Photo by Ian Billings
In anticipation of this weekend’s Cal Poly football game at Fresno State, Mustang Daily and the Fresno State student newspaper, The Collegian, exchanged questions about the opposing schools’ football team and the upcoming game. Mustang Daily sports editor Stephan Teodosescu spoke with The Collegian’s editor-in-chief, Ricardo Cano.
Cal Poly (1-0) is coming off a season-opening 38-16 win against San Diego while Fresno State (1-0) also won its first game of the year, defeating Rutgers 52-51 in overtime this past Thursday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Bulldog Stadium on Saturday.
Stephan Teodosescu (ST): Considering Cal Poly likely has an undersized and overmatched defense, how do you expect Fresno State to attack the Mustangs on Saturday?
Ricardo Cano (RC): I think that all depends on how Cal Poly intends to defend Fresno State. Against Rutgers, most of quarterback Derek Carr’s passes went for short gains under 10 yards (which helps explain why he threw the ball 73 times) because the Rutgers secondary was playing deep most of the game. Expect to see Fresno State try and establish its run game on Saturday. Marteze Waller and Josh Quezada have been running the ball by committee — with Waller technically starting in the season opener — but neither had impressive stat lines against the Scarlet Knights and a clear-cut starter has yet to be established by the Fresno State coaching staff.
ST: Bulldog Stadium (41,031) will be the largest venue Cal Poly plays in this season. How does home-field advantage factor in to Fresno State’s gameplan?
RC: Home-field advantage has been a strong factor. The Bulldogs were undefeated at home last season, averaging 48 points in games that were usually decided by halftime. Not likely that we’ll see a sellout at Bulldog Stadium on Saturday (the last sellout was in 2008 against Wisconsin). There was an official attendance of 33,098 (seemed like more) at the Rutgers game and was raucous during pressure moments — when Rutgers missed its field goal in the fourth quarter and when it failed its 2-point conversion in overtime. That number should continue to rise as the Bulldogs host Boise State on Sept. 20.
ST: The Fresno State defense looked shaky at times last week against Rutgers giving up big plays and 51 points. Was that due to Week 1 jitters, or are there legitimate flaws in the defense that Cal Poly can exploit?
RC: I asked Fresno State defensive coordinator Nick Toth a similar question; he said it wasn’t jitters, but did bring up an interesting stat: of the 73 plays Rutgers ran on offense, 63 went for 202 yards and 10 went for 341 yards. Fresno State definitely gave up big plays – seven of those 10 plays, Toth said, had to do directly with miscues by the Bulldogs defense – and part of that had to do with some uncertainty with Rutgers’ game plan under its first-year offensive coordinator.
The secondary was, at times, overmatched by the speed of Rutgers receivers Brandon Coleman and Leonte Carroo. They were fast. Real fast. Charles Washington and Curtis Riley made their first starts at strong safety and cornerback, respectively, so there is some game inexperience there, though Washington made the final play of the game that gave Fresno State the win.
The defensive line is bracing itself for the cut-blocking style of Cal Poly’s offensive line. The defense, for the most part, returns a chunk of its starters from last year’s unit, though there were some growing pains going up against a team that featured a lot of speed.
ST: Fresno State quarterback Derek Carr completed 52-of-73 passes and threw for five touchdowns against Rutgers. Other than him, who are some key players to watch for on offense for Fresno State?
RC: Fresno State’s wide receiver group is deep. Davante Adams, last season’s Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year, returns from a breakout season last year. Josh Harper joins him, starting on the opposite outside receiver spot, and Isaiah Burse (who caught a career-high 13 passes against Rutgers) and tight end Marcel Jensen line up in the slot positions. This is an experienced group. The offensive line seems to have found a consistent lineup to run with Austin Wentworth at left tackle, Cody Wichmann and Alex Fifita at the guard spots, Lars Bramer at center and Justin Northern at right tackle. Northern did not give up a sack on Thursday, his first collegiate start.
ST: What experience does Fresno State have against the triple-option offense that Cal Poly runs?
RC: Last season, Fresno State faced two teams that ran a variation of the triple-option: New Mexico and Air Force. New Mexico caused problems for the Bulldogs in a game it at one point led by 21 points, but lost. Both teams were able to gain good yardage on the ground, but the Bulldogs were able to force turnovers and stop long runs against Air Force — which is the team Fresno State coach Tim DeRuyter said resembles more of what Cal Poly is expected to run on offense.
