SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly played the fifth-toughest schedule in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision this fall.
The 11 opponents on the Mustangs' schedule compiled a 65-45 win-loss record for a .591 winning percentage. Five of them -- South Dakota, Montana, Montana State, UC Davis and Sacramento State -- are headed to the FCS playoffs and, at 8-3, Fresno State is going to play in a bowl game.
Throw Weber State, which won or shared four straight Big Sky titles heading into the 2021 season, into the mix, giving Cal Poly seven ranked opponents at one time or another this season. San Diego finished 7-4 with a share of the Pioneer League crown, its 10th in the last 11 years.
"We knew going in that things would be tough. That doesn't surprise me," said second-year head coach Beau Baldwin. "Maybe if the schedule was more favorable, we could have found a couple more wins. In the end, we played lot of programs that have been established for a while and we saw what size and strength on a roster should look like. So I take the tough schedule as a positive for us despite the challenge."
And the coaching staff was faced with taking on those teams with as many as 10 freshmen and seven sophomores in the starting lineup this fall. The Mustangs played 22 true freshmen this fall, including four who made at least three starts -- Tommy Griffin and Dominick McCormack in the defensive secondary, Evan Burkhart at wide receiver and Josh Ngaluafe, who started all 11 games on the defensive line.
Despite the 2-9 mark, the 2021 Cal Poly football team made great strides, opening the season with a win on the road against San Diego, defeating Idaho State for its first Big Sky victory on the penultimate weekend and simply comparing the players' performance last spring and this fall.
Zion Hall produced a 59-yard run, a 34-yard kickoff return
and a 27-yard reception against Northern Arizona.An example of the latter can be found in the UC Davis game Oct. 23. Cal Poly lost to the Aggies 73-24 last spring in Davis. In the rematch this fall at Spanos Stadium, a pair of Matt Hoffman field goals pulled the Mustangs to within four, 17-13, and, trailing by 11, Cal Poly drove to the UC Davis 17-, 19- and 24-yard lines in the final quarter before being turned away each time by the 10th-ranked Aggies.
"The way we took the field for UC Davis coming off a bye week, comparing our game with them last year and this year, I was really proud of our team for that," said Baldwin.
Growth, perseverance and togetherness were the words used by Baldwin as adjectives that best describe the 2021 season.
"The growth of this team from the three spring games to this fall, our players continuing to practice at the level they did, the perseverance they showed as we made a huge jump with where we were before the bye and how we ended the season ... they just found a way to show togetherness. That's how I will remember this group," Baldwin said.
"More than anything, the biggest positive we had was getting over the hump with our first Big Sky win," Baldwin added, referring to the 32-29 triumph over the Bengals on a 41-yard field goal by Jaden Ohlsen with four seconds remaining. "Plus, you look at film from the spring and compare that with what we looked like in the fall. There's just no comparison. It goes back to the growth we showed and what we're working toward."
As former Cal Poly head coach Rich Ellerson said when his teams turned a 3-8 record in 2002 into six straight winning seasons, "The arrow is pointing up."
"We're an ascending program that will be better next year," said Baldwin. "Every program goes through its ups and downs. It's always a work in progress."
That work will begin in earnest in January in the weight room and Spring Ball could be moved to the latter weeks of Winter Quarter to give players more time to get ready for the 2022 campaign.
Baldwin said the focus of the offseason will be in "cleaning up some of the details" -- mental errors, alignment, etc. -- and "less thinking about the system and knowing it so well that you can just go out there and play the game.
"We want to get to a level where the system allows everyone to play," Baldwin added. "That's what I look forward to in the offseason. Also, improving the strength within the program. You can already see the difference in some of the 20- and 21-year-olds, how they have developed from their high school days. Against certain opponents, what stood out to me was their overall size and strength. We need to get stronger and we will."
