Northern Colorado and Idaho State both have more yards rushing than UC Davis in conference games, Davis is last in the conference in rush yardage among teams that have played two games..
I’m not making a prediction. Could go either way. Plough could decide once again that we can’t run the ball, and call a pass heavy game, or Larison could have a huge day, putting the lie to the stats.
We’ll see. The run game has been disappointing this year and we are at the point of the season where people say teams are what they have shown.

Cal Poly leads the rushing category in Big Sky conference play, averaging 292.5 yards per game. Davis has been middle of the pack in rushing defense giving up 151 yards.
Davis’ is averaging a horrendous 88 yards a game on the ground 2.8 yards per carry. Cal Poly is yielding a meagre 96 yards per game at 3.2 yards per carry.

Remember when Cal Poly changed coaches and abandoned the Triple Option, and the conversation that they needed taller offensive linemen? Now the tallest of their offensive linemen at the top of the depth chart is 6’4”

Sarac was third on the depth chart and he started so in that sense they had no one else on the depth chart.
Would be weird to me if they don’t cross train their linebackers. I see Sam Goligoski played, and might have been at that position, but maybe just on special teams or elsewhere.

Lucche’s photo is from a good angle because it shows how deep Tompkins feet are in the endzone. The photo in NCagalum’s post is the one the broadcast spent time on and it is from an angle that minimizes the distance, as it was from a camera behind the 15 or so. By replaying the catch you can see Tompkins caught the ball with his left arm and his chest while then bringing his right hand to the ball. Ball had to cross the goal line for Tompkins to catch it against his body, given how deep Tompkins feet are in the end-zone.

They now call the position that last year they called Rush $. In the depth chart Garretson is 1, followed by Cloyd and Sarac. Garretson played against Idaho but not the prior or the following game. Cloyd has been out for a while as you said. Also they have been without two backup DEs,, The pattern last year was that they took Maae or Toki out on passing downs and played one of Carrillo or Carrade to get more mobility

At the rush linebacker along with veteran Luka Sarac who is a veteran, they could play Kyle Hill a freshman 6’5” 3 star edge recruit. He has played in one game this year and that briefly, maybe on special teams. The team should have the freshmen ready to play mentally and the kid has the physical gifts,

The stats are wrong or Scott Gordon is wrong, which is it? think it’s the stats because they have a history of errors, but I think they will have difficulty correcting the official stats, which are managed by the NCAA. I don’t think they’ll take Scott Gordon’s word for it. If Fisher doesn’t play in four of the next six games, it is moot.

Fisher did not play in five games last year. Neither did Souriolle. Both are listed as playing in Northern Arizona and not thereafter.
Fisher is listed with no stats for the game. Would they burn a year of eligibility and not give him a carry? And if they did would they not give him a carry in subsequent games?
All of last years freshmen are listed as sophomores even ones who never set foot on the field since keeping track of eligibility is so difficult.
Also: The Aggie Pride Podcast user account on this board responded to my query in the UC Berkeley game thread by asserting Fisher didn’t burn his redshirt status. I assume they have some foundation for that statement.

What is the status of the reserve defensive lineman Carrillo and Carrade.?
Those guys haven't played in.recent games, due to injury. They normally would play on some of the passing downs. Are they expected back?
We played more reserves against Portland than Idaho.

The novelty will wear off.

It is the old question if whether to weight the wins or the point margins. Basing a rating purely on points mis- rates teams that just do enough to win, which is the coaches objective. But ranking just on wins mis-rates teams that are just lucky. What is clear is that point based methods are good forecasters of the point spread would be in future games.

Not that the injured guys are the solution to the issue, but we’ve had defensive linemen, who last year tended to play more on passing downs, out injured. We’ve had the linebacker who is typically a standup pass rusher on the line, missing games.
Portland has a heavy offensive line, everyone at the top of their depth chart over 320lbs.
.

I think it’s a defensive problem when a team gains 11.3 yards per pass attempt. That is not a one game issue either, as Texas A&M Commerce, a winless team who was playing the backup QB gained more yards through the air than any Div 1 game that week, Defense is at most marginally better than the offense.

Might help with the PAC 12 bid.

Gould’s teams lined up correctly, or so an opposing coach said when trying to says something positive.

I think he is talking about overall statistics of big sky teams. Davis ranks 4th in time of possession. In conference games time of possession Davis ranks 7

In conference games Davis has not attempted a red zone field goal, and is 7/9 with touchdowns, failure is downs in the infamous swinging gate play against Idaho and the failure is the end of the first half against portland There are no red zone fumbles or interceptions in the stats. The problem we had in conference games are both related to illegal formations..

Davis ranks fifth on defense and sixth on offense in scoring in conference games, i think overall stats are pointless as the schedules are so diverse.

what is the universe of games? Big sky conference games?

Here are the ratings of FCS and transitioning from FCS schools pulled from Sagarin. This is just based on point differentials, not won/loss. Illustrates some of our wins are so unimpressive that they decrease the rating. Last week Davis was ahead of Weber and Sac. Davis appears to be a middling team that narrowly pulled off an upset against Idaho. I don’t think that is accurate, I think if they played Idaho again they’d win.

The first thing you think of is the offensive line. They lost Povey, Ford and Parks. Ford and Parks each missed games last year and Davis returned guys who started in their place. Povey was on the roster for fall camp and then changed his mind, They brought in two transfers who are playing guard and are starting a redshirt freshman at center, who saw no action last year, They have last years starting tackles.

Plough says they were surprised when Portland played differently than under previous co-DCs, and they were stymied. Then they had the dominant 2nd quarter, before being stymied until they started the last drive in the third quarter. They seem slow to react to changes.
Poor field position is partly due to the defense giving up 11 yards per attempt. I wonder what percent of games are won when a team averages 10+ yards every pass attempt.