A frustrating half. Ags could never stretch their lead beyond 8. Ark State has decent defense, but their shooting is terrible 27.3% with enough bricks for an outhouse. UCD's shooting is decent but still too many turnovers. They're not taking care of the passing lanes, thus the Red Wolves have 6 steals already.

Pepper picking it up. Matchup zone was effective for a few minutes and when UCD went back to a man-to-man, the Wolves hit a 3. Ags up 16-11.

Ags look somewhat lackadaisical in the opening minutes. More turnovers than field goals after 4:15.

Are the Kings now a winning franchise?!

I once went to a men's basketball game at Sac State in which the Hornet's gym was filled with Aggie students and other fans. The Sac State rooting section was isolated as one, perhaps 50 foot, stretch of the home side bleachers. The Ag cheerleaders led us all in a yell that was something like "Welcome to a UC Davis home game." Of course, the Aggies won. I hope that the Hornet stadium this Saturday will resemble that game with a majority of the seats being taken by Aggie alums, students and other fans. An old friend of mine who never goes to Aggie football games is going to this one. If their fans are many and vocal, it will help encourage the guys to win this one.

Recognizing that it is invalid to compare scores against common opponents, I would still like to note that such a comparison of a recent opponent might have some validity. Idaho played Sac State and UCD in consecutive weeks, losing to both, but to Sac State away and the Aggies at home. The scores are a bit deceptive given that the margin of the UCD victory was 18, while the Hornets squeaked by on a 3 point margin. Given that we out scored Idaho on the road while amassing 456 total yards, makes me feel optimistic about beating Sac State which got only 391 yards while playing at home. Next, I plan to check the tea leaves.

I found a history of the rivalry, but at what point were both schools in the FCS?

Since both teams upgraded to the FCS, what is the rivalry record in the Causeway Classic?

I note that despite having as much as a 36 point lead near the end of the 3rd quarter over the Nets yesterday, Chima did not get into the game even though 14 Kings players saw some action and 6 bench players got double digit minutes. This does not look good. I wonder if anyone knows if he is hurt, being sent to the G-league or been cut?

Yes, thanks, it was. True that it isn't specific to sports, but it touches on the lives of people who were just cheering for their football team on Saturday. I feel for eery student at U of I. Can't imagine how it feels to be in constant fear.

Bad news today: At their respective halves, Cal is trailing UCSD by 10, 26-37 and Loyola Marymount is getting trounced by the Anteaters, 25-45. Games are both at the leading teams campus, if that means anything. The Big West is looking very tough.

Thanks, but I checked after I posted it and not only was it there, but someone else replied,

I posted a comment about the students who wee killed at the University of Idaho last night and I can no longer find it. Did I break some kind of rule about posting a non-sports message?

We all need to pause in reflection of the deaths of four University of Idaho students last night. Killings on any campus, at any level should be unacceptable, but when we think about how U of I students were rallying behind their team and face the terror of a campus murder of their fellow students, it hits us more personally due to our association with a fellow Big Sky school. As of this writing, I don't have many details, but football is a bit further from my mind.

Carter is pretty good as anyone who saw him yesterday against the 49ers can attest. I'm afraid that Doss is never going to make it in the NFL. I know we've all been rooting for him, but the Chargers are his third team and there are 6 guys ahead of him on the depth chart.

Equaling puzzling is how Sagarin ranks Montana as the second best FCS team behind only South Dakota State. If someone can crack that code, it might explain why the polls have them so over-rated but as far as I can objectively see, it's beyond common sense.

A couple of polls (versus and CFP) have UC Davis at #23.

Two questions:

1. Does the win over Idaho put UC Davis into the top 25? Seems like this is the kind of marquee victory that should do it.
2. Does it now matter if we lose to Sac State as far as getting into the playoffs is concerned? Or, alternately, does a win over Sac State pretty much guarantee a spot in the playoffs?

I am not at all familiar with how the decisions are made, but if it anything like the NCAA basketball tournament selections, factors like more recent games, strength of schedule, the loss of key players at some point in the season who have returned (Buchanan and Pettek, for example). In other words, how are the teams now as opposed to halfway through the season?

I didn't see the same energy tonight, not even as much as in the second half vs. CMA. Shooting improved in the second half, but the defense and rebounding just weren't there. As oldbanduhalum implied, Loyola had some pretty beefy players that were just shoving us around all over the court. Given that UCR beat these guys in the same court, it is a bit worrisome. It will be interesting to see how the Lions do against UCI at Irvine.

Ags are relying to much on jacking up a quick 3 pointer. That's not working very well.