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A year after piecing together one of the most dominant seasons in program history, Cal Poly held a 4-7 record in 2009. The Mustangs racked up four consecutive losses for the first time since 2002 and ended their six-consecutive winning seasons streak by finishing last in the Grean West.

“It was a disappointment; I’m disappointed, I’m sure our players are disappointed, I know the fans are disappointed,” head coach Tim Walsh said at a press conference at the end of last season. “It wasn’t exactly the way we scripted it. But the reality of the situation is that is where we are. We can bury our head in the sand and try to ignore it or we can go back and we can research it.”

Last week, Walsh announced a recruitment class last week that will help fill the gaps.

“We had a great class,” Walsh said. “We were able to pinpoint the young people that we wanted in our football program and then had the opportunity to go get ‘em…With the addition of the guys that we did sign, I think, will give us the opportunity to help us become who we want to become as a football program.”

This year’s class consists of 12 high school graduates, two community college transfers and one four year college transfer: two defensive linemen, three linebackers, three defensive backs, one wide receiver, three offensive lineman, two running backs and one kicker.

Of the group, two recruits hail from the Central Coast.

Santa Maria native K.J. Cusack rushed for 1,845 yards with 22 touchdowns as a senior at St. Joseph High School in Santa Maria. He carried the ball 134 times and averaged close to 14 yards per rush, helping fuel the Knights to a 12-1 record. Cusack produced eight games of 100 yards or more rushing, including four games where he breached 200 yards.

“I don’t know if we have a guy that is more talented than him,” Walsh said. “With the ball in his hands he is just special”

Cusack’s highlight tape resembles something that mirrors a Reggie Bush running style, but critics question his size. He is listed at 5-foot-9, 165 pounds. To Walsh, that is no problem.

“We know he is not the biggest guy … but he has the instincts at running back that I think you cannot teach,” Walsh said. “K.J. is an explosive guy with the football and he is probably more physical than anybody will allow you to believe.”

Another recruit that heads to Cal Poly from local ground is Kevin Britt. Britt caught 53 passes for 893 yards and 11 touchdowns at Nipomo High School. While Britt saw playing time on both sides of the ball, Walsh has recruited Britt to play defensive back.

“This man can run. He can flat run, and can make plays and he made plays against some high-quality opponents,” Walsh said.

Britt recorded 19 solo tackles among his 71 total stops in his senior year. Fresno State and San Diego State were among several other Division I schools showing interest in Britt.

“We can’t find guys that are 5-foot-11 or 6-foot that can run like he can run, but play corner,” Walsh said. “I am not going to say that two years down the road he can’t be a wide receiver, but right now he is a corner. We are happy that we have some height at that position.”

Last year, Cal Poly’s receiving corps got help from UCLA transfer Dominique Johnson. This year, another FBS transfer is heading to Cal Poly to wear green and gold — former West Virginia running back Mark Rodgers.

Rodgers will have two years of eligibility left with the Mustangs. Last year he backed up Noel Devine and mostly saw the field as a kick return specialist. His most extensive playing time as a Mountaineer came his freshman year when he rushed 15 times for 80 yards against Marshall. In high school he rushed for 4,819 yards and 50 touchdowns in his last two seasons at Leuzinger High School in Lawndale.

“He is a very exciting football player,” Walsh said. “He is extremely strong and a very gifted young man that we think can be a difference-maker.”

Other recruits include: defensive end Kyle Murphy: Cardinal Newman High School/Santa Rosa Junior College; linebacker A.J. Caviglia: Buchanan High School/Fresno Community College; wide receiver Lance Castaneda: Grace M. Davis High School; offensive lineman Joseph Coleman: Moreau Catholic High School; strong safety Dave Douglas: Oakland Senior High School; linebacker Nick Dzubnar: Mission Viejo High School; offensive lineman Joshua Hines: Jesuit High School; linebacker Brandon Howe: Dana Hills High School; defensive back Vante Johnson: Edison High School; kicker James Langford: Foothill High School; defensive tackle Chris Lawrence: De La Salle High School; offensive Lineman Lefi Letuligasenoa: Elk Grove High School.

