FRESNO, Calif. — It will be a reunion of sorts when Cal Poly visits Fresno State in the 2022 season opener for both football teams Thursday night in Valley Children’s (formerly Bulldog) Stadium.
Cal Poly “traded” running backs coach James Montgomery to Fresno State for former Bulldog standout running back Robbie Rouse, who rushed for 4,647 yards and 37 touchdowns along with 794 receiving yards and five more scores. Rouse, who was the first Bulldog to compile three 1,000-yard seasons on the ground, coached the last two seasons at North Dakota.
In addition, Cal Poly defensive line coach Will Plemons coached the same group at Fresno State during three coaching stints — 2004-05 and 2008-11 under Pat Hill and 2019 under Jeff Tedford. Saga Tuitele, an offensive line coach at Cal Poly under Tim Walsh from 2009-15, was named Fresno State offensive line coach and running game coordinator last December after two seasons at Army and four at New Mexico.
Cal Poly also has several players on the roster from Fresno and the surrounding area, including wide receiver Bryson Allen (Tulare Union HS), tight end Tyrece Fairly-Diyem (Fresno Edison HS) and linebacker Je’kob Jones (Fresno Central HS), all freshmen who made the travel list for Thursday’s game.
In addition, wide receiver Chris Coleman caught 16 passes in three seasons at Fresno State and also was a cornerback before transferring to Cal Poly and enrolling in the two-year master’s program for public policy. Coleman was the top Mustang receiver a year ago with 43 receptions for 590 yards and four touchdowns, including a five-yard scoring toss from Spencer Brasch a year ago.
The Central California state rivals kick off for the 46th time Thursday night, with kickoff set for 7:35 p.m.
ESPN Radio (1280 AM and 101.7 FM) and KRKC (1490 AM and 104.9 FM) will broadcast the game live with Zachary Anderson-Yoxsimer (play-by-play) and Stephan Hodges (analyst) calling the action. The game also will be televised nationally on FS1 (Spectrum channels 69 and 422 in San Luis Obispo County) with Eric Collins (play-by-play announcer for the Charlotte Hornets) and Devin Gardner (Michigan quarterback from 2010-14) on the mic. Links for audio (ESPN Radio 1280) and video (Fubo) streams as well as live stats can be found on the football schedule page at www.GoPoly.com.
It’s warm in the San Joaquin Valley, with the high for Thursday expected to be 108 degrees. The forecast temperature for kickoff is 95 degrees. It will be 113 in Fresno on Monday. In Cal Poly’s game at Arizona State in 2015, the temperature at kickoff was 98 degrees, and it was 93 at kickoff for last year’s Cal Poly-Fresno State contest, won by the Bulldogs 63-10.
Jake Haener, who completed 17 of 22 passes for 380 yards and four touchdowns against Cal Poly in 2021, is back this fall after briefly entering the transfer portal following the departure of head coach Kalen DeBoer to Washington. When Jeff Tedford was announced as the Bulldogs’ head coach for the second time — he also coached at Fresno State from 2017-19 but left for health reasons — Haener did an about-face and returned to Fresno State.
Fresno State brings back most of its offensive production from 2021, including Haener. A season ago, the Bulldogs finished No. 14 in the Football Bowl Subdivision in total offense (464.8 yards per game), No. 9 in passing offense (326.7 yards per game), and No. 26 in scoring offense (33.4 points per game).
As a result, Fresno State has been selected by the head coaches to win the Mountain West this fall. The Bulldogs were 10-3 overall a year ago, finishing second in the West Division with a 6-2 mark. Fresno State’s next two opponents are from the Pac-12 — hosting Oregon State on Sept. 10 and visiting USC on Sept. 17.
Said Tedford about Thursday’s game, “Well, the focus needs to be on ourselves. No matter who we play, it’s not about the opponent, it’s about how we play and how we execute, prepare, practice, how we take care of our bodies and rest, sleep and hydrate. All of that goes into it.
“Part of camp is about educating the team on what it takes to be successful, all of the little things that go into it,” Tedford added. “Cal Poly has great coaches. I don’t know much about their players yet, but I am sure they are just like any other team coming out of camp — it is a new season, and there are high hopes.
“We know we are going to get their best. But, it’s not about our opponent, it’s about us and how we prepare and execute. So that is how we are going to go into every game, just focusing on our opportunity to play, and how we focus on ourselves.”
Cal Poly will play its home opener of the 2022 season on Saturday, Sept. 10, against San Diego at 2:02 p.m. inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium. The Toreros open their campaign Saturday at home against La Verne.
Mustang Notes
Cal Poly is 13-15 in season openers since moving up to Division I in 1994 … Beau Baldwin is 1-1 in Mustang season openers, defeating San Diego 28-17 last year and falling to Southern Utah 34-24 in the abbreviated spring 2021 campaign … Fresno State leads Cal Poly 33-10-2 in the all-time series which began in 1922 and has won the last eight meetings, all in Fresno … the Mustangs won seven of 10 games against the Bulldogs under head coach Joe Harper from 1968-81 … In its 29th Division I campaign, Cal Poly is opening its season on a Thursday night for the fourth time … previous Thursday season openers were in 1999 at Northern Arizona, 2002 at Toledo and 2014 at New Mexico State … Cal Poly was 2-9 against the fifth-toughest schedule in the Football Championship Subdivision last fall and those 11 foes compiled an 80-52 record (60.6 winning percentage) with five of them qualifying for the FCS playoffs and Fresno State winning the New Mexico Bowl en route to a 10-3 season … Cal Poly plays 10 of last year’s 11 foes in 2022, replacing Weber State with Eastern Washington.
