I played in the 1992 playoff game against Portland state. We got off the plane on Friday in Portland in the pouring rain. We did our walk through in pouring rain. We went to bed and it was still raining. We woke up Saturday morning to pouring rain. We played the game in a complete downpour. Khari Jones couldn't grip the ball and the defense was on roller skates. Portland State had no problems at all. We lost 42-28 after scoring some points late. I'll never forget that game. It should have been played in Davis as we were the higher ranked team, but that's how things went in the D2 days. Oh, and when the plane took off, it was still raining. I never knew it could rain that much.

They must have run out of Deschutes!

Welcome back to Portland! My oldest son and I will be there too. Let's make sure we connect in person.

several of their tailgaters joined us at one point and I was amazed at their knowledge of our team - they’d been watching film.

I also remember one guy taking about how we were well coached and had some talented players but ‘y’all need some more brothers out there’. I think he meant we lacked speed in the skill positions.

I think the main argument for artificial turf comes down to it looks nicer and short term holds up better in extreme weather. It’s not the environmental wonder the manufacturers claim. It is not water or maintenance free, still has to be rinsed and repaired. It is mostly made of dinosaur juice and has a finite number of uses before it must be thrown away and replaced. In my area in the southeast, high schools use artificial but most universities use Tifway 419, Celebration, or Latitude Bermuda. When I was managing multi use fields, we used natural turf because we could adjust the “speed” of the grass based on height/method of mowing, application timing of water, etc. At elite levels, soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse have different requirements. For example the German national soccer team has requirements to the millimeter, and I had the equipment and the guys who could do it. But it requires downtime for grass to grow between use cases. Artificial is a one-size-fits-all when you lack that kind of expertise or grow time. Football is the least prissy of the sports about grass.

In Portland! Looking forward to the game tomorrow.

Let's whip those Vikings, looking for a massive game for Lan. Let's find the next gear!

Rocko - that was a terrible message. Rewrote for you. You need to do a better and more strategic job communicating.

As many of our fans are aware, the college athletics landscape continues to shift as conferences realign and athletic departments work to incorporate newly implemented policies. At UC Davis, we are incredibly proud to have one of the largest and most diverse athletic departments in the nation. The number and quality of our student athletes is unparalleled relative to the financial resources that we have available as an athletic department. And while we are mindful of the changing landscape, our institutional leadership is focused on providing the best experience for our student athletes and fans over the coming decades.

The path to ensure the success of UC Davis Athletics over the near and long term is through enhanced student, fan and partnership engagement throughout each of our programs. We are incredibly proud of the support that we have received, including our new football and student performance center, one of the finest facilities in the west. And following a month with big wins by Aggie Football (over #5), Volleyball (over UCLA) and soccer (over LSU), to name a few, we are excited to announce [insert development department/fan travel/whatever].

Our AD sent out the tweet that generated all this FBS excitement and speculation just after we had a crowd of nearly 15,000 in the stadium for our first game. So, maybe he was just putting out a teaser that it might be time for a second tier expansion.

Unfortunately, it coincided with the PAC12 announcement that they were adding new members and Aggie fans got excited and thought it may mean that we might be considering a move to FBS. In hindsight, I think it just may have been an innocent tweet reflecting his excitement about the large crowd we just had and suggesting that maybe we'll need to add a second level at the stadium pretty soon.

No harm, no foul as I see it but it sure generated a lot of passionate discussion about the future of Aggie Athletics which is a good thing!

I get it. It was kind of a pipe dream anyway, but it was fun to dream. And to be frank, do we want to join FBS in its current state? I say we let the dust settle and see where all this plays out.

Having said that, it's not a good email. Blaming donations is a copout for his careless tweet.

he said he was willing to come on when we spoke!

It's a really disappointing email. Across the Causeway, there is a committee of business and government leaders coordinating this effort to let the college football world know that this program is interested in going to the FBS/Pac-12. They have a website, have generated a lot of press coverage merely by forming this committee, and just announced a $35M fundraising achievement (which generates even more press coverage and support). Meanwhile at UCD, after waiting nearly 2 weeks following a cryptic tweet from the AD, we finally get this email that reveals UCD isn't serious about moving up and asking us to buy season tickets for basketball. What?

