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Cal Poly Mustangs Scouting Report

BWahlberg

Well-known member
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Homecoming is here! It’s an early one this year too and it’ll be a little odd without a parade as well, but the Griz are rolling and this is setting up to be a game where Montana *should* come away with a good win and will be headed into EWU with all cylinders firing.

However, as we’ve seen time and time again – if you look ahead to the next game you’re bound to get caught by the one you have to play first. Beau Baldwin, Paul Wulff, and a very experienced coaching staff are coming to town with a Cal Poly team that would love to pull of a signature win to prove they’re on the right path in their rebuild of the program. There’s some unknowns floating around this Poly team as it’s rumored their Cal transfer QB is out. We may be seeing a dual-threat QB instead. Will Baldwin pull out all the stops and hit us with more option and zone read? Can they pull off a few big trick plays and shock the Griz? Anything can happen – so let’s have the Griz take care of business.

Cal Poly Mustangs 1-2

28-17 win vs San Diego – Poly went to the air early and often with 316 passing yards and under 50 total rushing yards. They forced 2 interceptions on USD and held them to just 250 total yards of offense. USD has gone on to get smoked by both UC Davis and MSU since that game.

10-63 loss vs Fresno State – An expected result. Poly gave up almost 500 passing yards and nearly 675 total yards in the game. Poly did have 221 passing themselves. Fresno had 4 TDs on plays that were over 40 yards.

14-48 loss vs South Dakota – USD barely lost to Kansas and then beat NAU before this game. It was 14-7 USD 10:00 into the game but then USD scored the next 34 points and the game quickly got out of hand before Poly added on a late TD. USD had 350 rushing and 260 passing while Poly had 243 total yards of offense. USD had the ball for almost 42:00 in the game and Poly was 3 of 14 on 3rd down.
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General Stats (2020 totals)

Passing yards per game CPSLO (239 for CPSLO vs 190 for UM)
Rushing yards per game Montana (54 for CPSLO vs 185 for UM)
Total offense Montana (293 for CPSLO vs 375 for UM)
Passing yards allowed per game Montana (329 for CPSLO vs 168 for UM)
Rushing yards allowed per game Montana (241 for CPSLO vs 53 for UM)
Total defense Montana (570 for CPSLO vs 221 for UM)

Griz get 5 while Poly gets 1. As mentioned before, Poly might be down their starting QB so it’ll be interesting to see how that stacks up.

Offense points scored Montana (17.3 for CPSLO vs 27.5 for UM)
Defense points allowed Montana (42.7 for CPSLO vs 5 for UM)
Turnover margin Montana – (+1 for CPSLO / +2 for Montana)
Fieldgoal % Montana (20% for CPSLO vs 50% for UM)
Punt Returns Montana (8.8 yards for CPSLO vs 17.2 yards for UM)
Kick Returns Montana (20.1 yards for CPSLO vs 24.3 yards for UM)
T.O.P. Montana (23:48 for CPSLO vs 29:39 for UM)
Red Zone defense (touchdowns) CPSLO (68% CPSLO / 100% UM)
Red Zone offense (touchdowns) Montana (57% CPSLO / 63% UM)
3rd down offense Montana – (24% for CPSLO / 32% for UM)
3rd down defense Montana – (50% allowed for CPSLO vs 30% allowed for UM)

Montana adds 10 more, and the 1 Poly gets is because Montana has allowed 100% of touchdowns on redzone trips by their opponents. They’ve allowed 1 on 1 trip. But the stats are the stats. Montana has 15 and Poly has 2.

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Players to Watch:

#6 Chris Coleman, WR – A 5-11 grad transfer WR, maybe the one bright spot on this offense so far. Coleman has 165 yards and 3 TDs this season so far. He’s credited with 1 carry for 0 yards and a kick return as well.

#2 Giancarlo Woods, WR – A 6-2 freshman WR, Woods is 2nd on the team in yards with catches, he’s got 104 total yards this season

#18 Michael Briscoe, WR – Another 6-2 freshman, Briscoe has just 7 catches this season but has 182 yards and 1 TD. He’s their home run hitter, statistically.

#1 Kahliq Paulette, QB – If the depth chart is accurate we’ll see him at QB, he’s 6-1, 175 and was a dual threat QB in high school. So far in limited snaps this season he’s completing just 37% of his passes and has 1 passing TD, before backing out TFLs/sacks he’s gained 52 yards rushing as well.

#8 Shakobe Harper, RB – Poly still has a lot of RBs that get touches, Harper leads the stable with 22 touches for 65 yards and 1 TD, he’s also caught 1 pass.

#42 Matt Shotwell, LB – Yes the brother to Kyle Shotwell who won the Buck a few years back. Matt is a 3x tackling leader for Poly and was on the Phil Steele all FCS first team. This kid’s an RS Senior and has been through it all. He once again leads the team in tackles with 30 and has 1.5 TFLs
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Keys to a strong showing

1. Don’t give Poly that spark of hope. The Griz have to avoid early sloppy play that could give Poly a burst of momentum to push them through the game. I don’t see that happening but if there’s one way Poly can come shock Montana it would be if they can capitalize on early/often mistakes.

