The biggest question for Cal Poly this spring would be O-Line. Most were recruited to run the triple option. Not a lot of length to run a more traditional pass heavy offense.

Thankfully, our 2020 sack leader Nick Eaton is coming back

Eaton’s TD was the play of the game against Cal Poly last season. Cal Poly had some built some momentum and play put an abrupt halt to it.

was that really just last year? I swear there are certain just-pre-pandemic events (like 49ers in the Super Bowl) that seem like they happened years ago!!

I usually get down to the games that are in SLO. My biggest complaint is the cost of a hotel room. Last time i stayed at arroya grande as the slo hotels were booked. Even then the best i could do was $200.

Just glancing at the Cal Poly roster, they seem to have comparable height among the offensive linemen as we have; they do have a lot of young guys at the position, and need to replace three starters.
It’s an interesting question how tall offensive linemen need to be in a balanced offense. When we played Northern Iowa every offensive lineman on their roster was 6’4” or more. On the other hand Ford and Parks on our O line both have had some all conference recognition and are little people at 6’2 and 6’3”. Others high on the depth chart are just 6’3”.

UC Davis starting tackles last year were 6’6” and have long arms to hold off edge rushers. Cal Poly starting tackles last season were 6’3”. Great run blockers who were not ask to pass block much. 6’3” is ok as an interior OL not so good when trying to pass block at the college level.

Cal Poly brought in 3 freshmen OL that are 6’5” to 6’6” this fall. They just signed a 6’7” tackle that will be on campus this fall.

Looking at the UC Davis roster the 5 freshman OL are
6’4”, 6’5”, 6’5”, 6’6” and 5’11”. I would be very surprised if the 5’11” player plays tackle.

No chance of fans for 2/27, but 4/10 in SLO? Quite possible

The next time you travel I'd recommend using hotels.com . Free cancellation and good rates. I found a room in SLO in September about a mile from Cal Poly for around $90 (continental breakfast included). Didn't wind up going, but it would have been a good deal had I done so.

I usually use Expedia (pricing seems similar) and my experience is more like AgAlum. I looked on the weekend of Apr 10, and prices for decent places (eg, Apple Tree) are in that $200 range. Even down the road in Arroyo Grande, hard to find a bargain. If you find something, let us know. Almost post here will be no fans, but worth a free cancellation booking!

Seems like moving away from the triple-option could be brutal in terms of OLine composition. How is CP planning to handle?

Cal Poly is solid in the interior OL. I think going into camp Friday I believe the two players at the top of the depth chart at tackle are Garrett Weichman (6’4” 315 redshirt Junior) at right tackle and Charles Lincoln (6’4” 290 redshirt Freshman) at left tackle. I would bet the taller freshmen will get some reps in games this spring trying to get them ready for fall of ‘21.

Nick Amoah started the last four games for us at left tackle; he is 6’3”

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2020/2/28/winter-ball-spotlight-nick-amoah

I was referring to 6’6” Lamson (8 starts mostly at left tackle) and 6’6” Richardson (11 starts at right tackle).

I am not saying you can not play tackle at 6’3”. What I am saying is most coaches are looking for longer bodies to play tackle at this level in a passing offense. They want longer arms to hold off pass rushers.

, @DrMike Some off-topic insider knowledge on hotel bookings... scroll by if this isn't of interest to you --

All of the hundreds of "discount sites" you are aware of are ultimately part of Expedia or Booking.com, so there is limited benefit in cross-comparing. TripAdvisor is deeply in bed with both. They use tracking cookies across sites to determine if you are a feature-conscious or price-conscious shopper, and if you start price comparing sites, it generates false scarcity ("one room left!") and the best deal you saw might even "sell out" while you shop (clear your cookies and it's back). On the hotel end, the hotel pays 10-20% commission to the site, so it's great for the hotel to use it on lower demand nights to fill rooms (occupancy rate and annual revenue per room are important metrics for investors and GM bonuses, so anything above 0 helps). But on a high demand night, they don't want to pay the Expedia tax if they could fill the room with a direct booking. As for how the hotel receives your booking - at some properties Expedia has a backdoor to their property management system, but for many others the front desk gets a fax or an email that staff manually enter. There is an element of human error here... fax machine out of ink, or they actually sell out before inputting the Expedia reservations. Because a lot of Expedia reservations cancel at the last minute, some hotel operators will short it and overbook, which could leave you stuck if they hedge incorrectly. If something goes wrong, remember Expedia Corp is the hotel's "guest". They pay the hotel with a one-time use virtual credit card and basically sublet the room to you. So if your potential bad review doesn't intimidate them, the front desk may not do much problem solving for you, instead telling you to sort it out with Expedia. Because you've basically bought the room at auction, some hotels will put you in blacklist rooms, next to the ice machine, pool pump, etc. You don't have the same lifetime value to them as someone brand loyal. Hotels prefer you to book direct and it does give you better insurance that your room exists and they will handle problems directly. Some hotel brands like Hilton will match Expedia offers right on their own site, others you have to call and they should match. In fact, franchise hotels typically have to pay the franchisor a 5% commission for web or call center reservations, so sometimes if you pretend it's 1990 and call the front desk local number direct, they can hook you up because they save all the commission costs. At a Best Western type joint, during they day you may well be talking to the owner. I've done this with the Best Western in Dixon, booked Picnic Day and football season all at once and the GM gave us an unpublished deal. All hotels subscribe to an industry report that shares occupancy information and then their own revenue algorithms adjust rates in real time based on a live look at bookings at every hotel in town. Some owners are strictly committed to data, but others are willing to override the algorithm with human finesse if the deal feels right. Moral of the story, discount sites are good for market surveillance to see your options, but there are reasons to consider making the reservation with hotel directly.