What catalyzes fan and donor support is having an athletics department actually take a leadership role in spelling out a vision that the fanbase and community can get excited about. Tweeting a picture and hoping the donations start pouring in, without any public expression that our program is interested in moving up, is an inferior approach.

In Plough's comments and now Rocko's, there seems to be this strange reluctance to commit to being interested in FBS without a commitment from the fanbase to support that move. But they'll never know if that support is there if they don't take ownership in ambitiously pursuing it, as Sac State has done. Sac and UCD each faced a decision about whether to keep its football program relevant or get left behind. Sac immediately told the world it wants to be in the Pac12 whereas UCD waited 2 weeks only to lecture its fan base on how we can't do this without money. That silence and inaction is itself a decision and the biggest question in the conversation now, unfortunately, seems to be whether the FBS would take Sac State without UC Davis.

I used to live in Natomas. It actually was quicker to get in and out Golden One than Arco.

I was just about to post the same thing! We absolutely need to have a regular Aggie Pride Podcast for basketball. I grew up in a small town in Indiana and basketball is in my blood especially college basketball and, like Aggie football, I want to see Aggie basketball continue to grow and get better.

Jim Les is one of the best basketball head coaches on the west coast. He doesn't routinely get the most highly rated players that some of the other teams like Santa Barbara are able to recruit but no coach in the conference has the ability to get more out of his players he does. He is also a master at finding "diamonds-in-the-rough" and developing them into great players. One thing for sure, his teams play smart and hard and always compete with 100% effort.

Just planting the seed now for weekly Men’s Basketball episodes as we get to that season.

"Idaho, check!"

This was a really great episode. Loved hearing the in-game thought process that went into some of the major decisions, lessons learned from the game, and overall coaching philosophy around which Plough centers how he works with the players. Also loved the shoutout to SB3, he's one of the best in our community and hearing his name and impact in a space I wasn't expecting really shows how small/close our community can be, and how Aggie Pride is not just about football but the lifelong connections we make with some really incredible people here.

On another note... which one of us was the one who went over to the Aggie Pack and started teaching them cheers? I find that so amusing given the frustrations we've seen on these boards about the crowd noise. At some point it would be great to hear an interview with Scott Judson and Chris Perry, the Aggie Pack MCs from the first few years of Division I when we had a raucous (and football-informed) student section.

I liked Plough’s comments on APP regarding Hawkins trying to build a program, and build a division 1 thought process.
Hawkins came in at a time he was desperately needed and we were fortunate to have him for the time we did.
I think Plough is carrying that torch well.

Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2qoVjq4Mms2BnFa6aj00pF?si=XmnBBsv0QTKJXUeUrEKiuA

Apple Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aggie-pride-a-uc-davis-football-podcast/id1758625363?i=1000671456100

In this PACKED episode of Aggie Pride: A UC DavisFootball Podcast, Brock and Dwight celebrate UC Davis football's thrilling 28-26 victory over the Idaho Vandals, marking a historic moment that elevated the team to eighth in the nation. The podcast also announces a significant new sponsorship from University Credit Union, with co-host Dwight sharing nostalgic game-day memories and his thoughts on the synergy of the partnership. The episode delves into the impact of Brock providing the squad with Bulletin Board material, interviews Head Coach Tim Plough’s “go for the win strategy”, and gives all the flowers to quarterback Miles Hastings and his outstanding performance. The importance of turnovers and maintaining team focus is highlighted alongside reflections on recent challenges and excitement for future games. Additionally, updates on SAC State's stadium plans are discussed, encouraging continued fan support and community enthusiasm for upcoming games.

Exciting news! We are thrilled to announce University Credit Union as the title sponsor of our podcast, supporting our mission to spread the news about Aggie Pride and UC Davis Football. Thank you to their community minded team for their belief in our POD and the UC Davis Athletics mission! Go Ags!

