Nick Dzubnar and company made the right plays at the right times on Saturday against Weber State. Photo by Owen Main

On Saturday, Cal Poly beat Weber State 30-24 on the road, improving their conference record to 2-1 and their overall record to 3-3. The Mustangs didn’t pile-up gaudy numbers, but they made some plays when it counted and overcame some questionable calls to earn the road victory.

The game featured a lot of really fun talking points, including the fact that Chris Brown rushed for, passed for, and caught a touchdown pass. Kori Garcia and Brown each caught a touchdown from the other, and Nick Dzubnar had another double-digit tackle game. Importantly, the Mustangs again won the turnover battle.

So, what did we learn from last week’s game?

There is no such thing as an easy road win

Let me be clear, no road win in the Big Sky is an easy win. Cal Poly beat the Wildcats 49-0 last season at Spanos, but Weber State had two weeks to prepare for the Mustangs and were ready for the triple option. Cal Poly had a really tough time getting wide. Kori Garcia — one of the usual pitch-men — was held to 14 yards and seven carries. The Mustangs netted 289 yards rushing, but no rusher for Cal Poly went over 100 yards in the game.

Weber State contained and tackled very well, making Chris Brown and Brandon Howe shoulder most of the offensive load. Brown and Howe did enough, carrying the ball a combined 50 times for 177 yards. Neither Brown nor Howe averaged even four yards per carry.

Pounding the football has been good

Howe has become a real staple of the Cal Poly offense, and rightfully so. The one thing I think I know about the triple option offense is that, to be effective, one must pound the ball with the fullback — whether or not it results in a big play. Establishing the fullback over the past few weeks is what led to Cal Poly being forced into using some trickeration on Saturday.

A reverse and halfback pass back to the quarterback were really key plays on Saturday, but none of it is possible unless Cal Poly establishes their fullback and option game. Howe rushed the ball 28 times against Southern Utah and 23 times this past Saturday. Without Saga Tuitele’s willingness to create a constant battle up the middle, the “trick plays” Cal Poly used would not have been as effective.

Since Weber State was selling out to stop the triple option, Cal Poly’s trick-play responses simple and effective.

Anybody still want to question the playcalling?

Speaking of Saga, the guy was taking a lot of heat after the first few games. Picture the situation though:

Cal Poly started the season with two of their best playmakers unavailable. Guys who were untested were thrown head-first into the mix, and for at least a few weeks, the play-calling seemed designed to match the experience level of the players. Kori Garcia, Howe, Lance Mudd, Joe Prothroe, and Kenny Mitchell were all brought along kind of slowly. So were all the players on the offensive line and receivers like Jordan Hines and Roland Jackson.

As the season has gone on, comfort levels have obviously gone up. Coaches have a better idea of their players’ strengths and weaknesses. Most importantly, I think, GUYS GET BETTER.

Here’s my mini-rant: One of the things I like best about college sports is that PLAYERS GET BETTER over the course of a year or from one year to the next. Chris Brown is a lot better now than he was at the beginning of the season. Brandon Howe is more comfortable. Offensive linemen understand schemes and have gelled. Defenses have been through battles together.

Coaches get better too. Especially at the FCS level, it’s important to think about a head coach or assistant’s performance as dynamic, not stagnant. Some criticized Saga after the first few games, but I think praise is due right now. He’s done a really nice job making adjustments, even when other teams are doing a great job stopping first, second, and third options. The Mustangs have now scored 30 or more points in the last four games (during which time they’ve gone 3-1). That’s 2/3 of their season until now. The Mustangs are averaging over 37 points per game over the past four games. Throughout the whole season, their average is up to 29.5.

Here are the three Brown touchdowns:

And here are all the highlights from the game in Ogden, Utah:

Special teams glitch

Cal Poly’s special teams had been very solid over the first five games, despite injuries to kickers. On Saturday, it was shaky at-best. Weber State ran a kickoff back for a touchdown and Cal Poly missed a PAT. The kickoff return for a touchdown could have been especially debilitating. It’s not too often that you win a game you didn’t completely dominate, on the road, where you gave up a kick return touchdown.

Halfway through the season, with a lot of really tough games ahead of them, I wonder if Cal Poly can withstand any more huge special teams blunders. Their margin of error isn’t large, so the answer is probably that they cannot.

This team is still getting better

OK, you saw my rant earlier, but it’s a point to make. Unlike a pro team that you might be able to write-off, most Cal Poly teams do tend to evolve over the course of the season. Guys execute better. Defenses get more dynamic and sharp. Coaches make better play calls. Freshmen evolve and become seasoned, and a junior quarterback continues to establish himself.

Contrary to the belief of some naysayers, this is a team whose season is not completely trashed after a shaky 1-3 start. Myriad outcomes for this season are right in front of them, especially in the form of the next three weeks. On Saturday, they go to Sacramento State to try to avenge a loss to the Hornets two years ago. After that, Montana and Montana State come to Spanos on back-to-back weekends.

