Cal Poly is more than cows & plows
Around these parts, Cal Poly generally translates as plows or cows.
That is especially true down Flying U way where homecoming at San Luis Obispo is like a Rosser family reunion.
But don't look now, Cal Poly is becoming a Div. I-AA football power, too.
The Mustangs are 5-1 after Saturday's 37-6 shellacking of No. 12 North Dakota State, a win that is certain to boost Cal Poly up from the No. 9 ranking it held going into the game.
The Mustangs only loss came to Troy (27-10) in the season opener. Since then, Cal Poly has averaged 33.4 points and given up only 11.8 points per game. That run includes a 37-13 lesson issued to Sacramento State.
The defending Great West Football Conference champions are 3-0 in league heading into this week's bye. They then travel to the University of Montana for a nonconference tilt before heading toward a Great West showdown at UC Davis on Oct. 22.
The Aggies stumbled Saturday with a 16-14 loss to South Dakota State.
The Cal Poly-Davis game is where college football fans can see an emerging quarterback in Anthony Garnett, who has completed 48 of his 81 pass attempts for 818 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions in five games. He did not play against Troy.
While statistics can be misleading, the one that jumps out at me is that Garnett has four receivers who average better than 25 yards per catch.
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound red-shirt senior came to Cal Poly from Monterey Peninsula Community College in 2003. He sat out that year and opened the 2004 campaign second on the depth chart. Four games into the season, Cal Poly coach Rich Ellerson called his number and the former starter became known as Wally Pipp Jr.
According to a mystery caller this weekend, Garnett's uncle used to be a Yuba-Sutter resident.
That gets me back to the current resident Mustang alumni.
Now, I don't want to leave the impression that they don't know their pigskin as well as they know their pigs. That's far from the case.
In fact, Levi Rosser was a pretty good football player at Wheatland High in the mid-1990s. He was a junior on the 1996 team that went to the Northern Section Div. II championship game.
Back then he tackled running backs as well as steers, winning the District 3 all-around title in 1996-97 and 1997-98.
And while mom tells me proudly her son is venturing into a new business career, too, Levi is still one of the top bulldoggers in the state.
He finished 2004 ranked fifth on the California Pro Rodeo Circuit.
