After a disappointing 48-13 loss to Eastern Washington on the road, the Cal Poly Mustangs hit the road one final time to take on No. 9 Sacramento State.
Coming off a conference win at home and a bye week, the team was confident but in Cheney, WA, a long kick off return and quick touchdown as well as an early turnover which led to an additional touchdown, put the Mustangs in a huge hole early; one they couldn’t dig themselves out of.
“We thought we were ready to play," Head Coach Paul Wulff said blatantly. "It's one of those games we thought we were ready. We'd go out there and a couple of things happen right off the bat from an adversity standpoint and right now we just don't respond to adversity consistently like we have to.”
It was reminiscent of other road contests where they were punched in the mouth early. It happened at San Jose State. It happened at Portland State and now with one road contest remaining, they’re trying to eliminate that pattern.
“That's kind of been the thing a few games this year on the road where we just got off to a slow start,” Offensive and run game coordinator Sheldon Cross said.
“It's not impossible for us to go up there and play really good football and come away with a win," Wulff added. "We have to come back and execute the things we want to do. We can do those things. It just hasn't been consistent for us.”
On the positive, the run game has improved dramatically over the past two games with 175 yards on the ground against Northern Colorado and 112 yards against Eastern Washington with a number of running backs, getting the job done.
“It's fun to throw for a lot of yards as it's fun to throw the football people. People are excited to see that. But at the same time, to win games, to win championships, you've got to be balanced," Cross explained. "You got to be able to run the football to win games and put the game away.”
The run game was what help put the game away in the final drive against Northern Colorado.
“I just feel like all these young men are back and they're starting to kind of gel together for the first time," Wulff explained of the offensive line helping boost the improved run game.
Sacramento State is coming off a loss to Montana but is still ranked in the Top 10 of the FCS rankings giving the Mustangs one final ranked road test before returning home against Weber State for their season finale.
“You have to get up every week to play your best football," Cross said of playing in the Big Sky Conference. "It makes you better.”
