Hero sports is out with it’s UC Davis preview. Also Idaho who they rank just ahead of #11 Davis
https://herosports.com/fcs-2025-uc-davis-football-preview-bzbz/

Lots they get right, but they project Perez will be #1 running back, whereas it is pretty clear from Plough’s comments that Fisher and Vargas will be the top backs. He said Fisher and Vargas had separated themselves, leading to Perez playing some at wide receiver.

The comparison with Idaho is striking. Davis has nine players who were All Conference in an FCS conference last year, Idaho has 2. Davis lost 2 transfers to the FBS, Idaho lost 20.

I hadn’t noticed Rutchena had such an outstanding start to his Cal career. Played wide receiver and safety in HS. Didn’t have a redshirt year but greyshirted, meaning he didn’t practice, then when he got to play linebacker for the first time this is how he finished his freshman year after becoming a starter..

– at Arizona - 8 tackles, 1 interception (0-yard return), 1 quarterback hurry
– at Stanford - 11 tackles ... career-high-tackles
– at UCLA - 9 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss (-6 yards), 1 pass breakup

Then he became a seldom used player, finally switching to tight end last year. Cal kept bringing in transfer linebackers.
I think Rutchena will be an impact player for Davis

You have hit on Sac State’s problem, no one wants to be their rival.
That’s a combination of being tier 2 in Football (FCS), tier 2 in the California public college systems, and tier 2 among Universities in the greater Sacramento area.

The only things standing in the way of Sac State as a BCU (obviously it lacks the History) is the demographics of the school, the region, the fans, and I suspect, the band.

i don’t think a black college is a viable model for a state where blacks make up 6% of the population, and a city where blacks are only 12%. Black colleges arose out of segregation in areas where there were large black populations.

As to whether I think Sac is breaking rules, i’m not sure. They may be able to stay under the 63 scholarship limit this year, as they got 40+ players to leave. The rule is 105 as an FCS independent in 2026 so thats also doable. It is legal to pay players.
I don’t think charisma accounts for their success. I think they are buying players with funds that there is no clear source for, making promises that will be unlikely to be met down the line. A kid doesn’t know what he’s signing up for if he stays 5 years at Sac State,

We are talking 2026 class so the NLI signing period hasn’t occurred yet, so only verbals.

Colter overweights the impact of Sac State not being FBS. A good chunk of the transfers and all the 2025 HS recruits signed before April, which is when Sac first announce they intended to go FBS without an invite. A good chuck of the transfers would never have played an FBS schedule nor visit an FBS opponent other than Nevada they visit this year. No reason for those players to be disheartened, they at least have a shot at playoffs.
Projecting that Sac loses at SDSU overlooks that SDSU lost over twenty FBS transfers, so they have their own challenges with integrating newcomers. Same is true for Nevada.

According to 247sports. Somewhat better than the revised Pac-12. But its early.
Idaho is ranked 81, Davis 100

I think it comes down to money, and Sac is willing to promise more than the going rate for a three and four stars.
It is cheap to make promises, when signing date comes around they’ll have to put it in writing,
Sac’s recruiting class is rated 56th by 247 among all schools, even after grabbing McDonald.

Regarding the lack of role models for blacks in coaching.
How many role models does one need? If 40% of the Div 1 football assistant coaches are black that would seem to indicate role models are not hard to find, even if one assumes that your role model should look like you.
Expecting the % of head coaches should be equal to the % of players in Div 1, ignores that coaches are drawn from a larger pool. There are a ton of coaches who didn’t play in Div 1.
The journey to becoming a head coach or AD often includes time coaching high school, division 3 schools, volunteering for no pay as an analyst. There are individuals of all races that take that career path, but one can’t assume they do so in proportion to demographics of players. Cultural issues affect who wants to do what in life.

I’m aware of a single Sac State player, Diesel Gordon facing a criminal charge and his case was treated like a nothing burger by the court. Tell me if there are others.
Gordon was charged with assault and reckless driving related to he and another Washington football players assaulting a bicyclist This was several years ago, He has since olayed at a community college.. i’m not saying he’s a fine citizen.
“ He pleaded guilty to assault and his reckless driving charge was dismissed. His sentence was deferred for two years - it will be dismissed if he has no new criminal violations in that time frame. He had to pay a small court fee and served 24 hours of community service.”

Before all these players sign, the schools are going to have to put in writing everything that is promised. Since the payouts will be directly from the schools for schools that opt into the House settlement, it follows that what these kids are being offered by public schools
will be public info. That will be interesting.

Full athletic scholarships cover tuition, fees, books, housing, meals and probably etc.
I don’t think it matters if the student gets discounted tuition, because the amount of tuition varies in other ways as well, like in state or out of state. Partial and full scholarships can be augmented with NIL money and revenue sharing, to meet or exceed the cost of attendance.
But the scholarship count issue is becoming moot, as the NCAA now has roster size limits in place of scholarship counts, and I suspect conferences don’t audit scholarships, which as you indicate are complicated and debatable. I think the NCAA got rid of scholarship counts just because what is
a scholarship is undefinable when mixed with other payments.

An FCS conference can set a limit and some do. The Big Sky limit is 63.
Last week the Missouri Valley Football Conference, just decided not to set a cap, joining these listed from google AI:
CAA: The CAA has mandated that all member institutions opt-in to the new NCAA rules, effectively removing the scholarship cap.
NEC: The Northeast Conference has also opted into the new rules, allowing for up to 105 scholarships, mirroring the new NCAA roster limit.
Southland: The Southland Conference will not enforce a football scholarship cap, allowing its members to distribute scholarships as they choose within the 105-player roster limit.
Here is why, also from google AI
NCAA Changes: The NCAA has eliminated the previous scholarship caps for most Division 1 sports, including football, and implemented roster limits instead.
House Settlement: The House vs. NCAA settlement, which includes provisions for revenue sharing and the changes to scholarship limits, is prompting these changes.
Conference Autonomy: While the NCAA has made these changes, individual conferences, like the MVFC, have the ability to set their own rules and scholarship caps.

Now that North Dakota State and other MVFC teams can have 105 scholarships while SEC teams have limited themselves to 83, the FBS / FCS distinction is ridiculous.

Gould’s tenure coincided with the beginning of an impressive string of running backs. If this years running backs live up to the average of the last ten years they’ll be fine,
I noticed Larison saying in one of his interviews that our run game was not as dominant last year as the year before. That might be play calling as much as personnel, teams are better at what they believe in and commit to.

On the subject of coaches familiar with both Biggs, Plough and Gould, Kevin Daft is now the tight end coach at Dartmouth, no longer the offensive coordinator.
Here is how Dartmouth summarizes the Daft/Gould offense in the final year ( 3-8 record)
In his final season, the Aggies averaged over 28 points and nearly 400 total yards — of which 238 came through the air. UC Davis also ranked 14th among FCS schools in fewest interceptions thrown (7) and 10th in fewest turnovers lost (13) under his guidance in 2016.

One opposing coach, struggling to find something positive to say about Davis, settled on they “always line up correctly”.

I recall on the pregame show of that game Gould saying something along the lines of “i don’t know how things were done here before, but now we are going to pay attention to detail”. I took it as disrespectful of Biggs and his coaches. I wonder what players and coaches who worked under both thought of the two.

He transferred from Boise, was nearly a 4 star recruit for Boise (89 rating). He was from Rocklin.
Transferred at start of Gould era. Played in August and September 2013 making some starts, lost job again to Wright.