Caden Pinnick Named Stats Perform National Freshman Player Of The Week

DAVIS, Calif. – With No. 8 UC Davis needing to mount a comeback at Utah Tech on Saturday, Aug. 30, redshirt freshman quarterback Caden Pinnick was up to the task and his clutch performance down the stretch has earned him Stats Perform National Freshman Player of the Week honors.

Pinnick went 21-for-31 on Saturday, finishing with 253 total passing yards, three passing touchdowns and 14 yards rushing. His long of the game was a 60-yard go ahead touchdown toss to Samuel Gbatu Jr., the third passing touchdown of the second half for the Aggie quarterback.

The Aggies needed Pinnick to step up big to help lead them to victory on Saturday and he did, throwing for 159 yards and three touchdowns in the second half. His confident running of the offense led to four-straight scoring drives leading to 24 unanswered points scored by the Aggies to come away with the win.

Pinnick becomes the first Aggie to earn Stats Perform FCS National Freshman of the Week honors since Nick Eaton got the nod during the 2019 season.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2025/9/1/football-caden-pinnick-named-stats-perform-national-freshman-of-the-week.aspx

I love this! I still have great memories of the great games we had with them at The Toom many years ago.

I have YouTube TV also. I searched for the Aggie game and it is definitely on their schedule for a live telecast.

Rex Connors Named Big Sky Defensive Player Of The Week

FARMINGTON, Utah – Picking up where he left off last season, UC Davis football senior defensive back Rex Connors was a force in the secondary during the Aggies comeback win at Utah Tech and his 15 total tackles has earned him Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week honors for the opening weekend.

Connors totaled eight solo tackles and seven assisted tackles to go along with a pass break up to earn his player of the week honors. It's the first time the 2025 Big Sky Preseason Defensive Player of the Year has earned Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week honors since 2022 when he earned the honor twice.

With the 15 tackles, Connors now sits 12 tackles away from hitting a mark of 291 career tackles which will set the career program record for total tackles.

The Aggie defensive back also makes it two-straight seasons an Aggie has won the first week's edition of the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week, joining his brother Porter after his standout performance at California in the 2024 season opener

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2025/9/1/football-rex-connors-named-big-sky-defensive-player-of-the-week.aspx

WHAT HEAD COACH TIM PLOUGH HAD TO SAY

"First thing I need to do is applaud Utah Tech, their coach has done a great job with that program, and they have improved a lot. Defensively today they gave us fits, playing an entirely new defense that took us time to prepare for. But that doesn't surprise us since they have a great defensive staff. And I thought that our defense did a great job of keeping us in the game in the first half. Our team showed a lot of fight to be able to come back and win a football game, and that's something you're looking for as a coach. And I was proud with how the team finished and responded, showing a lot of Aggie Pride tonight to finish the game. Now we focus on getting better and playing four quarters as we turn our attention to the next game."

The 17-point comeback is the biggest comeback for the Aggies since erasing an 18-point deficit at Montana in 2018

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2025/8/30/football-no-8-uc-davis-scores-24-unanswered-to-comeback-in-season-opener-at-utah-tech.aspx

Quotes from Brennan Marion:

“We knew it would be a tough environment,” Marion told reporters and Sacramento State sports information director Brian Berger after the game. “I thought our guys were ready. Things just didn’t go our way, and it kept going that way on offensive side. I thought our defense played pretty stout defense against a great offense and a good quarterback, one of the best lines I’ve seen in the FCS or the FBS. That’s a tough opponent. All hats off to them and their coaching staff. They did a great job.”

Marion said the learning lessons included “self-inflicted wounds. We jumped offside and had false starts. We dropped passes. We aren’t able to convert on a fourth-and-1. There’s so many things to learn in a loss.”

He added, “It’s good for us to get some humble pie ... We need to go back to the drawing board.”

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/sports/college/article311917787.html#storylink=cpy

Ok, I'll bring them into the conversation...Pinnick looks better than Rashada so far...

From Bob Dunning's Substack article on the game:

“I think we showed tonight that we have Aggie Pride and Aggie fight,” said UC Davis head coach Tim Plough.

“You hope you have an environment where you can win football games and show what you’re made of, and we had that tonight.”

“They really gave us fits tonight,” added Plough.

“They put in a new defense and we really weren’t prepared for it at all. It took a while to figure it out and Caden was definitely confused and struggling, but he showed his competitive nature in the second half and figured it out and got it fixed.”

Plough explained that he is not really big into rah-rah speeches.

“I told them I don’t have any plays that will get you 17 points, so let’s start with a first down. With our style of offense we can score a lot of points in a hurry, but that first one really got us going.”

https://www.thewaryone.com/p/aggies-go-on-24-0-run-to-stop-utah?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2582284&post_id=172383452&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=31ratq&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

The funniest comment I heard today was while I was watching the Sac State game at SDSU. One of the commentators was talking about how crazy it was that Sac that had so many transfers from FBS schools and he had never seen anything like it.

He went on to talk about Jaden Rashada first committing to Miami for $9.5 million before he decommitted and went to Florida for a reported $13.85 million and that he now had a law suit against Florida for millions that he says they still owe him. Just then Rashada threw a terrible pass right into the ground and the commentator said, "I think he owes them some money after seeing that pass."

I think maybe both.

The ups and downs of being a fan...

Love it...

The video feed was a psychedelic nightmare in the second half until the last 5 minutes or so when it cleared up.

Final scores Week 1:

Northern Colorado 17 Chadron State 3
Oregon 59 Montana State 13
James Madison 45 Weber State 10
South Dakota State 20 Sac State 3
Incarnate Word 31 Eastern Washington 21
Cal Poly 41 San Diego 17
BYU 69 Portland State 0
Southern Utah 46 Idaho State 24
Washington State 13 Idaho 10
Arizona State 38 Northern Arizona 19
Aggies 31 Utah Tech 24

For sure!!

The amazing Connors brothers: Rex had 15 tackles and Porter had 10...wow!

INT!!!!

I didn't like it. We don't have big, bruising RB's...