“The addition of the guys that we did sign I think will give is the opportunity to become who we want to become as a football program,” Walsh said.

The Silvey Lining is a sports column by journalism senior Scott Silvey. He is also a Mustang Daily copy editor.

The cosmos can often times throw a person into a situation that they want no part of. Remember that time you got roped into going to watching that “Care Bears” movie with your five-year-old cousin after the babysitter cancelled?

After the movie you spent the next few hours arguing with the kid about the merit of whether Good Luck Bear was a better leader than Tenderheart Bear.

Ok, so maybe that was just me. But it turns out I’ve got nothing on Dennis Dixon.

The third-string Steelers quarterback was thrust into the spotlight on Sunday night when Ben Roethlisburger and Charlie Batch were both unable to play against the Ravens in Baltimore.

Dixon ’s only NFL completion was a 3-yarder to Hines Ward last year. The guy wasn’t even a traditional quarterback in college, as he ran the spread offense and kept many plays alive via his feet and yet here he is starting in a nationally televised game against one of the world’s scariest defenses.

The poor guy can’t catch a break. In 2006, Dixon had Oregon within a couple of games of a national championship appearance and had almost assuredly wrapped up the Heisman Trophy when he suffered an ACL tear and was sidelined for the season. The Ducks would lose out and Dixon would never be considered among the great Pac-10 quarterbacks of the era.

Somehow he plays well enough to guide the Steelers into overtime where he eventually makes the mistake people were waiting for, throwing an interception that leads to Baltimore ’s winning score.

The fans jump all over him, and he is proclaimed to be a bust. It was sad to see the Steelers show no faith in him, constantly running on first and second down while allowing the Ravens to gear up for a 3rd-and-7 situation that could only mean a pass.

And sometimes even in those situations the Steelers would run.

If you’re going to send him out there, don’t send him out there with an unloaded weapon.

But chances are, Big Ben will be back next week, especially after Ward called him out in a pregame interview, so Steelers fans can file this memory away like many other fans have had to do with third-string quarterbacks who somehow starts a game.

Vin-sanity

How many fourth downs in a fourth quarter two-minute drill can one quarterback convert in a single game?

Three if you’re Vince Young.

The self-proclaimed future hall of famer certainly looked like one when it mattered on Sunday. Young looked more like Joe Montana as he drove the Titans 99 yards in two minutes for the game-winning touchdown pass as the clock expired.

Young was 9-of-16 passing for 94 yards on the final drive alone. Compare that to Derek Anderson’s entire game-winning line against Buffalo earlier this year — 2 of 17 for 23 yards.

Some backup quarterbacks don’t even get 16 pass attempts in a career, let alone on one drive.

The whole Young versus Leinart thing was completely played out in the media, but how ironic was it that Young this time won the game with his arm, rather than his legs. The maturation process is almost complete.

The Perfect Storm

With five games to go in the regular season, the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts are closing in on twin 16-0 seasons.

In a league that proclaims to be all about parity, the NFL is on its way to having two perfect teams to go along with a 15-1 team in Minnesota.

The Saints close out the season with road games against Washington, Atlanta (who may be without Matt Ryan) and Carolina and with home games against Dallas and Tampa Bay.

Those teams have a combined record of 22-33.

Meanwhile Indianapolis has a slightly tougher road. The Colts host Tennessee, Denver and the Jets while traveling to play Jacksonville and Buffalo for a combined record of 27-28.

Pretty much everyone thought that if the Saints were going to lose, it would be on Monday night against the Patriots.

Not only did they win, they dominated New England. The Saints made Tom Brady looked more like Jay Cutler than himself.

Even Bill Belichick imploded again, going for another extremely questionable fourth down late in the third quarter in a desperate attempt to keep up with the Saints offense.

Indianapolis has won four straight games while trailing at some point in the fourth quarter. Teams continue to give Peyton Manning too much respect and he makes them pay dearly.

