Saw that the first kickoff time for 2026 was listed, 7pm at University of San Diego. Gives us time for an 11pm victory parade through the Gaslamp, quick crossover into TJ, then hit any burrito joint ending in -berto's on the way back? Oh, to be 22 again

I heard that USD doesn’t like the fact that we play here at 7 - they can’t fly back commercially after the guns due to airport restrictions. So, they are ‘returning the favor’ snd making us play at 7. Not a problem for our charter and much better than playing a hot 1:00 g as bd in front of 1000 fans.

They serve margaritas in old town until midnight - we’re good!

Those afternoon games in SD are brutal. Do they have lights, lol?

yep. The first couple times we played there was at night. Only loss was a night game. We stunk up the place that night.

Road night games can be tricky, even against lesser competition. Same with empty stadiums. We are their opener, school should be in session, hopefully a decent crowd and pre-game tailgate scene.

I think I could live in Old Town. Just find myself a little adobe hut and I can be the town blacksmith or bartender or something. Get me a floppy Bangora with an oversized brim, good livin'!

2008 and 2010 were both night games; 2008 was weird in that it was the final game of the season and it seems like the players weren't too excited about playing. 2008 they had about 4500 fans and they treated the victory like a super bowl (first win against a scholarship program). 2010 had about 2500 fans. The last two in 2019 and 2021 were both 1:00, with about 2000 folks. Tailgating there isn't great -> parking is spread all over the place for the visitors.

My wife and i always stay in Old Town. Used to stay at the Hacienda up on the hill but the quality there has gone downhill terribly. We'll stay in area this time just at a different place. Old Town itself is great, and having the trolley right there is really convenient. Mariachi bands and margaritas in the plaza -> really cool environment.

It can get sneaky hot there. The campus is on a hill so parking and flat areas are at a premium. Probably best next to the Jenny Craig? We'll figure it out. Or we can rally in Old Town and convince the trolley driver to take us up the hill maybe. Yankees visit Petco the same weekend the Ags are in town. If you haven't visited Petco Park, especially on a Sunday afternoon when the young Marines from the Depot march to the ballpark, it might be worth staying for. I hate the Padres and most things about them, but their ballpark and their early-80s uniforms are among the finest.

It would be a big deal for the bullfighters to beat the Ags. Bigger in 2008 than in 2026 since USD has made a playoff appearance now, but with Davis likely rolling into town with a Top 5 ranking, this is a classic trap game. Plough coaching in his home town will mean something, hopefully a large margin of victory!

Vavae forgot to mention his reserve players. Trey spoke about the depth in receivers. I notice in the roster they moved a freshman WR to DB. Quite a change from last Spring where they had Perez running routes..

Not directly connected to football (for now) but saw Plough posted about MW+. Assuming this is the new streaming platform for Aggie games in conference?

dont know but I do hope we're on ESPN plus again this season. the conference run streams don't seem to be great outside of P4

P.S> noticed a couple OL commits on instagram recently. Xander Grayson and Braiden McKenna

Good pod. Recruiting Hawaii takes contacts, hard work, and local knowledge. Seems like the Ags are scratching the surface on being a top destination for high academic kids from the Islands. Being able to pipeline some of those guys, especially on the offensive and defensive lines, will be important moving forward.

Both the OL commits come from top HS programs, fired up to welcome those cats

Pinnick had two years and legs. I guess we have one candidate w those qualities, and a big gun.

Hero Sports is releasing its top players returning for 2026 by position. According to them, we’re in pretty good shape.

Porter Connors-10th best LB in nation (Jackson Sievers snubbed)

Jordan Fisher- 8th best RB

Stacy Dobbins- 18th best WR

Sam Gbatu- 3rd best WR

DB’s haven’t released but I feel FOUR of our guys should be on that list.

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-top-returning-2026-wide-receivers-bzbz/

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-top-returning-2026-linebackers-bzbz/

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-top-returning-2026-running-backs-bzbz/

DB’s haven’t released but I feel FOUR of our guys should be on that list

Richardson missed enough games that he doesn’t have the stats. Hayden John doesn’t have the resume. Cofield and Rex Connors are going to be on the list.

I’m pretty sure the roster has John’s eligibility wrong, I mdon’t think he ever redshirted.

Advice to whoever maintains the roster: pick a method and stick to it. The players who have been here their entire career are mostly listed by academic year, and if they are fifth year players they now list them as red-fifth. Thats as good a way as any. Now do it for everyone including whoever transferred here too. And go back to listing HS graduation year.

