Sports

Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008

Cal Poly football aims to get defensive in South Dakota

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When Mark Restelli rolls over in his sleep at night, chances are he’s thinking of Cal Poly’s past two losses to South Dakota State.

Whether it was last season’s big-play shootout loss or a three-touchdown, fourth-quarter comeback of 2006, the memories have been “haunting the dreams” of the Mustangs senior rover linebacker leading up to next week’s showdown with the Jackrabbits.

“Those are heartbreakers,” Restelli said, “especially because last year, that could have been a key game that kept us out of the playoffs. It was early in the season, but we need to think about that. If we don’t win this, then we’re just leaving it up in the air.”

Last season, Cal Poly fielded a record-breaking offense that was second in the nation in total offense. It was a young defense that let the Mustangs down in three of their four losses, including a 48-35 loss at South Dakota State where four of the Jackrabbits’s seven scores came on plays of 30 yards or more.

South Dakota State rushed for 312 yards, and Cory Koenig scored on runs of 32, 46 and 52 yards in that game.

“Watching the film last year, it was a consistent bad effort across the defense,” senior defensive end Sean Lawyer said. “Up front, we weren’t consistently physical as we needed to be and then on the back end, we weren’t giving guys enough opportunities to tackle. We were putting them in bad situations where running backs were running down hill with too much speed.”

Cal Poly (3-1, 1-0 Great West Football Conference) travels to Brookings, S.D., later this week with similar postseason implications to last year’s game. If the Mustangs lose, it will hinder their bid to earn their first at-large entry to the FCS playoffs since 2005.

Cal Poly’s offense is again off to record-breaking pace.

All-American receiver Ramses Barden leads all of Division I in receiving yards per game. Jonathan Dally, the top-rated FCS passer in the nation, quarterbacks an offense that brought back 10 of 11 starters from last season. And three-year starting running back James Noble is making a push to become the all-time leading rusher in school history.

The question remains whether the defense is improved enough over the unit that gave up 39 points per game in three FCS losses last season to help the Mustangs enough to make it into the playoffs this year.

The Mustangs returned six of their top eight tacklers from a year ago, four of whom will have at least one more year of eligibility after this season. Only three seniors start on defense.

Cal Poly also got back redshirt sophomore nose guard James Chen, who missed almost all of last season after having surgery to repair torn knee ligaments.

“We just had a few spots that needed to be filled and they’ve been filled great,” Restelli said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a senior, junior, freshman or whatever. It doesn’t matter what your year is, you’re still expected to go out and play at the highest level, and we’re still going to get on you if you’re making mistakes.

“I’m a senior, and I’ve been making a ton of mistakes and coach has been getting on me. I should be held to the same standard as even the true freshmen playing. We’re trying to fix everything.”

Chen’s addition and the impressive emergence of true freshman cornerback Asa Jackson and fellow true freshman linebacker Quentin Greenlaw, who’s beginning to earn time at mike linebacker, haven’t done much to change the statistics.

Cal Poly is allowing 24.2 points and 373.2 yards per game this season. The Mustangs gave up 25.3 points and 370.4 yards per game in 2007.

“If you look at the stats, then you’ll probably be like ‘Well, you know they’re not statistically where the best defenses in Cal Poly history are,’ ” Lawyer said, “but we’re giving our offense the chance to win games, and that’s the most important thing.

“At the same time, we’re trying to get better on a weekly basis. There are parts where we’re playing really well and other time we’re looking like the young defense we look like on paper.”

Since seeing three straight Mustangs win the Buck Buchanan Award for FCS defensive player of the year between 2004 and 2006, Cal Poly has watched its sack totals dwindle without the likes of Jordan Beck, Chris Gocong and Kyle Shotwell.

Lawyer leads the team with five sacks this season, and before a sackless win over South Dakota last week, the Mustangs were on a roll pressuring the quarterback.

Though Cal Poly ranks second in FCS with 3.75 sacks per game, and the defense is giving up more than 30 fewer rushing yards per game this season, the ground game remains a concern.

In their lone loss of the season, 30-28 to Montana, the Mustangs were in control until the Grizzlies began to go almost exclusively to their rushing attack in the second half.

That may or may not matter against South Dakota State (3-3).

The Jackrabbits did most of their damage on the ground in the previous meeting, but they’re averaging 287 yards per game passing this season. Senior quarterback Ryan Berry is second in the FCS with 1,722 passing yards.

More important could be how Cal Poly responds in the clutch.

Already having shown a propensity for holding up in goal-line situations, the Mustangs have been getting stops when needed.

They forced San Diego State to a three-and-out in the final five minutes of the season opener and allowed the offense to drive for the winning field goal.

They stopped Montana on fourth down in the last five minutes a week later only to watch the final field goal attempt fall wide.

But at other times, particularly the opening of second halves, the same type of intensity and urgency hasn’t seemed to be there.

Figuring out that issue, Lawyer said, is easier than it sounds.

“That’s a good question,” Lawyer said. “If I knew how to get everybody on the same page all the time, we’d probably be unstoppable. We’re working on it. By the end of the season, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re there.”