What a difference a year makes. Last season, the College of San Mateo football team took its lumps playing its first year in the powerhouse NorCal Conference, arguably the best community college league in the nation. This year, the Bulldogs were 50 seconds away from beating nemesis City College of San Francisco and playing for the right to advance to the state title game.

Now CSM (7-3, 3-2 NorCal), ranked No. 10 in the state, gets a chance for payback when it hosts No. 8 Sequoias (8-2) in the inaugural Bulldog Bowl Saturday at 1 p.m. It’s the first community college bowl game in CSM’s storied 84-year football history. CSM is coming off a 47-42 comback win over Santa Rosa, yet another indication of how far the Bulldogs have come. The obvious difference from last season is the talent level, but you also have to look at the intangibles.

“The difference for the turnaround has been the sophomore leadership,” Bulldogs coach Larry Owens said. “All year long you see the kids had fight in them. The Santa Rosa game was typical of our whole season in that the kids had to fight through things. To be honest with you, I don’t know if last year’s team could do that.”

A CSM win on Saturday will cement an already fantastic year for a top-notch program on the brink of greatness. Since 2001, the Bulldogs are 46-18, playing with a roster fortified with local talent. This year’s team is arguably the best 16th-year head coach Larry Owens has fielded; the 2003 team went 10-1 playing in the Golden Gate Conference. There’s no debate, however, on just how dominating the offensive line has been this year. It all starts with the big guys up front, which includes Landon Laurusaitis, Alex Reyes, James Tretheway, Andrew Havili and Avery Bustamante, all sophomores.

“This is the best offensive line by far since I’ve been here,” CSM offensive coordinator/assistant head coach Bret Pollack said, who’s been with the team since 2001. “It’s their athleticism and ability to dominate the line of scrimmage, and there are very few mental mistakes.”

“We’ve been physical and mugging up the guy in front of us. That’s what we’ve been doing all year. We believe in each other, and hopefully we stomp on COS,” Laurusaitis said

Three of the five — Laurusaitis, Reyes and Tretheway — made first-team all-conference, and Havili was honorable mention. Tretheway is being heavily-recruited by a number of notable Division I programs, and Owens said all five will probably play at either a Division I or lower level four-year college. Pollack was looking over a page of statistics and rankings on Tuesday when he said, “We play ourselves every week. The rankings don’t matter.”

When it comes to the Bulldogs’ offense, Pollack’s right — it doesn’t matter. No one has stopped CSM’s high-octane attack this season. To wit: The Bulldogs’ lowest point total was 21 in their season-opener against Chabot. The team scored 40 or more points seven times, are averaging 462 yards per contest and have gained at least 300 yards in every game. Quarterback Julian Edelman rushed for 113 yards, completed 16 of 19 passes for 226 more and scored three touchdowns against Santa Rosa. The freshman sensation was named the conference’s offensive Most Valuable Player. Freshman Ryan Faumuina rushed for 173 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries in the Santa Rosa game.

“I didn’t expect them to play at this high of a level,” Owens said. “Usually, you’re getting these type of contributions from sophomores.”

While the offense deserves a lot of the credit, the defense made the big plays at crucial times. John Harris, an all-conference honorable mention, intercepted a Santa Rosa pass in the end zone with 5:41 left. For the season, defensive end David Lomu had a team-high four sacks, and linebacker Gerald Thompson had three interceptions, tying for the team lead with Harris. Lomu and Thompson made first-team all-conference, while Del Ben, Faumuina and linebacker Joey Guntren made honorable-mention. Guntren, a Serra High graduate, said going up against the offense in practice poses its challenges.

“It’s always fun going against them, especially when we’re in pads and they try to cut us,” Guntren said with a smile.

CSM’s defense will get another look at Sequoias’ high-profile quarterback Brent Schaeffer, who has totaled 45 touchdowns and 3,340 yards as the state’s leader in total offense.

“I think we’ll be better prepared this time,” Guntren said, referring to the Bulldogs’ 42-40 loss to the Giants on Sept. 10, when Schaeffer ran roughshod over the CSM defense. “We know his speed and capability.”

“We know we’ve done a lot for the program, but we still have one more game to go,” Laurusaitis added.

And to make one lasting impression in one of the greatest seasons in CSM history.