-  Josh Scroggins covers Cal Poly for the San Luis Obispo Tribune.  Read his blog here.

-  After a banner 8-3 year last fall (one game cancelled because of Hurricane Ike in September), the slate has been wiped completely clean in California, which could end six straight winning seasons in San Luis Obispo.  Cal Poly is probably best remembered for taking Wisconsin to overtime in November before falling, 36-35.  The Mustangs enter another year in the FCS (formerly D-IAA) and the Great West Conference, a young league that is just a half-decade old.

-  Gone is head coach Rich Ellerson, who heads to Army after eight years in California.  In a twist of irony, former Army offensive coordinator Tim Walsh takes over as head coach for the Mustangs after serving for two years at West Point.  He was also the head coach at Sonoma State (4 years) and Portland State (14 years).

-  Cal Poly is one of eight FCS teams to play two FBS teams this year (Ohio and San Jose State).  The Mustangs’ contest versus Ohio on Sept. 19 will be their second game of the season, but it will be the third for the Bobcats.

-  On paper it appears to be a rebuilding year for the Mustangs.  Standout wide receiver Ramses Barden (85th overall to Giants) is in the NFL, quarterback Jonathan Dally threw 23 TDs to just five interceptions in his 2008 senior season, and the talented running back duo of James Noble and Ryan Mole have moved on after combining for 19 scores in 2008.

-  Barden’s position-mate, wide out Tre’Dale Toliver, will need to be replaced not only in the passing game, but also in the return department on special teams.  Mole and Noble also were vital in the return game.  The skills positions for Cal Poly are essentially completely new in 2009.

-  The triple option offensive attack for the Mustangs that Ohio struggled with against VMI last season needs seven new starters, but Cal Poly does return three of five offensive linemen.  Center Jason Cox missed spring ball recovering from a knee injury.  Cal Poly allowed just nine sacks last fall.  Like VMI, the line is undersized and quick.  For example, projected left tackle Scott Winnewisser is 6-5, 235 pounds.  The heaviest lineman is projected starting left guard Will Mitchell (6-1, 285).

-  There are three quarterbacks vying for the starting spot.  There are nine receivers looking to break the mold—not one has caught a college pass.  In the triple option running game, nine tailbacks are fighting for two starting spots.  To say the offense is unsettled is an understatement.

-  Meanwhile, in just another breath of newness for the Mustangs, the defense goes from a 3-4 under Ellerson to a 4-3 under coach Walsh.

-  The entire secondary returns and is the strong point of the team with two seniors and a pair of sophomores.  Strong safety David Fullerton enters his final season after picking off a team-best four passes last year (36 tackles) and is joined by sophomore Greg Francis at free safety.  Francis was second on the team with 65 tackles last year.  Both Fullerton and sophomore cornerback Asa Jackson were first team All-Great West Conference selections in ’08, Jackson did so in his true freshman campaign.

-  Two starters in the linebacking corps are gone.  Marty Mohamed is up the middle at MIKE and will be backed up by his younger brother, Kyle.  Carlton Gillespie enters year number two at linebacker after spending two seasons at defensive end.

-  Defensive end Sean Lawler was the threat on defense last year, leading the team with nine sacks on his way to First Team All-Great West Conference recognition.  But he has graduated, leaving tackle James Chen and end Ryan Shotwell behind to lead the front four.

-  At kicker, Andrew Gardner has graduated, but the Mustangs won’t miss much from his leg.  He converted just seven of 14 field goal tries last year with a long of 36.  Jake West handled kickoffs last year and could add to his duties between the uprights, though transfer Chris Pinto is in the mix as well.

-  Consensus:  VMI scored on four of its first five possessions last season before the ‘Cats limited the Keydets to seven second half points.  That experience against the seldom-used offensive scheme should prove to be beneficial against Ohio.  Good teams and who want to be bowl eligible win these types of games at home—and do so in convincing fashion.

-  The Cal-Poly-Ohio football preview is on its way on to the blog later today, but first some news and notes.

-  Former Ohio slugger Marc Krauss is done for the season after 32 games with Class A South Bend.  Krauss will undergo an evaluation in Arizona on a nagging ankle injury.