The question is, can a team like the Saints win consistently in the playoffs? They did make a run to the NFC Championship Game a couple years ago, but can that defense continue to play at a high level for three consecutive weeks.

We already know the Colts can.

Lost in all of this are the Vikings, who seem to have either a future hall of famer, or at least a perennial pro-bowler at every position. Minnesota easily has the most talent in the NFL. They could potentially be the most talented team in NFL history. But can head coach Brad Childress actually coach? The guy was on the verge of being fired before Brett Favre came in. He’s always had the talent to make the Vikings a contender. He just hasn’t made the right choices. We’ll find out what he can do in the playoffs this year, finally facing a Superbowl or bust mentality.

The Silvey Lining is a sports column by journalism senior Scott Silvey. He is also a Mustang Daily copy editor.

Every once in awhile there is a game so epic that you can’t help but watch it. The game goes down to the wire with both teams fighting desperately for a big win to keep their season alive. Then something amazing happens and the game is remembered for generations to come.

OK, so Cleveland and Detroit wasn’t all that, but it was close.

If these teams were a combined 16-2 instead of 2-16 coming in, this game would be remembered as one of the great games of the decade.

Matthew Stafford throws a last-second Hail Mary, getting almost killed in the process, and draws a pass interference call.

After he is peeled off the turf, Stafford gets up and with triple zeroes on the clock and throws a touchdown with what appears to be a broken arm. He then limps off the field pointing to his arm, unable to even pump his fist because his arm is probably shattered and wProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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hes ever, even if it was between two of the worst teams of all time.

Here is a short transcript of the entire call from the broadcasters. Keep in mind; they don’t raise their voices in the slightest.

“Throws, touchdown Detroit. They did it; the Lions came back and did it.”

It was like he was reading from a cue card or something. We need to get Gus Johnson into some of these terrible games.

If there’s one way to spruce up a bad game, it’s to have Johnson screaming at the end of it. He has a talent for making boring things interesting, which is why he calls a lot of New York Knicks games.

Still, even without Johnson, this game was amazing. The Browns scored four offensive touchdowns on Sunday. In its past games combined, Cleveland had just five offensive touchdowns.

So in one game, we got an entire season’s worth of offensive production. Could you imagine if that happened to a team like the Colts or Cardinals?

Final score from Tempe, Indianapolis 448, Arizona 384.

The Manning Complex

The Colts have been treading on thin ice in their past four victories, winning by a total of just 10 points. Teams are so scared of Peyton Manning’s two-minute drill, that they do stupid things at the end of all of these close games to give them away.

In Week 10, Bill Belichick went for a fourth down on his own 28 to try to keep Manning off the field. It failed, and even the unflappable Belichick was forced to defend himself to the media all week.

In their game against Baltimore, John Harbaugh decided he didn’t want Manning to see the field with 2:30 to go in what would likely be a one-point game.

Trailing 17-15 with 2:50 to go, Harbaugh called a third-and-7 pass play from the Colts’ 19. The pass was intercepted and any realistic chance of a Ravens win went out the window.

You have to wonder, are teams giving Manning too much respect? As Herm Edwards said, “Hello, you play to win the game.”

That means having faith that your defense can go out there and stop Manning from driving 60-70 yards for the winning score.

The Ravens have always had one of the better defenses in the league. They gave up just 17 points to the Colts. But you mean to tell me that Harbaugh had so little faith in his defense that he thought it would be worth it to throw that ball on third down instead of just running it and kicking a field goal? If I were Ray Lewis, I’d be having some words with my coach about now.

Con-Grad-ulations Raiders

Maybe Oakland finally figured it out. If you bench bums who don’t give a damn about your team, the morale will jump and you’ll get a solid all-around effort.

Bruce Gradkowski did not turn the Raiders into world champs all of a sudden. But he infused them with passion, and they all played like they had something to actually play for.

Gradkowski knows this is probably his last shot at a starting job in this league. I’m sure he probably realizes that the Raiders will likely try to bring in someone better in the offseason.

But that’s not going to stop him from playing like every down means something. Teams pick up on that kind of mentality.

