I agree that Plough has the program headed in the right direction, just very disappointing that the quarterfinals continues to be our downfall. It will be awhile before we are possibly headed to the MW so let's try to win a FCS natty first.

I would like both of these things to happen! A Mountain West move is my dream (and honestly agree with engagement stuff alumni/fan wise) but while we’re in the FCS, we are so close to that dang natty, like so close. The PR team and crowds were AWESOME this year. Really moving into the upper echelon of FCS programs and putting the athletic department up there with the MW members.

redwoods require fire to reproduce. And this case, the fire has to be the special teams leadership. Gotta set aside the friendships there and fix it.

yes yes and yes. That new offensive line class plough talked about is going to be huge, but getting some new portal talent with experience is going to be big as well. The Connor’s brothers thing makes my blood boil, I trust this to get figured out. Huge opportunity next year for this program to get over the hump. Gonna be an exciting overall year for athletics from the MW move to facility expansions and a football team that should reload even better and less injured to start (now let’s hope it stays that way).

We still struggle to cover basic on-campus student marketing / communication, then nobody thinks ahead to student athletes housing, and students (potential fans) housing?

Give them an extra 24 hours - a week in advance - no DC if that's a funding issue, but don't have football players scrambling, same for the coaches, and students driving home at 6 PM on a cold foggy winter night. The kids can fend for themselves getting food.

We have Caden. All 3 of his leading receivers back. Gbatu 1K receiver
Dobbins over 700 yards
Fisher 1k rusher.

We’ll be absolutely electric next year. GREAT YEAR FOR A REBUILD SEASON

Agreed on all points. While agreed that red zone offense sputtered, the glaring problem to me was defense. While patching and shifting things to get by, all the injuries and playing a big boy MVFC team were too much to overcome. Can’t allow 40+ points and expect to win.

We could use a bigger RB and receiver w length. Acai helps.

I think Caden is coming back, but I'll feel better about it when I hear an announcement saying that he is.

True..Although Dobbins makes great leaping catches, we need a 6’3 guy and move Dobbins to slot. Also yes on true power back to compliment.

Biggest challenge will be replacing olinemen given that we’re unsure who’s coming back from the interior and losing both tackles

we just signed one of the OL classes ever.

I will say that we have a pretty favorable schedule next season. If we can keep building off of this season we should be a playoff contender again.

I will say I had multiple fans sitting behind me from the Bay Area who had never even been to Davis before. They came because they saw our game on espn. They really enjoyed it. Tough loss.

Random, unaffiliated folks came to an Aggie game in December?

I believe we’ll be ok on o line
I assume we’ll have three offensive linemen who started quite a bit Rodriguez, Collier, and Porotesano.
Rodriguez might choose not to come back for his fifth year, some don’t. We have reserves who played in many games Montanez, Thurston, Hasson all sophomores or redshirt freshmen.

usually takes a year or two for olinemen to adjust to the change in size and speed, I don’t expect freshmen to fill all the gaps we have

Eli isn’t replaceable and I would be surprised if there isn’t a sizable drop off in oline play next year

Eli started a whole season in 2023 without anyone noticing. I had to email the athletic department to get his stats and bio corrected. I’m a fan of his.

I hope we can get a few good players from the portal.

yeah, they were from Novato. Said they saw the game on ESPN and decided to watch playoff football live so they drove up. Pretty cool IMO. That shows this program is gaining momentum.

My cousin's son, 23, didn't go to college. He brings his buddies and they all have a blast.

before we hit the portal definitely gotta focus on keeping some of the current talent on the team because I hate to play the what if game but this team clearly had the talent to win it all when all healthy.(Obviously loosing key contributors to grad will still hurt(Psyk, stanley, riddick, porter, Rutchena, Simpson, simonson, Nava, Batson and company)

How can I forget El Capitan Dixon!

A leg that can boot the kickoff into or out of the end zone is important. How many long returns, or returns for TDs, did we have this year? No knock on anyone, but a key need.

Kickoff coverage seemed weak. Were we playing rookies bc of injuries?

We need another sack man, we saw the impact.

Two quarters without a score.

https://x.com/RedbirdFB/status/1999965717396140340?s=20

I was going to get into this too.

If Pinnick returns, we'll likely be preseason ranked in the Top 5...and that's a hard one to swallow, because there will be tough games in Dallas against SMU, vs. Montana, vs. Eastern and @ Southern Utah in our first 7 games. Schedule on the whole is actually very favorable, but we have to go back to Moscow, ID late in the season and play Poly in Davis who should be peaking.

Pinnick taking the step forward will depend on how the Offensive Line responds in the offseason...I believe 3 of the starting 5 are seniors and graduating -- including Eli at blindside tackle. Step #1 in the off-season is finding out who will be playing LT. Then you have to find a Right Tackle, then you have to see where you're at with the Guard position with David Main graduating.

The Gold Lining to the 2025 M*A*S*H* unit is the experience everybody received across the board from having to play. That will be huge...as will seeing if Porter and Rex can get the medical redshirt and be back in action in 2026.

The team has players that have been developing so hopefully we start to see them instead of going to the portal. The goal would be to have a healthy team next year. Injuries are going to happen but the off season strength and conditioning is vital.

Isn’t this supposed to be a rebuilding year? And we made it into the quarterfinals! I know every team has injuries, but come on, we were missing some major players. This tells me we’re on the right track and that we’re getting deeper. The future is bright.

I feel like labeling it a rebuilding year with so many elite seniors does them a disservice. This was supposed to be the last year of the Connors, Simonson, Williams, and so many other massive contributors so the idea that this team wouldn’t be a competitive playoff team seems disrespectful.

I'm not saying we were not going to compete in the Big Sky Conference. Maybe not necessarily a "rebuilding year" in the traditional sense of starting from scratch, but rather a season of navigating transitions, building chemistry with new talent (including transfers). We lost our best quarterback ever by the numbers and our best running back ever, along with some key starters on defense. No disrespect intended. These are just facts.