With the offensive production that the Cal Poly and Weber State football teams have produced this season, it would stand to figure that the scoreboard would get quite a workout when they met on Saturday night in the opening round of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

Wildcat quarterback Cameron Higgins made sure that his side of the board shone brighter than the rest.

The sophomore led the Big Sky Conference co-champs into the quarterfinals with a 49-35 victory over the Mustangs in front of a less-than-capacity crowd at Alex G. Spanos Stadium, ending Cal Poly’s season at 8-3.

Higgins threw for 399 yards and two touchdowns in the victory for the Wildcats (10-3), spearheading a Weber State offensive attack that racked up 569 yards of total offense, 408 of it through the air.

“This has to be the finest win we’ve had here, because every player gave his best on every play,” Wildcats coach Ron McBride said. “Cal Poly is a special football team, and they’re even better when they’re at home.”

Receiver Tim Toone was the main target for Higgins, hauling in 10 passes for a career-best 199 yards; Mike Phillips added 121 yards on three catches in the win. The Wildcats also got 137 rushing yards and two touchdowns from tailback Trevyn Smith.

“We knew it would be a dogfight, because, in my opinion, Cal Poly’s the best team we’ve played all year,” Smith said. “They’re technically sound, they played really good defense.”

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The emotions were rough on the Mustangs in the aftermath of the loss, their second in a row after eight straight wins. The 49 points was the most the Mustangs had given up since losing 51-14 to North Dakota State on Nov. 11, 2006.

“It hurts … it hurts. Playing with my best friends, and I ain’t gonna get to play with them again,” said All-American senior receiver Ramses Barden, who fought back tears in the post-game press conference. “I know that there isn’t anything that (quarterback Jonathan) Dally likes better than playing football. I’m going to miss it.”

Cal Poly still managed to total 453 yards of offense against Weber State, including 321 yards on the ground. Dally racked up his third consecutive 100-yard game on the ground with 176 yards and two touchdowns in the victory, while Barden had 108 yards on six catches and two TDs. The two scores tied Barden with NFL star Randy Moss for most consecutive games in a season with a TD catch (11) and extended his Division I record to 20 straight games dating back to last year.

The Mustangs, known to be solid in clutch situations, uncharacteristically struggled at key times. Dally — who threw only one interception the entire regular season — threw four against the Wildcats, including two in the Weber State end zone that thwarted possible scoring drives.

“It was really a guessing game for their defense against our high-powered offense,” Dally said. “They guessed right on a couple of plays, especially when we used play-action on the ball.”

The two picks in the Wildcats’ end of the field were particularly difficult for the Mustangs: Josh Morris stepped in front of Barden to halt a Cal Poly drive late in the first half; Scotty Goodloe picked another off in front of Barden in the final minutes to halt one last Mustang drive.

“Josh was out there, man-to-man (against Barden) for most of the day,” McBride said. “He really studded up out there.”

Goodloe had two picks in the victory, with the game-clincher following a first-half pick where he was the gift of a deflection off of a Dally pass that hit receiver Tre’Dale Tolver in the chest and popped straight up in the air.

The Mustangs turned the ball over four times inside the Wildcats’ red zone, with the two Dally interceptions supplemented by a Jon Hall fumble on the opening drive of the third quarter, and a turnover on downs at the Weber State 1-yard line, coming when Tolver was stuffed on a reverse on fourth-and-goal.

“Turnovers are very uncharacteristic of their team,” said McBride, who coached 11 seasons at Utah before coming to Ogden.

Dally’s record-tying score came on the opening drive, beating Powell in the front-left corner of the south end zone, giving the Mustangs an early 7-0 lead.

Weber State countered by driving 69 yards on seven plays, aided by big pass plays from Higgins to Phillips (40 yards) and Toone (32 yards), setting up Smith’s 1-yard plunge. He struck again on the Wildcats’ next drive, capping a 56-yard drive with a Barry Sanders-esque 29-yard scoring run, giving Weber State a 14-7 lead with 2:44 to go in the first quarter.

Dally countered it on the first play of the second quarter with a nine-yard draw play to tie the score at 14-14; Weber State took the lead again when Higgins floated a pass in the flat to a wide-open Smith, who ran the rest of the 37 yards for touchdown and a 21-14 advantage.

Hall tied the score again with an 11-yard run with 3:50 to go in the half, but Higgins when 5-for-6 on the ensuing Weber State drive to put it up 28-21 just before halftime, capping the drive with a 14-yard strike to Toone.

A Brendan Doyle-to-Cory Nakamura scoring pass following Hall’s fumble gave Weber State a 35-21 lead, but Dally answered back again, plunging in from 1 yard out to cut the lead to 35-28.

Higgins put the game out of reach with a 1-yard option run, giving the Wildcats a 42-28 lead.

Embattled kicker Adam Gardner, whose three missed PATs were a big part of the Mustangs’ 36-35 overtime loss to Wisconsin last week, was a perfect 5-for-5 on extra points against Weber State.

November 30, 2008