‘Constant

‘Constant battle’

VICTOR FLORES

406 MT Sports

Three years ago, the Cal Poly football team followed up a trip to Missoula with a home game against Montana State. The Mustangs lost those two games by a combined score of 129-28.

Their 2025 schedule also featured a home date with MSU coming off a game at Montana. This time, Cal Poly had a bye week in between its matchups with the Grizzlies and Bobcats. The Mustangs entered their game at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Oct. 11 with more wins through six games (three) than they had overall in 2022 (two). Instead of losing 57-0 to the Griz like they did in 2022, they fell 28-9 — a game in which the Mustangs led 9-0 at halftime and 9-7 through three quarters.

“Cal Poly is a team that we’ve seen real improvement,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said Monday. “Credit to coach (Paul) Wulff and their staff for continuing to take the steps.”

The Mustangs (3-4, 1-2 Big Sky) will try to take another step at 6 p.m. Mountain time Saturday, when they host No. 5-ranked MSU (5-2, 3-0), which set several records in its 72-28 win three years ago in San Luis Obispo, California.

The Bobcats are also coming off a bye. Their last game was a 48-14 victory over Idaho State, and they won their last road game 34-10 against then-No. 13 Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, Arizona.

“How you’ll be judged comes at the end of the road. It doesn’t come in the midst of it,” Vigen said. “Before we played Idaho State, I said, ‘Guys, we have not arrived. If any of you think we arrived by going down to Flagstaff and winning that game, we have not.’

“We’ve got a group, again — I said it before today — that’s very coachable. They want to be coached, and they want to become their best. That’s a constant battle.”

Here are five things to watch in Saturday’s game, which will be streamed on ESPN+, broadcast on the Bobcat Radio Network and televised on CBS stations across Montana and The Spot-MTN in Missoula:

WILL MSU KEEP THE RUN ESTABLISHED?

MSU has rushed for more yards than the previous game nearly every week this season, with a season-high 384 yards against ISU. In that game, Cats running backs Adam Jones and Julius Davis repeatedly burst through holes and broke tackles. MSU’s offensive linemen executed their line of scrimmage blocks and got to the second level on seemingly every run.

Vigen knew it “was going to take some time” for the O-line to hit its stride, he said. For one, Matt Smith is in his first year as MSU’s OL coach. Also, the fiveman group MSU planned to start in the season opener was reshuffled because of a hand injury to Burke Mastel, who was slated to line up at center. JT Reed slid over from left guard to center as a result, and five other players filled the other four spots in various combinations throughout nonconference play.

The Cats have stuck with the same starting O-line during conference play: Reed at center, Mastel at left guard, Titan Fleischmann at right guard, Cedric Jefferson at right tackle and Braden Zimmer at left tackle. Mastel was the only one of those five who started at his current position in previous seasons.

“(There’s been an) adjustment of how and what it means to play next to a particular guy, or two guys,” Vigen said. “You’re working double teams. How does that work with one guy over another? Then all that being said, you’re being coached by a new guy that I think has been really good, but that itself is an adjustment.”

The Cats have averaged 291 rushing yards per game on 6.77 yards per carry in Big Sky Conference play — almost identical to the ground numbers they put up overall the previous three seasons, when elite running quarterback Tommy Mellott captained read-option-heavy offenses. His replacement, Justin Lamson, is also a capable runner but has been a more frequent and efficient passer than Mellott. One of the few flaws he’s shown has been holding onto the ball too long, which has contributed as much as the pass protection — if not more — to the eight sacks he’s taken in league play.

“The new is gone,” Vigen said, referring to the OL. “We’ve not hit our peak there, but I think we’ve continued to play better and better.”

C al Poly’s defense is tied for 30th in the FCS with 2.29 sacks per game. The Mustangs are allowing 173.3 rushing yards per game (86th) on 4.48 yards per carry (74th).

Senior defensive lineman Ethan Rodriguez, a 2024 All-Big Sky honorable mention and 2025 preseason all-conference selection, is one of several Mustangs to miss time due to injury this fall, and he’s not on this week’s depth chart.

HOW WILL D’AMATO PLAY IN HIS REUNION WITH MSU?

Mikey D’Amato called MSU “a perfect fit” when he signed there in December 2022. But for reasons that weren’t publicized, the then-defensive back from Southern California left the Cats in the summer of 2023 and spent that season at Saddleback junior college.

