Utah Tech Beats Cal Poly 43-26 for First Big Sky Win Behind Six Takeaways

The last time Utah Tech won a road game, it was September 2023, and the Trailblazers were not even in the Big Sky yet. Twenty-one road losses later, they finally found a way, and they did it by taking the ball away six times.

Utah Tech beat Cal Poly 43-26 at Mustang Memorial Field at Spanos Stadium, and the list of things that win ended is long. It was the program's first-ever Big Sky victory. It snapped a 10-game losing streak that stretched back through the final seven games of 2025. It was the first road win since a 50-36 victory at Northern Arizona on Sept. 16, 2023, and the first road win of head coach Lance Anderson's tenure in St. George.

The Trailblazers improved to 1-7 and 1-4 in conference play. Cal Poly fell to 4-5 and 3-3.

A rough start, then a fast answer

It did not begin like a breakthrough. Cal Poly opened with a touchdown and a two-point conversion, and Utah Tech was down 8-0 before it had settled in.

The response came from an unexpected place. Bronson Barben came off the bench and found tight end Zay Akinsanya for a 22-yard touchdown, and the Trailblazers were back within one. Then the defense got involved. Brevin Czosnyka sacked Cal Poly quarterback Anthony Grigsby Jr. on third down, and Utah Tech went 74 yards in eight plays the other way, with quarterback Deacon Hill scoring from 2 yards out with 1:11 left in the first quarter. That made it 14-8.

Max Shepherd pushed the lead to 17-8 with a career-long 50-yard field goal with 10 minutes left in the half. Cal Poly's Josue Lopez answered with a 31-yarder at 5:25, and it was a six-point game again.

The turnover machine starts up

Then the defense took over, and it never really stopped.

With 1:32 left in the half, Czosnyka picked off Grigsby at the Cal Poly 38. Utah Tech moved into range, and Shepherd hit a 29-yarder on the final play of the half. Utah Tech went to the locker room up 20-11.

Hill was sharp in that first half, completing 18 of 28 passes for 199 yards, and the Trailblazers' offense looked as comfortable as it had all season. But the second half belonged to the defense. Utah Tech forced five of its six turnovers after the break and turned four of them into points.

Freshman linebacker Luke Hansen got it started with a first career interception, returning it 19 yards to the Cal Poly 4. Hill hit Ace Chatman for a 4-yard touchdown on the ensuing possession, and it was 27-11.

Cal Poly did fight back. The Mustangs scored a touchdown and added another two-point conversion to cut it to 27-19 at 4:12 of the third quarter, and for a moment it felt like Utah Tech's old story might return. Shaun Niu Jr. made sure it did not, intercepting a pass that set up a 35-yard Shepherd field goal at 14:11 of the fourth quarter. That made it 30-19.

The strangest touchdown of the day

The play that broke Cal Poly came next, and it took a winding route to the end zone. Devin Costello stripped Ray Hall, and Ryan Tillman scooped the ball and returned it 56 yards to the Cal Poly 9. A pass interference penalty moved it to the 2. Then Hill fumbled at the goal line, and the ball bounced into the end zone, where Prince Zombo Jr. fell on it for a touchdown.

The extra point was blocked, but nobody on the Utah Tech sideline cared. It was 36-19 with 11:36 to play.

Cal Poly then muffed a punt at its own 24, and Hill ran in a 5-yard touchdown at 1:57 to make it 43-19. The Mustangs scored a late touchdown to set the final at 43-26, but by then the celebration was well under way.

The players who decided it

Hill finished 20 of 36 for 213 yards and added 57 rushing yards on 14 carries, a season high, with two rushing touchdowns. Darnell O'Quinn led the receivers with five catches for 68 yards, and Junior Curtis ran nine times for a career-high 59 yards.

But this was a defensive win, and two names stood out. Czosnyka had six tackles, a sack and the interception that set up the field goal before halftime. Hansen, the freshman, had six tackles, two tackles for loss, a first career sack and the interception that set up the third-quarter touchdown. That performance earned Hansen a share of Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week.

Shepherd deserves a mention, too. Three field goals, including the 50-yarder, kept the scoreboard moving when drives stalled, and in a game decided by turnovers, cashing short fields mattered.

Barben's cameo deserves a footnote as well. The touchdown pass to Akinsanya came with Utah Tech trailing by eight and the afternoon threatening to go sideways, and it was the first sign that this road trip might end differently than the previous 21.

The numbers that matter

Six forced turnovers. That is the number. It was the most any Cal Poly opponent had forced this season, and the four interceptions tied for the second-most in Utah Tech's NCAA era, the most since a 2024 game against Central Arkansas. Those six takeaways produced 26 points. Turnovers decide plenty of games at this level, but rarely this cleanly. Take away the points off giveaways, and the scoreboard reads 26-17 in Cal Poly's favor, which tells you exactly where this game was won.

The Trailblazers also posted season highs with 10 tackles for loss and four sacks. Grigsby was under pressure much of the afternoon, and the Cal Poly offense never found a rhythm that lasted more than a drive.

On offense, Utah Tech gained 387 total yards, which is plenty when the defense keeps handing you the ball in plus territory. The full story is in the Utah Tech recap (opens in a new tab).

What it means

For Utah Tech, the importance is mostly emotional, and that is not a small thing. This team had lost 37-13 at Northern Colorado on Sept. 26, lost 46-33 to rival Southern Utah in the Battle for the Ax on Oct. 3 and lost 30-14 at Portland State on Oct. 10. The Trailblazers had spent half a season learning what the Big Sky demands. Now they have a win to show for it.

The next test was set for Halloween, and it looked like the biggest on the schedule: a matinee at Greater Zion Stadium against No. 23 Idaho State, a Bengals team that had just beaten Portland State 38-8.

For Cal Poly, this is a frustrating step back. At 4-5 and 3-3, the Mustangs were hanging around the middle of the Big Sky, and six turnovers at home against a winless league opponent is the kind of loss that sticks. The talent showed up in flashes, including two touchdown drives capped by two-point conversions. The ball security did not.

The last word

There is no trophy for a first conference win, and Utah Tech is still 1-7. But programs in transition measure progress differently. For a team that had not won on the road in more than three years, and had never won a Big Sky game, a 43-26 win built on six takeaways is a real marker.

The Trailblazers did not need to be perfect in San Luis Obispo. They just needed their defense to keep taking the ball away. It did, six times, and the long wait is finally over.

Sources: Utah Tech Athletics recap. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Utah Tech Athletics.