2. A balanced offense. USD was the road map to a dominant win, big TOP, mixing up running and passing, limiting turnovers, and making each possession count. If Montana can carry this forward that’ll allow for a fun day in Wa Griz.

3. Expect trickery. Baldwin is a good coach, he has a great staff, and we’ve got some twists coming our way with some revised depth charts on the Poly side. Can the Grizzly defense adapt to some schemes they might not have prepared for?

4. 4+ sacks. Keep the QB pressure going, regardless who’s taking snaps keep them uncomfortable in the pocket.

5. I’d love to see Flowers or Sulser take a kick to the house

6. Contain the deep shots. Poly’s offense has had it’s scoring success come with a few home run plays. Watch for their pair of taller WRs to try to beat Montana’s cover over the top.

7. I’d like to see a cleaner start to the first quarter / first half for Montana. Coming off the bye and with the way the UW and WIU games started – that’s an area I want improvement on.
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If you can make it, hit the oval Friday night at 8pm for the Yell Night Pep Rally. There’s a lot of renewed energy around campus and having alumni back to cheer on the team and support the campus would go a long ways. Here’s some info on it https://www.grizalum.org/events/homecoming/pep-rally.php

For the game, I don’t see a trap game here (I’m starting to possibly see some in the future though) but I won’t discredit this Poly staff having their team ready to play for this game. They’ll be amped up to be in a place like Wa Griz and we’ll see their best fight early. If Montana can quickly tamp down that energy then they should roll through the day. I’m seeing something like a 55-10 type of win for the Griz as long as we keep improving and building on what we’ve got going.

Go Griz!
 
I'm too lazy to look it up, but it seems to me the Griz don't do as well after a bye week. Hope that's not the case this Saturday.
 
Finally the scouting report...not sure if I could have slept tonight without it.
Even though the players on this team have been recruited for the triple option and the coach is a new coach, it wouldn't surprise me if we see a few triple option plays
 
fencer24 said:
I'm too lazy to look it up, but it seems to me the Griz don't do as well after a bye week. Hope that's not the case this Saturday.

Now don't go on and jinx it! :evil:

I went and looked it up and you are correct...

Game results following a bye week:

2019: at Sac State L 22-49
2018: vs UC Davis L 21-49
2017: at Weber State L 27-41
2016: at Cal Poly L 21-31
2015: at Liberty L 21-31
2014: vs UC Davis W 42-28
 
get'em_griz said:
fencer24 said:
I'm too lazy to look it up, but it seems to me the Griz don't do as well after a bye week. Hope that's not the case this Saturday.

Now don't go on and jinx it! :evil:

I went and looked it up and you are correct...

Game results following a bye week:

2019: at Sac State L 22-49
2018: vs UC Davis L 21-49
2017: at Weber State L 27-41
2016: at Cal Poly L 21-31
2015: at Liberty L 21-31
2014: vs UC Davis W 42-28

Sonofabitch, Get’em…knock this off! We gotta get this shit together, guys. I know you’re just reporting the facts, but I don’t like them.
 
CDAGRIZ said:
get'em_griz said:
Now don't go on and jinx it! :evil:

I went and looked it up and you are correct...

Game results following a bye week:

2019: at Sac State L 22-49
2018: vs UC Davis L 21-49
2017: at Weber State L 27-41
2016: at Cal Poly L 21-31
2015: at Liberty L 21-31
2014: vs UC Davis W 42-28

Sonofabitch, Get’em…knock this off! We gotta get this shit together, guys. I know you’re just reporting the facts, but I don’t like them.

Further back in time, the Griz won just about every game after a bye week. I went from 1994 to 2010 and only found one loss (2004) after a bye week. I think Hauck is trying to get the team back to the level the Griz were back then.
 
I hope their back up qb is very mobile, give us a taste of what the ewu qb is like. I hope they take lots of deep shots on our defense.
I hope the Griz can grind it out on the ground and get Sammy and the TE's more involved in the passing game and get out without showing much to EWU.
 
Their starter QB was announced to be out 5 weeks with a hand injury. Could be true, could be strategy. I see the Griz winning 45-13.
 
get'em_griz said:
fencer24 said:
I'm too lazy to look it up, but it seems to me the Griz don't do as well after a bye week. Hope that's not the case this Saturday.

Now don't go on and jinx it! :evil:

I went and looked it up and you are correct...

Game results following a bye week:

2019: at Sac State L 22-49
2018: vs UC Davis L 21-49
2017: at Weber State L 27-41
2016: at Cal Poly L 21-31
2015: at Liberty L 21-31
2014: vs UC Davis W 42-28

Shouldn’t ‘15 ‘16 and ‘17 have asterisks by them or something because those were the Stitt years? :lol: :lol:
 
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