Early in the year, the Cal Poly football team had swagger. You could tell by their words. You could see it in their body language. In conference or out of conference. Confidence was not an issue for Tim Walsh’s team.

Despite clawing and scratching, the Mustangs couldn’t regain their swagger last week at Eastern Washington’s “Inferno.”

Over the past three weeks, Cal Poly has learned a lesson, though. Other teams in the Big Sky have swagger too.

Portland State had swagger. Three weeks ago, they came into Alex G. Spanos Stadium on a drizzly Saturday and gave Cal Poly all they could handle. Going up 7-0 and 14-7, the Vikings were the first team to shut off the corner and start to slow-down Cal Poly’s offense taking control of the “edge.” Tim Walsh’s old school used strong defensive end play to force Cal Poly to go back to running the ball inside between the tackles. Though they lost the game, they gave other teams a blueprint for frustrating Cal Poly’s offense.

Sacramento State had swagger. In an emotional game, the Hornets used the defensive blueprint from the Portland State game to slow down Cal Poly’s offense throughout the game. Sacramento State’s offense also had swagger. His name was Morris Norrise. Norrise knew he was physically more gifted than almost everyone on the field and played like it, racking up 97 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

For the first time, Cal Poly’s frustration and uncertainty began to cut into their swagger. Fumbles were lost at crucial times. Injuries to linemen began to stack-up. Backups didn’t have the same swagger as the starters. It showed.

Last week, Cal Poly went to school. The class: Swagger 101. The Professor: Eastern Washington University.

The Eagles are a team that has a recent National Championship. They boast huge amounts of talent. They play on a red field. They are really good. They have swagger.

While he’s continued to “run like a Mustang,” Cal Poly’s commissioner of swagger — running back Deonte Williams — hasn’t found holes as easily during the past few games.

The assumption of Eagles fans and onlookers is that Eastern Washington will win every game they play this year, especially at home. They are used to winning. They have winning talent across the field. Good programs build on themselves. A National Championship is a great recruiting tool.

Cal Poly was out-played from the beginning of the Eastern Washington game. The one time when the momentum looked like it might be turning Cal Poly intercepted a pass — finally stemming the momentum of the Eagles’ juggernaut offense. Except the defensive back who intercepted the pass promptly fumbled the ball. Fumbles like that are plays teams with swagger shake-off and overcome (see: the beginning of the Sacramento State game). Instead, it broke any momentum the Mustangs might have had.

Teams with swagger are not surprised by winning. EWU averaged 9 wins per year over the last three seasons. They are on-pace for at least that many this year. They are not surprised by scoring. Like Cal Poly, they average over 30 points per game. Their swagger causes teams like Cal Poly to try to do things they don’t usually do. They put unusual pressure on opposing teams on both sides of the ball and also between the ears.

While Cal Poly will not play Montana or Montana State this season, and the Eastern Washington game was not technically a conference game, I have to believe the top teams in this conference have similar swagger.

It’s a major reason the Mustangs joined the conference. But to get more legitimacy than the Great West offered, you have to be able to deal with confident, skilled, and even dominant teams.

Sometimes swagger can annoy opposing fans. Eastern Washington’s television play-by-play guys, featured on Big Sky TV last Saturday, were at times condescending and rude. Already-frustrated Cal Poly fans were not pleased. But when you’re getting your collective butts kicked, there isn’t much anybody can say. Which brings us back to another great thing about swagger.

Without the Yankees and the swagger of their fans, baseball isn’t as much fun. With that swagger, opposing fans have extra reason to care about the game. When teams with swagger-rich fan bases (think Yankees, Lakers, Patriots, Kentucky basketball, Alabama football, etc…) are playing, everyone they play benefits. Fans of their team root harder, opposing teams love to root against them, and the level of fansmanship for everyone is raised.

As they’ve learned so far this year, the Big Sky is a conference laden with swagger. Cal Poly has lost some of theirs over the past few weeks. I don’t know where it went, but to win a conference title, they’ll have to find it again. And then some.