With the Cal Poly football team’s win over Division I newcomer South Dakota in the books, Great West Conference play is officially underway. Let’s take a look at how the teams are stacking up.
1. Cal Poly (3-1, 1-0): With North Dakota State and South Dakota State leaving the Great West after last year, the Mustangs are undoubtedly the favorite to win it this year and entered Saturday ranked No. 8 in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) polls. They’ll probably climb this week in light of No. 2 Montana’s 45-28 loss to Weber State.
Cal Poly quickly led 21-0 against South Dakota at Alex G. Spanos Stadium in Saturday’s conference opener en route to a 49-22 victory over the Coyotes, who were playing their first Great West Conference game.
Ironically, the Mustangs have their third bye in the last five weeks before traveling to former conference foe South Dakota State for an Oct. 18 game.
2. Southern Utah (3-3, 0-0): The Thunderbirds are an enigma of the Great West. After an 0-11 season and being widely considered the doormat of the conference, they’ve won three games already this year, including a shocking 14-7 win over national power Youngstown State.
Southern Utah has won two in a row heading into its first conference contest, against UC Davis on Saturday, but in a strange scheduling twist, will have to overcome playing three conference road games in a row.
3. UC Davis (2-4, 0-0): The Aggies are quite an anomaly this season as well, and their lowly record indicates that they would be easily dispatched by Great West opponents. However, if one takes a closer look, three of UC Davis’ four losses were by a combined 11 points, including a five-point loss against Montana, which beat Cal Poly earlier this year.
All four of the team’s losses were away from Aggie Stadium, which bodes well for the upcoming schedule. UC Davis began a five-game homestand with a 34-30 victory over Northern Colorado on Saturday.
4. North Dakota (4-1, 0-0): The Fighting Sioux are transitioning from Division II and have looked like they needed a step up in competition early this year after dispatching Division III’s Texas A&M Kingsville and Wisconsin-Lacrosse.
They followed that with a big win over former conference rival St. Cloud State.
North Dakota’s easy schedule got tougher as it edged Idaho State by three points and lost its first game of the season to Southeastern Louisiana.
With the conference schedule looming for the Fighting Sioux, the lack of quality opposition may come into play. They probably feel fortunate to have avoided Cal Poly this season.
5. South Dakota (2-4, 0-1): The first conference game didn’t go as planned for the Coyotes, who are also transitioning from Division II. Head coach Ed Meierkort made no bones about how far his team had to go before being able to consistently compete in the Great West.
“We’re just not quite ready to play at this level yet,” he told the Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, S.D. after Saturday’s loss. “I thought we had opportunities, but they’re better than we are. It’s not a cop-out; it’s the truth. You can’t get better until you face the truth. The kids played hard, but we have to get better.”
The Coyotes’ two wins have both been against lower-division foes in St. Ambrose and Culver-Stockton. And while a 24-13 loss to then-No. 5 Northern Iowa showed a promising future, this season looks to be one of adjusting to the quality of play at the FCS level.
While conventional logic would suggest that the Mustangs will run away from the pack and win the conference with ease, several of the teams have the ability to put a scare into Cal Poly and the Great West championship is still very much up for grabs.
Scott Silvey is a journalism senior and a Mustang Daily sports editor.