Portland State
Cal Poly Closes 2022 Season at Home Versus Portland State
11/14/2022 6:56:00 PM | Football
VIDEO STREAM | AUDIO STREAM | LIVE STATS | TICKETS | GAME PROGRAM
Kickoff is set for 5:02 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). Pregame show starts at 4:30 p.m. The game also will be video streamed on ESPN+ with Daniel Gillman (play-by-play) and John Kane (analyst) on the mic. Links for audio and video streams as well as live stats are on the football schedule page at www.GoPoly.com.
Cal Poly fell 35-7 in its opener at Fresno State despite four offensive drives of 70 or more yards, cashing in only once. Jaden Jones completed 20 of 38 passes for 211 yards and one score. In his second collegiate start, Jones jumped into the Cal Poly record book in several categories, completing 27 of 45 passes for 385 yards and four scores in the 28-27 win over San Diego. The Mustangs intercepted three passes, two by freshman Jay'Vion Cole, in the final six minutes of the game.
Cal Poly followed with a 38-21 loss at South Dakota despite producing six drives of 55 or more yards and Shakobe Harper surpassing the 100-yard mark carrying the football, the first Mustang to do so in three years. Cal Poly scored on just three of those drives. Sacramento State jumped to a 28-0 lead en route to a 49-21 triumph in the Big Sky opener for both teams Oct. 1. A month ago, the Mustangs held 6-0, 20-14 and 29-28 leads before falling at Northern Arizona 31-29 and Cal Poly's rally from 30-7 and 37-14 deficits fell just short as Idaho State held on for a 40-31 triumph in Pocatello, Idaho, on Oct. 15. Three weeks ago, Eastern Washington snapped a 10-10 tie on a 20-yard touchdown pass with 8:54 to go in the game and held on for a 17-10 victory. The Eagles took advantage of five Mustang turnovers (three interceptions, two fumbles) and ran 26 more plays than Cal Poly.
Cal Poly has given up more than 50 points in its last three games. UC Davis jumped to a 21-0 lead and also scored the final 31 points of a 59-17 win in the Battle for the Golden Horseshoe, amassing 682 total yards and 28 first downs. Montana followed with 695 total yards and a school record 37 first downs in a 57-0 triumph during a Missoula snowstorm. Montana State gained 739 yards of offense, led by Marqui Johnson's 242 rushing yards and four touchdowns, in a 72-28 victory.
Cal Poly trailed 21-0 at Fresno State, 17-0 versus San Diego, 21-7 at South Dakota, 28-20 at Northern Arizona, 30-7 at Idaho State, 21-0 at UC Davis and 24-0 versus Montana State before bouncing back in each game. The Mustangs have been outscored 146-27 in the first quarter and 224-92 in the first half of their 10 games this season.
Aside from the last three contests, there are signs of improvement for Cal Poly. The Mustangs played three straight one-score games before the losses at UC Davis and Montana and at home versus Montana State. The one area of concern for third-year head coach Beau Baldwin is turnovers as Idaho State, Eastern Washington and UC Davis forced 13 Cal Poly miscues.
Jones, who played in three games in a reserve role as a true freshman a year ago, preserving his redshirt year, vaulted into the top of the Big Sky Conference in passing yards (596) and total offense and No. 2 in passing touchdowns and completions per game (23.5) in the first two games before suffering an injury to his right leg midway through the first quarter at South Dakota. Spencer Brasch has stepped in for Jones and has completed 181 of309 passes (59 percent) for 2,184 yards and 15 scores the last eight weeks, passing for 362 yards at South Dakota, 374 at Northern Arizona, 394 at Idaho State and 359 at UC Davis, all in the top 20 for all-time passing yards in a single game at Cal Poly.
Cal Poly, which ran the run-oriented Triple Option offense for a dozen years and led the nation in rushing four times in that span, is now No. 6 in the country and first in the Big Sky in passing offense, averaging 302.7 yards a game.