-  More Ohio baseball, here’s an interesting article on former ‘Cats pitcher Chris Rigo.

-  Former Temple wide receiver Travis Shelton signed a contract yesterday with the Denver Broncos.  Shelton had 20 catches for 230 yards last year in his senior campaign for the Owls.

-  A few thoughts on the pre-season MAC football picks.  There were two no brainers: Miami seventh in the East and Central Michigan tops in the West.  But Eastern Michigan is not the worst team in the West.  As for Ohio, the discrepancy between picks one and five is a total of 54 points, so fans should take it with a grain of salt.  It’s such a toss up in the East.

-  Speaking on “The Sears Sports Fan” Thursday, Elton Alexander of The Cleveland Plain Dealer said he thought Bowling Green may be the team to beat in the East.  Alexander had some interesting things to say, including league reaction to the change of the MAC Hoops tournament and a follow-up discussion on his March criticism of Ohio A.D. Jim Schaus and head football coach Frank Solich on the weakness non-conference football schedule through 2015.  Click here to listen.

-  More to come.

-  I checked in with Brett Vito of the Denton Record-Chronicle.  You can read his blog here.

-  UNT was one of the younger teams in the nation last year, playing 17 freshmen and seeing 31 student-athletes hit the field who had yet to taste the college game before.  The story—or as some would argue excuse—of youth appears to be a bit misleading as several upperclassmen found the gridiron as the season went on.

-  But despite all the lettermen returning, key losses at receiver, quarterback and punter will be hard to replace for a team that is tied for the second longest home losing streak in the FBS at five games (Washington-8).

-  Head coach Todd Dodge is just 3-21 through his first two seasons, and the word out of Denton, Texas, is he needs to at least double that UNT win total in 2009.  He went 79-1 in his last five seasons—four of which ended with state titles—as the head coach at esteemed Southlake Carroll H.S. in Texas.  He coached former Heisman trophy finalist Chase Daniel many years ago.  However, Dodge has just one FBS win—two of the three victories came against Western Kentucky.

-  The Mean Green return 17 of 22 starters, but the quarterback position is not one of them.  Dodge’s son, Riley (6-0, 182), will be the starting quarterback entering 2009, taking over for Giovanni Rizza.  But Dodge lacks size—he’s actually two to three inches shorter than his listed height—and while familiar with dad’s system, Riley sounds more like an athlete than a true quarterback.  He started at receiver versus Rice before taking a medical redshirt in his freshman campaign.

-  Fans talk a lot about the importance of in-state recruiting, but North Texas seems to debunk that theory.  Roughly 90 percent of North Texas’ roster last year was made up of in-state players, and the Texas-produced roster, at least recently, has not performed well.

-  There’s no way to beat around the bush the fact that UNT was just terrible last year.  The average halftime deficit was 21.2 points.  They allowed 77 points in three quarters to Rice.  UNT was also 116th in the nation with a minus-17 turnover margin.

-  The good news is all five starters return on the offensive line, and mobile lineman Kelvin Drake is back after missing all of 2008 with an injury.  Esteban Santiago will be entering his third straight year as a full-time starter on the line, too.

-  Cam Montgomery returns as tailback.  His 2008 numbers (928 yards, 9 TDs, 5.5 yards/carry) were impressive, but in the spread offense he didn’t receive a ton of touches.  He was really the only true candidate for pre-season All-Sun Belt Conference, but was not picked.

-  Wide receiver could be a weak spot, as former walk-on turned school-record breaker Casey Fitzgerald is gone after catching 224 balls his last two seasons.  His 113 catches last year led the nation.  Coach Dodge signed three transfers at the position, and all enrolled early for spring ball.  One of which is Oklahoma transfer Tyler Stratford, although it’s unclear whether he will be eligible for ‘09.

-  On the defensive line, Coach Dodge signed six players this off-season and it appears plenty of faces will compete for time there.

-  All three linebackers in Tobe Nwigwe, Craig Robertson, and A. J. Penson return.  But, in an interesting move, Kylie Hill, who started 12 games in the secondary during 2008, will move to linebacker.  He is listed as the starter on the outside spot right now, so the LBs unit is still in a bit of flux.

