Cal Poly to Visit Eastern Washington for Big Sky Game on Saturday

Saturday, March 27

Cheney, WA / Roos Field

1:05 p.m.

Eastern Washington

Ryan Boehm (37) and Fenton Will (52) close in on a tackle against UC Davis running back Peyton Dixon last week.

Cal Poly to Visit Eastern Washington for Big Sky Game on Saturday

3/24/2021 12:56:00 PM | Football

WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | EASTERN WASHINGTON | BIG SKY
AUDIO STREAM | VIDEO STREAM | LIVE STATS

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Beau Baldwin will coach a football team in Cheney, Wash., for the first time in nearly five years this weekend as Cal Poly (0-2, 0-2 Big Sky) travels to face the No. 11/12 Eastern Washington Eagles (2-1, 2-1 Big Sky) at Roos Field (cap.: 8,500).

Kickoff on Saturday is set for 1:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN?Radio (1280 AM and 101.7 FM) with Chris Sylvester (play-by-play) and JP?Hiraoka (color) calling the action. Pregame show starts at 12:30 p.m. The game also will be streamed on Pluto TV?Channel 1053 and WatchBigSky.com and will be broadcast on SWX in the Spokane area. Links for audio and video streams as well as live stats are available on the football schedule page at www.GoPoly.com.

The Beau Baldwin Era at Cal Poly opened two weeks ago, 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 — the Thunderbirds winning in San Luis Obispo for the first time since 1988, snapping a 15-game losing streak —and dropped a 73-24 decision at UC?Davis last week.

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.

Eastern Washington opened its 2020-21 spring season with a 28-21 setback at Idaho, but has bounced back with a 45-13 win at home versus Northern Arizona and 46-42 at Idaho State, scoring twice in the final six minutes. The Eagles are averaging 37.3 points, 142 rushing yards and 401 passing yards per game while giving up 28 points, 97 rushing yards and 308 passing yards.

Quarterback Eric Barriere, a preseason All-American, preseason offensive MVP of the Big Sky and first team All-Big Sky quarterback in 2019, has completed 95 of 156 passes for 1,203 yards and 10 touchdowns in three games so far this season. Four of his receivers already have 10 or more catches, led by Talolo Limu-Jones with 23 for 279 yards and one score. Tamarick Pierce has rushed for 202 yards and two touchdowns while Dennis Merritt has recorded 139 rushing yards and one score.

Cal Poly fans are anticipating major changes, particularly on offense, with Baldwin at the helm. The Triple Option is gone and the new offensive package likely will result in three or four wide receivers on most plays with one running back instead of two slotbacks, a fullback and a pair of receivers in the formation.

Baldwin greeted 53 returning lettermen shortly after his arrival on campus in mid-December 2019, including 17 starters (10 offense, seven defense) off the 2019 squad which went 3-8 and shared ninth place in the Big Sky with four other schools.

Topping the list of returnees are sophomore quarterback Jalen Hamler, junior running back Duy Tran-Sampson, defensive lineman Myles Cecil and linebacker Matt Shotwell.

Hamler completed 62 of 108 passes for 1,167 yards and 12 touchdowns while also rushing for 522 yards and nine more scores. Tran-Sampson, a second-team All-Big Sky fullback, rushed for 1,037 yards and eight touchdowns but will miss the spring season due to a leg injury. Shotwell, a third-team All-Big Sky selection, led Cal Poly in tackles for the second straight year with 89 (90 in 2018) and Cecil, an All-Big honorable mention in 2019, made 35 stops after garnering 39 tackles in 2018.

Under fourth-year head coach Aaron Best (28-13, Eastern Washington '01), Eastern Washington returned 44 lettermen, including 10 starters, from the 2019 squad which finished 7-5, including a 6-2 mark for a third-place tie in the Big Sky, but was denied an NCAA?Division I?Football Championship Subdivision playoff berth.

Best replaced Baldwin as the Eagles' head coach on Jan. 21, 2017, after 20 seasons as a player (offensive lineman) and assistant coach at Eastern Washington.

The Eagles have earned winning seasons 22 times in the last 24 years, winning 66 percent of their games (193-98) and 130 of 177 Big Sky contests (74 percent). Eastern Washington has posted a 5-3 record or better in Big Sky games 13 years in a row, is 51-12 in Big Sky contests since an 0-2 start in 2011 and sports a 58-10 overall mark at red-turfed Roos Field since 2010.

Cal Poly and Eastern Washington will be playing each other in football for the 12th time Saturday. The Eagles have a 9-2 series advantage, 5-0 at home, and a seven-game winning streak in the series after defeating the Mustangs 42-41 in 2019 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. Last meeting at Roos Field resulted in a 70-17 Eagle win in 2018.

Beau Baldwin is coaching against Eastern Washington for the first time while Aaron Best is 2-0 against Cal Poly.

Against Southern Utah two weeks ago, Mustang sophomore quarterback Jalen Hamler established new career highs by completing 23 of 35 passes for 277 yards. He threw three touchdown passes for the third time in his career. Mitch Anderson caught six passes and Quentin Harrison five, two for touchdowns. Tight end Michael Roth caught the other scoring toss from Hamler.

Cal Poly netted just 42 yards on the ground, due in part to the seven sacks recorded by the Southern Utah defense. Linebackers Fenton Will and Matt Shotwell each recorded nine tackles, Myles Cecil earned the lone Mustang sack and Dustin Grein forced and recovered a Thunderbird fumble.

UC?Davis notched nine sacks and 768 yards of total offense against Cal Poly last week, but still needed to overcome early 3-0 and 10-7 deficits for the win. Brandon Davis returned an interception 55 yards for a touchdown and Cal Poly's other scores were a two-yard run by CJ?Cole, a 16-yard pass from Hunter Raquet to Noah Rasheed and a 20-yard field goal by Colton Theaker. Matt Shotwell garnered 11 tackles and Isaiah Jernagin added 10 for the Mustang defense. Shotwell recovered an Aggie fumble and Aaron Cooper intercepted a UC?Davis pass.

Two games into the season, running back Lepi Lataimua has rushed for 86 yards while Hamler has completed 30 of 51 passes for 351 yards and three scores. Raquet connected on nine of 16 passes in the second half at UC?Davis. Quentin Harrison tops all Mustang receivers with nine catches for 111 yards and two touchdowns while Mitch Anderson has made seven grabs for 78 yards.

Shotwell has recorded 20 tackles in two contests while Lance Vecchio has 15 and Jernagin 14. Vecchio and Myles Cecil have notched sacks while Vecchio and Dustin Grein have forced fumbles.

Cal Poly, which captured the 2012 Big Sky title in its first year in the conference, was picked to finish 10th by both the head coaches and the media in the 13-team Big Sky this fall. Weber State was selected to claim the 2020-21 Big Sky crown, followed by Montana and Montana State. Both the Grizzlies and Bobcats have opted out of the 2020-21 spring season, along with Sacramento State, Portland State and Northern Colorado.

The Mustangs claimed four Great West Conference titles in the eight-year history of the league (2004, 2005, 2008, 2011) before moving to the Big Sky in 2012 and have earned NCAA Division I FCS playoff berths in 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2016.

The Mustangs have won 65 of their last 95 home contests (69 percent) and, overall, Cal Poly has won 107 of its last 196 games (56 percent) going back to the 2002 finale and has won 24 of its last 59 and 43 of 97 on the road while producing 12 winning seasons in the last 19 years.

Next week, Cal Poly concludes its three-game road trip with a Saturday date at Northern Arizona. Kickoff inside the Walkup Skydome is set for 1:05 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Jesus Sepulveda