If the Cal Poly football team wants bulletin-board material heading into its regular-season finale at Wisconsin on Saturday, there would be no shortage of it.
Before the season, Michael Hunt, a columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, sharply criticized the arrangement of the game in the first place, calling it “disgraceful” and writing that Cal Poly was “willing to take a beating in exchange for the fat stipend” of $500,000.
Rivals.com’s Mike Huguenin ranked it as the 10th-most “embarrassing” game of the season and wrote that fans will leave midway through the third quarter.
A couple weeks ago, Badgers starting quarterback Dustin Sherer told the Indianapolis Star, “We want to win these last three (games) … and that’s what we’re going to do.”
So how should the Mustangs approach it? Guns blazing, going for the win and the exposure on the national stage? Or hold back a bit and save themselves for the playoffs?
When the game was announced, Cal Poly head coach Rich Ellerson said, “The danger here is that, if we’re looking at a playoff berth, we could put ourselves in physical danger.”
That playoff berth is here, with seedings to be announced soon.
My bet? Expect the Mustangs to go for it.
Not only does talk of ‘saving it’ for the postseason not compute with players competing on the field, but it might be a better game than people think.
In 2006, San Diego State lost just 14-0 at Wisconsin. If you recall, Cal Poly beat San Diego State that same year, 16-14.
And while much will be made about the teams’ size difference, perhaps that’s overrated. Ellerson preaches about the importance of explosiveness, quickness, speed and sheer athleticism as opposed to simple size, and he’s been backed up a few times just this season alone.
Granted, the Aztecs have descended into an abyss, and couldn’t be more different from the Badgers in terms of their power-running game, but their offensive line was well into the 300-pound range, and Cal Poly got around it at times, collecting two sacks and forcing two interceptions.
North Carolina Central had huge lines on both sides of the ball but was totally blown off it in a 49-3 wipeout.
But what do you think?
Was this game worth it? Will the size difference actually matter, or is it overrated? And of course: What will the score be?