-  More movement: DaWaylon Cook converts from cornerback to safety this year.

-  In the special teams department, kicker Jeremy Knott returns and is solid.  UNT will need to replace Truman Spencer at punter.  The punt and kick return units are nothing flashy—in fact the Mean Green averaged just 4.6 yards per punt return with a long of just 14 yards.  Plenty of guys will get reps heading into the fall.  It’s been 121 games since the Mean Green returned a kick for a score.

-  UNT will have six home games at Fouts Field for the first time since 1993.  Expect around 20,000 or so in Denton for what will be North Texas’ home opener after a trip to Ball State in week one (The Cardinals and Mean Green play on Thursday, Sept. 3).

-  Did You Know: Both teams played Southern Miss in their last bowl appearance (Ohio lost 28-7 in the 2007 GMAC Bowl, UNT lost 31-10 in the 2004 New Orleans Bowl).

-  Suggested eating area for Bobcat fans in Denton, Texas: PourHouse Sports Grill on the south end of town.

-  Consensus:  Mobile quarterbacks can give teams fits, but it’s hard to imagine the young Riley Dodge scorching Ohio’s defense in his second career start.  The ‘Cats get a break playing a night game in mid-September down south after a difficult time at Louisiana-Lafayette in 2007.

-  Check back Friday for a preview of the contest with Cal-Poly.

-  I checked in with Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant.  You can read his blog here.

-  The expectations will be down for the Huskies in 2009 after four draft picks and five other players earned NFL tryouts.  But optimism persists because 11th year head coach Randy Edsall has done an outstanding job over the last few years in developing depth.

-  The Huskies are 8-0 since 2004 against teams that currently reside in the MAC.  UConn beat Ohio in Storrs during the two teams’ first ever meeting in 2002.

-  The Huskies have an interesting schedule, traveling to Notre Dame a few days before Thanksgiving, heading to Baylor in week three to play in the state of Texas for the first time in 20 years before hosting Rhode Island in the two teams’ 94th meeting in week four.

-  True sophomore Jordan Todman will try to replace Donld Brown (27th overall, Colts) at running back for the Big East’s best rushing offense (216.4 yards per game).  Todman is faster and shiftier than Brown, who led the nation in rushing last year, but Todman does not possess the wits or the powerful stiff arm that made Brown a first round pick.  Todman was just one of two true freshmen to suit up last year for the Boys from Storrs.

-  Senior tailback Andre Dixon could see action as well.  Dixon split time with Brown back in 2007 as a second team All-Big East selection, but a pre-season injury last year sent his ’08 campaign spiraling downhill.

-  The running game has always been a strength under Edsall, and the Huskies expect that to continue this fall.  However, UConn will begin to implement a pass-oriented scheme into the game plan this year because, for the first time in a while, they have a true gunslinger at quarterback.  Tyler Lorenzen was solid last year, but one need not look farther than the fact he had a tryout with the Jacksonville Jaguars at tight end—not quarterback—f or proof that he did not have a real hose.

-  That offense will be a mixture of the spread and a few no huddle looks that is sure to keep Ohio on its toes.  Still, the Huskies bread and butter over the last few years has been pounding it out on the ground—that will not change.  UConn threw just five touchdown passes last year.

-   Notre Dame transfer junior Zach Frazer is the starter under center.  In five unimpressive appearances last year his numbers (6 INTs/2 TDs) were not great.  Frazer has a strong arm, but is a proven risk taker as evidenced in his three-interception performance versus West Virginia last year.  He too often tries to squeeze the right pass.

-  Frazer will try to improve two ugly stats from last year’s offense: five red zone interceptions and a 24% fourth down conversion rate (4/17).

The Huskies offensive line allowed a league-best 15 sacks.  All five starters started all 13 games.  Along with William Beatty (60th overall, Giants), center Keith gray will need to be replaced.  Moe Petrus, who was a freshman All-American last fall, shifts from left guard to center while Mathieu Olivier takes over at left guard.  Several players are in the mix for Beatty’s left tackle spot.

