St. Mary’s enters a torrid eight days Saturday with a key California Conference clash with GRR #43 Cal Poly, followed by games against #14 Utah and #1 BYU.

The Gaels lost to BYU 32-28 last week, and needed to learn from that game and to get hung up on it at the same time.

“It was a tough loss,” said St. Mary’s fullback and captain Cooper Maloney. “BYU has really good spatial awareness, so when we made mistakes they got us and caught us off guard. Coach Tim O’Brien says ‘you live by the sword and die by the sword.’ And we did. They caught us going backward - we had the ball in their 22 going for a try and they steal it and go all the way back to score. We have to learn from that.”

A team that attacks from anywhere, St. Mary’s may sometimes need to choose its spots and be a little more patient. Maloney said the fact that BYU was clinical in punishing the Gaels should mean tat Cal Poly will be easy.

“Cal Poly is a tough place to play,” he said. “Two years ago we went down there and got a few things handed to us. We have to go there with the right mind-set.”

Coming off a most impressive 66-17 defeat of Santa Clara, Cal Poly has to be thinking they could upset St. Mary’s and win the conference, or at least show well enough to get a DIA wild card spot.

Cal Poly survived a tight first half against Santa Clara before opening it up in the second half. Their set piece was very solid and constant hard running eventually pushed aside the Broncos.

“This weekend will clearly be a very tough matchup,” said Mustangs Head Coach James Tesoriero. “I’ve done a bit of film on St Mary's and they are pretty difficult to prepare for. They are very good from unstructured play, have a very strong 9-10-12 combination, and a great scrum. We will need to meet them 50/50 at set piece and then limit the time their playmakers get in attack. They play sideline to sideline in attack, as most of their 15 can catch pass with width both left and right sides. They will look to stretch our defense and move us around.”

Cal Poly has a few injuries but will front up well. The clash between outside center Max Tacket and St. Mary’s #13 Kingsley McGowan will be worth watching, while Cal Poly fullback Mike Mitchell is a talent who maybe hasn’t seen the amount of ball that his opposite number, Maloney (who scored two tries against BYU) has. If Mitchell gets ball in space, he can be a problem.

“The battle up front will be crucial,” added Tesoriero. “Our scrum has dominated most opponents each week, but will come up against perhaps the best scrum in the country. The battle at scrum will determine which team get most possession and the quality of that ball.”

Also on the slate this weekend, 1-1 Santa Clara faces 1-1 San Diego State in San Diego. The Aztecs could lay a claim for possibly finishing 2nd in the conference if they win, and that would put them in good shape for a potential DIA playoff wild card.