An artificial turf baseball field. How gross! I saw this when touring some D3 schools back east with my kids. That is not even baseball in my opinion. I feel if a school wants to do that or needs to cut costs, they should just drop the sport instead.

Plenty of FBS grass fields. Davis is blessed with separate soccer and track & field facilities and only shares with women's lacrosse, correct? That is really easy on the grass, but you would basically lose the stadium as a practice venue in around October or so when it starts getting damp. Is Biggs large enough to actually practice there every day? I am all for it if they can figure out the logistics.

I generally agree, but I think .500 would be bare minimum assuming we retain the current staff and the positive recruiting trend continues. People seem to forget last time we played NDSU we lost by 9 (shouldve been closer) on their turf and we're arguably much more talented now.

I just can't get fired-up about playing "exciting" new opponents (like Nevada and San Jose St.), striving for barely .500 seasons, getting monkey-stomped in another money game, and hoping to receive a crappy bowl bid. Give me a weekend in January in Nashville and an FCS national championship (hell, even a Quarterfinal win) until college football listens to my man SailorGabe and splits and makes another level of playoffs for that lower group.

Interesting point about Nebraska and NDSU. Different measures of success there but interesting analogy. I'd bet NDSU does better as a mid-major before Nebraska does anything significant in the Big10/Power 4.

UCD defeated Sac in women's golf over the last two days at the Causeway Invitational at Del Paso Country Club in Sacramento. UCD finished 2nd of ten teams with 220 strokes. Sac was one place and one stroke behind.

Running causeway score is now UCD 44.17, CSUS 11.67. Scoring is somewhat murky as the UCD site lists two events in which both schools are competing, however the schools' schedules list three events.

Which leads to the next competition, maybe. Schedule for both schools say their beach volleyball teams will meet this coming Friday, February 27th, at the Battle for the Bay in Berkeley. UCD's Causeway site does not mention the meet. As noted, CSUS has given up posting anything suggesting a Causeway Cup competition.

I never said it sounded lucrative -> that was SocherField's sarcastic reply!

I don't have interest in reading the report (which seems to be in dispute), but that seems like a very big number! Out of town fans flooding the hotels to watch Akron? Local TV/radio contracts skyrocketing? Just seems like a bit of a stretch, but, what do i know.

Rained-out 6 hours before gametime?

Also, no gametime for next Tuesday at SMC. Anyone have any info on that one?

Following another grind out win, this one over CSU Fullerton, Davis travels to the Islands to take on a resurgent University of Hawaii team, originally the conference preseason favorite. Marginally in 2nd place ahead of UC San Diego, the Aggies will need to dig deep at the toughest place for visitors in the Big West. A win keeps UCD in control of their own destiny, while a loss would drop Davis back into 3rd place, and all but cede the top two place to Irvine and San Diego.

Hawaii is led by Bailey Flavell (13.2), with Saniyah Reversion and Kelara Curtis adding 9 points each. Imani Perez tops the Wahine on the boards with 6 a game, followed by Neverson with 5. Hawaii scores 63 ppg and is tough defensively, only conceding only 58 ppg. The Wahine may have extra motivation to upend the Ags…looking for payback after a 21-2 Aggie run over the final five minutes gave UCD a comeback W in both team’s Big West opener in December.

Ryann Bennett at 15.8 ppg continues to pace UCD in scoring, with Nya Epps (12.8), Megan Norris (12.5), and Avery Sussex (11.5) providing support. Norris also paces the Aggies in rebounding at 13.2 rpg, leading Big West, while Tegan Young and Nya Epps each add 4+ boards a game. The Aggies put up 70 points a game, and hold opponents to 64. Davis will need to be on their game in Honolulu, and not expect Hawaii to gift them with 25 turnovers as the Wahine did in the earlier game.

Air Force hosting Army, Boise, and Wyo surely helped boost their numbers. Personally, I don't see Davis ever being much more than a 15k attendance program at best unless some things change drastically. I agree with playing as many night games as possible, but TV will dictate that in the FBS, which probably works in favor of the Ags playing more night games. Not a whole lot that can be done for shade aside from the kickoff time, that place is like sitting in frying pan at times.

So, by this graphic we're already maybe 8th or 9th for attendance in the 10 team MWC...with potential to get that up to maybe No. 5 or No. 6.

Look at Air Force, great attendance

This is why an aggie stadium maxed at say 18k-20k would just make more sense. Focus on innovative bar seating and suites rather than thousands of extra bleacher seats beyond whats needed. I was surprised how many more people attend MW games on average compared to Big Sky games. Even in our current stadium at the FCS level we averaged 12,991 (basically 13k) per game last season which is comparable to some of the bottom of the HW.

