It’s homecoming, and it’s time to party like it’s 1995! The Grizzlies this weekend will be rocking new throwback uniforms complete with helmets sporting the logo of the “drooling Griz” – as revealed yesterday. If you’re enjoying this warm and sunny summer weather make sure to plan ahead as right now mountain snow and rain are in the forecast all weekend – Saturday is going to be cool and rainy most likely.
Coming to town is a program with a coaching staff that we’re all quite familiar with; head coach Paul Wulff, OC Timm Rosenbach, and DC Cody VonAppen. Also, this Cal Poly team is turning a corner – once the very dregs of the conference they’re 3-3 this year and putting up some impressive numbers on offense. Last week Montana was the #1 passing offense, ISU was the #2, and Cal Poly was the #3. After this weekends games ISU has hopped Montana but Poly remains at the 3rd best passing offense. In fact here’s some relevant numbers for their program:
- 3rd best passing offense (Montana 9th passing defense)
- 11th rush offense (Montana 3rd rush defense)
- 2nd most sacks allowed (Montana 12th in sacks)
- 3rd best in sacks on QBs (Montana 10th in allowed sacks)
The Grizzly pass defense will once again be tested, did they learn some things from the ISU game? We’ll see soon enough!
-------------
Cal Poly SLO Mustangs 3-3
41-17 win vs San Diego: Poly went up 24-0 before the half, but saw USD scrape back to get within 10 (27-17) in the 4th before scoring a few later TDs to put the game away. SLO had 335 in the air and just about 470 total yards in the game. USD started really slow and missed an early fieldgoal that put them too far in a hole.
9-63 loss @ Utah: An expected outcome, Utah put up over 500 yards of total offense – somewhat evenly balanced – while Poly barely had over 200 total yards in the game. Utah picked off Poly twice and forced 3 consecutive three and outs at one point.
56-7 win vs Western Oregon: Flipping the script from the week before, this time it was Poly with over 500 yards of offense (376 in the air). WOU did have 261 passing – but had so many disastrous drive ends, two on downs, two on interceptions, one a missed field goal. I see Poly tossed two picks of their own but it was backup QBs who did that.
17-35 loss @ Stephen F Austin: It was a close game at the half, 14-10 SFA, but then a rough 3rd quarter for Poly put them in a hole they couldn’t escape. SFA houses a pick-6, and their offense finds the endzone two more times for a 21 point explosion – meanwhile Poly’s offense goes stone cold, in their last 6 drives – 5 would be three and outs, and the other wound up as an interception. Fun fact, former Griz QB Sam Vidlak went 16-23, 178 yards, 2 TDs.
32-24 win vs Sacramento State: Poly jumped out early with a pick-6, an ensuing TD with 2 point conversion, and then a field goal. Sac stayed calm and actually regained the lead after some big plays, going up 21-18, Poly would reply and score a TD before half – setting the score to 25-21. From there the game really tightened up. Sac would have just 1 good drive end in a field goal, and another moderate one end in a turnover on downs at the Poly 32. Poly found the endzone one more time and then the rest of their drives were either a 3 and out or get a single first down and then punt the ball away. Sac had 230 on the ground and almost 200 in the air – and they kind of put a lid on the Poly pass game, allowing just 203 in the air, and 178 rushing. Sac lost 3 total interceptions – including a pick 6. Brutal.
27-34 loss vs UC Davis: This game was a battle, UCD outlasted Poly but for a good while this had quite the back and forth. It was tied at 0-0, 7-7, 13-13, and 20-20. Davis finally separated a bit in the 4th scoring two TDs unanswered to go up 34-20. Poly would score with less than 2 minutes to go, but wouldn’t get the ball back. Davis’s defense really bottled up Poly’s run game, just 71 yards on 31 attempts. Meanwhile Poly had 271 in the air and Davis had 313.
-------------
General Stats
Passing yards per game GRIZ (305 for GRIZ vs 272 for SLO)
Rushing yards per game GRIZ (198 for GRIZ vs 110 for SLO)
Total offense GRIZ (503 for GRIZ vs 382 for SLO)
Passing yards allowed per game SLO (248 for GRIZ vs 235 for SLO)
Rushing yards allowed per game GRIZ (161 or GRIZ vs 173 for SLO)
Total defense SLO (409 for GRIZ vs 408 for SLO)
Offense points scored GRIZ (42.4 for GRIZ vs 30.3 for SLO)
Defense points allowed GRIZ (25.6 for GRIZ vs 30 for SLO)
Turnover margin GRIZ (+1 for GRIZ / -1 for SLO)
Field goal % SLO (83% for GRIZ vs 90% for SLO)
Punt Returns SLO (8.2 yards for GRIZ vs 10.5 yards for SLO)
Kick Returns GRIZ (24.3 yards for GRIZ vs 17.4 yards for SLO)
T.O.P. GRIZ (31:01 for GRIZ vs 30:20 for SLO)
Red Zone defense (touchdowns) GRIZ (56% GRIZ / 80% SLO)
Red Zone offense (touchdowns) GRIZ (74% GRIZ / 60% SLO)
3rd down offense GRIZ – (41.1% for GRIZ / 38.2% for SLO)
3rd down defense GRIZ – (38.5% allowed for GRIZ vs 38.8% allowed for SLO)
----------
Montana has a good haul here but pay attention to how close some are; passing allowed, total defense, 3rd down defense. Quite a few that could be considered pushes… regardless Montana pulls in 13 and Cal Poly gets 4.
