dthompson@journalnet.com

POCATELLO - Cal Poly is reputedly an option team.

That's the rumor, anyway.

Saturday, the Mustangs passed. Kind of like a team of 10-year-olds playing a pick-up game.

Jonathan Dally would tell his buddies Ramses "the Great" Barden and Tredale "the Tiny" Tolver to run deep, then would heave the ball past helpless defenders for easy score after easy score.

Really, that's how it appeared watching the first half of Cal Poly's 48-28 win at Holt Arena.

And what about that heralded option attack, the one Idaho State spent the entire week preparing for?

Where was that?

"It didn't have to be there," said Dally, who threw for 453 yards and tied a school record with five touchdowns. "They gave us the pass, we stuck with the pass, and when they took away the pass it allowed us to run the ball."

It looked that simple, too.

Barden and Tolver each scored two touchdowns in the first half. Barden added another on the first play of the second half and recorded the second-best receiving game in Cal Poly history with 268 yards on 10 catches. Tolver caught four passes for 154 yards.

Those five touchdowns required just 12 plays. A two-yard run by Ryan Mole finished Cal Poly's longest drive of the first half, and it lasted just 4 minutes, 24 seconds.

Set against that offensive explosion was a usual performance by Idaho State. The Bengals achieved just two first downs and punted six times in the first half, but big plays kept them alive. Jaron Taylor snuck behind the secondary for an 81-yard touchdown on the second play of the game, then Eddie Thompson returned a punt 78 yards for a touchdown midway though the second quarter.

That wasn't enough to keep up with Cal Poly, yet, following the script of the 2007 season, Idaho State didn't fold. The Bengals churned on, recommitted to the run and actually had a chance to get within a touchdown after trailing by as many as 27 points.

After Taylor's second score, Josh Barnett's two-yard touchdown and a much-improved defensive effort, Idaho State trailed 41-28 and embarked on a 79-yard drive on their first possession of the fourth quarter.

The Bengals - and their hopes of getting back to .500 - were very much alive.

But on first-and-goal, Ken Cornist fumbled mere feet from the end zone, and if that didn't deflate Idaho State, the ensuing 16-play, 99-yard Cal Poly drive certainly did.

"That's a 14-point swing," said redshirt freshman quarterback Russel Hill. "That's the breaks we're having right now. Nine times out of 10, (Cornist) hangs onto the ball. Seven times out of eight, he scores."

Dally capped that 8 minute, 40 second drive with a rushing touchdown and rounded out his afternoon with 119 yards on the ground - mostly via the scramble, not the option.

"He didn't really hurt us when he kept the ball and ran; he hurt us more scrambling," coach John Zamberlin said of Dally. "He runs the offense very well. He's tough. (And) with a weapon like (Barden), just pitch and chuck and he goes up and gets it, it's tough to simulate that in practice."

The Bengals hoped pinning cornerback D.J. Clark to Barden would be enough to stop the pro prospect. It wasn't.

"He's not just 6-6 and slow," Clark said, "He's 6-6, fast and strong. He's one of the best receivers in I-AA."

Once the Bengals switched into a cover 2 and gave Clark safety help deep, Barden cooled off. But that's when the Mustangs got their running game going.

"We had a heck of a time running the option," said Cal Poly coach Rich Ellerson. "But when we needed to be able to run it, when we had to be able to hand the ball off and block some guys, we were good enough."

The Mustangs finished with 687 yards of offense, the most by a Bengals opponent since Oct. 21, 2000. On that day, Southern Utah - running the option - amassed 736 yards in a 62-24 win.

Now 3-5 overall and still 2-3 in the Big Sky, the Bengals' chances at a winning season look paltry at best. Road games against Weber State and Sacramento State are sandwiched around their final home game of the year, a Nov. 10 date with conference-leading Montana.

And after Weber State's record-setting and altogether baffling 73-68 victory at Portland State on Saturday, the Wildcats offense clearly hasn't turned in for early hibernation this season. Another lackluster first half - one in which they gain just 93 yards and go 0-for-6 on third down - won't do the Bengals much good in Ogden next week, either.

"We can't start off slow," said Taylor, who set a personal record with 149 receiving yards and two touchdowns. "I can't pinpoint it or ID it. It isn't our game plan. It's not the coaching staff. We couldn't get into anything."

That's the script they've followed all season.

NOTES

n With 117 yards on 22 carries, Josh Barnett recorded his 14th career 100-yard game, passing Alfredo Anderson for the school's all-time record. His magic number to pass Anderson on the all-time rushing list is 177 with three games to play.

n Jonathan Dally's 453 passing yards were the second most any Mustangs quarterback has ever thrown in a single game. The only player to throw for more is Seth Burford, who threw for 566 yards against Northern Iowa in 2000. Burford played at Idaho State during the 1997 and 1998 seasons but never threw for 300 yards in a game.

n Ramsey Barden's 268 receiving yards were the most ever recorded by a Bengals opponent. It is 44 yards more than the previous record holder, Vincent Jackson, who set the mark for Northern Colorado on Sept. 13, 2003.

n Eddie Thompson's 78-yard punt return Saturday was the Bengals' first to go for a touchdown since Kenyon Blue brought one back 39 yards for a score on Sept. 18, 2004, against Northern Colorado. The last time the Bengals scored on a kickoff was Sept. 26, 1998.

n Tredale Tolver's 15-yard punt return Saturday seemed innocuous enough at the time, but it was actually the longest punt return given up by the Bengals all season. Dan Zeidman punted seven times and averaged 43.1 yards, twice inducing fair catches and three times pinning the Mustangs inside the 20-yard line.

n For the second straight week, a Bengals game clocked in at less than 3 hours. This one finished in 2 hours, 57 minutes; a week ago Idaho State needed 2 hours, 53 minutes to beat Portland State. Every other Idaho State game in 2007 has lasted at least 3 hours, the longest being 3 hours, 42 minutes at Montana State.