The Cal Poly football team’s win over San Diego State on Saturday night happened too late for most of the East Coast media to pick up on the fact that it was the only Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA)-over-Football Bowl Subdivision (I-A) “upset” of college football’s first week. (There were more than 30 such match-ups.)
But the day after, the Mustangs’ second win at Qualcomm Stadium in the past three seasons is drawing some attention.
- Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis, game-planning to host San Diego State this weekend, told reporters Sunday: “Cal Poly, they’re a good football team. They might be a lower-division program, but they’ve been a good football team for a while.” It should be interesting to see how much play Cal Poly’s win gets with NBC.
- The performance of Mustangs senior wide receiver Ramses Barden, par for last year’s course, surely filled in some who didn’t know about him. NFL scouts from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars were seen roaming about the press box, where identifying place mats were also set down for the Houston Texans, New York Jets and New York Giants.
- For the most part, the San Diego media drilled the Aztecs, even placing Cal Poly’s program on a higher pedestal. The North County Times went with a screaming headline of “Who’s the cupcake?”
- Not to be outdone, San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Nick Canepa (who’s worked at the UT for 34 years), in a piece whose jump read, “QB Lindley good but Cal Poly easily the better football team,” wrote flatly: “Cal Poly, based on its beating of State two years ago — which happened to be Coach Chuck Long’s first season — and what happened last night, has a better program than the one on Montezuma Mesa. Plain. Simple.” Let ’em know how you really feel next time, Nick.
Keep an eye out on the Mustang Daily‘s Web site (unfortunately, we don’t print until school starts up again, Sept. 22) for a preview later this week of Cal Poly’s upcoming home opener against Montana.
In the meantime, for those who weren’t among the nearly 27,000 there Saturday, here’s a snippet of a video providing a glimpse into the atmosphere: