• Week 13: 71st Annual Causeway Classic
    one of the years at Hughes (maybe late 90s?) was a monsoon. My dad and I wrapped up in rain gear and blue tarp. Still ended up with bronchitis. And the field was a trashed mud pit after 3 games had been held there Friday. I think most schools in the west have gone artificial turf these days so not sure people really appreciate sinking and sliding on muck. Natural grass is still common at the college level in the southeast but a wet September in the south the grass is still growing. By November in Davis the grass wouldn’t be growing much.
  • FCS Rankings
    If it were fair, Northern Colorado would provide the committee member on behalf of Big Sky. Historically slim chance of conflicting interest.
  • FCS Rankings
    The committee is chaired by a representative from NDSU. The Big Sky representative is Mark Orr of Sac State. Not sure that we can expect him to advocate for Davis. Of note, interesting that Orr would sign on to a 4-year committee commitment just this August if he thought his exit from the conference to FBS was manifest destiny.
  • Week 13: 71st Annual Causeway Classic
    it was kind of funny talking to someone, that a number of schools from the D2 era considered us their rival more than we did them. Apparently we were the big game as far St Mary’s, Humboldt and others were concerned.
  • Week 13: 71st Annual Causeway Classic
    Well it may depend if Sac slicks down with PAM cooking spray this year. I’m really hoping for no injuries. Last thing we need is a key player taking a dirty hit.
  • 2024 Week 12: #2 Montana State (10-0) @ #4 UC Davis (9-1)
    Ooh I forgot about the seasonal “north wind” bicycling up Anderson feeling like you were going backwards.
  • 2024 Week 12: #2 Montana State (10-0) @ #4 UC Davis (9-1)
    Looking through the seating chart it looks like about 300 tickets remain, mostly 109, 118, 119 at the $30-$50 price-point.
  • Playoff Talk 2024
    somebody is getting paid for sure because of course season ticket holders would have repurchase their seats. And in the D2 days I believe students had to pay. As I recall, in our previous D1 home playoff game I believe a benefactor stepped up to sponsor student tickets.
  • 2024 Week 11: UC Davis (8-1) @ Montana (7-2)
    Regarding the game Montana plays between plays. Play clock is running, Aggie offense is ready to go, defense is taking forever to substitute. On one occasion we snap the ball and Montana gets called for too many men on the field. But on another the ref is preventing the snap and we call a timeout as time expires. Had we not called the timeout, would the delay of game have been on the defense?
  • 2024 Week 11: UC Davis (8-1) @ Montana (7-2)
    good god, it feels like I was just there at that game. Already 20 years ago. It seems you get a game like that every 20 or so years. The Miracle Game, Ken O’Brien, Stanford. Last night was a tremendous win but is it one that will be talked about for the next 20-50 years? Maybe, maybe not. We thumped them at home in 2018 too. Is this the year we get one of those signature games that people remember for 20+ years? Maybe, we are statistically about due.
  • 2024 Week 12: #2 Montana State (10-0) @ #4 UC Davis (9-1)
    long range forecast suggests only a high of 60, dropping into the 50s or 40s after the sun goes down. Will be brisk by CA standards. I think in addition to ESPN+ it may be on a regional sports channel in MT which may have impacted schedule. Would assume they wanted the game in prime sports bar hours. Scott mentioned last week that UNC was the last (regular season) home game they would have the TV call.
  • 2024 Week 11: UC Davis (8-1) @ Montana (7-2)
    ESPN+ is a paid streaming content. ESPN2 is a cable channel. You can watch ESPN2 on the ESPN app, if you sign in with your paid cable provider information. In your case it sounds like YouTube TV is your cable provider.
  • Pac-12 set to add Boise, 3 other MW schools
    you can fit more butts per square foot on bleachers than grass. I think they assume each grass end zone holds about 1000. Each bleacher section has an average of 400-450 seats. You could fit maybe 5 sections each end? So net gain of a couple thousand? Given how popular the grass berms are and that they wouldn’t be great seats, I don’t know if the juice is worth the squeeze. Unless maybe there was a desire to move the students to an end zone. The north end zone at the Toom I think had a bigger impact on the game than students at the 50. I wonder if there is a market for on-field cabanas. I have seen some schools starting to bring premium seating onto the field to fill in dead space around end zones to bring the crowd noise closer.
  • Pac-12 set to add Boise, 3 other MW schools
    $50m would be a pretty basic arena. $300m probably high for a stadium this size. In the case of SDSU, $90m was land acquisition to develop a parcel off campus. Sac already owns the land and could probably reuse some infrastructure - parking, Broad Center, maybe even the field itself. I’d suggest $100m arena and $100-200m stadium depending on what one means by state of the art. Typical 25,000 seat MLS stadiums are going around $200m.
  • 2024 Week 11: UC Davis (8-1) @ Montana (7-2)
    I was up to Montana 15+ years ago. A lot of people don’t realize how close the stands are to the field. Fans can basically touch players on the visitor bench and the stadium is steep and retains noise. Being in the band, I remember Montana fans trying to break into and board our buses and in the stands kept trying to reach over railings and pickpocket people or steal instrument parts like mouthpieces or drumsticks. And it wasn’t drunk 20-somethings like Sac State where they hurl some insults and then burp Natty Ice on themselves. This was 40-something year old dads behaving badly in front of their young sons. Perhaps there is low brow trash anywhere, but it struck me as odd that their trash element was wearing New Balances with their t-shirts tucked into their jeans.
  • 2024 Week 10: Northern Colorado (1-7) @ UC Davis (7-1)
    better an “old fart” than an “old shart” I always say.
  • Pac-12 set to add Boise, 3 other MW schools
    Recreation Hall opened in 1977, almost 50 years ago. It must have been a pretty ambitious facility for the time.
  • Pac-12 set to add Boise, 3 other MW schools
    I think Sacramento has struggled to be taken seriously as a big city. While I do not wish them ill, lining up behind Sac State as an ego savior is sort of like sending Peter Griffen to be your product spokesperson on Shark Tank.
  • New UC Davis Football Podcast
    What an interesting conversation with Biggs and his reasons for retiring that surprised me. He could have talked “spend more time with family” but it was really candid that he felt resource deficits were crimping his competitive spirit. I know it’s easy to forget what a bad budget situation the state was in at the time but I’m curious if his comments reflected on Warzecka, Vanderhoef, Katehi or someone else.
  • 2024 Week 10: Northern Colorado (1-7) @ UC Davis (7-1)
    I think the bye itself is the trap game because you are in essence playing yourself. It is as much a chance to get healthy and catch up on classes as it is to lose focus and intensity. On that free Saturday night are the guys going to hit the books, hit the gym, or hit the Tri-Delta house? Going back to the Biggs era teams sometimes come out of the bye flat.