Adam Garwood returns a kickoff for Cal Poly against Weber State.**

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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (1-4, 0-2 Big Sky), which has lost four straight following a season-opening win at San Diego, continues Big Sky Conference play Saturday with its second trip in three weeks to the Treasure State, heading to Bozeman to face Nos. 10/11 Montana State (4-1, 2-0 Big Sky) inside Bobcat Stadium (cap.: 17,777).

Kickoff is set for 1:05 p.m. PDT. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN Radio (1280 AM and 101.7 FM) with Zachary Anderson-Yoxsimer (play-by-play) and Stephan Hodges (analyst) calling the action. Pregame show starts at 12:30 p.m. ROOT Sports will televise the game on ROOT Sports Northwest and AT&T Sports Net Rocky Mountain, Las Vegas and Southwest (not available in San Luis Obispo County on Spectrum). ESPN+ will broadcast the video stream in San Luis Obispo County. Links for video and audio streams as well as live stats are available on the football schedule page at www.GoPoly.com.

The Beau Baldwin Era at Cal Poly officially opened last spring, more than 15 months after he was named Cal Poly's 17th head football coach on Dec. 11, 2019. The Mustangs fell 34-24 to Southern Utah at home and dropped a 73-24 decision at UC Davis and a 62-10 verdict at Eastern Washington.

The fall season opened victoriously, however, as sophomore quarterback Spencer Brasch completed 23 of 38 passes for 316 yards — the most by a Mustang signal caller in 12 years — and two touchdowns and redshirt freshman linebacker Elijah Ponder returned an interception 75 yards for the clinching score midway through the fourth quarter of a 28-17 verdict at San Diego.

Cal Poly has been held to 14 points or less in each game since. At Fresno State, Jaden Ohlsen kicked a 47-yard field goal and Brasch connected with Chris Coleman, running a crossing route from right to left, on a five-yard pass for a touchdown in a 63-10 loss. South Dakota erupted for 41 first-half points and rolled up 615 total yards in a 48-14 win over Cal Poly in the Mustangs' home opener. Kahliq Paulette and Conor Bruce each threw a touchdown pass while Coleman caught four passes, one for a touchdown, for the third straight week.

In Big Sky play, Cal Poly had the advantage in first downs, total yards and time of possession, but special teams miscues (two missed field goals, a blocked punt recovered in the end zone and a kickoff return for a touchdown, and a 32.3 average on nine punts) helped host Montana to a 39-7 triumph. Shakobe Harper scored the lone Mustang touchdown on a fourth-quarter two-yard run. The Mustangs also were held to one score — a one-yard Sam Stewart Jr. run a few plays after a Weber State fumble — in a 38-7 setback in Cal Poly's Homecoming contest.

Baldwin was head coach at Eastern Washington for nine seasons (2008-16) and was an assistant coach for the Eagles from 2003-06. An offensive coordinator at Cal for three years (2017-19) before coming to Cal Poly, Baldwin guided Eastern Washington to an 85-32 mark, five Big Sky titles and six FCS playoff berths, including the 2010 national championship.

Montana State's lone loss of the year was a season-opening 19-16 setback at FBS member Wyoming. Since then, the Bobcats have outscored their four foes 167-41 en route to wins over Drake (45-7), San Diego (52-10), Portland State (30-17) and Northern Colorado (40-7). In the win over the visiting Bears last week, Blake Glessner kicked four field goals spanning 25, 30, 41 and 21 yards while Lance McCutcheon ran 10 yards for one score and caught a 16-yard pass from Matthew McKay for another. Isaiah Ifanse (20-114) and Elijah Elliott (11-107) both surpassed the 100-yard mark rushing and McKay completed 15 of 23 passes for 276 yards as Montana State accumulated 552 yards of total offense.