Portland State dropped its first three games against San Jose State, Washington and Montana before winning four of its next six contests. Last week, the Vikings fell 45-7 to No. 2 Sacramento State despite a 10-minute advantage in time of possession and 21-20 in first downs. Quincy Craig rushed for 107 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries while two quarterbacks combined to complete just 14 of 32 passes for 145 yards. Portland State's best national rankings are No. 11 with two blocked punts and No. 22 in time of possession (31:56). The Vikings also are No. 22 in fourth-down conversions (59 percent) and No. 25 in tackles for lost yardage per game (6.9).
Portland State is averaging 169 yards rushing and 202 yards passing for 371 yards in total offense and 24 points per game while giving up 181 rushing yards and 276 passing yards for 457 total yards and 36 points per game defensively.
The Vikings, 5-6 overall and tied for seventh place in the Big Sky a year ago, fielded their first football team in 1947 and have been members of the Big Sky Conference since 1996. They have compiled 30 winning seasons in 72 years and have made two FCS playoff appearances (2000 and 2015) and 10 NCAA postseason appearances.
The first full season of Mustang football under Cal Poly head coach Beau Baldwin, which began 21 months after he was named Cal Poly's 17th head football coach on Dec. 11, 2019, ended with a 2-9 mark. The Mustangs defeated San Diego 28-17 in the opener as Brasch, in his first game as a Mustang after transferring from Cal, completed 23 of 38 passes for 316 yards, the most by a Mustang quarterback in 12 years, and two touchdowns with no interceptions and Elijah Ponder returned an interception 75 yards for another score. Cal Poly also beat Idaho State 42-39 in the penultimate contest on Jaden Ohlsen's 41-yard field goal with four seconds left and Brasch completed 25 of 50 passes for 233 yards and three scores.
The offseason was highlighted with some firsts for Baldwin in his tenure at Cal Poly, namely seven uninterrupted months of conditioning from January through July, a Spring Camp that ended with a successful Spring Game, the hiring of five new assistant coaches to replace those who moved on to the NFL or FBS schools, and an explosive six-touchdown performance in the first of two Fall Camp scrimmages on the new FieldTurf inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
Eighth-year head coach Bruce Barnum (30-49, Eastern Washington '87) welcomed back 44 lettermen, including 17 starters (eight on offense, nine on defense) to Fall Camp. Leading the group of returning veterans are offensive lineman Tyson Pauling, wide receiver Beau Kelly (69 receptions, 981 yards, 10 TDs in 2021), linebacker Parker McKenna (88 tackles) and defensive back Anthony Adams (52 tackles, three interceptions), a first-team All-American in 2019 and a two-time All-Big Sky first-team selection.
Viking leaders so far this fall are quarterback Dante Chachere (142 of 234, 1,859 yards, 18 TDs passing, 103 carries, 472 yards, six TDs rushing), Nate Bennett (43-482-0 receiving), Kelly (39-577-4 receiving) and defensive backs Broderick Harrell (50 tackles) and Xavier Bell (50 tackles). Defensive tackle E.J. Ane has seven sacks.
Cal Poly and Portland State are meeting for the 26th time in football this week. Last year in Hillsboro, Portland State earned a 42-21 victory as quarterback Davis Alexander ran for two touchdowns and passed for 198 yards and another score. Alexander completed 22 of 36 passes. Cal Poly rallied from an early 14-0 deficit to tie the game at 14-14 on a 75-yard pass from Brasch to Chris Coleman and a two-yard run by Sam Stewart. Portland State, however, scored the next three touchdowns of the game to pull away. Adam Garwood ran three yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter for Cal Poly.
The series, which started in 1977 with Cal Poly winning the first six meetings, was tied at 11-11 before Cal Poly won in both 2016 and 2017 for a 13-11 advantage. Baldwin is 6-4 against Portland State, including a 6-3 mark while he was head coach at Eastern Washington, while Barnum is 2-2 against Cal Poly.
