Lots of examples where walk-ons turn into major contributors. Lamont Shamburger is a recent example.

They only allow 58 to travel to away games under Big Sky rules. I have long thought they should get rid of the FBS and FCS distinction by compromising on something like 73 scholarships, but with the multiple ways of paying players scholarship limits are too complicated to enforce, so now they substituted roster limits. A large roster is desirable because it is difficult to predict which HS players will be good at the college level, so sorting takes place after they are on the team.

If fewer men participate fewer women are needed to meet the proportionality requirements, but if the same number if men have scholarships then the women would continue to get the proportional amount of that resource.

What is the immediate benefit gained by giving up the immediate nearly nothing? Spread 63 scholarships over 105 players rather than 85? That dilutes the value of each scholarship so might not help recruiting. And maybe 85 is sufficient?

I loved the jersey combos that year. The gray and gold was awesome.

silent students don't help either. There's nothing a visiting team loves more than a silent student section.

Aggie Pack needs to educate those first years and build the student culture just like the coaches are building the football culture. They will catch the bug the first moment they discover they are impacting the game. Thats when it gets fun!

......I seem to remember for a few years they were doing rallies and teaching/practicing "Aggie Fight" and gameday stuff (It appears that 9/10 Davis 1st years have never been to a college game).
Are they still doing this?

1. What's it take to get students in the stands these days?
2. Do you see a bump in attendance should the Aggies take on stadium renovations and increase capactiy to say 20,000+ - along with a Mountain West home game schedule? This would take at a minimum 3 to 4 times the student involvement in my opinion to get the stadium marginally full for a game against say Air Force, Wyoming, Hawai'i, Northern Illinois, San Jose State, UNLV, UTEP...New Mexico.

I guess Chat GPT picked up on the fact we don't have officially listed #1's at QB/RB/WR.....kinda funny. 9-3 could happen though!

I hope you're joking about that. Kadeezy didn't do anything wrong. He's been respectful in his time here.

I was joking about using ChatGPT (an artificial intelligence application for your smartphone) to predict who would win the Big Sky Conference instead of actually playing the games. Looks like he went ahead and asked ChatGPT how well it thought the Aggies would do in the upcoming season. It was fun to see what AI thought would happen.

I've been told that the free version of ChatGPT hasn't been updated in a few years so it may have thought C.J. Hutton was still on the roster.

https://fbschedules.com/washington-state-adds-uc-davis-to-2028-football-schedule/

The Washington State Cougars have added the UC Davis Aggies to their 2028 football schedule, FBSchedules.com has learned. A copy of the football game contract with Washington State University was obtained from the University of California, Davis, via a state public records request.

UC Davis now has five future games scheduled against Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponents. In addition to Washington State in 2028, the Aggies will visit Washington in 2025, SMU in 2026, and UCLA in 2027 and 2029.

You guys are going to have a great year!

Aug 23 @ Mercer (FCS Kickoff Classic, Montgomery, AL)
Result: W 28–21

Passing: QB Aidan Williams – 22/35, 260 yds, 2 TD

Rushing: RB Ethan Cole – 18 carries, 100 yds, 1 TD

Receiving: WR Will Davis – 6 rec, 85 yds, 1 TD

Aug 30 @ Utah Tech
Result: W 35–17

Passing: Williams – 24/32, 275 yds, 3 TD

Rushing: Cole – 20 carries, 120 yds, 2 TD

Receiving: Davis – 7 rec, 95 yds

Sep 6 @ Washington (FBS)
Result: L 17–42

Passing: Williams – 20/40, 245 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT

