Eagles couldn’t offset first-half follies
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – In most games, the key is how you finish.
That wasn’t the case Saturday night when 11th-ranked Eastern Washington University dropped a critical 40-35 non-conference football game at No. 18 Cal Poly.
The Eagles were dismal in the first half, especially on defense, against a team that converted 1 of 14 third downs and gained 113 a week earlier in redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Brennan’s first start.
The Mustangs converted two long third downs with gains of 23 and 19 yards on the opening possession. By the time Brennan capped the second possession with a 3-yard run for a 7-0 lead, they had 113 yards.
After the first drive, Cal Poly had plays of 13, 32 and 29 yards on third down and piled up 288 yards by halftime.
“We just played awful,” EWU defensive coordinator Jody Sears said. “We didn’t have these kids prepared. It’s on me. I need to find out why we didn’t play. It’s inexcusable. We have to have these kids better prepared. They were not prepared and we need to get it fixed.”
Meanwhile, the Eagles struggled against All-American defensive end Chris Gocong and the Mustangs’ flex defense. Before an 85-yard drive that made it 20-7 just before the half, Eastern had just 100 yards of offense.
The Eagles also committed eight penalties for 69 yards.
Even though the Eagles had no consistency on offense and only gave up 20 points on defense, it was the big plays by the Mustangs’ offense that were most troubling.
“They just had two plays that were gashing us, pretty much,” EWU linebacker David Eneberg said. “It was a little trap play and then a sprint draw. I felt like I couldn’t get over the top and help out.”
Family gathering
The extended family of EWU quarterback Erik Meyer no doubt created quite a scene when it set up at the stadium.
With Meyer from La Mirada, Calif., roughly four hours south, about 200 family and friends were expected to descend on Mustang Stadium. Unfortunately, with the stadium being remodeled, only 10 had tickets.
That didn’t stop them from coming, with the hope of finding a way into the game.
Sleeping giant
EWU coach Paul Wulff believes the Mustangs could become a dominant program. Cal Poly was 9-2 last year and ranked as high as No. 3 this season.
Wulff almost attended Cal Poly before he ended up playing football, first at a junior college and then at Washington State. His brother is a Cal Poly alum and Wulff fondly remembers a spring-break visit.
Cal Poly, with an enrollment of about 18,000, has been rated by U.S. News & World Report as the best public, largely undergraduate university in the West for 12 consecutive years. More than 27,000 students applied for 3,600 openings this fall.
Prominent athletic alumni include Ozzie Smith, Mike Krukow, John Madden, Bobby Bethard and Ted Tollner as well as “Weird Al” Yankovic.
Mustang Stadium holds held about 8,500 fans, although Saturday’s sellout was 7,000 because of the construction. When the remodel is finished, Alex Spanos Stadium will hold about 10,000 in an ideal setting.