SLO Heartbreak in Missoula

Dano Graves (left) and Kristaan ivory (right) both had solid performances, despite the offense only scoring 14 points. By Owen Main

Well, that was just about the worst if you were a Cal Poly fan. Holding a 14-7 lead with 2:17 left, the Mustangs drove to set-up for a chip-shot field goal that was blocked. Montana went the length of the field, scored a touchdown with a few seconds left, and won it in overtime.

Going to overtime against the 10th-ranked team in the country on the road in a stadium that Montana has won 88 percent of their games in all-time is not a horrible result, but to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory will leave Cal Poly fans even more frustrated then they probably were after the team got spanked by Yale.

This year’s Cal Poly team has loads of talent on both sides of the football — enough to play with any team in the country, I believe. Their defense’s ability to stop a semi-traditional offense like Montana runs seemed like a really great matchup, and this game was one they should have won.

But they did not. They lost it. In epic fashion.

Fans will want to lay blame somewhere. There is plenty of that to go around, but there are also other circumstances, and some luck, that always determines outcomes.

Who gets a pass?

Dano Graves

Graves had a great first half. The play-calling was wonderful and Cal Poly had a pair of really nice drives. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t score again. How much Graves’ ankle injury came back to bite the Cal Poly quarterback will be a question that I’m sure will be asked this week.

Graves ended the game with 91 yards rushing. While his passing game wasn’t exactly stellar — only 95 total yards — he played about like I would expect him to. He put his team in a position to win the game and as a quarterback, you can’t ask for a lot more than that.

Kristaan Ivory

Ivory looked super banged-up at the end of the game, and yet Cal Poly continued to go to him. He has already racked up more carries this season that he got all of last year. His running style reflects that change, especially when he gets on the edge. Despite limping around for a lot of the fourth quarter, Ivory managed 121 yards on 22 carries. He has been a workhorse all season, and continued to be today, despite being held down very late in the game and in overtime.

Cal Poly’s defense

Yes, they gave up the game-tying drive and the overtime touchdown. But they were stellar in big plays when it counted today, stuffing the Grizzlies on three fourth-down plays. Here I said that the front-seven was among the best in the conference and today they showed why. Nick Dzubnar, Johnny Millard, and Cameron Ontko had monster games. The defensive line was amazing all-day. I wouldn’t blame the team for the prevent defense they went into in the last two minutes.

Once the field goal was blocked, it kind of seemed inevitable that Montana was going to score, even though they had 88 yards to go.

Who doesn’t get a pass?

The special teams coach(es?)

Who coaches special teams? There isn’t a special teams coach listed. I’m sure J.D. Scroggin will ask about it this week, and I can’t wait to hear the answer.

Cal Poly has had kicks blocked in a lot of games this year — Two today, two vs. Colorado State, one vs. Yale. In all, Cal Poly has had five kicks blocked this season and in all three games this has happened, they’ve lost. The one game they lost when no kick was blocked, they gave up two punt return touchdowns and only lost to a top-20 team (Fresno State) by  16 points.

They’ve had teams fake extra points and get two points on them, and if I was an opposing coach, I would see their special teams as a particular weakness I could leverage to gain an advantage in a close game.

At least nobody on the punt coverage team got hit by the ball today. I guess that’s a plus, since it’s happened at least a few times this season. The question has to be asked — At what point are special teams something that are more explicitly addressed?

That official who said Cole Stanford fumbled the ball.

Holy crap. That was one of the worst fumble calls I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure how he saw what he saw.

Either that stadium in Montana is really hard to ref in too, or the Grizzlies played a virtually mistake-free game. Montana was only flagged three times all day for 13 total yards. Cal Poly’s penalty numbers — eight for 81 yards.

Perspective and reasonableness says that Cal Poly had a field goal to win despite those numbers, but the numbers are still what they are.

The television feed in San Luis Obispo

I was really excited about the game being on KKFX in SLO County — since I got to watch it live on television. Well, I got to watch almost all of it. With Montana driving late in the game, the feed cut out. Already vexed by the missed field goal, I’m sure fans who had invested 3 hours in watching this game were pretty upset.

Reports from around the county said that not everyone had audio for the game and much of the second half looked as though it was being streamed from the Internet.

I am super-thankful that KKFX carried the game — I wholeheartedly support their decision to do so — but you’ve got to get something like that right. I only hope that other stations don’t use that as an indicator as to whether to think about showing Cal Poly games in the future.

Staying reasonable

I don’t want to stay reasonable right now. I want to be angry, sad, upset, and morose. As a fan of this team, I feel like I did after the Yale loss, even though I know I shouldn’t feel nearly as bad. I guess they still have only one loss in conference. Winning out would give them a very good shot at a playoff spot.

One last thing is sticking with me right now — Tim Walsh’s comments about his team after the Yale game.

Here’s what he said:

“When we’ve had bad performances in the past, we’ve always had the opportunity to battle back — our character started to show. I don’t think we showed great character today as a team and that’s probably one of my biggest disappointments.”

I think Cal Poly showed character today in playing well on the road, staying together, and giving themselves a chance to win in a really tough environment, but how does that work when their character is tested. If they come out flat and lay an egg next week against Northern Arizona, you might have your answer. The same happens if they come out and play inspired football once again.

For now, I’ll reserve judgment on both the team’s character and the team and staff’s ability to play well enough to win any other high-stakes games this season. They have the ability to play with anyone, despite starting three quarterbacks — I still believe that.

But we are over halfway home and unless things turn around, this year could easily be slipping into the category of “missed opportunities.”

I’m a Dodger fan and a Cal Poly fan. I hope the rest of your sports weekend goes better than mine has so far.