While they beat Cincinnati, which was playing without Cedric Benson, they still played a dangerous Bengals team.

They got a Benson-esque game from rookie running back Bernard Scott and Carson Palmer even ran for two touchdowns.

So this was an impressive win for the Raiders. They could play a major spoiler role coming down the stretch with games against the likes of the Cowboys, Steelers and Broncos.

While Tom Cable probably won’t be keeping his job after this season (and frankly, nor should he), I applaud the move to Gradkowski. It’s hard to give up on a No.1 overall draft pick.

We see that going on across the Bay right now. The 49ers keep going to former No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith, despite his many failures. While most San Francisco fans would say Smith is the quarterback only because he’s the best of the worst on that team, there is still a stigma with these players.

People see what “could be” with a former top pick, not usually “what really is.”

A 47-14 season-ending loss to Weber State Saturday marked the end of Cal Poly head coach Tim Walsh’s first season leading the Mustangs.

The former Portland State head coach led Cal Poly to a 4-7 record, racking up four consecutive loses for the first time since 2002.

Before the Mustangs, Walsh had a 117-82 record in 18 seasons as a head coach. His 14-year stint with Portland State (90-98, 93-06) and his four years at Sonoma State (89-92) netted him a 70 career winning percentage.

His first year at Cal Poly resulted in a 47 winning percentage, 11 points lower than the Mustangs all-time record as a football team (453-356-20).

Succeeding former head coach Rich Ellerson, who departed last year for Army, Walsh has etched Cal Poly’s first winless road schedule in 11 years.

Under Ellerson, four-year starters Ramses Barden, James Noble, Stephen Field and Tre’dale Tolver and transfers Ryan Mole and Jonathan Dally departed after an 8-3 season.

This season,the roster featured 64 underclassman.

Cal Poly held 37 upperclassmen including 12 seniors who played their final game as a Mustangs this weekend, a group of which include the likes of Jono Grayson, Carlton Gillespe and Jon Hall, among others.

It was déjà vu all over again for Cal Poly as No. 12 Weber State ended Cal Poly’s season for the second-consecutive year.

The Mustangs offense rolled early, piecing together an 80-yard drive capped with a 28-yard David Mahr touchdown reception for the first possession of the game.

Weber State responded, notching 31 points in the second second quarter against a Cal Poly defense that has struggled in past weeks.

Thirty-eight points, 293 yards and three Mustang turnovers later, Cal Poly would answer back.

Junior fullback Jordan Yocum caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Smith, ending a 70-yard, 16-play drive that took 8:43 off the clock in the third quarter.

Weber State added a field goal and junior quarterback Cameron Higgins’ fourth touchdown pass to complete the offensive showcase.

Wildcat senior running back Trevyn Smith cracked the 5,000-yard mark in career rushing. Higgins, who passed for 364 yards, connected with Bo Bolen on a 15-yard scoring pass and with Tim Toone on 26-, 17- and 44-yard touchdown passes as Weber State improved to 7-4.

Toone finished the regular season with his 200th career catch and 28th career touchdown. He had 11 catches for 176 yards against the Mustangs.

Cal Poly’s leaders offensively were Jake Romanelli with 55 yards rushing on 15 carries and Smith, who completed 11 of 24 passes for 166 yards and both Mustang touchdowns. He was sacked five times and threw a pair of interceptions.

Mahr, Hall, Eric Gardley and Grayson each had a pair of catches for Cal Poly.

Junior linebacker Marty Mohamed recorded eight tackles and senior cornerback Xavier Gardner added seven for Cal Poly.

For Weber State, Higgins completed 23 of 33 passes. He passed for 399 yards and two scores in a 49-35 win over the Mustangs in last year’s first-round NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoff game.

This season Cal Poly’s rushing attack ran through defenses for 1,963 yards and the Mustang passing threat contributed for 1,686 yards.

This season marked a 1,408 yard drop off on the ground.

The Mustangs fell short of last year’s campaign by 305 yards. Smith finished his first starting season with 1,618 yards and 15 touchdowns. Dally passed for 1,960 last year.

