Listening to the fans and media members during the Cal Poly football team’s home opener at Alex G. Spanos Stadium tonight, I realized there are two types of people out there:
Glass half full kind of people. And glass half empty kind of people.
I try to be the former, but in this profession, you have to spend a lot of time being the latter.
But I’ll say I came away very impressed by the game-day atmosphere, from the tailgating to ESPN Radio’s live Cal Poly Gameday show at the BBQ pit (hopefully their ratings didn't go in the toilet during my guest appearance). And there were solid upgrades all around Spanos Stadium, from the comfy pressbox to the new player’s tunnel and giant Mustangs logo at midfield.
Here are some additional reasons for Cal Poly fans to celebrate after the 47-19 victory (along with some reasons for concern for the half-empty bunch in the crowd).
- Half full: The brand-new tailgate area was a hit, according to the fans I talked to.
- Half empty: It cost $20 a parking spot and was closer to Baggett Stadium than it was to Spanos Stadium.
- Half full: The west concourse renovation, complete with a posh suites and a stat-geek’s paradise in the pressbox.
- Half empty: The east concourse.
- Half full: The vociferous student crowd livened up the aging east side of the stadium, helping Cal Poly set a school record with 11,075 fans.
- Half empty: Most of those fans left after Cal Poly jumped to a 33-3 lead in the first half.
- Half full: The 33 points in the first half. ... Six touchdown passes by Jonathan Dally? Yes, a school passing record for a so-called “option quarterback.” Dally threw some nice balls tonight, particularly the pass down the sideline to Tredale Tolver for a TD.
- Half empty: Getting outscored 16-14 in the second half. ... Dally had some passes that were flat out dropped and could've had eight TDs. ... The Mustangs still have a lot of work to do running the triple option if they’re going to stick to it this season. The passing game looked great, but dare I say they (gulp) probably have to run the ball more … and better. James Noble is the most electric player on that offense and they need to find a way to get him more involved and get Ryan Mole healthy.
2 comments:
The atmosphere before the game and during the first half in the stadium was outstanding. You could absolutely feel the excitement and anticipation. It was however, most disappointing to see that well over half of the students disappeared after the first half. The bottom line is that while thing were most improved, they still have a long way to go.
As for Dally and six touchdown passes, really he could have (should have) had eight touchdown passes. Ramses Barden and Jono Grayson both dropped touchdown passes which thankfully did not affect the outcome of the game.
I would expect that Ramses Barden will get the Great West (and possibly national) Player of the Week recognition this week. Personally, I would give the nod to Jonathan Dally who played the game of his life and delivered the ball to Barden. Nice to have choices on something like this...
Absolutely! The atmosphere was incredible! I hope this environment becomes the norm, the students were most impressive and more organized than in the past. The wife and I had a great time!
Go Poly!
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