Here at the averages for Big Sky schools last year for comparison (which outside of the top SHOCKED me):

University of Montana ~26,464 fans per game
Montana State University ~21,877 fans per game
Sac State ~15,468
UC Davis ~12,991 fans per game
University of Idaho ~9,970 fans per game
Northern Arizona University ~8,990 fans per game
Idaho State University ~7,550 fans per game
Eastern Washington University ~5,450 fans per game
Weber State University ~4,070 fans per game
Portland State University ~3,580 fans per game
University of Northern Colorado ~3,820 fans per game

interesting that both Reno and San Jose reduced capacity after renovating. Reno hasn’t been getting close to filling that for awhile.



Some fairly empty stadiums in the new MWC.

When we move to FBS I see our capacity at 22k with one grass berm in front of expanded video board, then later add additional suites/premium seats next to and above bob foster team center. This will leave us space to expand to 25k in future if ever necessary by filling in other grass berm. 30k will never happen and isn’t necessary in modern college football in CA. 22-25k with more luxury/premium seats is the way to go!

I’m pretty sure there is no longer an attendance minimum requirement anymore. .

And Les' record here is around .500.

Plough doesn’t seem like a guy who’d settle for “coasting,”

“ Have you guys seen what Mike Bibby is getting paid to lead a terrible Hornets bball team?”

I had to look it up. $521,000! Holy smoke. Are these guys printing their own money? I wonder what Tim’s contract extension is worth?

NDSU will open a lot of eyes in the FBS world

I think NDSU is going to prove that there is a path for much greater success than .500 in the MWC, even for UCD when/if that happens. Pundits have NDSU middle of the pack, but their brand of football is going to be an awakening for these MWC programs. And we're all accustomed to NDSU in a world with less scholarships to go around.. Will be interesting.

Some Alabama State pics....Definitely a resemblance to Aggie Stadium in many ways.
When the Press Box add is built, the view over the campus and water tower is going to be nice (like the 3rd ASU pic).

Getting a top-2 seed is the most important thing since you get the double-bye, but getting the 1 seed would be huge this year. Upsets happen, but there seems to be a clear top-3. So if you get the 1, you only have to beat 1 of the other 2 if you make the final. If you're the 2 or the 3, you'll likely have to beat both of the other good teams to make the tournament.

I was looking at the other thread right after I asked Jdur the question, the thread with the stadium pics and would guess that it would end-up similar to Utah State or SIU. Those stadium pics are a good reference. The Alabama State stadium essentially combines Jdur's mock-up with a press box/suite area on our current visitor side. If I know how to slap pictures onto this thread I'd do it :grin:

5 reasons to worry about Luke Wood’s $23M Sac State-MAC football deal | Opinion

https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article314778931.html

I'll try to cut & paste later today, but as agalum noted, pretty much sums up our comments over the past months.

From Reddit

We Are Now 6 Teams Away From The Amount It Was When D1 Split Into FBS and FCS In 1977.
Could We See Another Split?

When D1 football split into two divisions (FBS and
FCS) there were 144 teams. We are now back up to 138 teams in FBS. Could we possibly see another split within the FBS to where we could see 3 separate divisions in D1 in the next 10 years or less?

CFB/s/R9dxu7UtAF

Final score: Ags 13 Santa Clara 8

Great game. Really happy with our offense in the last few games. Quite a bit more power than I expected from the bats thus far, especially against a team that split a series with the Golden Bears.

And just like that the Ags are 3-4 with a series win. Will do a recap soon

Hahaha glad these last 13 or so innings the offense has picked up!

Oh my Hirschkorn, the offense came to play today 9-3

TYLER HOWARD 3 RUN TANK

As recently as 2012, before they joined the Big West, Hawai'i was in the WAC with such schools as Boise State, Nevada and UNLV. Going back to 1999, the WAC also included Wyoming, Air Force, BYU and Colorado State. They were competitive back then and fans here thought Hawai`i was stepping down and would dominate in the Big West. Not so much.

Aggies look to take the series vs Santa Clara after winning a thriller game 2. Would like to see the offense come alive against the Sunday starter for Santa Clara who I assume is going to be freshman Jackson Cook.