Cal Poly ended its season unranked and at the bottom of the Great West.

Over the past five weeks Cal poly has thrown for 212 yards per game. Quarterback Tony Smith has passed for 849 yards in those games. Photo by Nick Camacho- Mustang Daily

Weber State forced Cal Poly’s potent offense to five turnovers in the first round of FCS playoffs last year. Quarterback Jonathan Dally threw a career-high five interceptions, one turnover less than the Mustangs had all year.

The Mustangs fell to Wildcats 35-49 in their final game of the 2008 season.

For the second consecutive year Weber State will be the final contest in the Cal Poly football season as the Mustangs (4-6) travel to take on the Wildcats (6-4) this Saturday.

Heading into the last week of the season, all post-season scenarios for the Mustangs are out the window, but the Wildcats still have a chance for a playoff spot.

“We’re going to try and disrupt what they’re trying to do,” Walsh said at Monday’s press conference. “ If they think they’re a playoff team, let’s go beat a playoff team.”

The Mustangs saw their streak of six-straight winning seasons end with a loss against South Dakota last week. The loss came despite Cal Poly’s best offensive output of the season. The Mustangs posted 48 points with 533 yards of total offense in their home finale.

But, the Mustangs also allowed a season high 50 points and 553 yards against them.

The Mustangs had been undefeated at home before last week’s loss and has yet to win a road game this season.

After starting the season 0-2, the Wildcats have gone 6-2 over the past eight games and remain alive in the race for an at-large playoff berth.

Led by junior quarterback Cameron Higgins the Wildcats average 29 points-per-game. Higgins has passed for 2,784 yards with 24 touchdowns this season.

Leading receivers Nick Toone and Mike Phillips combined for 1,499 yards receiving. Toone was named National and Big Sky Conference Special Teams Player of the Week with his 181 all-purpose yards in a 29-7 over Northern Arizona last week.

Leading rusher Trevyn Smith has rushed for 872 yards this season.

Cal Poly’s defense has struggled recently against the pass. Last week South Dakota quarterback Noah Shepard passed for 413 yards against a Mustang defense trying to get pressure on him.

“When you bring pressure you better get there,” Walsh said. “Because if you don’t it not fair to the players in coverage. Right now we’re not getting there and I think that’s making us a little gun-shy on how much we want to (blitz). ”

Cal Poly surrendered three plays of 35 yards or more that ended up in scores. Since lining up against South Dakota State, the Mustangs have allowed a total of 162 points excluding a contest against Dixie State, with a 32.4 point per game average.

“I don’t think we’re playing as fast on defense as we’ve played (earlier this season),” Walsh said. “(Against South Dakota we played) at a whole different speed than we are right now and I think that has a lot to do with the wear and tear of the season.”

Offensively Cal Poly showed flashes of a very dominant passing game. Quarterback Tony Smith connected on 24-of-35 passes for 407 yards and six scores — all career highs.

His number one target last Saturday was junior wide receiver Dominique Johnson who caught 13 passes for 273 yards and a school-record five touchdowns.

“He may have the best hands that I have ever had the opportunity to be around,” Walsh said. “We (challenged him) to make some plays and he made plays in the course of that game.”

In the past three weeks, the Mustang rushing attack hasn’t been effective as it has been during the course of most of the season.

Over the span of the past three weeks the Mustang rushing game has averaged 122 yards per game. In those games, Cal Poly has a 0-3 record. In their four wins this season Cal Poly has averaged 217 yards on the ground per per game.

Weber State has allowed 151 yards per game on the ground this season.

Kickoff is set for 11:05 a.m. Saturday at Stewart Stadium in Ogden, Utah.

The Silvey Lining is a sports column by journalism senior Scott Silvey. He is also a Mustang Daily copy editor.

After seven or eight weeks, an online reader was kind enough to point out that there is already a column named Tuesday Morning Quarterback and it’s on ESPN.com no less. So it is with a sad heart that I must change my column name back to ‘The Silvey Lining’ which is what it originally was when I was the Sports editor here.