-  The jury is still out for the wide receivers.  Many names and a bunch of potential is prevalent, but Coach Edsall is concerned with drop balls.  That could be a factor come Sept. 5 at Peden Stadium.  The wide outs only need to be effective, not spectacular, for the Huskies.  After all, a fullback (Anthony Sherman) was second on the team with 26 catches last year.  Leading receiver Kashif Moore (27 catches) as well as true sophomore Michael Smith, Brad Kanuch, and senior Marcus Easley round out the corps.  At tight end, five underclassmen are competing for playing time.

-  Now to the defense, where the Huskies’ top five tacklers all return from a team that was 6th in FBS in total defense last year (278 yards per game).

-  On the line, defensive ends Julius Williams (Jaguars, FA) and Cody Brown (63rd overall, Cardinals) combined for 17 of 32 sacks.  Both have departed, though the interior line stays intact.  Sophomore tackle Twyon Martin (6-1, 272) started the last seven games up the middle for the Huskies defense and Kendall Reyes (6-2, 272) earned a few starts as well.

-  Many questions surround the ends.  Lindsey Witten (5 sacks) will be a first-year starter but is expected to have a phenomenal year.  The Cleveland native (Glenville H.S.) could play on Sundays down the road.  Marcus Cambpell was slated to be on the other side but was ruled academically ineligible earlier this summer—a huge loss for the Huskies as he was the most experienced end returning.

-  The linebacking trio of Scott Lutrus (106 tackles), Greg Lloyd and Lawrence Wilson combine for 59 career starts and had 235 total tackles last year, or 28 percent of the entire tackles by the Huskies.

-  UConn’s pass defense was impressive, as they surrendered a Big East-best 168.2 passing yards per game.  The secondary allowed just nine scores through the air while picking off 18 passes, four of which were returned for scores.  The loss of cornerback Darius Butler (41st overall, Patriots) will hurt, but Jasper Howard and experienced backup Robert McClain will fill the gaps.  Howard, who was picked on a lot last year as teams avoided throwing at Butler, should have a solid 2009 showing.  The problem is, the unit is top heavy and cannot avoid any injuries.

.  Safety should be OK as well with senior Robert Vaughn (67 tackles) returning with his 27 career starts.  The other safety spot is to be determined.

-  In the special teams, the well-liked punter  Desi Cullen, who is also responsible for kickoffs, netted just 32.7 yards per punt in ’08 but is so highly respected by the team and media that he has been named a captain.  While UConn will be looking for a new long snapper, the shifty Howard does return to bring back punts.  He led the Big East in punt return yards, averaging just under 11 yards per return last fall.

-  Keep an eye on the Huskies’ punt protection unit, an area where they struggled last year (six blocked punts).

-  Kicker Dave Teggart became the starter during the middle of the season last year, converting 13 of 15 attempts, including his first 11.

-  Consensus:  Every game is won in the trenches, sure, but Ohio’s defensive front four must have its best performance of the year straight out of the gate for the ‘Cats to start the season on the right foot.  Forcing Frazer into quick, ill-timed throws will be important, but even that will be irrelevant if Ohio can’t clog up the ground game early against Todman.  Playing mistake-free football on offense and in special teams is key, as is bullying a way through an undersized Huskies defensive front four.

-  Check back tomorrow as I preview the week two match-up versus North Texas.

-  In case you missed it, Russ Eisenstein chatted with former ‘Cats slugger Marc Krauss recently.  He is hitting .304 with two home runs and 17 RBIs in 32 games for the Arizona Diamondbacks Class-A affiliate South Bend (IN).

-  Ohio football commit Kyle Snyder was ranked by Rivals.com as the 11th best quarterback prospect in the state of Ohio.

-  Chillicothe H.S. (OH) kicker Drew Basil committed to Ohio State earlier this month, Rivals.com reports.

-  That was Bryant University coach Tim O’Shea being interviewed by Andy Katz along with Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl and Boston College coach Al Skinner on ESPNU yesterday afternoon at the AAU Showcase in Florida.

-  Congratulations to Ohio’s Director of Multimedia Marketing Evan Shaw, who won an Outstanding Sports Videography Emmy by the Ohio Valley Region of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  Obviously, very well deserved.