Montana State
Cal Poly to Host No. 3 Montana State for Big Sky Game Saturday
11/8/2022 10:34:00 AM | Football
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (1-8, 0-6 Big Sky), which dropped to No. 9 in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision in passing offense after a 150-yard performance in the snow at Missoula, three short years after dominating the FCS in rushing with the Triple Option, plays its last two games of the season at home, beginning Saturday with No. 3 Montana State (8-1, 6-0 Big Sky) on Mustang Memorial Field Presented by Dignity Health French Hospital Medical Center (cap.: 11,075).
Kickoff is set for 5:02 p.m. PDT. 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 telecast live by Scripps on KSBY in San Luis Obispo County and 60 other television stations across the country. Ben Creighton calls the play-by-play, Ty Gregorak will be the analyst and Ashley Washburn is on the sideline. The game also will be video streamed on ESPN+. Links for audio and video streams as well as live stats are at the top of this page or 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 two games, both on the road. 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 last week with 695 total yards and a school record 37 first downs in a 57-0 triumph during a snowstorm.
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 and 21-0 at UC Davis before bouncing back in each game. The Mustangs have been outscored 122-27 in the first quarter and 197-75 in the first half of their nine games this season.
Aside from the last two contests, there are signs of improvement for Cal Poly, however. The Mustangs played three straight one-score games before the losses at UC Davis and Montana. 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. Montana forced one turnover.
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 157 of 275 passes (57 percent) for 1,909 yards and 13 scores the last seven 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. 9 in the country and second in the Big Sky in passing offense, averaging 301.3 yards a game.
Montana State has won six straight games since a Week 3 loss to Oregon State. The Bobcats opened Big Sky play with a 38-35 win at Eastern Washington as Sean Chambers ran 13 yards for the go-ahead score with 3:26 remaining and also won by three points at Northern Arizona last week on Blake Glessner's 24-yard field goal as time expired. Montana State's best national ranking is No. 2 in rushing offense, averaging 288.3 yards per game, as well as fumbles recovered (12). The Bobcats also are No. 3 in kickoff returns (29.0), No. 4 in scoring offense (40.9) and turnover margin (+11) and No. 7 in fourth-down conversions (11 of 16, 68.8 percent), time of possession (33:56) and winning percentage (88.9).
Montana is averaging 190 passing yards for 478.7 yards in total offense and 40.9 points per game while giving up 140.4 rushing yards and 232.8 passing yards for 373.2 total yards and 28.1 points per game defensively.
The Bobcats, 12-3 overall and second in the Big Sky a year ago, reached the championship game of the FCS playoffs before falling to North Dakota State 38-10. Last week at Northern Arizona, Tommy Mellott hit Taco Dowler with a 64-yard pass on third down to set up Glessner's game-winning field goal. Mellott completed 13 of 29 passes for 179 yards and one score while also rushing for 119 yards on 19 carries and three more scores. Elijah Elliott added 92 yards on 16 trips and Garrett Coon 58 yards on 10 carries.
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.
Second-year head coach Brent Vigen (20-4, North Dakota State '98) welcomed back 43 lettermen, including 12 starters (five on offense, seven on defense) to Fall Camp. Montana State did not play any games during the 2020-21 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leading the group of returning veterans are Mellott (28 of 53, 484 yards, four touchdowns in 2021), wide receiver Willie Patterson (30 catches, 375 yards, three TDs), running back Isaiah Ifanse (280 carries, 1,623 yards, 10 TDs), linebacker Callahan O'Reilly (64 tackles, three interceptions), defensive tackle Sebastian Valdez (32 tackles, 10 for lost yardage, 7.5 sacks) and defensive back Ty Okada (78 tackles). Mellott started all four playoff games for Montana State, rushing for 716 yards and 10 touchdowns. Ifanse has returned to the practice field but has not played yet this season due to offseason knee surgery.
