Northern Arizona football faces Cal Poly in home finale
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Northern Arizona (6-4) hosts Cal Poly (3-7) on Nov. 15.
Kickoff is at 2 p.m. MST, at the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff.
This NAU's home finale will be on the team's Senior Day, unless the Lumberjacks earn an FCS Playoff at-large bid for the second straight season and play at home again. The NAU-Cal Poly game will end the Lumberjacks' three-game homestand, before their final game at Weber State on Nov. 22. NAU is coming off its largest margin of victory this year, 49-10, over Northern Colorado (3-7, 1-5 Big Sky Conference) on Nov. 8.
That win pushed NAU back in the FCS Top 25 team rankings this week at No. 24, after being out after a 35-32 overtime home loss to Idaho (4-6, 2-4) on Oct. 31.
"If you believe, work extremely hard and play for one another, great things can happen and you can change the trajectory of a program," NAU coach Brian Wright said. "That's what this group of seniors has done. They have launched us into a new direction of more consistent winning. I'm so proud of them."
How to watch NAU vs. Cal Poly
- Streaming: ESPN+
- Radio: NBC Sports (KDUS 1060 AM, Phoenix), 93.5 FM and 930 AM (KAFF, Flagstaff), ESPN (KFFN 104.9 FM/1490 AM, Tucson)
What NAU did against Northern Colorado
The Lumberjacks' rushing attack rolled past the Bears' porous defense, scoring five touchdowns. Seth Cromwell had two TDs on the ground in addition to his 11 carries and 50 rushing yards. NAU quarterback Ty Pennington had a stellar outing, going 19-of-22 for 225 yards and a TD.
Kolbe Katsis scored a 100-yard kickoff return, immediately after Brandon Johnson ran in UNCO's first TD less than a minute before halftime. Katsis' kickoff TD return, the first for NAU since 2017, and the fourth 100-yard return in program history, extended the Lumberjacks' lead to 28-10. He earned Big Sky Special Teams Player of the Week for that play.
The Lumberjacks cruised thereafter on 21 unanswered points.
"It was certainly the most complete game of the year for us so far," Wright said. "It's something we've worked extremely hard for. It especially came in a moment where we had to come back from a tough ball game (the week before). It was good to see our team respond as they did, and we need to continue to do that because we need to be playing our best football at the tail end of the season."
What to know about Cal Poly
The Mustangs dropped their fifth straight game, 27-17 at Idaho State on Nov. 8.
NAU is hosting Cal Poly for the first time since 2022 and the third time since 2018. NAU leads this all-time series by a landslide 14-2, including NAU winning six of the last eight against Cal Poly at home.
NAU's Pennington needs 202 passing yards to become the ninth QB in program history to reach 5,000 for his career.
The Cal Poly Mustangs are nationally ranked 26th in passing offense at 242.6 yards per game, but their ground game pales to what they do in the air (129.8 yards rushing per game). They have a big 6-foot-6, 220-pound QB, Ty Dieffenbach, a redshirt freshman transfer from Pittsburgh. He is a dual-threat who started six games and appeared in nine total. His team-highs are 1,186 yards passing, 317 rushing, eight rushing touchdowns thrown and four rushing. Dieffenbach is No. 4 in the FCS at 14.5 yards per completion, but has a mere 59% completion rate. Cal Poly's top defender is Mikey D'amato, who leads the Big Sky and is third in the FCS with 12.0 tackles per game.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: NAU football matches up with Cal Poly in home finale
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