Rushing: Cole – 15 carries, 60 yds

Receiving: Davis – 5 rec, 75 yds

Big Sky Conference Games
Sep 20 vs Southern Utah
Result: W 31–14

Passing: Williams – 21/30, 255 yds, 2 TD

Rushing: Cole – 22 carries, 115 yds, 1 TD

Receiving: Davis – 8 rec, 110 yds

Sep 27 vs Weber State
Result: W 27–24

Passing: Williams – 23/36, 280 yds, 2 TD

Rushing: Cole – 16/85 yds, 1 TD

Receiving: WR C.J. Hutton – 6 rec, 95 yds

Oct 4 @ Cal Poly
Result: W 34–20

Passing: Williams – 20/28, 240 yds, 2 TD

Rushing: Cole – 18/105 yds

Receiving: Davis – 5 rec, 80 yds

Oct 11 vs Northern Arizona
Result: W 30–17

Passing: Williams – 25/33, 300 yds, 3 TD

Rushing: Cole – 15/90 yds, 1 TD

Receiving: Hutton – 7 rec, 110 yds, 1 TD

Oct 25 @ Northern Colorado
Result: W 38–21

Passing: Williams – 24/32, 290 yds, 3 TD

Rushing: Cole – 20/120 yds, 2 TD

Receiving: Davis – 6 rec, 100 yds, 1 TD

Nov 1 vs Idaho State
Result: W 42–14

Passing: Williams – 22/30, 280 yds, 4 TD

Rushing: Cole – 18/110 yds, 1 TD

Receiving: WR Marcus Reed – 5 rec, 80 yds, 2 TD

Nov 8 @ Idaho
Result: L 28–31 (OT)

Passing: Williams – 28/40, 320 yds, 3 TD, 1 INT

Rushing: Cole – 17/95 yds, 1 TD

Receiving: Hutton – 8 rec, 125 yds, 1 TD

Nov 15 @ Montana State
Result: L 21–35

Passing: Williams – 25/37, 310 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT

Rushing: Cole – 15/80 yds

Receiving: Davis – 7 rec, 90 yds

Nov 22 vs Sacramento State (Causeway Classic)
Result: W 31–28

Passing: Williams – 23/34, 285 yds, 2 TD

Rushing: Cole – 20/110 yds, 1 TD

Receiving: Hutton – 7 rec, 105 yds, 1 TD

"...the Pioneer shouldn't exist...."
He ain't lyin' about stealing a playoff spot.

I agree that Davis needs to make it over the hump as far as being a feared team and contender for a championship every year. UC Davis is right there at this moment.
The FCS powers should be the Montanas, the Dakotas, and California (Davis and Sac and CP).

Its looking like Sac and Davis are both mobilizing for this and understand the urgency.

As @PortlandAggie pointed out, Rickey Johnson has committed to the Ags! Looks like they recruited him to play LB. GO AGS!

coach lou might be my favorite human

thanks y’all! Some sweet guests coming up. Coach Lou Bronzan, Former WR/ current in-game emcee Darius Livingston and Hero Sports Editor Sam Herder.

Jessup U. has the public prayer too. It struck me as unusual because other religious-affiliated schools I've been to for games (Saint Mary's, Santa Clara, San Francisco) don't do this. If not for the big chapel, a first-time visitor to University of San Francisco would scarcely know it has a religious affiliation. The campus looks kind of like American River College on a hill in 1970.

I think the different prayer practice is because USF, SMC, SCU are all featured prominently in the cities in which they are located, They attract all kinds of townies who may not be religious. They still want these fans' business. Rocklin is already a bit exclusive . So anyone who follows the private college baseball team from Rocklin all the way to Lincoln to watch them play is probably a close-knit group that knows the drill and is totally good with it.

Did the Catholic kids really play better ?

They have a public prayer before each athletic contest also.

I grew up in a small town in Indiana and the Catholic kids went to their own school through the 8th grade and then they attended the only high school in town with everyone. They had the biggest and most ornate church in the town and it all seemed shrouded in mystery to me as a kid.

In basketball, they always crossed themselves whenever they shot FT's and, when we would play them in middle school basketball, I always thought they had an unfair advantage shooting FT's because they had the Lord on their side! :rofl:

Listening to that episode, and how those guys hyped up our transfers, I'm confident we're going to win a national championship! In all seriousness, another fantastic episode. It's good to have Dwight back!

Tuesday, 7/8/25 night livestream on YouTube: Link

Let's get those views and Podcast downloads up for Brock and Dwight.