If Cal Poly can win on the road in Sacramento and go into the Montana games with three straight W’s under their belt, fans in San Luis Obispo will take their chances against two of the best teams in FCS. If you are a Mustang fan, you have to be happy that this team has kept themselves relevant after a shaky start to the season. Starting on Saturday, we can find out if the Mustangs are a true contender or if they’ve been playing over their heads for the past few weeks, and the margin between the two is thin. They’ve fought hard to give themselves a real chance, but for Cal Poly, it’s now or never — continue to evolve or fade into mediocrity.

How do you think Saturday will go? How will the Mustags fare? Comment below.

Coming into Saturday’s game with Southern Utah, Cal Poly probably expected a pretty close game. The second half didn’t disappoint, as Cal Poly racked-up 593 yards of total offense en route to a close 42-39 Big Sky Conference victory at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.

Joe Prothroe rushes up the middle for Cal Poly early in Saturday night’s game. By Owen Main

For a quarter, it didn’t look like the game would be close. Cal Poly jumped out to a fast 21-0 lead in the first quarter, taking advantage of a SUU fumble and using a balanced offensive attack. But the Thunderbirds figured things out in the second quarter and outscored the Mustangs 17-0 to cut the lead to 21-17 going into halftime.

The first four possessions of the second half resulted in lead-changing touchdowns before Southern Utah kicker Trevor McGirr missed a 38 yard field-goal attempt with 13:43 remaining in the fourth quarter. The field goal would have tied the game.

Instead, the Mustangs scored two minutes and six seconds later to make it a two possession game. After four conscutive scoreless possessions (two for each team), Cal Poly shook-off a late Thunderbird touchdown and iced the game with a 3:00-plus drive. Chris Brown took a knee from the SUU nine yard-line to end the game.

Turnovers once again played a huge part on Saturday. Southern Utah fumbled on their opening possession and Jordan Williams picked-off SUU quarterback, Ammon Olsen in the fourth quarter. Cal Poly did not turn the ball over.

Judge is back

Chris Judge, who has been plagued by all kinds of injuries over the past year and a half, made his presence felt on Saturday. Despite the defense giving up a lot of points and yards, it seems as though Cal Poly is getting a little more aggressive, especially as they attack a passing quarterback.

SUU’s Olsen was sacked three times, which doesn’t seem like a lot. But Cal Poly’s defense has been more about coverage over the past few years and the big plays by pass rushers were a welcome sight for fans who yearn for the days of Chris Gocong and Kyle Shotwell and double-digit sack numbers in games.

Up the middle

Cal Poly seems to have committed to running the ball up the gut with the fullback, and it seems to be working. Brandon Howe led the team with 28 rushes for 133 yards and a touchdown. Brent Michaels added a pair of rushes for 12 yards and a score and Joe Prothroe rushed four times for 19 yards. In all, fullbacks rushed the ball 34 times and amassed 164 yards.

I’ll continue to beat the “give it to the fullback” drum here until said drum develops a hole. One thing that was nice about the rushing attack of Cal Poly in the first half was that Chris Brown did not rush the ball in the first quarter.

When in doubt, punt

Elias Stokes, a sophomore slotback for Cal Poly from Paso Robles, seems to have taken the punting duties away from Chris Nicholls. Nicholls replaced Stephen Pyle as the punter and, while Kyle Schottenfeld (field goals) and James Foug (kickoffs) have handled the placekicking duties, Stokes seems to be the punter for now. On Saturday, he averaged 37.2 yards and five attempts.

 Crazy numbers

The numbers from this game were pretty insane.

Brown went 5-5 passing in the first quarter with two touchdowns and zero rushing attempts. Brown only had four rushing attempts and was 9-11 for 95 yards passing for the entire first half.

A tight end for Cal Poly (Austin Albison) caught a touchdown pass. If you’ve been around Cal Poly since their move to Division I, you’ll know that that this is kind of a big deal.

Cal Poly had two players (Howe and Brown) with 100-plus yards rushing (133 and 112 respectively), and Kori Garcia netted 97 yards on 16 carries. Overall, Cal Poly gained 457 yards rushing.

Six different Mustangs caught passes on the night.

For the game, teams scored on half the total possessions and 12/22 possessions that didn’t end with the clock running out in the second or fourth quarter.

If Cal Poly had tried for a touchdown on their final possession, they would not only have been playing dumb football and have been bad sports, but they could have eclipsed the 600 total yard mark. Instead, they ended with the ball on the 11 yard line after a kneel-down and 593 total yards.

Cal Poly racked-up 97 plays on offense. If not for a triple-overtime game in the past, that would have been at least threatening the record.

Southern Utah gained 504 total yards of offense themselves.

Cal Poly controlled the ball and time of possession was wildly in the Mustangs’ favor: 38:28 to 21:42 for SUU. It didn’t stop the Thunderbirds from almost coming out of Spanos with a victory.

Upcoming

Cal Poly (2-3, 1-1) now hits the road for two weeks. First, they’ll go to Weber State for a game next Saturday before heading to the state capitol to take on the Sacramento State Hornets in two weeks.

Photos by Owen Main (To view on an iPhone or iPad or to browse/buy photos, click here)