Despite missing four games due to a fractured hand, sophomore Spencer Brasch threw for 1,725 yards this season, the most by a Mustang quarterback in 13 years. Graduate wide receiver Chris Coleman led the large receiving corps -- 20 players caught at least one pass, including offensive lineman Charles Lincoln -- with 43 receptions -- the most since 2011 -- for 590 yards and four touchdowns.
The Mustang rushing attack, however, fell short of expectations. Once the national leader in rushing for four consecutive seasons out of the Triple Option, Cal Poly did not have a single 100-yard game by any rusher this season, a first since moving to Division I in 1994, and a streak of nine straight years with a 1,000-yard rusher (not counting the three-game pandemic-shortened 2020-21 spring season) came to an end.
Spencer Brasch's 1,725 passing yards are the most
by a Mustang quarterback in 13 years.The running game was hampered by the loss of Shakobe Harper, who missed the last three games, Lepi Lataimua, who was sidelined three games as well, and Sam Stewart, who missed seven contests, all to injury. As a result, Cal Poly finished under 100 yards rushing in eight of this year's 11 games.
Baldwin was pleased with the development of many of the younger players, such as defensive end Elijah Ponder with his eight sacks -- the most by a Mustang in eight years -- among his 11 tackles for lost yardage; safety Isaiah Robinson, fifth in tackles with 40; cornerback Xavier Oliphant with his 23 tackles, five pass breakups and 100-yard return of a missed field goal attempt for a touchdown; and wide receiver Giancarlo Woods, who had 27 receptions and a 6.8 average in punt returns.
Zedakiah Centers, another wide receiver, caught 35 passes for 310 yards. Running back Adam Garwood averaged 20.1 yards on 20 kickoff returns while Zion Hall, another running back, showed flashes of brilliance toward the end of the season with a 59-yard run, a 27-yard reception and a 34-yard kickoff return, all in the season finale against Northern Arizona.
All are freshmen.
"I am excited for the future of this program and especially the younger players," said Baldwin. "You can throw in Austin Anderson and Mohab Wahdan, freshmen on the offensive line, and sophomore linemen Payson Campisano, Hunter Jones and Lincoln as well.
"There were a number of young guys who got the chance to play," Baldwin added. "When you take over a program and change the system, you usually become a young team, the players adapting to your program and system, always going through growing pains, and we definitely had a lot of that."
Even the group of kickers was young.
In addition to his game-winning field goal against Idaho State, Ohlsen hit a 47-yarder at Fresno State and was perfect on his 15 PAT attempts this season while Bryant Thao averaged 52.1 yards on 10 kickoffs. Both are freshmen. Sophomore Matt Hoffman added three PAT kicks, a pair of field goals and averaged 54.3 yards on 15 kickoffs.
To be sure, the team had some senior leadership as well.
Linebacker Matt Shotwell wrapped up his career with his 17th game of double-digit tackles Saturday, notching 12 in the loss to Northern Arizona. He finished the season with 127 tackles, the fifth-most for a single season in Cal Poly history, and 345 stops for his career, No. 4 in the record book.
Shotwell also recorded 19 tackles for lost yardage, 2.5 sacks, four interceptions, 12 pass breakups, two forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries in his Mustang career. Oh, and he returned an interception 22 yards for his first and only Cal Poly touchdown in the Idaho State game.
Defensive tackle Myles Cecil closed his Mustang career with 43 tackles, 6.5 for lost yardage (two sacks) and an interception against UC Davis. He earned 123 tackles in four Mustang seasons.
"Matt leading the Big Sky in tackles and filling spots on special teams for a lot of reps says a lot about his durability," Baldwin said of his two-year team captain. "Cecil up front ... those two guys definitely jump out on defense for us."
Shotwell earned his second All-Big Sky Conference third-team honor after an honorable mention as a sophomore. Cecil also was a third-team selection while tight end/fullback Ryan Rivera earned a spot on the second unit. Ponder garnered honorable mention praise.
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