The California Conference is looking to be, in the early days, more competitive than it has been in recent years.

The 29-24 scoreline between Grand Canyon and Cal Poly shows that, and while Saint Mary's does still appear to be far ahead of the pack, and pack is bunching.

Grand Canyon managed to pull out a win late against Cal Poly a day after beating UC Davis.

"We could see Cal Poly benefiting from Coach [Chris] O'Brien's influence," said GCU Head Coach Sean O'Leary. "We had a good weekend against a really tough and athletic UC Davis and an always-good Cal Poly. It's great to see the California Conference getting stronger."

For O'Leary, his team's chop tackles were something to be happy about and when they are working, he added, "our D energizes us."

Discipline remains an issue but they are starting to get better.

"Games are great learning for us as a young team; you can't replicate these learnings in training."

O'Brien, meanwhile, wasn't too happy about the loss, especially since they took the lead 24-22, coming back from 17-0 down to do so.

"A fantastic effort to come back," said O'Brien, "but too many early mistakes. It was a huge improvement."

Alex Domine scored 19 points for the Mustangs.

The biggest issue for the conference has been San Diego State's slow move back to playing, and we're also waiting to see exactly what UC Santa Barbara has conjured up. Both of those teams should be in action this coming weekend. 

And a week after that, Grand Canyon plays Saint Mary's. That will be quite possibly the game for the conference. And even when that's done, there's much, much more for these teams to say.