It's time to win some hardware... or should I say keep some hardware as the Aggies are going for their 9th straight victory over the Mustangs. Cal Poly comes into this matchup with a record of 3-2 with wins over San Diego, Western Oregon (D2), and Sacramento State and losses to Utah (FBS) and Stephen F. Austin. The records of their opponents to date are as following: San Diego (3-2), Western Oregon (2-2), Sacramento State (2-3), Utah (4-1), and Stephen F. Austin (3-2). So far this season Cal Poly is scoring 31 points per game while giving up 29.2 points per game. They are currently rushing for 117.2 and passing for 272 yards per game while allowing 180 and 218.8 respectively.

Due to injuries I believe the Mustangs have fielded several QBs so far this season. They started the season with Pitt transfer Ty Dieffenbach who completed 67.4% of his passes for 579 yards with a 5:1 TD to INT ratio. He has additionally gained over 100 rushing yards on the season. We are familiar with Bo Kelly, but he led Cal Poly in their surprise victory over Sac State. So far this season he's completed 56.4% of his passes for 267 yards with a 3:1 TD to INT ratio. They've also fielded Nevada transfer Anthony Grigsby Jr who has completed 54.6% of his passes for 282 yards with a 2:1 TD to INT ratio as well as Jackson Akins who has completed 47.6% of his passes for 232 yards with a 1:4 TD to INT ratio. Their QB health will be a big question coming into this game. Per the SLO Tribune, Kelly is their 4th option at QB and that Grigsby practiced leading up to the game against Sac, but wasn't quite ready. I personally think Dieffenbach is in a tier of his own in terms of their quality at QB, but clearly they have a couple of capable options considering they took down Sac with their 4th stringer.

Cal Poly has 3 main targets in the receiving game with one of them being what I would call a significant threat to our pass defense. Their star receiver is Michael Briscoe who has nearly 500 yards on 24 catches and has already snagged 7 TDs. He's 6'2 and weighs over 200 lbs. He's going to be a lot for our DBs to handle especially if Rex isn't ready to go. Their other main targets include Jordan Garrison who has 239 yards on 15 catches with 2 TDs and Kian Salehi who has 213 yards on 15 catches with 1 TD. Keeping Briscoe in check is absolutely one of the major keys to getting a win over Poly.

The Mustang rushing attack so far this season has not appeared to be deadly by any means, but that doesn't mean that they are incapable of doing damage. Especially, if any of the QBs are playing other than Kelly then they will demonstrate mobility at the position. As far as their RBs go, they have 2 main guys taking snaps. Temple transfer Tyrei Washington has a net 179 yards on 44 attempts (4.1 ypc) with 2 TDs and Trey Wilson with a net of 97 yards on 18 attempts (5.4 ypc) with 1 TD on the season. Additionally, they have Zion Hall who has a net of 48 yards on 12 attempts (4 ypc), but has not had snaps since their season opener against San Diego.

Cal Poly's defense has been stout so far this season and is being led statistically by Saddleback Community College transfer LB Mikey D'amato who has 56 total tackles on the season with 4 sacks. The Mustangs are additionally getting plenty of contribution from LB Kenny Olson who has 45 total tackles and 2 sacks on the season. Going into the game against Sacramento State the Poly defense had only forced 3 total turnover, but doubled their total as they forced 3 INTs.

In terms of their kicking they have only missed 1 FG attempt on the season and have a long FG made of 51 yards. Their punter is averaging 42.7 yards per punt.

To Cal Poly's credit, they look stronger coming into this game than they have in nearly a decade at this point. As previously mentioned, their defense is stout and will test our young QB, that is if he is ready to go as he took some hits against the WIldcats. I'm assuming he will be fine considering he re-entered the game. I have different levels of confidence going against the Mustangs based on the health of Dieffenbach at QB. I believe he is notably more dangerous than their other guys at QB and is the kind of player who can turn losses to wins. If he's out and we don't throw 3 INTs like Sac did then I still like our chances. Massey is giving the Aggies a 77% chance of winning.

GO AGS! BEAT THE MUSTANGS!