During a week normally filled with fun activities, alumni reconnecting and the student body celebrating the school's history, it ended on a sour note Saturday afternoon.
Northern Colorado opened up Big Sky competition at Nottingham Field as the Bears hosted California Polytechnic State University for the fifth meeting between the two schools. Their meeting last season ended with UNC losing 17-24. This time around, it was the same story as the Bears lost 7-28.
The Bears were coming off an abysmal performance last week against Stephen F. Austin, and were looking to bounce back and put on a show that would help end Homecoming Week on a high note.
To open the game up, UNC won the coin toss but elected to defer it until the second half. Cal Poly chose to receive the ball looking to be the first to light the scoreboard, but on the Mustang’s first drive the Bears held them to a three and out. The ball wasn’t in the Bear’s hands for long either as Cal Poly was able to force a fumble that occurred on an 11-yard run by quarterback Kia’i Keone.
After a fairly uneventful first ten minutes of play, the first touchdown came in the air after Mustang quarterback Jaden Jones threw a 95-yard touchdown pass to Michael Briscoe. The very next series saw the Mustangs score on a 90+ yard drive that ended in a 53-yard run by Jones as he took advantage of the Bears deep zone coverage that showed the middle field wide open. Many groans were heard throughout the stadium as the last two drives were an indication that the game was not going to go how they wanted.
Before entering the matchup against the Bears, Cal Poly had seen very little success on the ground by only rushing for 84 yards total. Against the Bears, the Mustangs ran for nearly triple that by rushing for 290 yards. The one-two punch of Aiden Ramos (120 yards) and Zion Hall (76) was too much for the UNC defense.
In his post-game press conference, Bears head coach Ed Lamb spoke on the Mustangs rushing attack and what made it difficult for the defense to contain.
“They had the luxury of patience first of all. They jumped out to a really good lead, and they improved their running game playing a few more rushers than they did…,” Lamb said. He mentioned how Cal Poly’s bye week really benefited them, and they challenged the defense with all the missed tackles that occurred on multiple Mustang rushes.
Despite giving up some big plays throughout the game, the Bears defense was able to create opportunities for the offense to try and capitalize on. The first came off of a blocked punt that was recovered in the red zone by defensive back Franky Morales. UNC were able to score after Keone ran right up the middle for a Bears touchdown that cut the Cal Poly lead to two scores.
Junior linebacker Kenan Guthrie forced the second after intercepting Jones’s pass that flew right into Guthrie’s arms. The offense was not able to put points on the board this time and turned the ball over on downs.
The Bears ended the game finishing with only 213 total yards with Keone accounting for most of them with 115 yards passing and 55 yards rushing. Keone, a graduate transfer from Colorado Mesa, started out as the rushing quarterback similar to Hank Gibbs' role. He would only have been used in rushing situations that saw him either keeping the ball on read options or RPO’s.
As of right now, if Keone were to be named the starter for the next matchup, then he would be the fifth starting quarterback named on the season. The quarterback situation is not one you see often in Division I football and has really limited what the Bears can do on the offensive side of the ball. In regards to the quarterback carousel, Lamb spoke on difficulty and how they need to find the right game plan to help the young men.
“We’re really challenged right now in terms of our quarterback situation. My job is to believe in the guys and find them on a path to victory, but it’s really difficult to get a new quarterback ready in a week,” said Lamb. Lamb also talked about not being able to give Kaden Box, who started the game, more opportunities to throw the ball and utilize his potential better.
This loss makes it the Bears 17th straight loss dating back to Ed McCaffrey’s last game against Eastern Washington on Nov. 19, 2022. That is the longest active losing streak by any team in all of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Lamb believes that they have the right players, but need a better plan to help them succeed, and once they find the secret formula then start expecting to see wins stacking up for the good guys.
UNC will be taking on a tough opponent next week as the squad travels to Bozeman, Mont. to face the number three overall team in the country, Montana State. Kickoff will be at 2 p.m. and will be streamed to ESPN+.
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