ANDREW SANTOS-JOHNSON/MUSTANG DAILY
Cal Poly’s Tre’dale Tolver scores on a 40-yard punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter Saturday at
Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis. The Mustangs lost 36-35.
MADISON, Wis. – The words “Cal Poly” were about to enter sports fans’ collective consciousness right next to “Appalachian State.”
Just like in the Mountaineers’ season-opening shocker over Michigan last season, the Mustangs’ attempt to stun Wisconsin on Saturday night came down to a kick.
Appalachian State, the household name of the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA), blocked the Wolverines’ last-ditch field-goal attempt, sending a forever-lasting shockwave through college football.
Cal Poly set up what figured to be a foregone-conclusion of a kick after Jonathan Dally lofted a 25-yard touchdown pass to Ramses Barden on the first play of overtime to put the Mustangs ahead 35-29 and stagger an announced Camp Randall Stadium crowd of 80,709.
Then Andrew Gardner missed the ensuing extra point, clanking it off the right upright.
John Clay of Wisconsin ran in a 6-yard touchdown moments later, lifting the Badgers to a 36-35 escape from what would’ve been just the FCS’ third win this season in 85 tries against the Football Bowl Subdivision (I-A).
“We’re bitterly disappointed,” Cal Poly head coach Rich Ellerson said. “We needed one more play.”
Perhaps they needed just a few more kicks.
Gardner missed two other extra points, and kickoff specialist Jake West’s 46-yard field-goal try with eight seconds left in regulation was well short on a night with a 24-degree wind chill.
“We’d like not to have it come down to a kick at the end,” Ellerson said. “If people want to talk about the kicking game, they can talk about the extra points. (But) they can (also) talk about the off-tackle play the defense couldn’t stop at end or going three-and-out in a critical situation in the fourth quarter.”
That three-and-out came with five minutes and 45 seconds remaining in regulation.
A 37-yard Harlan Prather punt backed the Badgers (7-5) up to their own 11-yard line, from which they rumbled 89 yards in nine plays requiring just 2:18.
After P.J. Hill scored on a 3-yard touchdown run with 1:42 to play, he ran in the two-point conversion to tie the game 29-29.
Clay rushed for 107 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. Hill added 59 yards and two more scores on 14 attempts.
“We were able to stop the run some,” Ellerson said. “We were very committed with our numbers, but still, sometimes that wasn’t quite enough.”
Wisconsin had problems of its own with Cal Poly’s triple-option ground attack, though.
James Noble’s 2-yard run around left end with 8:12 left in the fourth quarter put the Mustangs ahead 29-21, capping a 15-play, 76-yard drive taking 7:55.
“It was a surreal feeling,” Dally said of playing in a “hostile environment” that surpassed the previously largest attendance in program history by 48,173. “To come in here on a stage like this and put up points and move the ball, it was a good feeling while it lasted.”
The Mustangs ran on 14 consecutive plays on their second possession of the second half, going 58 yards before Gardner put them ahead 23-14 with a 35-yard field goal with 2:32 remaining in the third quarter.
But the Badgers struck right back in just 1:17, as Hill rushed up the middle for a 10-yard score with 1:11 left in the third period to finish a four-play, 80-yard drive and make matters 23-21.
Cal Poly (8-2) ended the first half ahead 20-14.
Although the Mustangs allowed Dustin Sherer to complete all seven of his first-half passes for 126 yards and a touchdown, they stifled drives with sacks by Sean Lawyer, Carlton Gillespie and Marty Mohamed, and held a 5:16 time-of-possession advantage.
Nick Toon pulled the Badgers within 20-14 when a 26-yard pass by Sherer was deflected by Xavier Gardner into his hands with 42 seconds left in the first half.
Dally’s 2-yard keeper with 1:15 remaining in the second quarter put the Mustangs ahead 20-7.
“We had to find some way to make plays,” Ellerson said. “We were battling up front but were having to play everything very much on the edge.”
On the previous drive, Cal Poly forced Wisconsin into a second-and-13 at its own 33-yard line, but Sherer hit David Gilreath for 39 yards down the right sideline. Four plays later, Clay ran 17 yards to the left to polish off a six-play, 64-yard drive and pull the Badgers within 13-7.
Tre’dale Tolver gave the Mustangs a 13-0 lead when he broke a punt return up the middle and raced to the right corner of the end zone for a 40-yard score 6:18 into the second quarter.
“Our gunners did a good job on the outside,” Tolver said. “The interior blocking was nice, so I just followed my blockers. In a game like this, I just figured special teams would be the X-factor.”
Wisconsin ran for 30 yards on the game’s first six plays, but on the last of them, Asa Jackson forced a Clay fumble, and after review, Fred Hives II’s recovery at the Cal Poly 40-yard line was upheld.
On the ensuing drive, Ryan Mole put Cal Poly ahead 7-0 by taking a pitch around right end for a 2-yard score.
In all, Cal Poly held the ball for 19:58 more than Wisconsin while rushing for 276 yards on 59 carries.
Dally completed 8 of 16 passes for 95 yards and a touchdown, and rushed for 118 yards and a score on 23 carries.
Noble finished with 81 yards and a touchdown on 15 attempts.
Barden caught a game-high six passes for 83 yards and a touchdown.
Sherer was 13-of-22 for 245 yards and a touchdown with an interception.
Gilreath had four receptions for a game-high 125 yards.
The loss was reminiscent of the Mustangs’ only other defeat this season, 30-28 to Montana on Sept. 6, when Andrew Gardner missed a 27-yard field-goal attempt with 38 seconds left. They went on to win seven straight.
“We’re going to fight forward and move on,” Dally said. “We’ve had some practice (doing that). It’s unfortunate, but that’s football. It happens.”
The sooner the chance the better, in Ellerson’s eyes.
“Right now it’s so painful,” Ellerson said. “But we’ll handle this the right way. We’ll use what we can and accelerate ourselves into this next opportunity.
“We will stay together,” Ellerson said after the loss to Wisconsin. “We will swallow this bitter pill.”
Ellerson said he was unsure how the performance would reflect on Cal Poly’s program years from now.
“We expected to win,” he said. “We’re not surprised (that it was so close). They made one more play than we did.”
Editor’s note: This story originally appeared online Saturday night. Sunday, the FCS playoff selection committee announced the Mustangs would host Big Sky Conference co-champion Weber State (9-3) in the first round of the postseason at 6:05 p.m. Saturday in Alex G. Spanos Stadium.