It is not the only path to the playoffs but it is the easiest as it doesn't require an upset. It is doable if the offense gets back to 2022 level and the defense can play at 2023 level, and key players stay healthy.

Idaho voters in polls are in denial about their losses to transfers and graduation. Davis is at home
Davis beat Sac last year more soundly than the score indicates.
Davis has never beaten E.Washington, but they would have last year except Larison’s injury in that game. Three very winnable games.

Aim small miss small. Even 8 wins might get them in.

If they beat the teams they are supposed to beat, and I include Idaho at Davis in that list they’ll will have 8 FCS wins before the final 3 games. If that’s their only wins they need Idaho to come into Davis ranked high so they have a quality win. Otherwise it will be like last two years, out of their hands . If they are beat in any of those first 8 FCS games they will need to offset that with a win in their last three games.

Can anyone point me to any reporting on that scrimmage that highlighted Mirabella and Rodriguez?

To get a transfers view of Davis why not talk to Simonson and Shamburger who have played major roles here last year after transferring in the summer. Simonson needs the recognition as he isn’t credited with any olaying time after starting every game due to a jersey number mixup. The kid must be among the most humble on the team not to have complained about that. Interesting story finished third In Nebraska at his weight class in high school wresting, never played in a game until he started here.

They care about wins and rankings. Win 9 games and you’re good.

I think he is a key player, i just think that Cal wouldn’t game plan around him as a wide receiver. Would play him the same as most receivers. If we were doing the wildcat QB thing with him then it would matter more if he was out.

Leaving aside the fact that they’ll likely hear about it elsewhere, Tompkins isn’t that distinctive as a wide receiver that Cal is going to plan differently if he is or isn’t playing.

Now that we hear from the Aggie Pride Podcast that Tompkins is injured here is a guess who starts.
This is far.from definite.

WR Hutton, Gbatu, Davis,
TE Gale,
RB Larison
QB Hastings
LT Simonson
LG Souriolle
C Collier?
RG Main or Mirabella
RT. Nava

DT. Bearden
NG. Toki
DE Kennedy
Rush Sarac
Nickel Verner
SLB. Cloyd
MLB. Porter Connors
WLB. Meyer
BCB. Alexander
FCB. Cotton
BS Rex Connors
FS Shamburger

When you say both do you mean two in addition to Porter Connors? I think Porter is going to start but not with high confidence that he is.

Relevant to.your concern, last Cal game I think we lost both Jake Parks for the season and Noah Masui who started as a D-lineman.. He didn't play again until appearing in a couple of games in November.

If you look back at the recruiting in prior years they didn’t bring in many scholarship running backs. In 2023 the team decided to feature the run more then they went down, just enough to make us miss the playoffs. My supposition is that the OC and QB coach changes contributed to a drop in Miles’ performance but also a major factor was for a stretch of games the offense was handcuffed by injured running backs.

It will be interesting to see what if anything looks different with the Davis offense beyond play calling. My guess is not much, but it could be that Plough abandons or diminishes some of the things we’ve been accustomed to seeing, like fly sweeps and wildcat plays. Plough says the team didn’t change the terminology in the years he was gone.

So who are our starting linebackers? Anyone want to take a guess?
We have three about half the time and when they play 4 they add a 'rush' backer.

They posted a linebacker preview, but with only the inside linebacker coach talking about inside linebackers mostly but thats hard to determine as some of the linebackers play inside or outside. The text talks abot both inside and outside linebackers.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2024/8/16/football-2024-aggie-positional-preview-linebackers.aspx

My thought exactly. They may indeed be the third best team but I wouldn’t bet on it. They have too much turnover to make that prediction. And how much weight do you put on the fact your QB looked good in two games?

Idaho is the first upper tier FCS school on Davis’ schedule. Idaho will most likely be 1-3 when they come to Davis, because of their tough schedule and Davis will not have a signature win against an FCS opponent; it is a must win for both teams.

Hayden Hatten was phenomenal. He was their Doss. If they are like this board they’ll be missing him 6 years from now.
They lost a lot on defense too including a first team all FCS corner.

Laughable that one of their analysts says Davis might “sneak out” a win over Idaho, a team they’ve beaten last three games.
Idaho has huge unknowns due to their player losses, whose quality far exceeds the guys they added.

Would have been nice to here about some of the other undeclassmen aside from Souriele and Zaire Collier, who seems to be in contention for playing time after apparently being a walk-on last summer.

Center Peter Povey is not on the team roster. He was a grad student this year. I thought it was good news when he appeared to be going to play this year.

The podcast was terrific, highly recommend.

We’ll see if Plough can adapt his offense to the players he’s got. That’s a requirement at this level, where a team doesn’t always have someone who can go on to play pro like Plough had at NAU and here.
Hastings was effective in 2022, so they have that template of what he does well.
Perhaps the biggest reason we didn’t make the playoffs in 2023 was the health of our running backs.