Cal Poly football tries to stun SDSU again

Like bandits in the night, Cal Poly football players reveled in their heist. Slowly but surely, they earned the right to celebrate on the evening of Oct. 28, 2006 by stealing from an unsuspecting San Diego State attention, respect and most importantly, a 16-14 win.

Although the teams had met all but one season from 1946 to 1967, their first reunion in 39 years ended in a getaway that shocked most of the 20,974 at Qualcomm Stadium, as trespassing Cal Poly became the seventh Football Championship Subdivision (then Division I-AA) team that year to topple a Football Bowl Subdivision (I-A) bigger brother.

The memory will be vivid for both teams as they open their seasons against each other at the same site at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

“That’s a game that we’ll always remember,” Aztecs senior linebacker Russell Allen said. “It’s definitely something that we’ll remember when we’re out there on Saturday.”

Cal Poly knows full well.

“They hate our guts,” Mustangs head coach Rich Ellerson said. “They’re going to try to right a wrong, and we’ve got to see if we can return to the scene of the crime and play our best football.”

Fourteen current Mustangs were at that scene, including eight starters (five on offense and three on defense), compared to 13 Aztecs, only three of whom started (two offensively and one defensively).

“We’ve got a good number of people who were there and felt what it was like to play in an NFL stadium,” said Cal Poly senior wide receiver Tre’dale Tolver, the brother of J.R. Tolver, who as an Aztec led the FBS in receiving yards per game in 2002. “It’ll help calm the demeanor in the locker room and help the young guys know what to expect.”

While Ellerson pointed out the “personnel picture has changed dramatically for both,” there figure to be strategic carryovers.

“Their offense is the same offense, their defense is a similar defense,” Ellerson said.

One of the key personnel differences Ellerson alluded to is quarterback. Although each team’s is different from 2006, Cal Poly will start senior Jonathan Dally, who last season finished second in the FCS in passing efficiency while adding 763 rushing yards. He’ll be facing the reboot of a defense that finished 115th of 119 FBS squads in yardage allowed a season ago.