What have we learned about the Cal Poly football team?

Joe Protheroe got his 156 yards and a touchdown on Saturday, but Cal Poly’s offense started slowly en route to a loss that wasn’t really in question after the first quarter. 

Cal Poly has played what is probably the toughest schedule in the FCS. It’s definitely been the toughest in the Big Sky.

At some point, degree of difficulty has to start to intersect with results, and so far, Cal Poly’s are mixed at-best. After the opening-week win in Montana, the Mustangs have lost the last three games. In the last two, they’ve been down 21-0 in the first quarter.

So, which is the real Cal Poly team? Are they the team that won in Missoula and stayed in a game at Arizona State well into the fourth quarter? Or, are they the team that got housed each of the past two weeks against Northern Iowa and in Bozeman?

What is this defense, really?

One has to wonder how much Chris Fletcher really meant to this defense. Since Fletcher went down in a goal-line stand in Tempe, the Mustangs have been down 21-0 in the first quarter of each game they’ve played.

In case you weren’t sure, being down 21-0 is not a good way to start games.

Tim Walsh would probably point to his offense’s inability to score points and move the ball as a key reason for the Mustangs getting run over so quickly. That said, it’s not like the defense has been tired. It’s not like they’ve been close to stopping teams either. On Saturday in Bozeman, Cal Poly blew coverages, didn’t tackle, and were out-played so badly on defense that the Bobcats didn’t punt all game.

They acted like they were going to punt one time, then faked it and ran for a first-down. It was a back-breaker for the fragile Mustangs defense and a great call by the MSU coaching staff.

Cal Poly’s defense actually made Northern Iowa punt six times and got some kind of a rhythm in the game two weeks ago at Spanos. Whether they can start the game in a rhythm and get some consecutive first-quarter stops might be the difference between Cal Poly getting to two wins by Saturday night or not.

Opposing teams are finding places to get into the Cal Poly backfield and keep the Mustangs from getting the corner. 

Teams are scheming against the running game – hard

We’ve seen Cal Poly try more passes to wide receivers in the past few games, but other teams are loading up against the run, putting their whole roster in the box, and daring Saga Tuitele to unleash Chris Brown, Willie Tucker, and Jordan Hines.

While he did throw for two touchdowns on Saturday, Brown was an inefficient 6-15 passing. He’ll have to be sharper than that if Cal Poly thinks they’re going to beat another above- .500 team this season.

The good news is that Cal Poly is starting to target Willie Tucker more. Tucker made a circus catch in the back of the end zone against 1-1 coverage and almost pulled in another. At this point, the offense needs to take a few more chances with Tucker and Hines down field, and not just from inside the 30 yard-line.

If Cal Poly is going to put the ball in the air 15-20 times per game, it can’t just be on third-down, and the target can’t just be DJ Peluso. Cal Poly made some progress here last week and, to that end, maybe they can break the 30-point plateau this week. It’s something they haven’t done in any of their first four games this season.

Will the end of the season be any better?

Alex Suchesk has been getting more carries the last few weeks for Cal Poly, who is trying to find a reliable game-breaker whose name isn’t Chris Brown. 

I keep pointing to the end of the season as a time when Cal Poly can make-up a bunch of ground, but four or five losses in a row could be demoralizing for a team with high expectations.

Changes and adjustments have to continue to be made. Aside from the second quarter last Saturday, I haven’t felt the offense has been in a real rhythm on a drive-by-drive basis.

If Cal Poly can figure a few important things out, they will have a chance to win one or two of their next two games and go into the home stretch feeling really good.

If the reality is that they’re more like the team we’ve seen the last few weeks — especially on defense — a bye week might not matter as much as fans would hope.

Playoffs?!

The difference between being in the playoffs and not hasn’t been as big as you’d think the last few years. One crummy Saturday afternoon against Yale. One weak performance against Davis. You get the idea.

So far, the Mustangs haven’t done anything to kill their playoff chances. The teams they’ve lost to have virtually all been FCS playoff-caliber at the time they’ve played them.

Idaho State lost 80-8 last week. The difference between 2-3 and 1-4 is a wide chasm.

So what have we learned? Well, for the first time this season, Cal Poly will be playing a team that probably isn’t FCS playoff-caliber. They are still a really good team though, which means this week, the pressure’s on.

All photos courtesy of Brooks Nuanez – SkylineSportsMT.com. All rights reserved