Against the Vikings, the Mustangs are 7-5 at home and 6-7 in Portland.
Barnum was offensive coordinator for the Vikings from 2010-14. After turning a 3-9 squad into a 9-3 success story in 2015, Barnum was named FCS National Coach of the Year. The Vikings made their first appearance in the NCAA playoffs in 15 years, just their second ever, and hosted a Division I playoff game for the first time, falling to Northern Iowa of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, 29-17, in the opening round.
Barnum also has coached at Cornell, Idaho State, American International and the U.S. Coast Guard and began his coaching career at Columbia River High School (Vancouver, Wash.) and Central Valley High School (Spokane, Wash.).
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.
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 a tight end and 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 62 returning lettermen to Fall Camp in August, including 30 on offense, 27 on defense and five specialists on special teams. The returnees include 27 players who started at least five games during the 2021 season -- 13 on offense, nine on defense and five on special teams.
Also on the 108-man fall roster are 22 players who were true freshmen and played in at least one game but no more than four, preserving their redshirt year, five transfers from four-year schools, two community college transfers, 13 redshirts or squad members who did not play at all in 2021 and 28 newcomers from the high school ranks.
The group of veterans includes Brasch (145 of 267 passes for 1,725 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2021), wide receiver Chris Coleman (43-590-4), linebacker Laipeli Palu (51 tackles) and defensive linemen Dustin Grein (36 tackles, one sack), Elijah Ponder (35 tackles, eight sacks) and Josh Ngaluafe (28 tackles, two sacks), who combined for 22 tackles for lost yardage in 2021.
Other top returnees include wide receiver/punt returner Giancarlo Woods (27-339-1 receiving, 6.8 punt return average), wide receiver Zedakiah Centers (35-310-0) and offensive linemen Charles Lincoln, Austin Anderson, Mohab Wahdan, Hunter Jones and Payson Campisano, all of whom started at least five games a year ago.
Coleman is Cal Poly's favorite receiving target with 57 receptions for 888 yards and four touchdowns while tight end Josh Cuevas has caught 47 passes for 544 yards and six scores. A total of 18 Mustangs have caught at least one pass this season. Coleman's 10 catches two weeks ago at UC Davis and 57 for the season are the most by a Mustang since Ramses Barden caught 10 versus Idaho State in 2007 and made 67 catches in 2008.
Shakobe Harper is the Mustangs' top rusher with 307 yards on 87 carries after producing his first career 100-yard game as a Mustang with 106 yards at South Dakota. Adam Garwood has added 187 yards on 49 carries and two scores and has caught 13 passes for 101 yards and another TD.
Linebacker David Meyer leads the defense with 73 tackles and 4.5 sacks while defensive back Brian Dukes has 52 stops and one interception. Cornerback Dylan Wyatt has 11 pass breakups and Jay'Vion Cole has intercepted four passes.
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 played the fifth-toughest schedule in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision last fall and faces 10 of the 11 teams again this season, replacing Weber State with Eastern Washington. The 11 opponents on the Mustangs' 2021 schedule compiled an 80-52 win-loss record for a .606 winning percentage and five of them -- South Dakota, Montana, Montana State, UC Davis and Sacramento State -- qualified for the FCS playoffs. In addition, Fresno State played in the New Mexico Bowl.
Weber State, which won or shared four straight Big Sky titles heading into the 2021 season, didn't make the postseason but was one of seven Cal Poly opponents ranked at one time or another in 2021. San Diego finished 7-4 with a share of the Pioneer League crown, its 10th in the last 11 years.
Cal Poly tackled that schedule with as many as 10 freshmen and seven sophomores in the starting lineup last fall. The 22 starters in this year's season opener at Fresno State included three freshmen, seven sophomores and six juniors along with three seniors and three graduate students.
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.
