In the 50th installment of the Battle of the Golden Horseshoe, Cal Poly Football was decimated by No. 6 UC Davis, 56-10, on Saturday, Oct. 12 at UC Davis Health Stadium.
It also marked the Mustangs’ (2-4, 1-2 Big Sky) eighth consecutive loss against the top-ranked Aggies (6-1, 3-0 Big Sky).
With starting quarterback Jaden Jones out due to concussion protocol, the offense turned back to a balance of redshirt sophomore quarterbacks Bo Kelly and Richie Watts.
The Green and Gold did not play competitive football from the start, as seen in the first two games of conference play.
Given that Cal Poly played on the road against an experienced UC Davis team, allowing 56 points and only putting up 10 is still a major step back for the team.
Kelly completed 12-of-21 passes for 135 passing yards and an interception, struggling against a UC Davis defense that now has seven straight games with a takeaway.
Watts showed a more versatile performance than before. Watts had only thrown the ball once in his two appearances before Davis.
On top of nine rushes for 25 yards and a touchdown this game, Watts threw the ball 15 times and for 134 yards on eight completions.
Cal Poly started the game with the opening drive and got to the Davis 42-yard line with help from redshirt freshman running back Aiden Ramos’ 28-yard rush, but could not advance from there and punted.
Ramos ended with nine rushes for 43 yards, but redshirt junior running back Zion Hall led the ground attack with 12 rushes for 62 yards.
On the Mustangs’ second drive, Kelly took a long shot on third and five to senior receiver Giancarlo Woods for 42 yards to get to the Davis 28-yard line.
Watts would take over the rest of the drive but could not find a first down, resulting in redshirt sophomore Noah Serna’s 40-yard field goal to make it 7-3.
UC Davis scored efficiently and easily in the first quarter, not even getting to third down once.
On Cal Poly’s third offensive drive, Kelly, with immediate pressure off the snap, threw a short ball that completely missed the receiver and was caught by Davis for a pick-six.
Davis put the nail in the coffin at the end of the first quarter with a 44-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-3.
The defense’s struggles against the pass allowed Davis to have a historic night. Many of their offensive statistics were the highest in a single game since the Mustangs and Aggies faced off two years ago when Davis won 59-17 at home.
Quarterback Miles Hastings and the Davis offense dominated the game, hitting a program record of 500 total passing yards.
Hastings threw for 458 yards in this game, which was the second-most passing yards in the country.
Cal Poly has another challenging matchup on the road when they travel to face the No. 8 University of Idaho squad on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 1 p.m.
