Games against Football Bowl Subdivision teams San Jose State and Ohio University as well as five home games highlight the 2009 Cal Poly football schedule released Wednesday by Mustang director of athletics Alison Cone.

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The schedule includes 11 games following an opening-week bye. Most Football Championship Subdivision teams will open on Sept. 5 while Cal Poly will wait another week to launch the Tim Walsh Era, hosting Sacramento State on Sept.
12 in Alex G. Spanos Stadium.

The Sacramento State contest, Cal Poly’s Hall of Fame Game, renews an in-state rivalry after a two-year hiatus.

“I think it’s an extremely challenging schedule, but that is what we want it to be because it allows us to find out how we stack up,” said Walsh.

“We’ve got two FBS teams on the schedule and you add the three teams from the Big Sky and UC Davis and it makes for a very competitive schedule,” Walsh added. “It also gives us an opportunity to win the Great West Conference championship and hopefully an opportunity to get into the NCAA playoffs again.”

The schedule includes two opponents the Mustangs are meeting for the first time. Cal Poly will travel to Athens, Ohio, to face the Ohio University Bobcats on Sept. 19 and will host Dixie State from the Division II Great Northwest Athletic Conference on Oct. 24.

In addition to Sacramento State and Dixie State, the Mustangs will host South Dakota State on Oct. 3, Southern Utah in the homecoming game Oct. 17 and South Dakota on Nov. 14. Sacramento State will be the Hall of Fame Game while the Dixie State contest is Parents Weekend.

The Sacramento State game will kick off at 4:05 p.m. while the remaining four home contests will start at 6:05 p.m.

The Mustangs’ road schedule includes two games against the two teams which shared the Big Sky Conference title with 7-1 records. Cal Poly visits Montana on Oct. 10 and Weber State to close out the regular season on Nov.
21.

“It is another challenging schedule with two FBS games and we’re pleased to have three Big Sky teams on the schedule in Montana, Weber State and Sacramento State,” said Mustang director of athletics Alison Cone.

The Mustangs also visit San Jose State on Sept. 26, North Dakota on Oct. 31 and UC Davis on Nov. 7.

A year ago Cal Poly finished 8-3 under head coach Rich Ellerson, captured its third Great West Conference title in five years and earned its second Football Championship Subdivision playoff berth, falling to Weber State
49-35 in the opening round at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.

Ellerson left in late December to become head coach at Army and Walsh was hired on Jan. 9. Walsh was head football coach at Sonoma State for four years and Portland State for 14 seasons before serving as offensive coordinator at Army the last two years.

Cal Poly opened spring drills April 1 and will play its annual spring football game Saturday at 2 p.m. in Alex G. Spanos Stadium. Admission is free and the game is open to the public.

By Cal Poly Sports Information