In addition to Gbatu and Dobbins another Davis wide receiver, Zach Jones, scored 5 touchdowns on 15 receptions, and added another two TDs on 3 carries.

I think is spot-on regarding John and Richardson. This deal is a statistical beauty pageant, which those guys don't have. We know we're stacked on the back end.

Cal Poly Linebackers, two in the top 11, get recognized because their team sucks and they're on the field a long time so they get monster stats :rofl: With all due respect, D'Amato is a ball hawk, kid makes plays on top of plays. The other guy, Olson, is just a rock solid run stuffer type. They have an outstanding duo there. I think Seivers will make the list next year but he's a year away. I remember looking at Niekamp going into the ISU game, he's a man. Davy from URI as well, good football player.

I was poking around on the Hero Sports site and read the Montana preview. They spent some money in the portal, that's for certain. Defense needed it as they lost a lot of talent. I really like the fact that they play the Beavs in Corvallis the week before seeing the Aggies in Davis.

absolutely! Out of a fast bunch, Jones may be the fastest. I think he will have a breakout season if our TE’s aren’t as effective as prior years.

I thought Plough said he ran a 10.5 100m this last track season during our zoom.

I would offer some cautionary fast guy stuff. I saw Cooper Kupp play against the Aggies i think ten or so years ago. He was not fast but he was a great WR. I saw him out fake our DB so badly he actually fell down and Kupp scored a TD untouched. Pure WR speed over rated IMHO.

What I don’t think is talked about enough is that Richardson had the stats he did considering how many games he missed. He also was never noticeably beat in the way that cofield was in multiple games last year. Not to mention the way he played against Washington. Denzel Boston never looked like the player he did the rest of the season against him. I think our corner room is going to be elite this year with him all the way healthy and cofield back. Coach Jordan has done great job recruiting and developing that room

40 times and straight line speed is sexy for coaches and scouts. Route running, hands, willingness and ability to block, elusiveness, those sort of things probably matter more. The dirty work of the receiver position. A lot of times at this level, the Kupps of the world are brought in as walk ons and become the feel good stories down the road in their career.

It is my opinion that the Aggies may have the best starting Corners in the country. Who are #3 and #4 is the question.

Kupp was timed at 20+ MPH in a game. So he wasn’t as slow as a 4.6 40 time would leave one to mbelieve. Another 4.6 40 guy who had a huge impact at the FCS level was Hayden Hatten, and he had a 39” vertical. Fred Biletnikoff was a high jump champion in HS, all state of Florida if I recall correctly. Athleticism counts, not one particular method of measurement.

Re backup corners, I thought Marquis Bell played well last year, at least he made big plays. He may be more of a safety, based on his size. Drew Faulkner was a three star HS recruit at Idaho, and has played at the JC level. Lots of other candidates.
I think the main question for the defense as a unit is can they fix the issue they had at the end if the season with rush defense. The Connors being back will go a long was towards fixing that, but they weren’t stellar before those guys were hurt. At the end of the season when we finally had healthy corners, teams game planned to run against us.

As much help as the Connors Bros. will bring, the schematic tweaks are probably more important. I noticed, especially late in the season/playoffs, that teams were able to manipulate the box and displace one of the two inside backers, forcing a safety into the box fit which is less than ideal. Especially vs. playoff caliber competition.

Agreed on Bell and Faulkner, both capable.

Forty times are definitely overrated. Biletnikoff is an interesting comp; very similar to Kupp I would say on the field from what I remember. Hell of a route runner, physical, caught everything. Kupp is probably faster than Fred was though, but that's just a guess. And it really doesn't matter. How fast can you play and does the QB trust you?

Back in the 80s before some of you were born, we had WR Tay Thompson, who could play for us now. Not the fastest guy but he could sure run the pattern any play called for and had great hands as well. Got hurt in the playoffs broke his collarbone and I think if we had him we could won it all. I believe he is now a physician and still practicing in California.

Dr. Taylor Thompson is with Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard
https://researchers.mgh.harvard.edu/profile/2185246/Taylor-Thompson
It was the 70s. class of 74, UCD Medical School class of 77.. Back then the medical school was in some temporary buildings on campus. So he overlapped with Biggs and Speck at QB. He would have played in the Broadway Bowl against UMASS, And in the classic game against Boise.and probably the Miracle Game against Hayward.

Definitely against Hayward. Lined up opposite Mike Everly.