Hall of Fame weekend came to a close Saturday night with the Cal Poly football team pulling out a thrilling come-from-behind victory over Southern Utah, 18-14, at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
It was an exciting ending to an emotional couple of days of tributes for the 1960 Cal Poly football team, which had its season cut short by a tragic plane crash that killed 16 players, a student manager and a booster after a loss at Bowling Green.
At halftime of Saturday’s game, survivors and hundreds of friends and family members of the victims met at midfield for the Mustang Memorial Field dedication.
It was a moving tribute that even got announcer Mike Moreno a little choked up.
A day earlier, Mustang Memorial Plaza — located at the new entrance to the stadium — was unveiled shortly before the 1960 team was inducted into the Cal Poly Athletic Hall of Fame.
The general feeling from the few survivors, friends and family members I was able to speak with over the weekend was that the various tributes honoring the team were fitting and greatly appreciated … even if they were a bit overdue in some eyes.

I’d be interested to see what some of our readers thought about the ceremonies …

The Great West Football Conference is the best conference in Division I-AA.
At least that’s what the Sagarin computer rankings suggest this week.
The Great West, in just its third year as a conference, has three teams ranked in the Top 25 — No. 5 Cal Poly (3-1), No. 11 North Dakota State (3-0) and No. 19 UC Davis (2-2).
Those rankings in the opinion poll along with a 12-7 record have put the Great West ahead of the Gateway, Atlantic 10, Sun Belt (Division I-A) and Big Sky conferences.
The Great West, which begins conference play this weekend, is 4-2 against the Big Sky this season.
Cal Poly opens with Southern Utah (3-1) at 6 p.m. Saturday in Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
“I’ve been saying this all along,” Cal Poly head coach Rich Ellerson said Monday in a conference call. “From top to bottom, this league is very strong. I am not surprised at all with the rankings.”

Ramses Barden, Kenny Chicoine, Kyle Shotwell and Ryan Shotwell.
What do those four Cal Poly football players have in common? Well, in Saturday¹s 17-10 loss to San Jose State, the Cal Poly foursome looked like it belonged at the Division I-A level.
Barden, a 6-foot-6 receiver, made up most of the Mustangs¹ offense in catching seven balls for 110 yards half of Cal Poly¹s 220 yards of offense. He helped the Mustangs avoid a shutout with a 20-yard touchdown catch in the final minute.
Chicoine, a safety who pointed in the direction of his old defensive coordinator David Fipp (San Jose State¹s linebackers coach) after a big fourth-down tackle that ended one Spartans¹ drive, made his 16th career interception one shy of the school record. He also had a team-high 12 tackles
The Shotwell brothers also had big games for the Cal Poly defense. Ryan Shotwell, a freshman defensive end, had a pair of quarterback hurries, two sacks and six total tackles.
Kyle Shotwell, a senior linebacker, had a forced fumble and pass breakup and seven solo tackles (11 total).