South Dakota
Cal Poly Plays Final Non-Conference Tilt Saturday at South Dakota
9/12/2022 5:40:00 PM | Football
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JADEN JONES NAMED BIG SKY OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
MUSTANG INSIDER PODCAST WITH JADEN JONES
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (1-1, 0-0 Big Sky), riding the arm of redshirt freshman quarterback Jaden Jones to a come-from-behind victory over San Diego in its home opener last week, plays its final non-conference game Saturday afternoon, visiting South Dakota (0-2, 0-0 Missouri Valley Football Conference) inside the DakotaDome (cap.: 9,100) in Vermillion, S.D.
Kickoff is set for 11 a.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) calling the action. Pregame show starts at 10:30 a.m. The game also will be video streamed on ESPN+. Links for audio and video streams as well as live stats can be found 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. Jones completed 20 of 38 passes for 211 yards and one score.
Last week, however, 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 overcame 17-0 and 27-14 deficits, thanks in part to three interceptions, two by freshman Jay'Vion Cole, in the final six minutes of the game.
"There was a resiliency that I love to see, down two scores in the fourth at one time, then went down and scored twice. That says a lot about our young guys. Those three interceptions were huge, too. Our freshman DBs were making plays.
"We were down 21-0 at Fresno State and 17-0 against San Diego," Baldwin added. "We've been shooting ourselves in the foot early and we've got to clean those things up. I know we're capable of turning the corner, avoiding the turnovers and penalties that extend drives. I call them unforced errors. We need to learn to play ahead and not have to come from behind."
Jones, who played in three games in a reserve role as a true freshman a year ago, preserving his redshirt year, has 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). 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. 13 in the country and first in the Big Sky in passing offense, averaging 298 yards a game.
South Dakota is 0-2 on the year and has scored just seven points so far, but the competition has been stiff — a 34-0 loss at FBS member Kansas State and a 24-7 setback at Big Sky power Montana. The Coyotes have been held to 239.5 yards per game offensively (110.5 rushing, 129 passing) and Travis Theis has the lone South Dakota score of the season, a 25-yard run midway through the fourth quarter at Montana after the Coyotes had fallen behind 22-0.
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 Spencer 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 as Jaden Ohlsen kicked a 41-yard field goal with four seconds remaining and Brasch completed 25 of 50 passes for 233 yards and three touchdowns.
with seven seconds remaining to seal the verdict.
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.
South Dakota is coming off a 7-5 campaign in 2021 which included a 5-3 mark for a third-place tie with South Dakota State and Southern Illinois in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The Coyotes qualified for the FCS playoffs, falling 22-10 to Southern Illinois in the opening round.
Seventh-year head coach Bob Nielson greeted 58 lettermen, including 13 starters (seven on offense, six on defense) to Fall Camp. Top Coyotes to watch for include quarterback Carson Camp, who completed 65 percent of his passes a year ago (180 of 276) for 2,252 yards and 17 touchdowns, and linebacker Brock Mogensen, second on the team with 86 tackles (38 solo), including 6.0 for lost yardage. Theis rushed for 677 yards and eight touchdowns a year ago while Nate Thomas added 717 yards and five scores as a freshman. The team's top receiver of 2021, Carter Bell, with 41 catches for 673 yards and five touchdowns, also returns.
Two games into the 2022 campaign, Camp has completed 30 of 58 passes for 258 yards and no scores. Wesley Eliodor is the top Coyote receiver with five catches for 58 yards while Theis has rushed for 144 yards and a touchdown. Linebacker Stephen Hillis has notched 22 tackles (14 solo).
North Dakota claimed 10 North Central Conference titles from 1922 through 2007 before elevating its program to Division I in 2008 and joining the Great West Football Conference. After four seasons, the Coyotes moved to the Missouri Valley Football Conference prior to the 2012 campaign.
South Dakota was a finalist in the 1986 NCAA Division II playoffs and is in its 125th season of football, compiling a 546-538-36 record so far.
Cal Poly leads South Dakota 3-2 in the series, with the first four games played between 2008-11 when the two schools were Great West Football Conference members. The Coyotes earned a 48-14 win at San Luis Obispo a year ago thanks to a 35-7 advantage in first downs, 615 to 243 in total yards and 41:13 to 18:47 in time of possession.
The Mustangs scored their only touchdowns in the first and fourth quarters. The Coyotes exploded for 21 points in the first quarter and 20 in the second. Freshman quarterback Kahliq Paulette, starting in place of the injured Spencer Brasch (fractured hand), hit Chris Coleman with a nine-yard scoring pass six minutes into the game and backup signal called Conor Bruce connected with Michael Briscoe on a 61-yard touchdown strike with 2:40 to play in the contest.
Coyote quarterback Carson Camp completed 17 of 20 passes for 226 yards and two touchdowns while Mike Mansaray rushed for 141 yards and two more scores.
Baldwin is 0-2 against South Dakota, including a 30-17 loss in 2011 at Vermillion, S.D., while Nielson is coaching against Cal Poly for the second time.
Nielson (seventh season, 29-36, Wartburg College '82) was introduced as the 30th head coach in the history of University of South Dakota football in December 2015. It is the sixth head coaching stint for Nielson, who has enjoyed success at every level of college football. He is a three-time national coach of the year recipient, a two-time national champion head coach, and was Missouri Valley Football Conference Coach of the Year in 2015.
The 2022 fall season is the 30th for Nielson as a head coach. After eight years as an assistant coach at Wartburg, Nielson has served as head coach at Ripon (1989-90), Wartburg (1991-95), Wisconsin-Eau Claire (1996-98), Minnesota-Duluth (1999-2012), Western Illinois (2013-15) and South Dakota (2016-Present), compiling a 215-116-1 overall record to date.
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 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 quarterback Spencer 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.
So far this season, Jones has completed 47 of 83 passes (57 percent) for 596 yards and five scores. Coleman is his favorite target with 12 receptions for 183 yards and a touchdown. A total of 13 Mustangs have caught at least one pass just two games into the campaign. Jones is the Mustangs' top rusher with 84 yards on 24 carries while Shakobe Harper has added 81 yards on 32 trips. Linebacker Laipeli Palu leads the defense with 11 tackles.
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 a bowl game.
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 last week 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.
After a bye next week, Cal Poly plays its Homecoming game and Big Sky Conference opener on Saturday, Oct. 1, hosting in-state rival Sacramento State at 5:02 p.m. inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
