Week 11 - #9 Sac State vs Cal Poly
The 9th ranked Hornets (6-3, 3-3 BSC) finish the regular season home slate against the struggling Cal Poly Mustangs (3-6, 1-5 BSC) in an afternoon kickoff in Hornet Stadium. The Mustangs have had an absolutely brutal schedule and will be looking to pull off an improbable upset this week. Former Hornet coach Paul Wulff was promoted to head coach this past offseason upon the departure of Beau Baldwin and is wrapping up his first season rebuilding the once proud Cal Poly program.
Cal Poly had a successful non-conference performance that featured a season opening 27-10 win over San Diego. Unfortunately, the Mustangs struggled mightily in conference play. Their lone conference win came 3 weeks ago at home in a 24-17 game against Northern Colorado. Last week, CP suffered a 13-48 loss in a wet game at Eastern Washington.
The Mustang offense primarily lines up in the shotgun spread and throws the ball 55% of the time. CP sprinkles in some read-option and some wildcat formations in short yardage situations.
Quarterback Sam Huard (131/213, 1565 yds, 14 TD, 6 INT) is a pure passer with a strong arm and good accuracy. Huard has targeted over 5 different receivers at leat 20 times this season. The leading receivers are tight end Tyrece Fairly-Diyem (29 rec, 418 yds, 4 TD), Giancarlo Woods (36 rec, 354 yds, 4 TD), and Bryson Allen (23 rec, 313 yds, 2 TD). On the ground, the Mustangs have 6 players with at least 20 carries, but they aren’t very effective. The leading rusher is Mark Biggins (60 car, 270 yds, 2 TD, 7 rec, 26 yds). Up front is where the issue is for the Mustang offense. The offensive line isn’t very big and they struggle to control the line of scrimmage for the running game, however they have been capable of providing ample time to throw for Huard.
Offensive Team Stats
The Mustangs 4-3 defense has struggled to keep opposing offenses out of the endzone this season. There isn’t much to say about the CP defense other than it is a pretty young unit that is looking to find its footing. Linebacker David Meyer (48 tkl, 3 TFL) leads the Mustangs in tackles with defensive end Elijah Ponder (43 tkl, 11 TFL, 8 sac) playing the role of wreckin ball and leading the team in TFLs and sacks. Cornerback Donovan Saunders (13 tkl, 2 INT) leads CP in interceptions.
Defensive Team Stats
CP’s kicking game hasn’t been used much as kicker Noah Serna (4/6 FG, 19/22 PAT) hasn’t had more than a half a dozen field goal attempts on the year. Punter Ryan Collins (29 pnt, 42 ypp) looks like a more than capable punter with a long of 61 on the year and 7 dropped inside the 20. In the kick return game, Zion Hall only has 6 returns on the year but has a long of 43 yards.
Hornet Team Stats
Position Advantage
There’s not much to say about this game as the Hornets will be the clear favorites to win big. The Mustangs are in rebuild mode and have some good pieces in the passing game, however beyond that it’s hard to get excited about much else on their roster aside from a stellar defensive end in Elijah Ponder.
The Mustang defense just doesn’t get stops and the Hornet offense have shown the ability to move the ball quite well this season. Defensively, the Hornets just need to keep everything in front of them and not give up big plays.
I don’t see how the Hornets lose this game unless they beat themselves, and coming off of last week's disappointing showing they’ll have a lot of motivation to perform well on the field. The Hornets need to win this one in convincing fashion….and should.
Stingers Up!
Northern Colorado at Cal Poly Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ4Kb-Ds-Zg
The 9th ranked Hornets (6-3, 3-3 BSC) finish the regular season home slate against the struggling Cal Poly Mustangs (3-6, 1-5 BSC) in an afternoon kickoff in Hornet Stadium. The Mustangs have had an absolutely brutal schedule and will be looking to pull off an improbable upset this week. Former Hornet coach Paul Wulff was promoted to head coach this past offseason upon the departure of Beau Baldwin and is wrapping up his first season rebuilding the once proud Cal Poly program.
Cal Poly had a successful non-conference performance that featured a season opening 27-10 win over San Diego. Unfortunately, the Mustangs struggled mightily in conference play. Their lone conference win came 3 weeks ago at home in a 24-17 game against Northern Colorado. Last week, CP suffered a 13-48 loss in a wet game at Eastern Washington.
The Mustang offense primarily lines up in the shotgun spread and throws the ball 55% of the time. CP sprinkles in some read-option and some wildcat formations in short yardage situations.
Quarterback Sam Huard (131/213, 1565 yds, 14 TD, 6 INT) is a pure passer with a strong arm and good accuracy. Huard has targeted over 5 different receivers at leat 20 times this season. The leading receivers are tight end Tyrece Fairly-Diyem (29 rec, 418 yds, 4 TD), Giancarlo Woods (36 rec, 354 yds, 4 TD), and Bryson Allen (23 rec, 313 yds, 2 TD). On the ground, the Mustangs have 6 players with at least 20 carries, but they aren’t very effective. The leading rusher is Mark Biggins (60 car, 270 yds, 2 TD, 7 rec, 26 yds). Up front is where the issue is for the Mustang offense. The offensive line isn’t very big and they struggle to control the line of scrimmage for the running game, however they have been capable of providing ample time to throw for Huard.
