2018 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

The 2018 Cal Poly Mustangs football team represented California Polytechnic State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Mustangs were led by tenth-year head coach Tim Walsh and played their home games at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. They were members of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 5–6, 4–4 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for sixth place.

2018 Cal Poly Mustangs football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
2018 record	5–6 (4–4 Big Sky)
Head coach	Tim Walsh (10th season)
Offensive coordinator	Jim Craft (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Triple Option
Defensive coordinator	Josh Brown (8th season)
Base defense	3-4
Home stadium	Alex G. Spanos Stadium (Capacity: 11,075)

2018 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 6 Weber State +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 2 Eastern Washington +^		7	–	1					12	–	3
No. 7 UC Davis +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 17 Montana State ^		5	–	3					8	–	5
Idaho State		5	–	3					6	–	5
Montana		4	–	4					6	–	5
Cal Poly		4	–	4					5	–	6
Northern Arizona		3	–	4					4	–	6
Portland State		3	–	5					4	–	7
Idaho		3	–	5					4	–	7
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					2	–	9
Southern Utah		1	–	7					1	–	10
Sacramento State		0	–	7					2	–	8
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Although North Dakota was classified as an independent, games against them still counted as Big Sky Conference games. Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Mustangs finished the 2017 season 1–10, 1–7 in Big Sky play to finish in 12th place.

Preseason

Polls

On July 16, 2018 during the Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington, the Mustangs were predicted to finish in tenth place in the coaches poll and eleventh place in the media poll.[1]

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	134 (6)
2	Weber State	124 (3)
3	Northern Arizona	121 (3)
4	Idaho	101 (1)
5	Sacramento State	94
6	Southern Utah	91
7	Montana	82
8	Montana State	76
9	UC Davis	64
10	Cal Poly	40
11	Northern Colorado	30
12	Idaho State	29
13	Portland State	21

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	651 (27)
2	Weber State	636 (19)
3	Northern Arizona	535 (1)
4	Montana	496 (2)
5	Idaho	483 (3)
6	Southern Utah	449 (1)
7	Sacramento State	415
8	Montana State	391 (1)
9	UC Davis	331 (1)
10	Idaho State	170
11	Cal Poly	169
12	Northern Colorado	166
13	Portland State	103

Preseason All-Conference Team

The Mustangs had one player selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.[2]

Joe Protheroe – Sr. FB

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	12:30 p.m.	at No. 1 North Dakota State*	Fargodome Fargo, ND	ESPN+	L 3–49	18,483
September 8	6:05 p.m.	No. 10 Weber State*	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	Pluto TV 244	L 17–24	6,020
September 14	7:05 p.m.	Brown*	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	Pluto TV 244	W 44–15	7,725
September 22	1:05 p.m.	at No. 6 Eastern Washington	Roos Field Cheney, WA	Pluto TV 234	L 17–70	9,156
September 29	4:05 p.m.	No. 17 Montana	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	ELVN	L 28–48	7,157
October 6	6:00 p.m.	at Sacramento State	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	Pluto TV 233	W 41–27	8,930
October 20	4:05 p.m.	No. 10 UC Davis	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA (Battle for the Golden Horseshoe)	Pluto TV 244	L 10–52	8,503
October 27	4:00 p.m.	at Northern Arizona	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	Pluto TV 239	W 38–28	6,102
November 3	1:00 p.m.	at Montana State	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	SWX	L 42–49	16,747
November 10	4:05 p.m.	No. 24 Idaho State	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	Pluto TV 244	W 37–14	5,250
November 17	4:05 p.m.	Southern Utah	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	Pluto TV 244	W 38–24	4,520
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

• Source: Official Schedule

Despite also being a member of the Big Sky, the game vs. Weber State will be a non-conference game and will have no effect on the Big Sky standings.

Game summaries

at North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	3	0	0	0	3
No. 1 Bison	7	21	14	7	49

See also: 2018 North Dakota State Bison football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–5	2007	NDSU, 31–28

Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Wildcats	7	3	7	7	24
Mustangs	0	3	7	7	17

See also: 2018 Weber State Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–8	2017	WEB, 17–3

Brown

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	15	0	0	15
Mustangs	3	21	13	7	44

See also: 2018 Brown Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	3	7	7	0	17
No. 6 Eagles	14	21	14	21	70

See also: 2018 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–7	2016	EWU, 42–21

Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 17 Grizzlies	17	14	10	7	48
Mustangs	0	7	14	7	28

See also: 2018 Montana Grizzlies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
5–15	2016	POLY, 42–41

at Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	14	7	6	14	41
Hornets	14	0	3	10	27

See also: 2018 Sacramento State Hornets football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
20–17	2017	SAC, 49–17

UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Aggies	0	31	7	14	52
Mustangs	10	0	0	0	10

See also: 2018 UC Davis Aggies football team and Battle for the Golden Horseshoe

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
20–21–2	2017	UCD, 31–28

at Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	0	28	10	0	38
Lumberjacks	7	0	7	14	28

See also: 2018 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–12	2017	NAU, 28–10

at Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	7	7	7	21	42
Bobcats	14	14	14	7	49

See also: 2018 Montana State Bobcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
10–5	2015	MSU, 45–28

at Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 24 Bengals	0	7	7	0	14
Mustangs	3	10	7	17	37

See also: 2018 Idaho State Bengals football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
13–8	2017	ISU, 38–34

Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	14	7	0	3	24
Mustangs	0	21	7	10	38

See also: 2018 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
16–5	2017	SUU, 20–14

References

1. https://www.bigskyconf.com/news/2018/7/16/football-eastern-washington-picked-to-win-the-big-sky.aspx
2. http://bigskyconf.com/news/2018/7/16/doss-buss-headline-big-sky-football-preseason-all-conference-team.aspx