Cal Poly vs. Portland State Football Preview: Dare you to Move

What happens next?

What happens next?

I dare you to move.

Last week, driving in the dark between Brookings, SD and Sioux Falls, SD, I was asking some questions over and over in my mind.

Was South Dakota State really that good?

They have a guy who will be a career 6,000-yard rusher at the end of this year. You don’t do that without some level of team domination and success. They are definitely a top-10 team in the nation I believe.

Even with how good they were, could Cal Poly really be below average?

They seemed to move the ball at times. There were long stretches where they looked like they belonged. There was just no room for error at all. There hasn’t been in either of the first two weeks.

A song came on the radio. It was Switchfoot’s Dare you to Move.

Sometimes we space out in the car and it seems that the lyrics are totally appropriate. This was one of those times, because to be better, the Mustangs have to make a move. They have to get better.

I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor

When Cal Poly has been successful in recent years, they have two big-play threats running the ball. Maybe Lance Mudd can still be an impact freshman this year. By Owen Main

No doubt, Cal Poly fans still feel like they’re on the floor. They’ve been face down on the ground since the knock-out punch of losing their best running back and two physical defensive backs among five players who were arrested. They have been rolling around on the ground, struggling to get their bearings since a lackluster second half against a bad FBS team. Last week, they got up to one knee before Zach Zenner and South Dakota State shoved them back down into the gutter with a 28-6 second-half beating.

So, what happens next?

At home, in front of a big WOW Week crowd, Cal Poly can get themselves fully dusted-off and pick up their first win of the season. Portland State hasn’t played an FCS team all year — losing two games to Pac 12 teams and beating Division II Western Oregon. A win against Cal Poly could set them up for an above-average season.

By winning this game, the Mustangs could convince fans — and more importantly, themselves — that they are still a team that can do some damage once they get into Big Sky Conference games. An 0-3 start would leave any sane person — player or fan — somewhat discouraged.

Who’s going to step up? Who’s going to be a hero? I’m sure Mustangs coaches will be preaching that everyone on the field needs to be fractionally more effective throughout the game for the outcome to be different. From where I sit, Cal Poly has scored 28 points total in two games. Somehow, they need to find a way to put up 30-plus points at home and get a win. This probably means that SOMEBODY — Kori Garcia, Chris Brown, some other back? — will have to go into triple-digits in rushing. Finishing drives with touchdowns will be a huge deal.

We finally saw Cal Poly break a single big play last week, and the Mustangs will have to have a few more of those this weekend. Their defense will have to give up less big plays and maybe even force a few turnovers.

The tension is here

Tension is here

Between who you are and who you could be

Between how it is and how it should be

After three games and the home opener, I do believe we’ll start to find out whether there is a difference between how this team could/should be and how they are. The more games we see, the more we know. On Saturday night, we should know quite a bit about whether the Mustangs stayed down.

Or whether they picked themselves up off the floor.

Etc…

Cal Poly’s pre-game show will feature a real Mustang this week. The Baggett Family (Robin Baggett is the namesake of Cal Poly’s baseball stadium) donated a Mustang named Moonstar last year. Two others from the Federal Bureau of Land Management have arrived at Cal Poly. Their names are Cal and Poly respectively.

As head coach from 1993-2006, Tim Walsh shepherded the Portland State Vikings into Division I football in 1996. Walsh’s teams went 65-57 during their Division I years under Walsh.

While Portland State and Cal Poly are both part of the Big Sky, this is not a Big Sky Conference game.

Portland State has lost the last two meetings against Cal Poly. Last season, the Mustangs squeaked out of Providence Park (then called Jeld Wen Field) in Portland with a 38-34 victory. The win was probably the Mustangs’ best win of the season.