New QB Sam Huard dazzles for Cal Poly in 27-10 season-opening win over San Diego

The last time Sam Huard made a start in a game was his freshmen year at the University of Washington.

On Saturday, he was back calling the shots, now for the Cal Poly Mustangs, and the redshirt sophomore wasted no time in showing why he was the No. 1 recruit in his class.

The highly touted transfer was confident and steady, connecting with his receivers on both short passes and long routes.

“The offense, we made a lot of great explosive plays and had some big-time drives,” Huard said.

The result was a convincing 27-10 season-opening win over the University of San Diego in a game that was not as close as the score indicated.

Mustangs offense puts up big numbers

From the first drive, the Mustangs’ new look spread offense was on full display, alternating between quick throws from Huard to handoffs for the running backs to keep the defense off balanced.

The offense moved the ball so quickly in the first half that despite being up 17-3, the Toreros’ held a substantial advantage in time of possession.

The Mustangs got on the scoreboard first, converting their first drive into three points on a field goal by redshirt freshmen kicker Noah Serna. But the Toreros responded with a field goal of their own to tie the score 3-3.

Redshirt freshmen Troy Fletcher then rushed in the Mustangs first touchdown of the season on a 30-yard scamper later in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Mustangs reached the red zone but turned the ball over on downs.

However, after a defensive stop, Huard launched a 87-yard deep shot to tight end and Mission Prep alum Carlton Brown.

To finish off the drive, Huard called an audible for a fade to Tyrese Fairly-Diyem to give the Mustangs a 17-3 lead to end the first half.

Huard was on target for much of the night, throwing for 364 yards and completing 24 of his 42 passes.

One of his only mistakes came with 8:15 left in the third quarter, when he had a screen pass picked off by a Toreros’ defender Ruben Lopez, who it took to the end zone for a pick-six that brought the Toreros within a touchdown.

Meanwhile, the Mustangs offense struggled to find the same flow in the second half, but the defense stepped up to turn the momentum.

All-Big Sky honorable mention defensive linemen Elijah Ponder recovered a fumble deep in Torero territory to set up another Serna field goal to make the score 20-10.

Then, with 2:30 left, redshirt senior running back Mark Biggins broke through for an 18-yard touchdown, giving the Mustangs a 27-10 lead and sealing the game.

Defense only gave up 3 points

Coming into the game, Head Coach Paul Wulff said the staff didn’t know what to expect from the Toreros’ offense.

“Once we settled down early ... we became dominant on defense and they gave up just three points,” Wulff said.

Overall, Cal Poly tallied 460 yards of total offense, while a stingy defense held San Diego to 241 yards, 147 passing and 94 rushing.

On the receiving end, Fairly-Diyem was Huard’s main target, tallying seven catches for 129 yards to go along with a touchdown.

Redshirt junior Evam Burkhart grabbed four ball for 39 yards.

Brown had the longest reception, a catch and run of 87 yards.

The Mustangs had four running backs get four or more touches. Fletcher led the way with eight attempts for 52 yards and a touchdown, while Biggins had seven rushes for 40 yards and a score.

On the defensive side, the team racked up seven sacks including 2.5 takedowns on the quarterback from Ponder.

University of Utah transfer Ethan Calvert had 10 total tackles and half a sack.

Despite the strong performance on paper, Wulff said there was a “lack of execution in critical moments.”

“We left a lot of points out there that we could’ve taken advantage of, but that didn’t necessarily surprise me being our first game,” Wulff said.

Next up, the Mustangs will travel to San Jose State on Saturday for a 1 p.m game.

This story was originally published September 2, 2023 at 8:46 PM.