Montana State needed a walk-off Blake Glessner field goal after a Tommy Mellott spiral from the hip on the run to a streaking Taco Dowler to avoid a trap game at Northern Arizona last weekend.
The Bobcats will hope they don’t need as much good fortune or as many clutch performances this week in their final regular-season road game of 2022. Montana State will play at Cal Poly, the last team in the Big Sky Conference in search of its first conference victory and the last remaining team on the schedule this season for MSU that is not the hated Montana Grizzlies.
“Last week, I didn’t think overall our play was great but you are going to have days like that where you are a little off here or there, but ultimately, if you can find a way to fight through that and get a win, that’s the bottom line,” Montana State head coach Brent Vigen said. “I know we have to play better moving forward and that’s what this opportunity this week against Cal Poly will provide.
“They are a team that hasn’t won in our conference this year but they have played some people tough. They have played Northern Arizona tough, in particular (31-29 loss). We have to go there and play on their field and expect their best shot.”
QUICK HITS
Nickname: Mustangs
Location: San Luis Obispo, California
Founded: 1901, making it the oldest of the three polytechnic schools in the California state system (Humboldt, Pomona)
Enrollment: 22,287
Famous alumni: John Madden, coach; Ozzie Smith, shortstop; Al Yankovic, musician. The Wikipedia page for famous alumni from Cal Poly lists six astronauts.
Last meeting: Montana State emerged with a 34-28 win over Cal Poly in SLO in the first and only overtime game of the series. Montana State is 4-1 against Cal Poly since the Mustangs joined the Big Sky Conference in 2012.
THE COACH
Beau Baldwin, third season at Cal Poly (3-20, 98-55 overall)
Once upon a time, Baldwin was the prince of the Big Sky, the offensive dynamo who had a conveyor belt of quarterbacks and wide receivers rolling through Cheney, Washington, running the table in the league and making deep runs in the playoffs.
But that 2010 national title at Eastern Washington is further and further in the past with each passing year. And Baldwin’s most recent Big Sky title came during Cooper Kupp’s senior season at EWU in 2016. Now Kupp is the most recent Super Bowl MVP and Baldwin has been living in California for the better part of a decade.
Baldwin left EWU for the offensive coordinator position at Cal-Berkeley. It only lasted three years before he decided to take on the startling challenge of revamping the Mustangs.
Baldwin and his staff are tasked with overhauling Tim Walsh’s solid triple option with his own exciting single-back run-and-shoot. Thus far, the rebuild has been arduous and if last week’s 57-0 drubbing at the hands of a previously struggling Montana team is any indication, Cal Poly is still a long ways away.
PLAYERS TO WATCH – OFFENSE
QB Spencer Brasch, 6-4, 205, RS Jr.
Brasch, who followed Baldwin from Cal, has been the starter for most of the season after Jaden Jones got hurt earlier this year. Brasch has thrown for 1,919 yards (239 per game) and 13 touchdowns against 12 interceptions.
WR Chris Coleman, 5-11, 186, Gr.
More than any quarterback, Coleman has been the biggest beneficiary of the Mustangs’ accelerated offense, with the former Fresno State transfer averaging 101 yards per game and going over 100 yards in five of eight contests. Coleman leads the Big Sky Conference with 54 catches and 857 yards. He has scored four touchdowns.
PLAYERS TO WATCH – DEFENSE
LB David Meyer, 6-1, 210, RS So.
Meyer, who didn’t even enter the season as a starter, leads the Mustangs in tackles (66) and sacks (3 1/2). His tackle total ranks 13th in the Big Sky Conference.
CB Jay’Vion Cole, 5-11, 165, Fr.
Cole, a true freshman, had two interceptions in his second college game against San Diego, and two more a couple weeks ago against Eastern Washington. He looked like the most promising talent on the Cal Poly roster last week in Missoula.
