Cal Poly Football wins finale, earns FCS Playoff berth Saturday

It was the (nearly) perfect final regular season game for Cal Poly quarterback Dano Graves. With the exception of a single incomplete pass and a play off after he appeared to have the wind knocked out of him, the fifth year Cal Poly senior led Cal Poly to touchdown drives on eight of their first 11 drives en route to a tight 55-48 barn-burner win over Northern Colorado.

Graves was 14-15 passing in the game for 191 yards and a pair of touchdowns. None was prettier than his 26 yard touchdown strike to Kyle Lewis. Lewis, playing for the first time in about a game and a half, had only six touches which included the touchdown. His presence in the lineup, perhaps, was just as important, giving the Bears something else to think about and plan for.

Mix it around

Carson McMurtrey caught four passes last Saturday. By Owen Main

Cal Poly saw high useage and touches from a number of guys who haven’t got their number called very often this season. DJ Peluso, a senior who sees a lot of time blocking, rushed the ball six times for 88 yards and also caught two passes. Carson McMurtrey, another senior, caught four balls for 50 yards, including a few big third down conversions. Kori Garcia, who is a higher useage guy, rushed the ball 12 times for 88 yards and seemed like he had a good game reading the defense and cutting sweeps and option pitches upfield when needed.

In all, Cal Poly had four players with 95-plus yards of total offense and six players with 50 or more yards en route to 634 yards as a team for the game.

Pass Defense woes

Northern Colorado found some areas in Cal Poly’s defensive secondary and did a good job exploiting their coverage, especially in zone. Bears quarterback Kyle Sloter threw for 438 yards and six touchdowns in the game. If there’s something the Mustangs need to clean-up going into the playoffs, it’s their pass defense.

Speaking of playoffs

Cal Poly will host a playoff game on Saturday for the first time in Tim Walsh’s coaching tenure. Their opponent is San Diego, who Cal Poly beat 38-16 in their home opener this year.

USD is a school that doesn’t give athletic scholarships for football, but they haven’t lost except to Cal Poly this season and won’t be coming up to SLO to lose.

Bison Lurking

North Dakota State is the top-ranked team in the playoff bracket and the winner of Saturday’s game at Spanos will travel to the FargoDome to play the Bison.

Find photos from the Northern Colorado game here.