Cal Poly football struggles in lopsided 73-24 loss to rival UC Davis
Cal Poly’s football squad was looking to give rival UC Davis a much stronger fight than it was able to put up in its second game of the COVID-19-shortened season on Saturday.
The Mustangs (0-2) were dominated in virtually all aspects of the game in a 73-24 thrashing at the hands of UC Davis (2-1).
After a promising start that included an interception and 55-yard touchdown return by redshirt junior Brandon Davis to give the Mustangs an early 10-7 lead, Cal Poly had no answers for a UC Davis offense that busted the game open early.
Cal Poly’s defense gave up 768 total yards of offense, a UC Davis school record along with the Aggies’ most points in a game ever of 73 (the old record was 65). They fell behind 49-10 at the half.
The Mustangs’ offensive line struggled to offer much protection, allowing nine sacks.
Quarterback Jalen Hamler completed seven of 16 passes for 74 yards with an interception, playing all of the first half and the start of the third quarter.
Hunter Raquet, a redshirt junior transfer from Monterey Peninsula College, entered the contest for the Mustangs in the third quarter and completed nine of 16 passes for 135 yards, connecting on a 16-yard scoring pass to Noah Rasheed — displaying a more fluid pocket passing game behind center as the backup.
Cal Poly tallied 298 yards of total offense, including Lepi Lataimua’s 56 yards rushing on 13 carries. Quentin Harrison hauled in four catched for 45 yards.
Close rivalry over the years not reflected
The Mustangs and Aggies have now faced each other 44 times in the programs’ history, with UC Davis winning 24 of 20.
The historical parity between the two programs wasn’t reflected in the lopsided game that was all but decided by the end of the first half.
The Mustangs also had an interception from D.J. Stuckey in the third quarter.
Cal Poly redshirt junior C.J. Cole, a St. Joseph graduate, scored on a 2-yard touchdown run with 12:18 in the fourth quarter to give the Mustangs a small bright spot on an otherwise difficult day.
The Mustangs next play at Eastern Washington (2-1) on March 27 in a 1:05 p.m. contest, where Mustangs first year coach Beau Baldwin coached for nine years, winning five Big Sky conference titles, including a Football Championship Subdivision national championship in 2010.
Baldwin recorded a .806 percentage in conference games in the Big Sky at Eastern Washington, but will be looking for his first win at Cal Poly with four games remaining.
Baldwin is taking the program from a triple option offense under previous coach Tim Walsh to a more pass-heavy attack.
The Mustangs play UC Davis again at home on April 10.
No fans were allowed at the first Cal Poly game but a limited number of spectators will be allowed in at the Mustangs next home game versus Davis and Weber State on April 17.
This story was originally published March 20, 2021 at 4:36 PM.
%20Cropped.jpg)