2018 College Football Team Previews: Cal Poly Mustangs
Cal Poly Mustangs
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
Coach: Tim Walsh (168-134 overall, 51-52 @ Cal Poly) 10th Season
Stadium: Alex G. Spanos Stadium (Capacity: 11,075)
CSJ Projections:
12th: Big Sky
11th: California
80th: FCS
210th: Division I
2017 In A Sentence: After qualifying for the Division I FCS playoffs in 2016, the Mustangs slipped to just 1-10 overall last season with the lone win coming against Portland State late in the season.
Biggest Shoes to Fill: FB Jared Mohamed was All-American Joe Protheroe’s replacement after he wen down in the season’s second game at San Jose State and performed well. Mohamed was the lone Mustang named to the All-Big Sky first team after rushing for 1,172 yards and four touchdowns. The 21st Mustang to surpass the 1,000-yard mark in a single season rushed for more than 100 yards in a game seven times (eight for his career).
Key Player: Senior FB Joe Protheroe, a two-time All-Big Sky first-team honoree as a sophomore and junior. He had not used a redshirt year so will bring his 2,471 career rushing yards with back with him into the 2018 season.
Fearless Prediction: With Protheroe back and quarterback Khaleel Jenkins back from season ending injuries from last year, some questions will be answered in the running game but Cal Poly must also find its way on the defensive side, which gave up 32 points per game. If the rushing game and defense can improve, the Mustangs will exceed the one win mark but a 5-6 win total is likely the most to expect from this team.
Originally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is a 1996 graduate of North Dakota State University. His prior writing experience is over 15 years having previously worked with D2football.com, I-AA.org, and College Sporting News before coming to College Sports Journal in 2016. His main focus is college football is the Missouri Valley Football Conference within the Division I FCS. And in 2017, he began also to look at the FBS Group of Five conferences of the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
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