SAN LUIS OBISPO 7 While coach Rich Ellerson continues to preach a /one-game-at-a-time/ approach, there/s more than just a win or a loss available when Cal Poly/s football team takes the field this weekend.

For the first time since 1996, the Mustangs will have a conference to play in. And when they begin Great West Conference play against South Dakota State on Saturday night, they/ll carry their highest-ever ranking as a Division I-AA program.

After last week/s bye, the Mustangs (3-0) will face the Jackrabbits at Mustang Stadium at 6 p.m. on Saturday night ranked No. 13 in the most recent Sports Network/CSTV poll. Cal Poly was expected to go even lower in this week/s ESPN/USA Today poll 7 some insiders were predicting as high as 12th 7 but the poll had not been officially released as of press time.

"It/s nice to have someone noticing your program, but it/s where you end up at the end of the year that matters," Ellerson said during Monday/s weekly press conference. "That 3-0 stuff is ancient history, more of a foundation to work from now."

That foundation has some solid bricks underneath it, namely in two road wins over highly-regarded teams out of the Big Sky Conference, one of the best in Division I-AA. A 35-20 win at Idaho State in Week 2 gave the Mustangs a measure of revenge for last year/s season-ending loss, while the game that got many a pollster/s attention was the following week, a 27-14 win at Montana State.

Those wins have been sparked by the Mustangs/ defense, running the scheme that Ellerson helped popularize as the "Desert Swarm" from his days as defensive coordinator at Arizona. That swarm, led by linebacker and Buchanan Award candidate Jordan Beck, has limited opponents to 256.3 yards of total offense per game, including a mere 53.3 yards on the ground.

"We/ve become a very tight-knit unit, always looking for the ball," defensive lineman Chris Gocong said. "Everybody/s been swarming to make tackles, always somebody near the ball."

That attack-mode mindset has had an interesting side effect in that the Mustangs have scored at least one defensive touchdown in every game. In all, Cal Poly has returned four interceptions for touchdowns, including two in the Idaho State win and one at Montana State. Beck has two of the picks for scores, one against Idaho State and the other in a season-opening blowout win over Humboldt State.

Things haven/t been quite as rosy on offense, but that/s not to say things are bad. Cal Poly is averaging 445.3 yards of total offense in three games, a majority of it coming on the ground. Senior Geno Randle leads the way with 184 yards on only 31 attempts, but five different Mustangs have posted significant yardage numbers this year.

The standout number comes from All-America candidate Darrell Jones, who averages 116 yards a game in the air, hauling in 16 catches for 348 yards and two scores.

Getting the ball to Jones and fellow standout receiver Anthony Randolph has been a multi-headed monster at quarterback. Junior John Mende and sophomore transfer Cordel Webb have traded off the starting job, with junior Anthony Garnett also seeing time. Mende has the better stats (59.1 pct., 276 passing yds.) than Webb (53.1, 252), it/s been the transfer from St. Mary/s that has seen the most time.

"I know who/s going to start," said Ellerson, who then stayed silent to let the media on hand know he wouldn/t be announcing that, which drew laughter. "Both Cordel and John will see time out there, as well as Anthony."

Ellerson did give an example of when a QB-platoon system had worked from personal experience: While Ellerson was at Arizona, Dick Tomey/s Wildcats used a platoon of Ortege Jenkins and Keith Smith during the 1998 season; Smith and Jenkins helped Arizona to finish 12-1 and reached No. 4 in the final AP poll.

All that will come to the field in conference play for the first time since 1996, when the Mustangs last competed in the now-defunct America West Conference. Cal Poly won the inaugural AWC title in /94 7 their first year as a Division I-AA program 7 and came close to another crown two years later.

"We/re trying to look at it as just another game," Gocong said. "Still, there/s definitely a bit more pressure associated with it because it/s a conference game."

Sept. 28, 2004