Bobcat leaders so far this fall are Mellott (84 of 139, 1,143 yards, nine TDs passing; 100 carries, 647 yards, 7 TDs rushing), backup quarterback Sean Chambers (88-622-16 rushing, 39 of 67, 498 yards, six TDs passing) and Patterson (31-441-8 receiving). Marqui Johnson returned a kickoff 98 yards for a score against Oregon State while Dowler returned a punt 67 yards for a touchdown versus Morehead State.
The Mustangs and Bobcats are meeting for just the sixth time in the last 17 years and for the 19th time since the series began in 1958. The two schools did not meet from 2006-13. Cal Poly owns a 10-8 advantage in the series, winning eight in a row before Montana State earned a 45-28 victory in the 2015 Big Sky opener for both schools at Bozeman.
Last year in Bozeman, Shakobe Harper led Cal Poly's ground game with 97 yards on 14 carries, scoring Cal Poly's lone touchdown on an 18-yard run around left end in the third quarter. Linebacker Matt Shotwell recorded a career-high 18 tackles in the 45-7 setback.
The two teams met in 2018, also in Bozeman, with the Bobcats racing to a 42-14 third-quarter lead and holding off the Mustangs down the stretch, 49-42. Ifanse rushed for 227 yards and three touchdowns in a showdown with Cal Poly's Joe Protheroe, who ran for 215 yards. In 2019, Cal Poly overcame a 21-point deficit to force overtime, but Montana State held the Mustangs in the first extra session and Travis Jonsen sprinted nine yards for the winner in a 34-28 victory.
Beau Baldwin is 7-3 against Montana State, including a 7-2 mark while he was head coach at Eastern Washington from 2008-16, while Bobcat head coach Brent Vigen is 1-0 versus Cal Poly. The Mustangs are 6-3 against the Bobcats in San Luis Obispo and 4-5 in Bozeman.
The Bobcats appeared in the FCS playoffs four times in a five-year span from 2010-14, claimed at least a share of the Big Sky title three straight seasons (2010-12) and captured the FCS national title in 1984 in addition to its second-place finish last January. Montana State reached the second round in 2018 and the semifinals in 2019, losing to North Dakota State each time.
Vigen, offensive coordinator at Wyoming from 2014-20 and a former player and assistant coach at North Dakota State, was named Montana State's 33rd head football coach in February 2021. He helped guide the Cowboys to bowl games in three of his last four full seasons at Laramie. Vigen spent 18 seasons with head coach Craig Bohl, from 2003-13 at North Dakota State and the last seven at Wyoming.
Vigen played at North Dakota State from 1993-97 on one North Central Conference title team (1994) and three that advanced to the NCAA Division II Playoffs (1994, 1995, 1997). His coaching career began with the Bison as a graduate assistant in 1998 under Bob Babich, NDSU's coach during Vigen's senior season, and he was promoted to tight ends coach in 2001, quarterbacks coach in 2002 and running backs coach in 2003 before he was named passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2004.
He became offensive coordinator in 2009 with the Bison and held the same role at Wyoming.
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 54 receptions for 857 yards and four touchdowns while tight end Josh Cuevas has caught 38 passes for 425 yards and four scores. A total of 17 Mustangs have caught at least one pass this season. Coleman's 10 catches last week at UC?Davis and 50 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 289 yards on 83 carries after producing his first career 100-yard game as a Mustang with 106 yards at South Dakota. Adam Garwood has added 168 yards on 46 carries and two scores and has caught 12 passes for 111 yards and another TD.
Linebacker David Meyer leads the defense with 66 tackles and 5.0 sacks while rush end Dustin Grein has produced 6.5 tackles for lost yardage (two sacks) among his 29 total tackles. Defensive back Brian Dukes has 52 stops and one interception while cornerback Dylan Wyatt has seven pass breakups and Jay'Vion Cole has intercepted four passes.
Cal Poly wraps up the 2022 season next Saturday (Nov. 19) by hosting Portland State at 5 p.m.