Just bought airline tickets to Atlanta for Mercer game. Looks to be about a 2 hour drive to Montgomery from the airport. Was initially thinking of driving with travel trailer (Cramton Bowl has hookups) but too much time involved even from east coast. Aggie side is western stands so late sun will be on opponents side. Tickets are cheap ($23 for GA) Even thought of “ESPN zone “ for $103 which gives you AC, some food (no host bar) and a general admission seat if you want to slum in the real stands for a while. Probably will go cheap route.

yessir!

[
Any pod subscribers join tonight and ask a question to our guests live if you’d like!

This is a really helpful post! The minor-league and college stadium relationships are interesting..

I saw the same thing, looks like he plays with the mindset "risk it for the biscuit" . I think it will be up to the coaching staff, style of play whether Max makes the squad. Nevertheless it was way cool to say an Aggie on such a big stage!

Black student enrollment at Salt State in 2024 was 7%

Is Salt State a typo or a new nickname for CSUS ? If it's a new nickname I would be very interested to hear about the origin. Are the students over-seasoning their food ? If a typo you should contact UCD about a potential side job in sports information/marketng because this is better than Bog Biggs Field. When are we going to see IC Davis or UC David from them ?

:rofl:

I think you’ve built a theory with too many holes. Your thesis seems to be that Sac State has the capacity and intent to provide a culturally supportive environment for Black athletes, and will become a de facto [H]BCU within the CSU system.

1) To be meaningful and effective, a culturally supportive environment for Black athletes has to be based on a culturally supportive environment for all Black students. Black student enrollment at Sac State in 2024 was 7%. More than the other schools you listed, but I’m not sure it’s a significant difference. I certainly don’t think that it’s enough to provide the type of environment you’re talking about. The University of Mississippi has a Black student enrollment of 12%. The University of South Carolina has 15% (Journal of Blacks in Higher Education). I suspect that a survey of those campuses might not reflect a particularly culturally supportive environment for Black students.

Yes, Sac State has been recognized by the State Assembly as California’s first Black-serving institution, and should be congratulated for its efforts to increase Black student enrollment and graduation rates. However, Sac has previously been designated Hispanic-Serving Institution and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution. With the reality of budget, cuts, faculty layoffs, class cancellations and increases in student fees that are occurring, new initiatives like the Black Honors College will be impacted, as will students from underserved populations. There will be completion for the decreasing available funding.

It also runs counter to the current Federal approach to education. A Black Honors College is very likely to be seen in Washington as a DEI program, which could imperial Federal funding at Sac State and possibly the entire CSU system. Even the hiring “a Majority of Black coaches in football and basketball” could be cause for a Federal investigation in the current climate. Sad, but that’s the reality.

2) Sac State is largely a commuter college. Less than 10% of Sac State students live on campus, which has to make it a challenge to create any type of student-centered campus identity.

3) The new identity that you’re saying is being developed at Sac State would be top-down driven. That is always artificial, and seldom becomes self-sustaining. To be authentic, any cultural environment is evolutionary and almost always bottom-up. Since the intent of CSU enrollment has always been to primarily serve a geographically local student population, there’s going to be a limit on the growth of the Black student population. Hispanic/Latino students make up the largest ethnic group at Sac State (38%). I doubt that will change, so if anything a culturally supportive environment for Hispanic/Latino students and athletes will predominate. Futbol everyone!!

4) Your current thesis seems to also run counter to your previous thesis that the new paradigm in sports is that of athletes and coaches (and probably administrators like AD’s and presidents) will be made up of people who ARE NOT personally committed to an institution. Rather they are committed to building their brand and maximizing financial/personal gain. They will immediately move to wherever the best offer is made. That means athletes, coaches, and administrators will not stay at an institution. I don’t believe that a revolving door of people can build or sustain a positive, supportive environment for athletes, regardless of their ethnicity.

Arsten played very well; worked hard, had a super shot from outside that was a meter off-line. He played well for himself, his country and a UCD alumnus.