Cal Poly SLO (10-1) Riding Low in Saddle After Snub

Apparently, college football’s best-kept secret will remain just that.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which went 10-1 this season, playing an independent schedule, was not invited to the NCAA’s Division I-AA playoffs. The Mustangs finished the season ranked 16th, but that wasn’t enough to guarantee a spot.

“To be honest, I just assumed we were going,” first-year Coach Larry Welsh said. “Well, you know what happens when you assume.”

The Mustangs ended Dayton’s 20-game winning streak late in the season, 44-24; beat a Division I team, New Mexico State; a Division II power, UC Davis; and I-AA Northern Iowa, which was ranked 16th at the time.

None of that was enough.

Eight conference champions get automatic I-AA playoffs bids, then eight at-large teams, selected by a committee of athletic directors from each region, are invited. Since the West has only a few I-AA schools besides San Luis Obispo--Montana, Eastern Washington, Northern Arizona and Cal State Northridge--the voting was skewed. Not many voters have seen Cal Poly San Luis Obispo play.

But a look at the numbers should have helped.

The Mustangs had two 1,000-yard rushers, junior Antonio Warren and sophomore Craig Young. And quarterback Alli Abrew is the top-ranking passer in I-AA.

But perhaps the Mustangs’ best player is senior All-American wide receiver Kamil Loud, who, Welsh believes, will be taken in the NFL draft.

“On paper, the things we did were hard to beat,” Welsh said. “We didn’t run the numbers up on anyone. It was a terrific season and [the players] deserved better. But that’s part of why you go to school and participate in athletics--you learn life isn’t always fair. When you get knocked down, you have to pick yourself back up.”

In the end, it might have been the Mustangs’ only loss, 49-32 at No. 18 Liberty in Lynchburg, Va., that knocked out the Mustangs.

“We played about two minutes of bad football all season,” said Welsh, trying to put the loss into context.

Perhaps the proper context is provided by the program itself. The Mustangs moved from Division II in 1994 and were 5-6 last season. The 7-0 start was the best since 1973 and the 10 victories were the most since 1990.

Maybe that’s too good a secret to keep.

College Division Notes

Cal State Dominguez Hills will play host to the NCAA Division II women’s soccer final four Friday and Saturday. Dominguez Hills (16-3-2) beat Mesa State of Colorado, 4-0, on Nov. 23 to advance and will play defending Division II champion Franklin Pierce (19-0-0) of New Hampshire in one semifinal. In the other semifinal, West Virginia Wesleyan (20-1-1) will play Lynn University of Florida. Game times have not been announced, but the semifinals are scheduled for Friday, with the championship Saturday.

John Price, Cal State Bakersfield’s first-year volleyball coach, was named Southwest Region coach of the year by the American Volleyball Coaches Assn. (AVCA). He directed the Roadrunners to their seventh consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title and a 26-3 overall record. Two of his players, setter Tamara Barrus and outside hitter Amy Wade were named to the All-Southwest Region team. Other area players named to the team were outside hitter Cathy Bell and middle blocker Ellen Migasi of Cal Poly Pomona, middle blocker Samantha Bond and setter Jana Stern of UC Riverside, and outside hitter Julie Hicks and middle blocker Caryn Sale of Cal State Los Angeles.

Named to the AVCA Division III All-West Region team were setter Mercury Simonian and middle blocker Sarah Henry of La Verne, outside hitters Regina Saulsbury and Dianna Turner of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, and middle blocker Andrea Bustamante and outside hitter Heather Pilatic of Pomona-Pitzer.

Redlands will play host to Colorado College, Cal Baptist, Cal Maritime, Chapman, the Master’s, Menlo and Pacific Christian in its annual basketball tournament starting Thursday at Currier Gymnasium. . . . Jim Sackett, the Cal Poly Pomona men’s cross-country coach, was named coach of the year by the United States Track Coach’s Assn. His team was ranked second before finishing seventh at the Division II NCAA meet Nov. 24. Senior Jose Rangal finished eighth overall to lead the Broncos. Earlier this year, Sackett won the NCAA West Region and CCAA coach-of-the-year awards.