With a win, Mustangs are likely in

The 2005 season was something of a paradox for the Cal Poly football team.

It featured the failure to realize one annual goal, beating UC Davis. But it culminated in another – a playoff appearance, the program’s first (and only) at the Football Championship Subdivision (then Division I-AA) level.

The Mustangs can accomplish both simultaneously when they host the Aggies at 4:05 p.m. Saturday for the Great West Conference title and the Golden Horseshoe Trophy in Alex G. Spanos Stadium.

Because the Great West is made up of just five teams, it doesn’t provide an automatic playoff berth, thus requiring the Mustangs to win at least seven games against fully-fledged Division I competition for at-large consideration.

Even though Cal Poly (7-1, 2-0 GWC) is ranked third in the FCS coaches and media polls, its journey to the postseason was in peril when McNeese State canceled the teams’ third-week meeting due to Hurricane Ike, leaving the Mustangs with just seven more opportunities to get six additionally necessary victories.

They can reach that plateau this weekend.

“This is not a week as a coach where you worry about your guys being ready to play,” Mustangs head coach Rich Ellerson said.

After losing to No. 5 Montana 30-28 Sept. 6, the Mustangs have won six straight by an average of 31.3 points per game.

Prior to last week’s 29-19 loss to Sacramento State, the Aggies (5-5, 2-0 GWC) had won four straight. Cal Poly concludes its regular season at Wisconsin on Nov. 22.

“Clearly, everybody we’re going to play from now on is better than the people we’ve been playing,” Ellerson said. “That margin we look like we’re playing with will be tested. The biggest challenge I think we have is making sure we’re mentally and emotionally prepared for a game that’ll come down to a single play, because that game may be this week.”

History backs up that claim. Since Ellerson took over in 2001, three of the Mustangs’ four wins in the annual rivalry were by six or fewer points.

Although Cal Poly won 63-28 last year, the Aggies were without injured defensive tackle John Faletoese.

Faletoese, now a senior, Phil Steele’s magazine preseason All-American First Team selection, is one of 16 official candidates for the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the FCS’ best defensive player.

“He’s as good or better than anybody we’ll see inside,” Ellerson said of the 6-foot-3, 292-pounder who’s blocked nine kicks in his career. “He’s as slippery as can be.

“They have a little bit of a swagger,” Ellerson added of the Aggies, who are No. 5 in the FCS against the run, with an allowance of just 74.9 yards per game. “They expect that the ball’s not going to move.”

Last week, the Mustangs shuffled their line after sophomore center Jason Cox and senior left guard Stephen Field left the prior week’s game with sprained left knees.

Cox isn’t expected to play Saturday but Field is, Ellerson said.

After likely being eliminated from playoff contention, the Aggies are in something of a recovery mode themselves.

“What happened this last week was a great wake-up call for our kids,” Aggies head coach Bob Biggs said. “We fully expect them to play with a lot more intensity this week.”

UC Davis has had its scout team mimicking Cal Poly’s triple option for two weeks, Biggs said.

But Cal Poly’s speed to the perimeter can “kind of eliminate the d-linemen from making too much contact,” Mustangs senior running back Ryan Mole said. “It’s almost impossible to stop if we follow our assignments right.”

Aggies sophomore quarterback Greg Denham, meanwhile, is fifth in the FCS in passing yards per game, at 301.3.

After allowing five first-half touchdowns to Southern Utah on Oct. 25, the Mustangs have surrendered just 20 points over the past 10 quarters.

“It was night-and-day,” Cal Poly senior defensive end Sean Lawyer said. “We were trying to play a complete game, find an identity and make sure we stayed with our assignments.”

The thought of the postseason is enticing, but shouldn’t be a distraction, Lawyer said.

“We just try to stay grounded,” he explained. “Obviously, we know (the importance), but none of that’s going to help us on the field. The (playoff selections) are out of our hands, but if we win this weekend, we’ll be in a good situation.”

Mole took it a step further.

“We have to win this game to make the playoffs,” Mole said. “So for us, the playoffs are already starting.”