New Cal Poly QB airs it out, leading Mustangs to season-opening win at San Diego
After a rocky spring, Cal Poly Head Coach Beau Baldwin celebrated his first program win Saturday with a 28-17 season-opening victory at University of San Diego.
And the Mustangs did it in dramatic style, showing off a big-play, pass-heavy offense that has replaced the run-dominant style used by the team’s previous two coaches.
Cal Poly quarterback Spencer Brasch, a transfer from Cal who won the starting role over five teammates, led the way for the Mustangs, going an efficient 23 for 38 with 318 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
The Mustangs (1-0) also had two key interceptions, including a fourth-quarter pick-six that put the score out of reach.
Cal Poly bounced back from an 0-3 season cut short by injuries last spring. The Mustangs lost two blowout games in that COVID-19-shortened campaign and suspended their play midway through.
“It just feels so good,” Baldwin said of the win. “It feels so good for the student athletes, just because they’ve been through so much — the shutdowns and last season and finally having a true offseason. But it’s been just so long since I’ve actually felt like a true progression in the plan, so you just have to be so happy for them.”
Brasch said Cal Poly’s game plan was on point to be successful against San Diego’s defense.
“The (San Diego) defense came out the way we expected,” said Brasch, noting they executed plays they’d been working on in practice. “I trusted my guys to win their jobs and get it done.”
Brasch said Cal Poly fought through adversity.
“We all needed to feel (the win),” Brasch said.
Key plays in the game
Right from the beginning, the game had a different feel from what fans were used to seeing. The triple-option offense is gone, replaced by pass-heavy attack.
Down a touchdown in the first quarter, Brasch launched a 45-yard pass completion to Michael Briscoe that took the Mustangs to the 2 yard line, where running back Shakobe Harper punched in a run to knot the game at 7.
Later, with 8 minutes left in the second quarter, Cal Poly connected on a nifty pass when Brasch threaded the needle on third and 16, hitting Chris Coleman with a 35-yard score between two defenders.
The play was set up by another 31-yard completion to Coleman, a Fresno State transfer who had four receptions for 76 yards and a touchdown.
“You’re gonna take what the defense gives,” Baldwin said. “But you’re going to find those times where aggressive is what you need to do and you need to take those shots. But you’re not going to force them either. We’re also going to be able to operate underneath.”
Cal Poly ended up totaling 318 yards in the air vs. only 44 on the ground, a stark difference from previous offenses.
Closing the game out
Cal Poly’s freshman kicker, Jaden Ohlsen, missed two field goal attempts, a 28-yarder that sailed wide with 52 seconds left in the second quarter and one from 34 yards early in the third quarter.
But the Mustangs offense tallied four total touchdowns on the day.
Cal Poly nearly recovered a fumble in the red zone with about 2 minutes left in the third quarter, but San Diego grabbed it and then Toreros kicker Brandon Eickert converted on a 25-year-old field goal attempt to cut the gap to 14-10 Cal Poly.
Less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Cal Poly converted a big third-down pass for six yards to Michael Roth, who stretched to place the nose of the ball past the first down marker. Brasch then connected with Xavier Moore on a 9-yard touchdown throw that put Cal Poly up 21-10 with 14:13 left in the game.
Elijah Ponder intercepted a pass over the middle with 8:25 left in the contest, running it back for a touchdown to put Cal Poly up 28-10.
“I don’t think we tackled well on defense,” said San Diego Coach Dale Lindsey in a TV broadcast interview with WCC Sports, which streamed the game live. “... Poly has some better athletes than we do and it showed up in the long term.”
“I think we were right there,” Lindsey said. “I was surprised about how well we ran the ball, particularly at the edges.”
San Diego (0-1) was coming off of a 4-2 spring season.
Cal Poly quarterback situation
Baldwin, who previously served as the offensive coordinator at Cal, where he’d coached Brasch.
“Spencer showed the most consistency throughout camp, along with a great ability to make plays,” said Baldwin, who coached Brasch at Cal in 2019, in a news release. “At the end of the day, we competed in fall camp and he was the guy that just like any position gave us the best chance to win, and that’s not taking anything away from everybody else.”
Brasch said his transition to Cal Poly has felt like “another family.”
“They brought me in because I was another one of their brothers from the start,” Brasch said. “So it’s great to have a family here and a team that we’re all really close, it feels like.”
Mustangs stat leaders
Judaea Moon led the Mustangs with 14 tackles on the defensive end.
Moore caught the most passes — five for 61 yards — while Briscoe led the team in yards receiving with 83.
Lance Vecchio added a sack.
Next up, Cal Poly plays Fresno State on the road on Saturday, Sept. 11, at 7:05 p.m.
The Mustangs first home game is Sept. 18 versus South Dakota.
This story was originally published September 4, 2021 at 5:43 PM with the headline "New Cal Poly QB airs it out, leading Mustangs to season-opening win at San Diego."
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