Came across a car wash product called “ONR”, recommended to me by one of my employees who’s husband does detailing. Can get through Amazon or car professional channels. Mix it 1oz to a bucket of water, can give the car a no-rinse sponge bath, or 1oz to a spray bottle of distilled water makes a good spot free interior and exterior detail spray. In my case it’s too hot outside to wash the car right now without water spots drying so I can do a quick maintenance wash in the garage without making a mess. For those of you with water restrictions you could do a weekly wash with just a couple gallons. I was skeptical of an “everything” product but I upgraded to a car worth keeping shiny and it’s been working.

Sac is moving full speed ahead on their desire to build a new football stadium and try to get an invite to the PAC12 or the MWC or both. I'm not surprised by this at all. By comparison, we've heard nothing official other than a couple of teaser tweets about a second level at our stadium. So all we can do at this point is to assume that the university is not seriously entertaining thoughts of moving up to the FBS level.

Here are some thoughts comparing Sac and Davis in regard to possibly moving up to FBS at this point:

1. Sac has the geographic advantage of being located in the center of the greater Sacramento area which continues to expand and grow in population. The greater Sacramento area is hungry for major sports and is a large media area. I think that Sac would have an easier time attracting fans to an FBS program than Davis initially due to their geographic advantage. However, fans at schools like Oregon State, which is located in the small community of Corvallis, drive much, much further than 20 miles to attend OSU games. Advantage Sac.

2. Davis does have a large number of alums living in the greater Sacramento area and is also a important and prominent employer in Sacramento with the UC Davis Medical Center including the UC Davis Medical School, the Tschannen Eye Institute, the MIND Institute, the Firefighters Burn Institute and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. The Aggie Square in Sacramento is currently under construction and will be a major expansion of UC Davis in Sacramento and is being built in the same neighborhood as the Medical Center. Bottom line: the presence and importance of UC Davis in Sacramento is growing rapidly. Advantage Davis.

3. UC Davis is by far a more prestigious and prominently recognized university than Sac. This is not a dig at Sac, it's just a fact of Davis being a part of the highly regarded UC system nationwide. UCD has the #1 ranked School of Veterinary Medicine in the nation and are the #2 ranked agriculture school in the nation among other rankings. This gives Davis a more widely recognized presence nationally than Sac. Advantage Davis.

4. Facilities: the Aggie football stadium and the basketball arena are far better currently than the facilities at Sac. The Aggie football stadium was originally built with plans that it could be expanded to 30,000 at some point. The Aggie basketball arena is far superior than Sac's tiny, outdated, "high school like" Hornet's Nest. Sac has plans for a new stadium and a better basketball facility but Davis has the current advantage in facilities and offers more sports for both men and women. Advantage Davis.

5. Sac has had more recent success in FCS football than Davis in the past few years. However, Davis has a longer and more storied football history. It is yet to be seen if Sac can continue the success built under Troy Taylor in the past few years now that he left to be the HC at Stanford. Davis currently has a wave of new energy under their new HC Tim Plough. The jury is still out as to how well either program will do for this year. Currently no overall advantage - draw.

6. Size: UC Davis 41,000 students, Sac 31,000 and enrollment continues to grow at both schools. Advantage Davis.

7. Endowments: UC Davis $2.2 billion in 2023, Sac $66.3 million in 2022. Advantage Davis.

8. Total revenues: UC Davis $7.1 billion in 2023-24, Sac $100 million in 2023. Advantage Davis.

9. Potential funding sources for athletics: UC Davis has a lot of deep pocketed alums who have been very successful in the fields of science, agriculture, viticulture and the arts and more. Would they step up and contribute to a higher level of athletics...? I'm sure that Sac has deep pocketed alums from their business school who live in the Sacramento area and would probably support Sac's move to FBS. No advantage - the jury is out for both schools- draw.

I was and still remain pretty skeptical of either schools getting a PAC12 invite but, after reading a lot of comments in this thread, I'm beginning to think that FCS football in California, or even the west coast for that matter, may not be viable in the long run. As Portland Aggie mentioned previously. FBS might be the only solution to keep football alive and growing at some point in the future and it seems like there is a possible opportunity now as PAC12 tries to revive itself and the MWC tries to survive.