--------------------
Cal Poly Players to Watch:
#19 Michael Briscoe, WR: A first team all conference WR and the current statistical leader in receiving yards (10 more than ISU’s Shulikov) AND the TD leader by a big margin with 7 total TDs this year. Briscoe is averaging over 88 YPG this season. He’s also thrown for a TD and has 2 rush attempts. He’s 6-2, 205 and has to be looking forward to what he can do this weekend after watching the ISU film.
#3 Bo Kelly, QB: Poly is playing a lot of QBs, but Kelly has started the last 2 and he’s a familiar name for us. He’s passed for 518 yards, 5 TDs, and just 1 INT – he’s the one who I think caught a TD from Briscoe haha. Not much of a running QB. We could also see Pitt transfer #7 Ty Differenbach who actually has a few more passing yards than Kelly and 5 passing TDs + 126 rushing yards and 1 TD – he got hurt in the SFA game, so unsure his status. If he can go he’ll add a mobile dynamic to the Poly offense that isn’t Kelly’s strong suit.
#5 Jordan Garrison, WR: A 6-2 WR, Garrison is 2nd best on the team in yards with 281 receiving and 2 TDs
#8 Kian Salehi, WR: Right there with Garrison he’s got 1 more catch than him but a few less receiving yards, and just 1 TD so far this year
#60 Ethan Rodriguez, DT: Widely considered the best interior DL and quite possibly the best overall D-lineman in the conference. He messed up the Griz ground game last year and he’s back for more. He’s 6-3, 280 pounds, and getting a bit of NFL buzz. High motor guy and after the ISU issues our interior OL had I hope there’s a good plan to account for him. He’s first team all conference in the Big Sky as well. Typical of a DT, not the wildest stats, 5 tackles, 0.5 TFLs – but dude is a disruptor.
#32 Mason Rivera, S: A 6 foot tall safety and another 1st team all conference kid. Rivera has 28 stops, 1.5 TFLs, and 1 FF this year. Last year he finished with 82 tackles, 1 INT, and 3 forced fumbles.
#44 Mikey D’amato: A 230 lb linebacker that’s a Sadleback CC transfer, he’s leading the team in tackles with 65, he’s also got a team best 5.5 TFLs and 5 total sacks + 2 pass breakups. He’s a big spark on this defensive unit. His 5 total sacks ties him for 2nd best in the Big Sky right now.
-----------------------------
Keys to a Grizzly victory
- Learn from the ISU game – Wulf and Rosey are good, experienced coaches and will be building in a game plan to hit the Grizzly defense like ISU did. Depending on their QB situation they might be able to move the pocket more easily as well. Griz have to be ready for an aerial attack with 3-4 WRs that are all very dangerous.
- Run the ball / attack the edges – Not sure how the middle is going to work the Griz but I think a lot of outside runs / lateral movement can stretch this Poly defense. Both of their interior D-linemen are very good – get them chasing the ball a lot and see if we can find success there.
- Get after the QB - If it’s Bo Kelly the Griz should finally have some opportunities for QB hits and sacks, getting pressure on their QB will really help our struggling secondary.
- Clean up ST errors – Flipping the field, making all the kicks, and pinning them deep can really help Montana get into good situations all day.
- Keep that RZ success going – Poly’s lack of a running identity without their mobile QB has really hurt them in the red zone, they’re going to get yards on us, but if the Griz can keep them from scoring TDs and opting for field goals that’ll be huge. Their kicker is very good, 9-10 this year, and a lot made in the red zone due to the offense stalling out.
- +2 or better – Poly has some tendencies for turnovers, the Grizzly defense could really use a few picks or a fumble recovery to boost them up. If it’s cool and rainy as well… there could be some chances for a few more loose footballs on the field.
- Another big day for the passing game – The numbers show the opportunity again is in the passing game, let’s keep this high flying offense firing and have another great day from KAY.
----------------------
Homecoming, throwback jerseys, weird crowd, rainy weather… who knows what we’ll see out there! I do think if Montana can put some of the ISU issues in the rear view they can pull away from this one – but I fully expect CP to get some yards, Briscoe to make some wild plays, and some weird stuff to happen. Much like Poly’s games I do see this being close for a while, through halftime, but hopefully Montana will start to outpace them. At the end of the day it’s a Grizzly win, but again, it’s not the most comfortable. Griz take it 41-27.
Go Griz!