D’Amato transferred to Cal Poly last season and switched from DB to linebacker. He finished with 45 tackles (fourth on the team), five tackles for loss (fourth), one sack and one fumble recovery in 10 games.

Through seven games this season, the junior is fifth among FCS players in total tackles (79) and tied for sixth in tackles per game (11.3). He also leads the Mustangs with five TFLs and 4.5 sacks.

“He was only here for a couple weeks in the summer, so it’s not like we saw it all, but I think in that short time, he made an impression,” Vigen said. “Physical, smart, can run — all those ingredients for a really good linebacker.”

HOW WILL MSU’S SECONDARY FARE AGAINST CAL POLY’S PASSING ATTACK?

MSU’s young defensive backs have benefitted from an elite D-line and strong LBs, but they’ve looked good in coverage and have been more than willing tacklers too. They’ve helped MSU hold FCS opponents to 205 passing yards per game (172.4 against teams other than pass-heavy ISU) on a 58.4% completion rate this season.

“Our secondary, just like this team, recognizes it’s continuing to improve but it has so much more out there,” Vigen said. “The guys are staying in that mindset of being hungry, our coaches are continuing to coach them and our guys are allowing themselves to be coached.”

The Cats have been able to “really limit the big, explosive plays,” Vigen said, other than a 69-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Cooke to Tsion Nunnally on Oct. 11 that cut ISU’s deficit to 20-14 in the second quarter. MSU held the Bengals scoreless after Nunnally’s TD, extinguishing their best scoring chance with a fumble forced by cornerback Carson Williams.

MSU’s lone returning starter in the secondary, strong safety Caden Dowler, has primarily played alongside Bryant Meredith since first-string free safety Taki Uluilakepa suffered an injury in the season opener that will force him to miss this week’s game, according to Vigen. The Cats have given important safety reps to redshirt sophomore JJ Dolan and true freshman Tim Thomas II as well.

A defensive holding penalty on Thomas led to ISU’s first TD (on which Michael Shulikov “got away from” Thomas on a scramble, Vigen said), but that sequence didn’t cause MSU’s coaches to lose faith in the Texas native, who got a bigger role in the NAU game because of an injury to Dolan.

“Tim gained some traction obviously as of late, but it more happened through that first month. He was actually on the scout team a little bit, and Taki going down created an opportunity for us to continue to look at Tim,” Vigen said, adding, “We see a lot of ability and a pretty good maturity about him, so we’ll continue to see more and more Tim as we go along.”

Thomas and Co. will try to slow down a Cal Poly offense that averages 265.1 passing yards per game (14th in the FCS) on a completion percentage of 54.1%. Four Mustangs have attempted at least 18 passes, led by Ty Dieffenbach (804 yards, 58.5%, six TDs, five INTs) and Bo Kelly (518 yards, 52.4%, five TDs, one INT).

Cal Poly redshirt senior receiver Michael Briscoe is 18th in the FCS with 578 receiving yards, and he’s tied for fourth with seven receiving TDs.

WHICH TEAM WILL LAND THE FIRST PUNCHES?

In 2022, UM built a 14-0 lead after one quarter against Cal Poly. A week later, MSU led 24-0 going into the second.

Cal Poly has only trailed following the first quarter once this fall: in a 63-9 loss at FBS Utah, which was ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 prior to this week. The Mustangs led after one quarter in five of their six other games, with the one exception being a 0-0 tie at UM.

“They’ve started fast. That’s been the most, maybe, impressive thing,” Vigen said. “They’ve got themselves in position to be awfully competitive.”

The Cats have a plus-38 point differential after one quarter against FCS competition this season, getting outscored twice in those situations: 3-0 against No. 2 South Dakota State and 7-0 at NAU.

WILL SANSTED GET BACK ON TRACK?

After making his first 14 point-after attempts this season, MSU kicker Myles Sansted has missed at least one in each of the last three games. His last field goal attempt — a 42-yarder against EWU on Sept. 27 — was blocked.

It’s hard to tell who was most at fault on those misses, and Sansted bounced back, making 16 of his 20 PATs the previous three games. He didn’t line up for a field goal in those wins, and his two FG misses on nine tries this season both came from at least 42 yards out. The redshirt sophomore was 15 of 19 on FGs and 83 of 85 on PATs last season.

Sansted, holder Colby Frokjer and long snapper Brody Johnson might’ve sorted things out during the bye week. Or maybe those recent misses were signs of bigger placekicking problems to come.