Chris Coleman eludes a trio of South Dakota defenders after making one of his four catches last Saturday. Coleman has notched four catches, one for a touchdown, in each of Cal Poly's three games.
Cal Poly to Open Big Sky Conference Play Saturday at Montana
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (1-2, 0-0 Big Sky), which has lost two straight following a season-opening win at San Diego, opens Big Sky Conference play Saturday with a game against two-time NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision national champion and No. 4-ranked Montana (2-0, 0-0 Big Sky) inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium (cap.: 25,217).
Kickoff is set for 12:05 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 11:30 a.m. 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.
At Fresno State two weeks ago, 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. The Bulldogs are ranked No. 22 in the nation this week. The Mustangs gave up 671 yards of total offense, punted 10 times and converted just four of 19 third-down plays.
Last week, 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. Matt Shotwell made 13 tackles, Ponder notched a pair of sacks and Zach Hernandez recovered a Coyotes fumble.
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.
Freshman quarterback Kahliq Paulette looks for an open receiver in game versus South Dakota last week.Montana opened its season with a 13-7 win at Washington — the Big Sky has four wins over Football Bowl Subdivision teams so far this season — and earned a 42-7 victory over Western Illinois at home before enjoying a bye last week.
Montana held the high-powered Husky offense to just 65 rushing yards and came away with three interceptions at key moments to hold then-No. 20-ranked Washington off the scoreboard for three quarters after the Huskies scored on the opening drive of the game. Quarterback Cam Humphrey orchestrated two second-half scoring drives highlighted by a diving four-yard rushing touchdown of his own and improved his record to 6-0 as a starter at Montana.
Bobby Hauck earned his 100th career victory as head coach at Montana with the win over Western Illinois as the Griz outgained the Leathernecks by 367 yards and never allowed them into the red zone. Montana controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides, rushing for 242 yards and allowing just 40 while also getting into the backfield for 11 tackles for loss, including six sacks, and forcing three turnovers.
Eleventh-year head coach Bobby Hauck (100-26, Montana '88), who between his two stints at Montana (2003-09, 2018-Present) was head coach at UNLV for five seasons (2010-14, 15-49), welcomed back 87 lettermen, including 25 starters. Leading the group of returning veterans are Humphrey, wide receivers Gabe Sulser and Samuel Akem, offensive tackle Dylan Cook, linebacker Jace Lewis and safety Robby Hauck, son of the head coach. The Griz played just two games last spring, defeating Central Washington and Portland State.
This fall, Humphrey has completed 32 of 50 passes (64 percent) for 357 yards and five touchdowns in two games. Sulser has seven catches, Mitch Roberts six and Akem five. Isiah Childs has rushed for 115 yards and one touchdown. Linebacker Patrick O'Connell has 19 tackles, including 4.5 sacks and 6.0 tackles for lost yardage. Marcus Welnel, another linebacker, has 18 stops and he and safety Gavin Robertson both have two interceptions this year.
The Griz won 19 Big Sky championships from 1969 to 2011, have earned 25 FCS playoff berths, including an FCS-record 17 consecutive trips to the postseason from 1993 to 2009, and claimed national titles in 1995 and 2001. The Griz have qualified for the postseason just five times over the last 10 seasons (not including the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season).
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 slotbacks, 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.
Matt Shotwell has 30 tackles in three games.Shotwell led the Mustangs in tackles for the third straight year last spring and has notched 248 career tackles, No. 17 on Cal Poly's all-time career tackles list. 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. Freshman Kahliq Paulette from Converse, Texas, currently is No. 1 on the depth chart while junior Conor Bruce is No. 2.
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.
Hauck led the Grizzlies to three national championship appearances, and won seven straight Big Sky Conference championships during his first tenure in Missoula. He is a three-time Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award in 2009. After his coaching stint at UNLV, Hauck was Associate Head Coach and Special Teams Coordinator at San Diego State for three years (2015-17). He began his coaching career with the Grizzlies in 1988 after earning a bachelor's degree in business and physical education at Montana in 1987 and also has served as an assistant coach at UCLA, Northern Arizona, Colorado and Washington.
Cal Poly and Montana are meeting for the 22nd time Saturday and, though the Mustangs won three straight meetings prior to a 48-28 loss to the Griz in 2018, the Griz still hold a commanding 16-5 advantage in the series which began in 1969. In addition to a 20-19 win at Montana in the 2015 season opener on Alex Vega's 49-yard field goal with four seconds left, Cal Poly also earned a 42-41 victory in 2016, a 41-21 triumph in 2014, a 35-33 win in 2010, all in San Luis Obispo, and a 35-21 victory in the opening round of the 2005 FCS playoffs at Missoula.
Baldwin is 6-4 against Montana (all as head coach at Eastern Washington) while Hauck is 6-1 against Cal Poly. The Mustangs are 2-11 in Missoula and 3-5 against the Griz at home.
Brasch has completed 41 of 71 passes (58 percent) for 528 yards and three touchdowns while Paulette is 10 of 27 for 121 yards and one score. Coleman leads all Mustang receivers with 12 catches for 165 yards and three scores. Shotwell has 30 tackles, Judaea Moon 20, Laipeli Palu 15 and Aaron Cooper 14. All are linebackers.
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.
Next week, Cal Poly continues conference play at home against four-time defending Big Sky champion Weber State, with kickoff for the Oct. 2 Homecoming Game set for 5:05 p.m.
Photos courtesy of Owen Main | www.fansmanship.com
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