I hope that forecast holds. It would be a bummer if rain kept the fans away.

Any idea if their will be food trucks in the tailgate area prior to the game?

Bob Dunning: Come on out for the Aggies’ big day

Aggie Stadium seats nearly 11,000 people and it would be shame if there were even a single empty seat come game time Saturday … game time, incidentally, is 4 p.m., which gives everyone a chance to shop till they drop at the Farmers Market, attend your kid’s soccer game, then pack up a picnic lunch and bring it to the stadium … yes, they allow outside food these days, so you may as well take advantage …

The game will be over around 7 p.m. if you wish to save your appetite for your favorite restaurant or prefer to go home and order a pizza … tickets are just 10 bucks, which is a steal by anyone’s standards these days … UC Davis officials have intentionally kept the cost low in the hope that a loud, raucous, sold-out stadium will give our local heroes the oft-cited home field advantage against the visitors from Northern Iowa …

https://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/dunning/bob-dunning-come-on-out-for-the-aggies-big-day/

Morgan Bertsch and Kourtney Eaton are about to enter the top of two more UCD basketball records:

With her performance, Bertsch now needs just 12 more points to pass Audwin Thomas, a four-year letter winner for the men’s basketball team from 1975-79, to become the all-time leading scorer in UC Davis men’s and women’s basketball history, while Kourtney Eaton is now five assists away from matching head coach Jennifer Gross for the all-time Aggie record

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/ucd-womens-rally-falls-short-against-loyola/

I watched the game and the Hoosiers were never in it from the start. Duke steamrolled them from the get go. Duke's Zion Williamson threw down one of the most thunderous dunks I've ever seen too:

I know exactly the play you mentions and it was the nail in the coffin. We were down 3 with maybe a minute and a few ticks left when we forced a missed 3 with good D and then, instead of going to the ball assertively, we stood there flat-footed. An LMU player came up aggressively from behind and snatched the ball away from an Aggie. It happened like that all too often in this game.

There's a long way to go yet this season but we need to find some offensive weapons on this team. Bertsch, arguably the best offensive player the Aggies have ever had, and she's essentially carrying the team offense with some help from Bessolo. Our opponents are going to focus hard on shutting her down especially when they do not think the Ags have much reliable offense behind her.

LMU beats the Ags 60-53 and fall to 2-4 for the season. The story of this game was that the Lions were the more aggressive team and the stats don't lie: they won the offensive boards 22-5 which resulted in 22 2nd chance points. They competed hard for the ball while the Ags lost one offensive board after another.

Two other areas that the Ags are struggling with are 3 point shooting and a lack of offensive scoring balance. Outside of Bertsch and Bessolo no one is scoring with any consistency. We were shooting 27% from 3 on the year coming into this game and today we shot 22%. Bertsch and Bessolo are the only two Ags averaging double figures and, after that, Cierra McKeown averages 5.2 ppg.

Our bench production has been anemic. We have not seen the offense that I'm sure Jen Gross had hoped for from Konrad, Toole and Stobbart so far and Cierra Hall, who is a great defender and rebounder, struggles getting shots to fall.

Offensive rebounding has always been the Achilles heel of the Aggies. It's hard to know why Jen Gross' teams are generally not good rebounding teams. Even last year's outstanding team got beat on the boards with regularity. We field good size but we tend to stand around flat-footed and get beat to the ball on the boards.

Last year's team would win games like these despite the rebounding woes though because they shot the ball well from downtown. This year's team does not shoot the ball well from 3 and, hence, they are losing games that last year's team would win. We'll have to wait and see if anyone other than Bertsch and Bessolo can bring some offensive balance to the team and whether Gross can will her troops to play more aggressively on the boards.

Video feed is down and the Ags fall behind quickly 46-42 to start the 4th. We really struggle to shoot the ball from the outside.

I'm sure that the Bee has more employees who have attended Sac St than Davis.

27-26 LMU at the half. The Ads are fortunate to only be down one at the half. LMU has been the aggressor and out rebounded the Ags by 11 boards which has resulted in 16 2nd chance points for the Lions. We are 2-12 from 3. No Cierra McKeown or Makaila Sanders on the bench either.

The Ags are being totally outplayed in the last 5 minutes. LMU turned up the pressure and the Ags have gotten ragged with the ball. We've seen that too often this season where the Aggies get lackadaisical and unfocused.

Ags lead 17-13 after the first quarter in a fast paced game.

Ok..I just donated $15 more so I hope that funds us completely. Thanks for your administrative support, PortlandAggie.

Thanks for coming over and writing such an informative post about UNI. When I think of the dominate programs in FCS history I think of UNI being right up near the top with NDSU.

Quite frankly, I'm not sure how we will fare against the Panthers for many of the reasons that you noted about the talent you have. I'm worried about the battle in the trenches with the size and skill of the UNI offensive and defensive lines. The Panthers could control the tempo of the game if we get pushed around a lot at the LOS on both sides of the ball.

How well our O line is able to protect Maier will be a key for the Aggies. Maier is a great field general who makes good decisions but he isn't particularly mobile. He does have the uncanny ability to throw the ball with good accuracy from just about any position his body is in when he is under pressure. However, he will also throw the ball into tight coverage when he's under duress. Luckily for us, it results in a completion more often than not since our WR's have consistently made great catches in traffic this season. However, throwing a pick or two against a team like UNI, who likes to control the clock when they get ahead, could be very tough for the Ags. We thrive on moving the ball quickly and scoring a bunch and we'll need to do that to win on Saturday.

Defensively, we tend to be a bend don't break team. We'll be severely challenged to slow down the Panthers' running game. We've been decent in our run defense this year but we haven't faced many teams with size and talent of the the UNI O line. I would think that the Panthers would be happy as a clam to run the ball at 4-7 yards a pop. Even though we bend on defense we have done a pretty good job of creating TO's this year and our LB's and DB's are very capable of making big plays.

On our behalf, we have great talent at the skill positions and we can score with lightening speed through the air and on the ground. I expect Maier will be pressured and will have to get the ball out quickly to our receivers and RB's. We have a bevy of players who can catch the ball and gain yards after the catch. We love to get the ball to our RB's in the flats and then let them do their thing in space. I don't expect we'll see many bombs attempted by the Aggies. It will be more of Maier finding receivers in the flats and in the seams on quick hitters and short to medium routes.

We also have a good stable of RB's who have speed and quickness. Gilliam is especially elusive and can cut and juke on a dime. Thomas has great speed for his size and can break tackles with his power. Modise hits the hole fast and can accelerate quickly. If we can establish a good running attack we'll be tough to stop once the offense gets rolling.

With all that said, the key of the game for me is who will win the battle of the lines in the trenches and who will make the fewest mistakes.

This game has all the makings of a good one.

Somebody ponied up to buy out his contract too.

The Aggie success this year has been driving Hornets fans crazy and, what few of them are left, have been crying for Sears' head pretty much all season.

Does anyone know if there will be food trucks and beer vendors available before the game to the general public as well as the students?

The students also get to choose what kind of tailgate entertainment they want: a live band or a DJ. DrMike is right, if this promotion doesn't bring the students out, it's hopeless...

From the Eastern Iowa Gazette article:

After the game, Farley complimented wide receivers coach Pat McCann, who for the second consecutive week assumed play-calling duties with offensive coordinator John Bond absent due to family issues.

“It might have been the most well-coached offensive football game adjusting-wise that I’ve been involved with in a long time,” Farley said.

That's not good business. The ticketing needs to improve.

The Massey Ratings currently has the Ags a 7.5 point favorites:



https://www.masseyratings.com/cf/11605/games?dt=20181127