Sports

Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008

Cal Poly a point short against Wisconsin

Comments (0) |

MADISON, Wis. — The nation might remember the day unknown Cal Poly took mighty Wisconsin into overtime, nearly pulling off Appalachian State-Michigan part II.

But for now, the lasting vision is one the Mustangs will be trying to forget — the sight of Andrew Gardner’s overtime PAT being stonewalled by the right goal post.

Gardner missed three extra points during the game, the last one being the most glaring difference in a 36-35 loss at a deafening Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday, and Cal Poly heads into the FCS playoffs just short of its second upset victory over a FBS team this season.

The postgame feel was less like Appalachian State’s 35-32 over Michigan last year and more similar to the Mustangs’ only other loss this season, a two-point defeat to Montana when Gardner missed a 22-yard field goal in the final minute.

“We’ve had some practice so maybe we can put this one behind us,” Cal Poly quarterback Jonathan Dally said. “This one will be a tougher pill to swallow than Montana, but we did it before, and we went on a seven-game winning streak.”

Seemingly lost in the immediate disappointment of the close defeat was the feeling players had when Gardner made a 35-yard field goal and the Mustangs (8-2) led the Badgers 23-14 with just 2:32 left in the third quarter.

Confidence was at a high, and an upset thought by many to be a prayer before the game became a definite possibility.

But when the kicking game took a nosedive, the tide of the game changed.

Of course, Gardner’s final miss will be a heartbreaker, but the swoon began when he missed his second extra point of the game after a 2-yard touchdown run by James Noble gave Cal Poly a 29-21 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

Then, after Wisconsin (7-5) tied the score at 29-29 with a touchdown and two-point conversion, Cal Poly brought out kickoff specialist Jake West to attempt a potentially game-winning 46-yard field goal in the final 12 seconds.

On his first field goal try of the season, West was not close.

The kick was far short and wide right. In the postgame press conference, Mustangs head coach Rich Ellerson lamented some miscommunication on the snap prior to West’s kick and responded to questions surrounding the kicking game going forward.

“We’d like not to have it come down to a kick at the end,” Ellerson said.

Cal Poly, ranked No. 3 in both major polls going into the game, is hoping for a top-four seed in the 16-team FCS playoffs, an honor that would award them home games in the first two rounds should the Mustangs advance that far.

The loss may or may not drop them from the running, but with a 36-33 loss by Weber State to Eastern Washington earlier Saturday, Cal Poly will have a better chance of getting a home game even if the team is not awarded a seed.

The Mustangs will learn their fate with the airing of the selection show today at 4 p.m. on ESPNU.

The decisions are now in the hands of an NCAA selection committee, which will also consider monetary bids from eligible interested teams.

After taking Wisconsin to the brink before an announced crowd of 80,709 — one that forced Dally to audible at times by making verbal calls to each individual player on offense one-by-one — the players came away with confidence that they can compete anywhere.

“Obviously, it’s always nicer to stay at home,” Mustangs receiver Tre’dale Tolver said. “It’s an advantage to have the atmosphere and crowd on your side, but as we showed today, it doesn’t really matter where the games are, we’re going to play as hard as we can week in and week out.”

Tolver returned a punt 40 yards for a touchdown to make the score 13-0 with 8:42 left in the second quarter. It was his first special teams score of the season and first punt return touchdown since the 2007 season opener at Texas State.

“In a game like this,” Tolver said, “I figured special teams would be the X factor. I just came out here and tried to give ourselves an edge and score some points where we didn’t expect to get it from.”

Where Cal Poly has come to expect its touchdowns is from 6-foot-6, 227-pound All-American receiver Ramses Barden, who had an FCS record streak with touchdown catches in 18 straight games.

But Barden had trouble getting going. He dropped one long pass, had another knocked away and two more sail out of reach. He hadn’t reached the end zone by the end of regulation.

But on the first play of overtime, Barden made a leaping over-the-shoulder catch in the end zone and quick stepped his feet before running out of bounds to give Cal Poly a 35-29 lead.

The 25-yard score gave Barden 83 yards on six catches and keeps him in line to tie Randy Moss’ NCAA single-season record for consecutive games with a touchdown if he can catch one in the playoffs next week.

Dally, who was 8-of-16 passing for 95 yards, and running backs James Noble and Ryan Mole each scored rushing touchdowns.

Noble had 15 carries for 81 yards. Mole had seven for 33. Dally, whose option keepers sustained drive after drive, finished with 23 rushes for 118 yards.

Wisconsin was led by quarterback Dustin Sherer, who threw for 245 yards and a touchdown, and running back John Clay, who ran 11 times for 107 yards and two touchdowns after a fumble on the opening drive that gave Cal Poly the chance to take a 7-0 lead.

Playing from behind for most of the game, the Badgers put up the more impressive stats, but the Mustangs leave with something, too.

“It looks good on the program any time that we can get some attention, any time we can go out and execute and play like we played, open some eyes,” Dally said. “It’s going to be a positive for our program.”