Historic losing streak continues as Cal Poly falls to Weber State | The Tribune

Cal Poly football hasn’t seen a losing streak this long since Lyndon Johnson was the President of the United States.

The Mustangs continued to chase the wrong side of history Saturday in front of over 9,000 fans at Alex G. Spanos stadium with a 17-3 loss to No. 23 Weber State.

The loss was Cal Poly’s seventh in a row start the 2017 season, the worst losing streak since the 1964 Cal Poly football team finished the season 0-10. Counting its 35-21 loss to San Diego in the 2016 FCS playoffs, Cal Poly has lost eight-straight.

“It’s extremely disheartening to our players, it’s disheartening to us but we professed to be a family in the beginning of the year way back in spring football and I think our players have stuck together and hopefully they will continue to stay together,” Cal Poly head coach Tim Walsh said.

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Offensive Woes Return

For a Cal Poly offense that has struggled to find its footing this season, it was a new low against Weber State (5-2, 3-1 Big Sky), the best defense in the Big Sky.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Jake Jeffrey couldn’t string together completions in his second-career college start and the run game didn’t do much to help him out. Cal Poly finished the game with just 106 rushing yards and 179 total yards, both season-lows. Cal Poly was averaging 248 yards per game rushing coming into the game.

Despite a non-existent offense in the first three quarters, the defense gave Cal Poly a chance in the fourth quarter. Down 17-3, Jeffrey moved the the ball to the three yard line on a fourth-quarter drive. With a chance to make it a one score game on first and goal, Cal Poly had a false start followed by a sack and a Jeffrey interception in the end zone.

Jeffrey finished the game with -11 yards rushing and was 7-of-20 for 73 yards and three interceptions, all of which came in the fourth quarter.

The stout Weber State defense was able to stop the Cal Poly run game all night, keying in on fullback Jared Mohamed. Mohamed had his worst game of the season with 13 carries for 30 yards.

Freshman slot back Broc Mortensen led the Mustangs with 12 carries for 52 yards to go along with two catches for 46 yards. Mortensen, who had just one carry on the season before Saturday, saw more action after senior slot back Kyle Lewis was injured following a collision with members of the Cal Poly marching band in the back of the endzone at the end of the first half. Lewis didn’t return in the second half for precautionary reasons, Walsh said.

Defense Hold Its Own

Senior linebacker Mason Montgomery forced a Weber State fumble on the first play of the game and the Cal Poly defense didn’t slow down after that, forcing three more fumbles before the final whistle. Montgomery, along with fellow senior linebacker R.J. Mazolewski, combined for 17 total tackles and two forced fumbles.

Sophomore defensive back Kitu Humphrey added two pass breakups and an interception.

The two Weber State touchdowns came on a 25-yard screen pass to David Jones in the first quarter and a 35-yard pass from Stefan Cantwell to Drew Batchelor to open the fourth quarter.

Sublette Lone Offensive Bright Spot

Junior Casey Sublette played well with three punts downed inside the Weber State 10 yard line and a career long field goal of 43 yards for the only Cal Poly score of the first half.

Sublette is now 7-of-8 on field goal attempts this season and a perfect 15-of-15 on extra point attempts. He also has 18 punts downed inside the 20 yardline and no touchbacks while averaging over 40 yards per kick.

What’s Next

Cal Poly (0-7, 0-4 Big Sky) will try again to end its historic losing streak next week on the road against UC Davis in a game that kicks off at 4 p.m.

“If they are the people who I think they are I think they will get to work and give everything they have to try to win a football game and keep the Golden Horseshoe in San Luis Obispo,” Walsh said. “We are going to go to Davis and give them something to hang their hat on this season.”