First game of the series the Ags dropped 5-2 with the bats never being able to get it going after a solid start from Noel Valdez. The second game of the series was a good one, with homers from Ryan Lee and Jaxon Murphy (go-ahead 3-run homer in the 8th) and good bullpen performances from UCSB transfer Peter Storjohann, freshman Taylor Werth, and the Lermanator bridging the gap to Barney. Final score was 6-4.

I'm going to guess that it's going to be freshman vs. freshman on the mound today with Jack Pezzolo taking the mound for the Ags. He dominated Texas last Saturday, hoping to see another great performance from him. Pez is one of my personal favorite players, been watching him throw all spring with a low 90's FB, and a filthy changeup-slider mix. Let's hope to take the series and go into the Cal home and home series with some momentum.

It’s been a long while since the Aggies were in Honolulu losing to Hawai`i and both teams are very different now. Hawai`i has faded. At home on Saturday, they barely won in overtime after UCSB’s Aidan Mahoney fouled out. In their two losses to CSUN and Cal Poly, the Rainbows 3-point shooting disappeared, as the combined percentage of those two games was 20.1%. Another problem for Hawai’i has been the injury to their point guard, Aaron Hunkin-Claytor who was averaging 3.9 assists per game, fifth best in the Big West (the Aggies’ Brayden Fagbemi and Marcus Wilson, by the way, are third and fourth). This might account for the way they have been turning the ball over at the rate of nearly 14 per game and their assist to turnover ratio is 1.0. Finally, Hawai`i has not been good on the road, which has been a common problem, having gone 4-4. Meanwhile, we know how up and down the Ags have been all season and it’s time to give up on seeing any consistency. If the “good” Ags show up on Thursday. They can win. Otherwise…

Following another gritty win, the Aggies need to guard against a let-down against a weaker, but still dangerous opponent. Davis needs to win-out and get some help in order to nab even a share of the championship. Since Irvine visits UCSD tomorrow, one of the two teams above them will pickup a loss - hopefully the Tritons, since UCD hosts the Anteaters in the regular season finale.

Despite boasting the Big West’s leading scorer, UCR sits 7th in the conference offensively at 64 ppg. Defensively, the Roadrunners allow 65 points a contest. Hannah Wickstrom’s 23.2 ppg leads Riverside’s offense, followed by Seneca Hackley (10.4). Wickstrom also gets 7 rpg to lead UCR in that category as well. Former Aggie, Bria Shine, now a grad student at Riverside, adds 5 boards as well as 4 points a game, playing 28 mpg.

The Aggies put four players in double figures: Ryann Bennett (15.7), Nya Epps (12.9), Megan Norris (12.67 and Avery Sussex (11.2). Norris paces the Aggies in rebounding at 13.1 rpg, while four players get 4-5 boards a game. UCD averages 70 ppg, while conceding 64. Davis need come out focused and take care of business against the seventh place Roadrunners. A win tomorrow afternoon keeps the Big West regular season title very in play, while a loss would all but end them.

Not going to start a new thread for this, but was reading an article in Vanity Fair about the super elite meet and greet over in Monte Rio that we aren't supposed to know or talk about - you know the place, in the redwoods with the giant owl statue: Bohemian Grove.. This article:

https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/share/895a393a-52cc-46f5-a055-404e91c291bf

Long story short, the author mentions a run in with your former football coach at Bohemian Grove!.. kind of interesting:

Only one elderly gentleman has arrived, so I plunk myself down two chairs away from him. It turns out he is the retired coach of the U.C. Davis football team. We talk football. I tell him about the crucial sack my son, a six-foot-six-inch defensive end for the Yale Bulldogs, made during the 2003 Harvard-Yale game. He says Davis plays in Division I-AA, same as the Ivy League. He couldn’t be nicer. “You sure have a good time in here,” I say as I study the program for this year’s encampment, and the old coach says with a blissed-out smile, “Yes, we sure do.

Small world for sure! Personally, I always thought they were talking about global domination and how to make light bulbs burn out faster there, but never thought they were talking FCS football!

So, I'm thinking.. who could this retired UC Davis "old coach" be at the Grove? The timeline appears to be fitting Jim Sochor.. Thankfully wikileaks gave us the list of attendees from 2008 and sure enough, it's Sochor:

https://wikileaks.org/wiki/Bohemian_Grove_Guest_List_2008 Hilarious!

Since Jim has passed (RIP) Maybe you guys should ask the Bohemian Grove members for money for the stadium expansion, I've heard most of them are super well to do.. They might ask you to sacrifice an effigy in front of a giant owl to get the money, but it's probably worth it if you can somehow screw over Sac State in some sort of Mountain West Conference FBS move.

Here you go folks!