I’m sure that’s right, taller is more desirable. But for Davis’ sake, since we play Cal Poly twice, I hope they have bigger weaknesses than just 6’4” tackles.

Fugawe you sound like you are in the hospitality arena. Excellent information. I always suspected the “3” left at this price was a marketing ploy. SWA does the same thing. In the past Ive run into issues as you describe by booking through a third party and having a problem with the reservation, Ive learned to always call the vendor before a trip to confirm everything. We got stuck in South America with airline issues on multiple carriers after making the reservations through a travel agent. The amended travel plans had to go through that agents system unless we wanted to double pay. Never again.

I tend to book ahead on Expedia with free cancellation to lock down a place, especially in an area I’ve never been, and then start searching on my own. I usually find I get better deals direct on many places, especially Best Western as a member. Reno is another example - rates tend to be better direct, and you get other perks tossed in. I have found with Expedia I o have sometimes got a less desirable room - I’m sure it’s because I did it indirectly.

One nice thing about Expedia is that you can get a quick overview of prices that can highlight increases due to demand. Helped me to delay a trip to Palm Springs by a week until AFTER the big tennis tournament.

I think we hijacked a good old football thread!

I am hoping one of our new strengths is our 6’4” 220 QB Hunter Raquet (I think he has a good chance to beat out Hamler for the starting job).

My wife had a business trip to meet with Expedia (?) at their offices in Seattle (?) years ago (can't remember the details of exactly which company and city...). She booked everything through Expedia (?), and when the meeting changed, she had a hell of a time changing reservations. I don't think her meeting went well when it finally happened.

these transfers transfer most often because they are not good enough to start - and expect to easily start at a “lower level” school. Did t work for the iowa state guy at ND State, expect it not to happen for the NC State transfer to Montana State but might happen at Weber as Constantine is gone and Weber isn’t exactly QB Univ.

Expedia is usually the partner on my hotels.com bookings.

I forgot to mention hotels.com is really more something you want to use for short trips and ones you're not 100% sure you're going to take. You might not get the best deal you would've gotten from dealing with the hotels directly but it's a lot easier to back out when your plans change. I haven't really had any complaints about any of the hotels I've stayed at as far as service is concerned. Now, location and other guests are a different story. In El Paso the woman down the hall yelled at her young daughter at several different times during the night and in SD I made the mistake of booking a place right above a Mexican restaurant that had loud music and was full of customers until 2 a.m. The white noise machine in the room helped.

It also depends on your priorities. I tend to want to stay either right near the airport or right near the stadium, if there's a sporting event at night. Booked the Downtown Phoenix Hyatt through Hotels.com ($100/night) about 3 blocks from Chase Field and got to laugh at all those folks (silently) piling on the light rail at 11 pm for 2 hour rides to Mesa so they could save a buck.

Camp started Friday for both Davis and Poly. This is as quite as I can remember at the start of camp. Just keeping my fingers crossed we get all 6 games in. Looking forward to February 27 and April 10.

I loved Priceline's name your price option.

Is the current policy no fans allowed for football?

I would wager that will be the case. Not sure if they'll allow small tailgate groups to listen in on their own around the stadium, who knows. Seems reasonable that a certain amount of fans (maybe 1000 or 2000) can space out properly to watch a game.

almost positive it’s no fans. I have a hotel for feb 27 and figure I can wander the stadium area and peek through the fence!

I think the plan/hope is to get parents in the stadium. If that goes well, try to add some more season ticket holders

I'd think fans, outside, socially distanced... families... in groups of 10 or less should be an option. ... Maybe add in under 70 yo age for extra safety?

I believe being trapped inside is proving to be more problematic. We need Vitamin D... kids need to run, we all need Vitamin D... I know several people who were already in poor shape who have added 10 - 30 pounds.

We need to think more holistically & dynamically.

BTW, I spoke with an ER employee last night who says they have plenty of capacity, Covid admissions have gone from about 40-45% of capacity to 20%... she hasn't been vaccinated yet... deaths down, but one young man did take a turn for the worse.

FWIW, blood oxygen levels are key, we can buy a finger gadget for $30 which measures BOL... I have a relative at 92... at 90, its danger zone, I'm told time to admit oneself.

I think perhaps they might place barricades or security guards at places around the stadium (don't know how that would look exactly ) to discourage people from gathering to watch the game from outside. I'm sure others have had that idea too, but a gathering is a gathering as far as COVID-19 is concerned. A person walking alone may stand a better chance of not being hassled.

I wonder how Sac State will handle baseball attendance this year. They can block off the entry points to the stands, but people can, and frequently do, park and watch the games from the upper levels of the parking structure for free. If a few people stayed in their cars and treated it like a drive-in movie that would be low-risk. It's more that they stand in groups and yell insults at the outfielders... Maybe they'll just close the garage completely on game days.

We all have our ideas of what seems reasonable attendance-wise, but they can't even let parents in until the county (likely with the ok of the governor) approves expanded gatherings, and that won't happen until COVID-19 numbers look better, and that likely means better than before the holidays, not just better than now.

FWIW, blood oxygen levels are key, we can buy a finger gadget for $30 which measures BOL... I have a relative at 92... at 90, its danger zone, I'm told time to admit oneself.

Several models of Fitbits are able to measure SpO2 levels. Fitbit has been moving more and more towards monitoring health metrics along with tracking activity levels.

I’m mostly joking about starting a knot hole gang to watch from the perimeter. Can they move people out of the parking lot listening? If the cars are spread out and folks are aren’t co-mingling it seems safe, but...,I expect lot 56 to be closed on game day.

Again I think their goal is permission for spread out parents. That would require state, county and probably Big Sky approval. For Feb 27? I’d be very surprised. For the final home game? Seems likely