The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.

Week 4 for the College of San Mateo football team was similar to the previous three weeks — a Bulldogs’ rout.

CSM (4-0) jumped out to a 21-0 lead over visiting Chabot Saturday and cruised to yet another victory, this one a 52-13 decision.

“I thought we were explosive,” said head coach Bret Pollack in the team’s weekly press conference Tuesday. “We fixed some things. … We came out and jumped on them 21-nothing.

“But I told them at halftime I thought we let off the gas.”

And therein lies the rub for the Bulldogs. It’s hard to be critical of a team that has won its games by an average of 38 points. But a closer looks shows plenty of areas that need to be cleaned up. Against Chabot, the Bulldogs turned the ball over three times while also being flagged 19 times for 154 yards. Pollack said some of the flags were legitimate, while he didn’t see fouls committed on others. Regardless, the penalties were marched off against the Bulldogs.

Pollack admitted the team committed mistakes, but that they can easily be rectified.

“A lot of time, it was just being undisciplined,” Pollack said. “I expect this team will fix it. They came out in the second half (against Chabot) and fixed it. When we tell them (the team) things, we mean it.”

Defense maturing

With as much publicity heaped on the CSM offense — ranked No. 2 in scoring offense in Northern California just behind City College of San Francisco — it should be pointed out the defense hasn’t been too shabby, either. The Bulldogs defense is ranked No. 4 in Northern California in scoring against, giving up an average of 15.2 points per game.

CSM defensive coordinator Tim Tulloch is pleased to see the team getting better by the game. Not only that, as a freshman-heavy squad, the unit is getting better by the quarter.

“[Saturday’s win over Chabot] was a good game for us because what they were doing is stuff we need to work on,” Tulloch said. “I could see noticeable improvement quarter to quarter. As it got later in the game, they were locking it down.”

Coming into the season, Tulloch knew he would be replacing a lot of talent off the 2009 squad that moved on. He almost didn’t have a choice but to throw a bunch of first-year players into the mix. But four games in, he likes what he sees.

“It’s kind of a blue-collar group. This is more of a across-the-board balanced group,” Tulloch said. “They’re very football smart. They fly around and play hard.”

Tulloch has been amazed at how the defense makes mid-game adjustments. He said he may tell certain players to play a certain way and they go out and do it.

“With this group, they’ll look you straight in the eye and say, ‘I got it,’ and they do it,” Tulloch said. “Going into Game 5, I don’t consider them freshmen any more.”

Up next: Los Medanos (2-2)

The Bulldogs close out the non-conference portion of their schedule against a Los Medanos team that has won its last two games, including a 34-20 win over Hartnell last week.

There will be quite a bit of familiarity among both coaching staffs. Pollack said he and Tulloch are good friends with the Los Medanos head coach and former CSM staffer Russell Patterson is now coaching with Los Medanos as well.

Is CSM worried Patterson may know the Bulldogs’ Achilles heel?

“I don’t know if there are any secrets,” Pollack said. “We know what they do and they know what we do.”

Women’s water polo

Coming off a 9-2 blowout loss to Santa Rosa Sept. 25, CSM women’s water polo coach Randy Wright was disappointed his team didn’t compete better.

Since then, the Bulldogs have dropped two more matches, but Wright was buoyed by the fact his team has played much better.

The Bulldogs fell 7-4 to Merced, one of the top teams in Northern California, before dropping a heart-breaking 5-4 decision to Cabrillo. CSM had a chance to tie the game on a penalty shot with 10 seconds to play, but the shot rattled off the post.

“You have to make the goalie block it,” Wright said. “You can’t bail her out by hitting (the) post.

“There are no good losses, but you can find positives.”

Wright is still trying to get his players to step up and be more assertive with their game. Since many of the players weren’t the No. 1 options on their high school teams, they are hesitant to be that player at CSM, he said.

“When you’re sitting in the backseat, it’s hard to step up and take the wheel,” Wright said.

The good news for the Bulldogs, according to Wright, is more successful days should be ahead. After taking their lumps against some of the top teams in the Northern California, Wright expects a few more wins as conference play winds down. With five Coast Conference games remaining, Wright believes a 4-1 record is a legitimate goal.

“Just by scouting the other teams, my expectations are we will go on a winning streak,” Wright said. “We’ve played every team that will go to NorCals (tournament). Psychologically, it might have been too many tough teams. But it’s important to learn of the play at a high level.

“You have to come ready to play. We’re ready. We know what we have to do.”

Cross Country

The CSM cross country team hosted its annual Crystal Springs Invitational last weekend, and while the squad did not make a run for the team title, coach Joe Mangan was pleased to see his runners continue to improve their times.

“We want to continue to set benchmarks and continue to improve,” Mangan said.

Mitchell Milligan, a sophomore out of Sheldon High in Sacramento, is the men’s No. 1 runner. He qualified for the state track and field meet as a freshman at American River College.

“I expect him to be among the top runners at (the Coast Conference meet),” Mangan said.

On the women’s side, Kelly Claire, out of Notre Dame-Belmont, improved her personal best by 8 to 10 seconds.

“She’s finding herself,” Mangan said. “She’s training harder on a more consistent basis.”