Cal Poly Returns Home for Final Two Games, Hosts Idaho State

Saturday, November 13

San Luis Obispo, CA

5:05 p.m.

Idaho State

Cal Poly linebacker Fenton Will tries to fend off a block and make a tackle while Dominick McCormack moves in for assistance against South Dakota in September game.

Photo by: Matt Brown | Matt Brown Photography

Cal Poly Returns Home for Final Two Games, Hosts Idaho State

11/8/2021 12:09:00 PM | Football

WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | IDAHO STATE | BIG SKY
AUDIO STREAM | VIDEO STREAM | LIVE STATS | GAME PROGRAM | TICKETS

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (1-8, 0-6 Big Sky), which has faced seven teams ranked at some time this season, plays its final two contests of the 2021 football season at home, beginning with Idaho State (1-8, 1-5 Big Sky) for a Big Sky Conference matchup Saturday night inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium (cap.: 11,075).

Kickoff is set for 5:05 p.m. PST. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN Radio (1280 AM and 101.7 FM) in San Luis Obispo County and northern Santa Barbara County and KRKC (1490 AM and 104.9 FM) in southern Monterey County with Zachary Anderson-Yoxsimer (play-by-play) and Stephan Hodges (analyst) calling the action. Pregame show starts at 4:30 p.m. The game also will be available on ESPN+. Links for video and audio streams as well as live stats can be found on the football schedule page at www.GoPoly.com.

Saturday's game is Heroes Night with all military personnel, veterans, first responders and frontline hospital workers admitted free of charge. All Mustang Kids Club members also get free admission to this game when they show their membership card.

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 21 points or less in each game since and seeks to snap an eight-game losing streak Saturday. The Mustangs have fallen to Fresno State, South Dakota and, in Big Sky games, Montana, Weber State, Montana State, UC Davis, Portland State and Sacramento State. Seven of the last eight opponents were ranked in the top 25 this season.

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.

Idaho State is coming off a 59-14 loss at No. 15 BYU last week. Jared Scott caught a six-yard pass from Sagan Gronauer and Tyevin Ford ran seven yards to account for the Bengals' pair of touchdowns after BYU had jumped ahead 35-0 midway through the second quarter. Gronauer completed 15 of 27 passes for 167 yards and Scott was his top receiver with five catches for 31 yards. Ford finished with 47 yards on 13 rushes.

Idaho State's lone victory this fall was against UC Davis, a 27-17 verdict on Oct. 9 in Pocatello. The Aggies were ranked No. 7 at the time but were intercepted three times and held to just three points through the first three quarters. In beating a ranked opponent for the first time since 2005, Idaho State was led by Ford with 107 yards rushing while Hunter Hays, in his first career start, passed for 281 yards and two touchdowns as the Bengals amassed 444 yards in total offense.

Idaho State head coach Rob Phenicie welcomed back 59 lettermen, including 21 starters (11 on offense, 10 on defense) to Fall Camp. The Bengals played a "full" six-game schedule in the spring, posting a 2-4 mark with wins over Southern Utah and Idaho. Running back Malakai Rango (351 yards rushing, three TDs), quarterback Tyler Vander Waal (116 of 215, 1,843 yards, 12 TDs, 10 interceptions) and wide receiver Tanner Conner (34 catches, 685 yards, three TDs) all return as well as linebackers Connor Wills (60 tackles) and Oshea Trujillo (34 tackles).

Bengal leaders so far this fall are Ford (81 carries, 353 yards, two TDs), Hays (85 of 157, 988 yards, six TDs) and receivers Conner (32 catches, 571 yards, three TDs) and Scott (27-205-3). Vander Waal has missed six games due to injuries while Hays, who has played in eight of the Bengals' nine games, was replaced by Gronauer last week at BYU. On defense, Wills has 57 tackles (29 solo), linebacker Darian Green 52 (4.5 for lost yardage) and cornerback Jayden Dawson 50 along with two interceptions and 12 pass breakups. Dawson returned an interception 61 yards for a score against UC Davis while Benjamin Omayebu returned a kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown versus Sacramento State.

The Bengals are No. 7 in the nation in net punting (39.69), No. 7 in kickoff returns (25.47) and 17th in fumbles recovered (9). Idaho State is averaging 119 yards rushing and 178 yards passing for 297 yards in total offense per game while giving up 185 yards rushing, 277 passing and 462 in total offense. The Bengals are 98th in the FCS in total offense and 117th in total defense.

The Bengals captured the FCS national title in 1981 and have claimed three Big Sky championships (1963, 1981 and 2002). This fall, Idaho State is seeking its first FCS playoff berth since 1983.

Cal Poly enjoys a 14-8 advantage in its series against Idaho State dating back to 1937. The two teams are meeting for just the sixth time in the last 13 years. In the last matchup between the two schools in 2018 at San Luis Obispo, senior fullback Joe Protheroe rushed for a career-high 260 yards, set a Cal Poly record for yards rushing in a single season and scored a touchdown as the Mustangs celebrated Homecoming by upsetting No. 24 Idaho State 37-14.

Senior linebacker Anders Turner scooped up an Idaho State fumble and ran 40 yards for a touchdown and cornerback Dominic Frasch, also a senior, forced a fumble, intercepted a pass, broke up four other Bengal passes and recorded seven tackles for Cal Poly. Idaho State, averaging 524 yards in total offense per game entering Saturday's contest, was held to 367 yards and turned the ball over four times -- two interceptions and a pair of lost fumbles. Senior Alex Vega kicked a career-high three field goals — 31, 23 and 29 yards for the Mustangs.

Baldwin is 8-0 against Idaho State, all while at Eastern Washington from 2008-16, while Phenicie is 1-1 against Cal Poly. The Mustangs are 9-3 at home against the Bengals and 5-5 in Pocatello.

Phenicie (16-33, Memphis '89) is in his seventh year with the Idaho State football program and fifth as the head coach. He spent five years at UNLV, two as the offensive coordinator, three as the quarterbacks coach and two as the tight ends coach. He also has worked as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Montana from 2003-09 and was the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at Wyoming. Phenicie coached the quarterbacks and wide receivers at CSUN from 1997-98 and at L.A. Valley College from 1992-96.

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.

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 with the program.

Shotwell led the Mustangs in tackles for the third straight year last spring and has notched 314 career tackles, No. 6 on Cal Poly's all-time career tackles list and one shy of the top five. 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 returned to the lineup in the UC Davis game three weeks ago after missing four games with a fracture in his throwing hand. Due primarily to injuries, Cal Poly has started seven different quarterbacks over the last two seasons.

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 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 102 of 174 passes (59 percent) for 1,331 yards and seven touchdowns in his five starts while the other four signal callers this year have connected on 63 of 136 (46 percent) for 614 yards and two scores. Coleman leads all Mustang receivers with 32 catches for 515 yards and four scores. Giancarlo Woods has 27 catches, Centers 26, Roth 12, Harrison and running back Shakobe Harper 11 each and Evan Burkhart 10. Harper has rushed for 251 yards and three touchdowns. Shotwell has 96 tackles, 18 against Montana State and 14 versus UC Davis, while Laipeli Palu has notched 51 stops, including a career-high 12 at Montana last month. Freshman defensive end Elijah Ponder has seven sacks while senior cornerback Trevor Owens has recorded seven pass breakups and Illinois transfer Dylan Wyatt has six.

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.

The Mustangs close out the 2021 season with another home game Saturday, Nov. 20, versus Northern Arizona, with kickoff set for 5:05 p.m.