Just when you think you’re the only one in the world creative enough to have a football column come out on Tuesday, they rip your heart out and stomp on it.

OK, so I wasn’t that hurt, but I did want to avoid all the inevitable plagiarism concerns.

But speaking of changing names, one NFL player who might want to change his name to Roger Craig is Tennessee running back Chris Johnson.

Craig, a former 49ers running back was the first player in league history to have more than 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in a single season.

On Sunday, Johnson had 132 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving in a route of the Buffalo Bills.

In just nine games, Johnson already has more receiving yardage than he did all of last season.

Well past the halfway mark of the season, Johnson has got to be the offensive player of the year. But I would suggest that if the Titans manage to get anywhere near .500, even if it is Vince Young who is the visible difference, that Johnson should be considered as an MVP candidate even on a losing team.

He’s already over 1,000 yards rushing this year and he’s averaging more than six yards per carry on a team that until a few weeks ago had a very minimal passing threat. He’s running against eight or sometimes even nine men in the box, and he is still the best running back in the league.

Spotlight too bright on Cutler?

Jay Cutler should be used to the spotlight by now. After all, he thrust himself into the limelight faster than “balloon boy” after demanding to be traded during the offseason.

But when it comes to playing during primetime, he certainly doesn’t seem like he’s accustomed to the bright lights.

In the three games Chicago has played on either Sunday night or Thursday night football, Cutler is a combined 73 of 131 for 884 yards, three touchdowns and 11 interceptions (including a career-high five on Thursday in San Francisco) and the Bears are 0-3 in those games.

Now maybe two of those interceptions on Thursday were Devin Hester’s fault. The speedy defensive back turned wide receiver slipped on one route making it appear that Cutler had thrown a nice pass straight to a 49er defender and on another play, he refused to bowl over the referee who appeared to be playing bump and run coverage by stepping into Hester’s path while he was running the route. Instead, Hester slowed and tried to go around the referee, but Cutler threw it too far in front for the pick.

I guess when your number one receiver was a cornerback two years ago; you probably shouldn’t expect great things, regardless of who you have playing quarterback.

Cutler and the Bears will get another chance to redeem themselves this Sunday night when they host the Eagles in another primetime affair.

Orton actually the key to success

Since we’re talking about Jay Cutler, we might as well also talk about the person he will forever be linked to – Kyle Orton.

These guys are going to be compared forever, and while Cutler is putting up more yardage than any Bears quarterback in recent history, it’s starting to look like the Herschel Walker deal all over again.

Who knew that given some talented receivers and an amazing offensive line that Orton could be so dominating.

I was convinced that anyone could come in and play quarterback for the Denver Broncos – hell you or I could have done it – that is, until I saw Chris Simms yesterday.

Give the Redskins defense some credit, they have one of the better pass defenses in the NFL this year, but Orton was lighting them up in the first half. By halftime, Orton had two touchdown passes and had thrown for more yardage than the Redskins give up in a game.

The ultimate game manager, Orton even made some impressive deep throws that didn’t seem possible when he was with Chicago. It wasn’t like the Redskins were actually covering Brandon Marshall, so he didn’t really need to work it into a seam, but still.

Orton left with an ankle injury and that’s when the Chris Simms express rolled into the station. Unfortunately for Broncos fans, it never quite made it out of the station after the second half started.

Simms was 3 of 13 for 23 yards and an interception. Some of those throws were incomplete to wide open receivers, including a fourth and 10 play at the end of the game to keep the team alive.

But let’s give credit to the Redskins. They called a fake field goal two plays in a row on a 4th and 20 no less. After they lined up for it the first time, they realized they had just 10 men on the field and had to call a time out. So they came out again with a full compliment of players, faked it again and punter Hunter Smith threw a bomb across the field for a touchdown.

You have to wonder, did Jim Zorn call that play with the mindset that he’s going to be fired at the end of the season anyway, or did Sherman Lewis come up with that play while sitting in his Bingo parlor with a bunch of his friends?

Either way, it was just crazy enough to work.