First-year head coach Brent Vigen (4-1, North Dakota State '98) welcomed back 40 lettermen, including 13 starters (eight on offense, five on defense) to Fall Camp. Montana State did not play any games during the 2020-21 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Leading the group of returning veterans are running back/linebacker Troy Andersen (49 carries, 336 yards, seven TDs/54 tackles in 2019), offensive lineman Lewis Kidd (15 starts in 2019, second-team All-Big Sky), defensive end Taylor Tuiasosopo (has played in all 44 games (33 starts) in Bobcat career) and defensive tackle Amandre Wiliams (38 consecutive starts, 65 tackles, five sacks in 2019). Anderson has started both ways several times in his Bobcat career and was Montana State's quarterback in 2018.

Lance Vecchio leaps to bat down a pass. — **Lance Vecchio bats down a pass versus Weber State.**

Bobcat leaders so far this fall are Ifanse (95 carries, 603 yards, four TDs), McKay (79 of 119, 1,181 yards, 10 TDs) and McCutcheon (27 carries, 521 yards, four TDs). Anderson leads Montana State defensively with 38 tackles (23 solo) while Daniel Hardy has five sacks and 9.5 tackles for lost yardage. Ty Okada and Anderson both have returned interceptions for touchdowns.

The Bobcats are No. 11 in the nation in rushing offense (221.0 yards per game) and 33rd in passing offense (244.4) en route to a No. 12 national ranking in total offense (465.4) and 21st in scoring offense (35.4 points a contest). The Bobcats are stingy on defense as well — 19th in rushing defense, 23rd in passing defense, 11th in total defense and sixth in scoring defense.

The Mustangs and Bobcats are meeting for just the fifth time in the last 16 years and for the 18th time since the series began in 1958. The two schools did not meet from 2006-13. Cal Poly owns a 10-7 advantage in the series, winning eight in a row before Montana State earned a 45-28 victory in the 2015 Big Sky opener for both schools at Bozeman.

The two teams met in 2018, also in Bozeman, with the Bobcats racing to a 42-14 third-quarter lead and holding off the Mustangs down the stretch. Ifanse rushed for 227 yards and three touchdowns in a showdown with Cal Poly's Joe Protheroe, who ran for 215 yards. In 2019, Cal Poly overcame a 21-point deficit to force overtime, but Nos. 6/7 Montana State held the Mustangs in the first extra session and Travis Jonsen sprinted nine yards for the winner in a 34-28 victory.

Beau Baldwin is 7-2 against Montana State, all while he was head coach at Eastern Washington from 2008-16, while Bobcat head coach Brent Vigen is meeting Cal Poly for the first time. The Mustangs are 6-3 against the Bobcats in San Luis Obispo and 4-4 in Bozeman.

The Bobcats appeared in the FCS playoffs four times in a five-year span from 2010-14, claimed at least a share of the Big Sky title three straight seasons (2010-12) and captured the FCS national title in 1984. Montana State defeated Incarnate Word in the opening round of the 2018 FCS playoffs before falling at eventual national champion North Dakota State 52-10 and, in 2019, the Bobcats fell to the Bison 42-14 in the semifinals after wins over Albany and Austin Peay.

Vigen, offensive coordinator at Wyoming from 2014-20 and a former player and assistant coach at North Dakota State, was named Montana State's 33rd head football coach last February. He helped guide the Cowboys to bowl games in three of his last four full seasons at Laramie. Vigen spent 18 seasons with head coach Craig Bohl, from 2003-13 at North Dakota State and the last seven at Wyoming.

Vigen played at North Dakota State from 1993-97 on one North Central Conference title team (1994) and three that advanced to the NCAA Division II Playoffs (1994, 1995, 1997). His coaching career began with the Bison as a graduate assistant in 1998 under Bob Babich, NDSU's coach during Vigen's senior season, and he was promoted to tight ends coach in 2001, quarterbacks coach in 2002 and running backs coach in 2003 before he was named passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2004. He became offensive coordinator in 2009 with the Bison and held the same role at Wyoming.

Cal Poly fans have seen major changes, particularly on offense, with Baldwin at the helm. The Triple Option is gone and the new offensive package features three or four wide receivers on most plays with one running back instead of two slots, a fullback and a pair of receivers in the old Triple Option formation.

Baldwin and his staff welcomed 48 returning lettermen to Fall Camp in August, including 23 on offense, 21 on defense and four specialists on special teams. The returnees include 26 players who started at least one game during the shortened spring season -- 13 on both offense and defense.

