The Cal Poly Mustangs fell to the Eastern Washington Eagles in a downpour of rain on Saturday at at Roos Field, 48-13.
Cal Poly fell a to a quick 14-0 hole with 12:16 remaining in the first quarter.
Eastern Washington's Michael Wortham returned the opening kickoff 86 yards to the Cal Poly 14-yard line and running back Runa Altahir finished the drive on the next play with a rushing touchdown.
After showing improvement upfront against Northern Colorado two weeks ago, the offensive line collapsed on quarterback Sam Huard, forcing two turnovers. The first came in the first drive of the game when Da'Marcus Johnson beat his man, sacking Huard for a loss of 6 yards on a 1st and 10 at the 41. Eastern Washington's Jaren Banks recoverd the fumble and two plays later the Eagles had their second touchdown of the night.
Cal Poly's offense only edged out 13 points all night, essentially spoiling Paul Wulff's return to Eastern Washington for the first time as a head coach on the opposite sideline.
Wulff is a three-time Big Sky Coach of the Year recipient at Eastern Washington and led the Eagles to two Big Sky titles.
While the scoreboard read insurmountable throughout the majority of the game for the Mustangs, the team stats read relatively similar.
Eastern Washington finished with 374 yards of total offense, 205 on the ground. Cal Poly led in passing yards, 176 to 169. Although Cal Poly rushed for over 100 yards for the second time this season, 112 to that 205 mark proved to be the difference.
The Mustangs led by almost a full 10 minutes in total possession time, 35:08-24:52, with only one touchdown to show for it. Cal Poly’s only touchdown of the game came late in the second quarter as Huard connected with Michael Briscoe on a 17-yard pass on fourth down.
Cal Poly heads up to face No. 7 Sacramento State for a 2 p.m. kickoff at Hornet Stadium. The Hornets are 6-3 overall and 3-3 in Big Sky play this season and were ranked No. 7 in both FCS Top 25 polls last week.
