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CEDAR CITY -- The Southern Utah football team will look to avenge a 69-41 debacle from last year and notch consecutive wins against top-20 teams when they play the No. 19 Cal Poly Mustangs Saturday in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
The game will be Cal Poly's homecoming game and is the Great West Conference opener for both teams.
Because of realignments in the conference, it will be the fourth time in five years the T-Birds will be on the road against the Mustangs. SUU hasn't beat Cal Poly since 2000 and hasn't beat them on the road since 1986.
Cal Poly lost Head Coach Rich Ellerson to a head-coaching job at Army, All-American wide receiver Ramses Barden to the NFL and starting quarterback Jonathan Dally to graduation. SUU football coach Ed Lamb said the Mustangs are "a totally different team" compared to 2008.
"A year ago they were very dynamic; they wanted to go for the big play, they had a big play receiver," he said. "This year they're much more balanced and they're very content with a four-yard gain. They're very capable of getting four-yard gains over and over and over down the field. It's going to be a war of attrition, we're going to have to stop the big play, but we're also going to have to find ways to get stops and it's not going to be easy."
The Mustangs have used an option-style offense to put up 208.4 yards rushing per game, ranking ninth in the nation. Lamb said Cal Poly's offense is a harder offense to stop than a conventional offense.
"It's more difficult mainly because we don't play against it very often so No.1, our coaches are not as familiar with it as we are with other styles of offense, and No. 2, our players aren't as familiar, both our scout teams and our defense," he said.
Junior linebacker Troy Bunting, who had a fumble recovery against Cal Poly in 2008, said staying "assignment sound" will be the key for the T-Bird defense.
"We've got guys to tackle each player and as long as we each do our job, we should be able to stop it," he said.
Cal Poly has struggled passing the ball so far this year as junior quarterback Tony Smith has completed fewer than 50 percent of his passes (43 of 93) and thrown more interceptions than touchdowns (four interceptions and three touchdowns).
Lamb said most option offenses struggle in the passing game, except for last year's Mustangs.
"This year's team is no less capable of running it, but to this point so far, they haven't had as much success throwing it," he said. "But they've played a heck of a schedule and their ranking shows it. They're still ranked in the top 20 and they've got a 2-3 record."
Bunting said creating turnovers would be huge for the T-Birds in their bid for an upset.
"The way our offense scores, they're gonna keep scoring," he said. "If we get one stop, we get the turnover; one stop could win the game for us. The more times we get the ball, the more points we're going to score."
Offensively, the T-Birds had a record-breaking day through the air in a losing effort against the Mustangs last year. Junior wide receiver Tysson Poots caught an SUU-record 16 passes for 246 yards and a score.
Poots said the Mustangs have made some adjustments to keep that from happening again.
"Last year, they played more of a man-to-man type defense; they thought their (defensive backs) were able to contain our receivers from what they saw on film, I guess," he said. "This year I know they changed it up, they're running a lot more zone and they're not giving up the big play. I had a lot of deep plays last year so I won't see many of those this game coming up."
The Mustangs have intercepted nine passes this year, averaging almost two per game.
"They're able to carry the receivers where they want to carry them," Poots said. "They're able to force them to where they have help."
Despite the Mustangs' defensive adjustments, Poots said the offense is confident heading into the game.
"We know they're a good team," he said. "It's going to be big game for us, a big game for them; start of conference. We're confident of course because of what we've been able to do, but we've just got to take the game plan how it is and play how the coaches are putting us in the right positions to play."
Lamb said the game being Cal Poly's homecoming will not change anything for the T-Birds.
"I think it adds something to it for them," he said. "For us it just makes it a little more of a hostile environment; a little louder ... We've been in that situation before; it shouldn't be anything new."
"I just want to beat 'em to get to the playoffs," Bunting said, ignoring SUU's eight-game losing tio Cal Poly. "They're just another team (we've) got to get through so I'm not trying to think about what happened in the past, although I do want a little revenge from last year."
The T-Birds are unranked, but they have gotten votes in the FCS Coaches Poll each of the last two weeks after beating Texas State. Lamb gave the players credit for the votes.
"We're definitely changing things around; we're working a lot harder. We're a competitive team now so we're giving teams a lot of, let's say, a run for their money," Poots said revealing the T-Birds have come a long way since the 0-11 team in 2007. "It feels good, but we still have a lot to work on and this is where it starts is Cal Poly."
Coach Lamb admits, "It's a huge game for our guys and it would be a monumental upset to win at their place."
The game kicks off at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday. It will be broadcast live on Power 91 radio, which is streamed live at www.suu.edu/hss/comm/ksuu/.