Also on the fall roster are 31 players who were redshirts last spring or injured, and almost 40 newcomers, including up to eight transfers from other four-year schools.

Giancarlo Woods returns a punt. — **Giancarlo Woods caught three passes in Weber State game.**

The group of veterans includes seven seniors who opted out of the second half of the spring schedule in order to preserve one final full season of eligibility this fall. They include linebackers Matt Shotwell and Lance Vecchio along with running backs Lepi Lataimua and Chuby Dunu and tight ends Nick White and Quentin Harrison. Defensive back Freddie Gaines, a member of the 2019 Big Sky Conference Football Community Service Team, also returns for a sixth year.

Shotwell led the Mustangs in tackles for the third straight year last spring and has notched 265 career tackles, No. 15 on Cal Poly's all-time career tackles list and 25 shy of the top 10. Vecchio made 19 tackles, including a sack, last spring while Lataimua (143 rushing yards in three games last spring) and Dunu (100 yards) head the list of returning ball carriers.

Topping the depth chart at the three wide receiver positions are Chris Coleman at X, Xavier Moore at Z and Zedakiah Centers at F. Moore made three catches in the spring and caught a touchdown pass for Cal Poly's only points against Oregon State in 2019. Centers caught eight passes. Coleman is one of three Mustang transfers from Fresno State this fall. The others are tight end Micah Pasion and defensive end Emeka Ndoh. Coleman and Ndoh are Bulldog graduates while Pasion is a sophomore.
Harrison, who led the team with 10 catches, two for touchdowns, last spring, has moved to the tight end spot while Michael Roth has switched from tight end to wide receiver after making four catches in the spring.

Brasch, winning a six-man battle for the starting nod at quarterback during Fall Camp, is a transfer from Cal, where he played two games in 2019 against Utah and Oregon State, after completing 359 of 602 passes for 5,522 yards with 78 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions over his final two prep seasons at Higley High School in Gilbert, Ariz. Brasch is currently sidelined with a fracture in his throwing hand and Conor Bruce, who made his first collegiate start last week at Montana and completed 16 of 30 passes for 183 yards, also is out with an injury. Freshman Kahliq Paulette from Converse, Texas, and redshirt freshman Jackson Pavitt are the top two signal callers on the depth chart this week.

At running back, Duy Tran-Sampson, Mark Biggins and CJ Cole all suffered injuries in last spring's shortened season. Tran-Sampson, a 1,000-yard rusher in 2019, and Cole, a Santa Maria St. Joseph High School graduate who was a 1,000-yard rusher as a senior and caught 64 passes as a junior, have retired from football due to their injuries. Biggins is back for his sophomore season.

Xavier Oliphant, Dawson Hurst, Dylan Wyatt and Trevor Owens head the group of players at the cornerback position. The offensive line features veterans Wade Willet (left guard) and Nicolo DiFronzo (center) while San Luis Obispo High School graduate Charles Lincoln has filled the open spot at right tackle. Redshirt freshman Austin Anderson is No. 1 on the depth chart at left tackle while Mohab Wahdan, Hunter Jones and D.J. Stuckey continue to battle for the starting nod at right guard.

Brasch has completed 41 of 71 passes (58 percent) for 528 yards and three touchdowns while Paulette is 22 of 50 for 221 yards and one score and Bruce 19 of 33 for 252 yards and a touchdown. Coleman leads all Mustang receivers with 18 catches for 235 yards and three scores. Giancarlo Woods has 14 receptions while Roth and Centers both have 11. Shotwell has 47 tackles, 11 against Weber State, while Laipeli Palu has notched 29 stops, including a career-high 12 two weeks ago at Montana.

Cal Poly, which captured the 2012 Big Sky title in its first year in the conference, claimed four Great West Conference titles in the eight-year history of the league (2004, 2005, 2008, 2011) and has earned NCAA Division I FCS playoff berths in 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2016.

Cal Poly has a bye next week, returning to action Oct. 23 at home with the Battle for the Golden Horseshoe versus UC Davis. Kickoff is set for 5:05 p.m. PDT.