RC: What were some observations to take away from the Mustangs’ 38-13 season-opening win against San Diego?
ST: The main takeaway from last weekend’s season-opening win is that junior slotback Kristaan Ivory may be better than advertised. He scored three touchdowns on a career-high 185 yards against San Diego. For a run-heavy triple-option team like Cal Poly having a touchdown threat like Ivory is paramount. The Mustangs also threw the ball a bit more in that game than I expect we’ll see in the next few games, but based on the numbers first-year starting quarterback Vince Moraga showed he can move the chains in Cal Poly’s system.
RC: Kristaan Ivory had a big game, he scored a touchdown on his first carry on Saturday, how did he develop this offseason and what other weapons will the Cal Poly offense feature this season?
ST: It was well understood going into the season that Ivory would be getting most of the carries out of the backfield this year. He was the Mustangs’ second leading rusher last year scoring eight touchdowns on 728 total yards. He’s waited a while to become the featured back and he made the most of his opportunity on that first carry Saturday. As for the rest of the offense, I expect senior slotback Cole Stanford and junior wider receiver Willie Tucker to step up this year. Stanford won’t get as many carries as Ivory out of the other slotback position, but expect him to catch some passes to complement his run game. Tucker is Cal Poly’s most elite receiver in this run-based offense and while they won’t throw to him too often, he’ll get the bulk of the passes this season. He’s shown that he’s capable of making an explosive play downfield like his 74-yard catch against the Toreros.
RC: What is quarterback Vince Moraga’s role in the triple-option offense, we saw some versatility from Cal Poly last week (Moraga threw for for 200+ and Cal Poly rushed for 300+ yards)…
ST: Moraga is a fifth-year junior who’s been the Mustangs’ primary backup quarterback for the past two seasons. He won a four-way QB battle for the starting spot that raged on through Fall Camp primarily because of his experience in the triple-option. The game against non-scholarship San Diego was his first career start and while his passing stats looked impressive, I think we’ll see less of the air game than the ground game against Fresno State. Overall, his arm hasn’t been tested much, so I think Cal Poly will stick with the run especially against a big defense like Fresno State’s.
RC: Defensively, what should Fresno State expect to see from Cal Poly on Saturday? Who are some playmakers in that unit?
ST: Defensively, Fresno State better be ready to see 11 white jerseys going after the ball all at once. An FCS program like Cal Poly probably doesn’t have the speed of its FBS counterparts, so what it lacks in one-on-one playmakers it will make up with in swarming defense to try to force turnovers. The main guys to watch will be defensive tackle and Fresno native Sullivan Grosz, senior corner Vante Smith-Johnson and senior safety Alex Hubbard. Grosz had two sacks last weekend and you know he’ll be playing tough in front of family and friends inside Bulldog Stadium. Head coach Tim Walsh also mentioned this week that Cal Poly will use five or six defensive backs to counter Fresno State’s high octane offense. I figure Smith-Johnson and Hubbard will get plenty of that workload on Saturday considering the Bulldogs’ pass attack, so look for them to make some plays in the defensive backfield.
RC: Playing FBS schools is not something new for Cal Poly, is there a certain way the team is approaching its upcoming road game against Fresno State?
ST: Yes: Run the football. I think this game will come down to time of possession for Cal Poly. The Mustangs are going to want to shorten the game to keep the ball out of the Fresno State offense’s hands and that means they’re going to put the ball on the ground often. They might pull out some play action passes as well to keep Fresno State guessing. But, Cal Poly will mainly play to its strengths in the triple-option and that means running the ball. They’ll have to execute perfectly to win this one.
RC: Cal Poly had a good season last year, finishing 9-3, in which direction is the program trending this season? (Upwards? Downwards?)
ST: At this point in the season it’s tough to say. The Mustangs lost their two best offensive weapons in their leading rusher and a two-year starter at quarterback from a year ago, so in a sense the offense is in a rebuilding phase. They boasted the FCS’s No. 3 rushing offense last season meaning that replicating that success will be difficult. The defense remains largely intact and overall should have a better year than it did last season. It’s interesting to note that this season’s schedule is much tougher than in years past too. Head coach Tim Walsh even dubbed it the most challenging schedule he’s faced in his five years at the helm. With two FBS schools (Fresno State and Colorado State) on the slate, a tough game at Montana and a home matchup with an Eastern Washington team that just knocked off No. 25 Oregon State another 9-3 season will render it a very successful year for Cal Poly football.