Cal Poly football sweeps California, turns attention to Eastern Washington

Before Tim Walsh would fully turn his attention to the daunting task ahead of the Cal Poly football team this week, the longtime head coach wanted to take a moment to savor the Mustangs’ latest victory.

Behind a dominant rushing attack that piled up 527 yards on the ground — the third-highest total in the FCS this season — Cal Poly overcame a halftime deficit for the second straight week en route to a 59-47 victory over Sacramento State on Saturday night.

The No. 14-ranked Mustangs’ third consecutive win improved their record to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big Sky Conference, and also secured a season sweep of their in-state opponents. Cal Poly defeated San Diego, UC Davis and the Hornets in three games that were never as close as the final scores might have indicated.

Two of the team’s preseason goals — beating the rival Aggies and owning the state of California — have officially been checked off. The third and most lofty goal, winning a Big Sky championship, is potentially within reach as November approaches.

“Everything is still in front of us,” Walsh said.

The route to a conference title goes through a red-hot Eastern Washington team ranked third in the FCS and playing as well as anybody in the country. The Eagles and their high-flying aerial attack visit Alex G. Spanos Stadium at 6:05 p.m. Saturday, a game that will likely have playoff implications for both programs.

If Saturday’s performance against Sacramento State (1-8, 1-5 Big Sky) is any indication, matching up with Eastern Washington has all the makings of a shootout.

Junior fullback Joe Protheroe continued to build on his Big Sky-leading rushing total by running for 168 yards and a touchdown. He also caught a short touchdown pass, his team-high 10th score of the year.

Senior Kori Garcia was superb in rushing for a season-high 146 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown on Cal Poly’s first offensive play of the game. The Los Angeles native now has 2,709 career rushing yards, good for sixth place on the Mustangs’ all-time list.

Kyle Lewis, Jared Mohamed and Reagan Enger also had rushing touchdowns for Cal Poly, which used a 24-0 run the spanned the second and third quarters to put the Hornets away.

“In the second half, I think we really got down to business and did what we do on offense,” Walsh said. “We were awfully impressive and fun to watch.”

Fifth-year senior quarterback Dano Graves went over the 1,000-yard mark for the season after completing 8 of 15 passes for 147 yards and three touchdowns. He connected with freshmen wide receivers J.J. Koski and Jake Smeltzer, and had the short touchdown pass to Protheroe in the first half.

Graves has thrown three touchdown passes in four of the past five games, giving him 15 for the season against two interceptions.

“They were showing a lot of different fronts at us,” said Graves, a former star at Folsom High School. “Once we figured out what it was, I had my checks down, and from there we were able to do what we wanted to do.”

While the offensive numbers were impressive, Walsh said, there was plenty to clean up defensively.

Sacramento State entered Saturday’s contest averaging a Big Sky-low 18.5 points per game, and the 47 scored against Cal Poly were a season high. The Hornets also benefited from a special teams touchdown — a 90-yard punt return by Isiah Hennie — and scored 26 points in the fourth quarter when the Mustangs were largely in control.

For the second straight week, a first-time starter led Cal Poly in tackles. Against UC Davis, sophomore cornerback Mekai Sheffie delivered a career-high 13 stops in a breakout performance.

This week, it was redshirt freshman safety Carter Nichols, who started in place of injured junior B.J. Nard. The Danville native made a team-high nine tackles and recorded his first career interception in the decisive third quarter.

Nichols said he didn’t know he was starting until 20 minutes before kickoff.

“At first it was fast, kind of had to get into it,” Nichols said. “But after the first couple drives, especially after the interception, I kind of fell into a zone where I felt comfortable out there.”

The Mustangs will need all hands on deck in the secondary next week against Eastern Washington’s No. 1-ranked passing offense. First-year starting quarterback Gabe Gubrud leads the country with 3,198 yards passing and 31 touchdowns against eight interceptions.

His favorite target, All-American senior wide receiver Cooper Kupp, will likely be playing on Sundays in the near future.

“I’ve got their film on the bus,” Walsh said. “I’ll be watching that on the way home. But for right now, we won and they lost.”

That’s worth enjoying, particularly with three weeks remaining in the regular season.

“From this point on,” Graves added, “every single game we play is a championship game.”

This story was originally published October 30, 2016 at 11:24 AM with the headline "Cal Poly football sweeps California, turns attention to Eastern Washington."