There are a lot of moving parts and significant financial hurdles for both schools but Sac is making no bones about their desire to get the ball rolling and try and make the move. I'm not sure it would bode well for the future of Aggie football if Sac successfully makes the move to FBS and we don't. It might be best for both of us to move up.

Lot’s of fans are very proud at how he’s handled adversary yet had a tremendous game Saturday. Please let him know we’re proud of him!

Classic trap game: Ags coming off a big win facing a winless team in their first home game. The guys can't go in thinking "We go this."

The current students and alumni are not interested in FCS football, so last night's low attendance was not surprising.

But if we build it, students will start attending UC Davis for the education AND athletics. It will take time, but the fan base will grow, and some alumni will start showing interest.

Attendance will not change until we change.

The attendance was a big disappointment. Seriously...nearly 6,000 less than last week in a game against the #4 team in the country...WTF!

I swear, most of our fans who do attend our games just don't know how to be great, supportive fans either. This game was a nail biter and the majority of them sit there quietly for 98% of the game and many leave early even when the game is on the line. It's disheartening to see the players turning around and waving their towels and imploring the fans to stand up and get loud on critical third and 4th down plays. The 100 or so Idaho fans were actually louder than the Aggie Pack except when pizzas or something was being given away. Whenever I jump up and cheer I can almost feel the eyeballs on my back from the fans around me who just want me to sit down, be quiet and not block their view.

Over 13,000 Aggie fans packed into The Toom for the game against #1 Nevada back in 1977 and the place was electric. I've never seen a game atmosphere anywhere close to that in our new stadium even though the population of the community and the university have increased immensely and we're playing at a high talent level in a higher division in a great facility in the toughest football conference in the FCS.

I know there's been a lot of scuttlebutt and excitement here lately about the remote possibility of us moving to the FBS level at some point but the low attendance in a game like this makes me wonder if Davis community and the students would ever come together and participate in a great collegiate, game day atmosphere. The students as a whole simply don't seem to care much about athletics and the community at large seems to be more comfortable at the Mondavi Center listening to a lecture or a chamber orchestra. Going to a football game and really getting behind the team vocally is just too boorish for many of them and most of those who do come to the games are too inhibited to actually loosen up a bit, get on their feet, cheer and have a fun.

Things that went well:
- Credit where credit is due, Miles Hastings had a truly tremendous game. Completed 25/32 (78.13%) for 248 yards and 3 TDs with NO INTERCEPTIONS against a very good defense. The only thing I really didn't like was that he stared down a sack or 2, but that's not the story of the day. Miles absolutely killed it and had complete command of the offense.
- Red zone offense was impactful. Not having to settle for field goals every single drive was nice!
- Defense is continuing to force turnovers. Most of the picks were just bad throws from the Idaho QBs and not necessarily hyper athletic plays from our DBs, but turnovers are turnovers.
- A WIN OVER THE #4 TEAM IN THE COUNTRY!

Things that need to be improved:
- Pass defense needs some work. Now this could be multi-factorial in the fact that we weren't getting a ton of pressure on their QBs especially in the 1st half, but the biggest thing was our DBs were just playing like 10+ yards off the receiver. Just too many easy easy completions for the Vandals.
- Offensive line is still not doing the work to get the run game going. Lan Larison is amazing, but this line just isn't giving him the opportunities which has been a running theme throughout the season.
- Play calling and coaching directly handed Idaho a lifeline to get back into the game in the 4th quarter. This game was over... OVER... if you knock in a FG and go up 14 and instead we had to nail bite through a 2 point conversion and an onside kick attempt. I'm willing to give Plough some leeway as a first time HC, but that play calling in the 4th quarter was unacceptable.
- Containing QBs that can run continues to be somewhat of a problem for us. Now I know we weren't really preparing for Josifek to be playing, but his legs got the Vandals several 1st downs keeping them alive.
- Averaged 35.4 yards per punt... woof

GO AGS!

Sac loses, Davis wins. I have to say, today was a good day.

AGGIE BALL! AGGIES WIN! AGGIES TAKE DOWN THE #4 VANDALS!

Another great podcast! I can’t imagine all the work that goes into putting one together. I (We) appreciate it.