Offensive Team Stats
- Points scored per game: 19.4 (11th BSC / 91st FCS)
- Total Offense: 327.3 ypg (82.8 rushing ypg / 244.6 passing ypg) - 10th (11th / 3rd) BSC
- Sacks Allowed: 15 (7th BSC)
- Turnovers: 9/9 (INT/Fum)
- Redzone: 19/30 - 15/4 (TD/FG) - 12th BSC
The Mustangs 4-3 defense has struggled to keep opposing offenses out of the endzone this season. There isn’t much to say about the CP defense other than it is a pretty young unit that is looking to find its footing. Linebacker David Meyer (48 tkl, 3 TFL) leads the Mustangs in tackles with defensive end Elijah Ponder (43 tkl, 11 TFL, 8 sac) playing the role of wreckin ball and leading the team in TFLs and sacks. Cornerback Donovan Saunders (13 tkl, 2 INT) leads CP in interceptions.
Defensive Team Stats
- Points allowed per game: 38.3 (11th BSC / 119th FCS)
- Total Defense: 390.1 ypg (204.7 rushing ypg / 185.4 passing ypg) - 7th (10th / 2nd) BSC
- Sacks : 17 (6th BSC)
- Turnovers Forced: 3/7 (INT/Fum)
- Redzone: 32/35 - 27/5 (TD/FG) - 11th BSC
CP’s kicking game hasn’t been used much as kicker Noah Serna (4/6 FG, 19/22 PAT) hasn’t had more than a half a dozen field goal attempts on the year. Punter Ryan Collins (29 pnt, 42 ypp) looks like a more than capable punter with a long of 61 on the year and 7 dropped inside the 20. In the kick return game, Zion Hall only has 6 returns on the year but has a long of 43 yards.
Hornet Team Stats
- Points scored per game: 29.9 (5th BSC / 34th FCS)
- Points allowed per game: 24.9 (5th BSC / 47th FCS)
- Total Offense: 415.3 ypg (185.1 rushing ypg / 230.2 passing ypg) - 3rd (4th / 6th) BSC
- Total Defense: 379.9 ypg (171.6 rushing ypg / 208.3 passing ypg) - 6th (7th / 5th) BSC
- Sacks Allowed: 11 (T-4th BSC)
- Sacks: 20 (4th BSC)
- Turnovers: 7/4 (INT/Fum)
- Turnovers Forced: 11/3 (INT/Fum)
- Redzone Offense: 36/40 - 28/8 (TD/FG) - 3rd BSC
- Redzone Defense: 24/31 - 18/6 (TD/FG) - 3rd BSC
Position Advantage
- Quarterback: Push. Sam Huard will be the best passer on the field, but Kaiden Bennett will be the best athlete that touches the ball every play.
- Running Backs: Hornets. Not many backs in the BSC are better than a healthy Marcus Fulcher, and none of the Mustang backs are even in the same discussion in comparison.
- Wide Receivers: Mustangs. No reason to pick the Hornets after their lackluster performance a week ago. Cal Poly’s receivers are more than capable of getting open and making their grabs.
- Tight Ends: Push. Tyrece Fairly-Diyem is the best receiving tight end on the field, but Marshel Martin and Coleman Kuntz are more effective players in both the run and pass.
- Offensive Line: Hornets. The Hornet offensive line is noticeably better in both aspects of the game compared to Cal Poly’s.
- Defensive Line: Hornets. The Hornet defensive line plays the run and pass better than the Mustangs line, but the best defensive lineman on the field this week will be Elijah Ponder.
- Linebackers: Hornets. Armon Bailey and Brock Mather are better all around linebackers than David Meyer, Je’kob Jones, and Jeremy Justice.
- Defensive Backs: Push. The Hornet secondary plays the ball better, but hard not be down on the Hornet secondary coming off of a game as bad as last weeks.
- Punters: Hornets. Cal McGough can out-punt Ryan Collins on a bad day.
- Kickers: Mustangs. Noah Serna hasn’t missed a chip shot this year.
- Kick Returners: Push. Neither return game stands out on either team.
There’s not much to say about this game as the Hornets will be the clear favorites to win big. The Mustangs are in rebuild mode and have some good pieces in the passing game, however beyond that it’s hard to get excited about much else on their roster aside from a stellar defensive end in Elijah Ponder.
The Mustang defense just doesn’t get stops and the Hornet offense have shown the ability to move the ball quite well this season. Defensively, the Hornets just need to keep everything in front of them and not give up big plays.
I don’t see how the Hornets lose this game unless they beat themselves, and coming off of last week's disappointing showing they’ll have a lot of motivation to perform well on the field. The Hornets need to win this one in convincing fashion….and should.
Stingers Up!
Northern Colorado at Cal Poly Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ4Kb-Ds-Zg