SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Cal Poly will not be one of the 16 teams competing for the 2004 NCAA Division I-AA national football championship.

The NCAA announced the playoff field Sunday and the Mustangs, despite their 9-2 record and Great West Football Conference championship, were not extended a bid.

Cal Poly completed the regular season Saturday with a 58-13 non-conference victory over Sacramento State. The players gathered at Firestone Grill in downdown San Luis Obispo on Sunday morning to watch the selection show on ESPNews.

Eight of the 16 teams in the playoffs were automatic qualifiers (the champions of the Atlantic 10, Big Sky, Gateway, MEAC, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern and Southland conferences) and eight were chosen as at-large entries.

Southern Illinois (10-1) is the top-seeded team in the field, garnering an automatic bid after winning the Gateway Conference. The Salukis, the 1983 national champions, enter the tournament on a nine-game winning streak. They will face Eastern Washington (8-3) when the opening-round games are held on Saturday, Nov. 27.

Furman (9-2), the co-champion of the Southern Conference, is the No. 2 seed and will host Ohio Valley champion Jacksonville State (9-1). William and Mary (9-2) will make its first postseason appearance since 2001 as the third seed and play host to MEAC winner Hampton (9-1) while Georgia Southern (9-2), which also shared the Southern Conference crown, is the fourth seed and will welcome at-large qualifier New Hampshire (9-2).

Defending national champion Delaware (8-3), also the recipient of an at-large bid, will be home against Patriot League champ Lafayette (8-3) while Northwestern State (8-3), winner of the Southland Conference, will visit Montana (9-2).

In the other two matchups of at-large teams, Sam Houston State (9-2) will be at home against Western Kentucky (9-2) and Lehigh (9-2) will welcome James Madison (9-2).

The 2004 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship game is slated for Friday, Dec. 17, at W. Max Finley Stadium/Davenport Field in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Cal Poly, in its 11th season as a Division I-AA member, has yet to earn a Division I-AA playoff berth. The Mustangs finished 10-1 in 1997 and were ranked 16th in the final poll of the season, but Cal Poly was not invited to the playoffs. Ironically, the Mustangs also beat Sacramento State by 45 points in the 1997 season finale.

Cal Poly won the 1980 NCAA Division II national championship and also competed in the Division II playoffs in 1978 and 1990. The Mustangs also played in the 1972 Camelia Bowl at Sacramento.

Cal Poly was ranked 18th in last week¹s pair of national I-AA polls -- ESPN/USA Today and The Sports Network -- and also was 12th in the Gridiron Power Index by I-AA.org and 11th in the Jeff Sagarin ratings published by USA Today.

The Mustangs won their first seven games of the season, then fell to UC Davis and Eastern Washington before finishing the 2004 campaign with wins over Northern Colorado and Sacramento State.