Wow!

“The trajectory of the program is what led me to commit to Davis! They're joining the FBS in 2029, with the chance of winning FCS national championships before then. As well as the plan they had for me, playing early and playing a big role early was also big for me. I love the coaches, the offense, and I think the program is going to make history, and I want to be a part of that.”

"They also showed how they are going to FBS in 2029 and joked about the Mountain West, even potentially the Pac-12. I was able to meet with running back Jordan Fisher, and it was great to pick his brain and hear his thoughts on the school and his goals.”

“Recruiting has been very good. I’ve talked to a lot of big schools, and there were a lot of other offers I haven’t even posted, mostly because I was happy with what I had and my options.”

I've noticed a couple of things when looking for recruiting news by the Aggies. Verbalcommits.com is slow to update the changes in affiliation in the Big West and the Mountain West. They are now showing Sac State and Cal Baptist recruiting in the Big West but are still showing Hawaii and the Aggies in the BW also.

When looking at the MW, they are still showing Fresno State and others who are moving to the PAC12 and they have not added the Aggies or Hawaii to that conference yet. I have also noticed that the teams in the MW are making offers to lots of HS juniors and younger players even an occasional freshman. I imagine that we'll have to adapt to that strategy as well and begin creating relationships with younger HS players and their families in order to keep pace the other schools in the conference. This will most certainly take more time and money for us to begin doing the same to help stay competitive recruiting in the MW.

https://www.verbalcommits.com/conferences/mountain-west

All kickoff times are listed in Pacific Time below:

Aug. 29, at Portland State*, 12:00 p.m.
Sept. 5, at San Diego, 7:00 p.m.
Sept. 12, at SMU, 1:00 p.m.
Sept. 19, STETSON, 7:00 p.m.
Sept. 26, MONTANA*, 7:00 p.m.
Oct. 3, EASTERN WASHINGTON*, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 17, at Southern Utah*, 5:00 p.m.
Oct. 24, NORTHERN COLORADO*, 4:00 p.m.
Oct. 31, at Weber State*, 12:00 p.m.
Nov. 7, UTAH TECH*, 4:00 p.m.
Nov. 14, at Idaho*, 1:00 p.m.
Nov. 21, CAL POLY*, 1:00 p.m.

HOME GAMES IN ALL CAPS
* Denotes Big Sky Conference game

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2026/7/7/football-announces-2026-start-times.aspx

I grew up in the heat and humidity in Indiana and all we had was a fan in the window. It was miserable but it was all I knew back then.

The same problem exists at the Aggie football stadium. The sun shines directly into the eyes of the fans on the east side and bakes them with no shade. It's a problem that has no easy fix.

Heaven forbid that we get another weather related fiasco like we did last year against Mercer!

97 degrees in Portland in September is mind boggling to think of but that's the world we live in now with rapidly escalating climate change. Hopefully, it won't be that hot this year but, if it is, the experience may help the us manage playing in the extreme heat and humidity that we'll surely be playing in on September 12th at 1 pm in Dallas against SMU.

Argentina storms back from a 2-0 deficit with goals in the 79th, 84th and 2 minutes into the 2nd half stoppage time. Magnificent Messi tied the game in the 84th minute with his 21st goal in World Cup play and he was in tears at the end of this game.

Switzerland eliminated Columbia on penalty kicks 0-0 (4-2 shootout).

It looks like this isn't going to go away anytime soon.

It was a great run by the Americans but a disappointing ending in their 4-1 loss tonight to Belgium. Simply way too many defensive mistakes against a superior opponent.

Spain advances to the quarterfinals with a 1-0 win over Portugal and will play Belgium.

I have mixed emotions. I didn't feel like a red card was justified and I'm glad that Balogun gets to play.

However, the FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, has been courting Trump's favor for a long time and even gave him the fake FIFA Peace Prize, which he just made up so he could stroke Trump's vanity and gain his favor. The big downside of getting the red card overturned is that it has outraged all the other teams and, no matter what the Americans accomplish tonight and, perhaps further, it will be forever tainted from the viewpoint of the rest of the soccer world.

Final scores in the Round of 16 on July 5th:

Norway 2 Brazil 1
England 3 Mexico 2

There's some great soccer scheduled for today:

Portugal vs Spain at 1 pm in Dallas
USA vs Belgium at 5 pm in Seattle

July 4th scores:

Morocco 3 Canada 0
France 1 Paraguay 0

Plough and his coaches are killing it on the recruiting trail! We are getting some recruits who are selecting the Aggies over FBS programs like Cal, Stanford, Boise State, San Diego State, Nevada, UNLV, Oregon State, Colorado State, San Jose State, Wyoming and, of course, Sac.

July 3rd games:

Egypt beats Australia on penalty kicks 1-1 (4-2 shootout)
Argentina 3 Cape Verde 2- Cape Verde loses a heartbreaker on an own goal.
Columbia 1 Ghana 0

July 2 scores:

Spain 3 Austria 0
Portugal 2 Croatia 1
Switzerland 2 Algeria 0

Referee: Raphael Claus

VAR: Juan Ernesto Soto Arévalo

Time: 63 minutes

Incident: VAR overturn. Red card given to USMNT forward Folarin Balogun for serious foul play (SFP).

What happened: U.S. goal scorer Balogun was sent off following a VAR check after what seemed like innocuous contact with Bosnia defender Tarik Muharemovic.

VAR decision: VAR recommended an on-field review for a possible red card for SFP.

VAR review: VAR was uncomfortable with the replays that showed the Bosnian defender's right ankle buckle under contact from Balogun when both players were challenging for the ball. VAR believed Balogun was dangerous in his play and recommended the referee visit the pitchside monitor to review for a possible red card.

Verdict: Balogun can feel unfortunate to be red carded in this situation as, in my opinion, this was not a red card offense. With both players challenging for ball, the contact from Balogun on Muharemovic, while it looked bad in slow motion, was purely accidental and an unfortunate result from two players challenging for possession of the ball in a normal football movement.

VAR made their recommendation to the referee based on slow-motion and still replays, which is not aligned with VAR protocols, as these should be used for only point-of-contact purposes in a red card tackle situation. Once at the screen, however, it would have been a surprise if the referee did not send off Balogun considering the pictures he was presented by VAR.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49244156/world-cup-var-review-misapplied-protocols-leave-usmnt-folarin-balogun-wrongly-red-carded-world-cup-vs-bosnia-herzegovina

That was a bogus red card on Balogun. Two players coming together suddenly and jostling for the ball and Balogun inadvertently steps on the other player's ankle. The ref allowed lots of pulling shirts, grabbing and hard fouls without even pulling out his yellow card but gives Balogun a red card when the player cut in front on him and Balogun steps on the back of his ankle inadvertently...no intent to commit a dangerous foul by Balogun...just two players getting tangled up in the action...lousy call...

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49244156/world-cup-var-review-misapplied-protocols-leave-usmnt-folarin-balogun-wrongly-red-carded-world-cup-vs-bosnia-herzegovina

The USA defeats Bosnia & Herzegovina 2-0 and now moves onto the Round of 16 for the first time since 2002. The Americans played the final 36 minutes down a man without their striker and leading scorer, Flo Balogun after he was given a bogus red card in the 64th minute.

The USA will play Belgium in Seattle at 5 pm next Monday, July 6th. Unfortunately, we will be playing without Balogun for this game because of the red card.

Belgium advanced in dramatic, comeback to beat Senegal 3-2 on a penalty kick in the 2nd 15 minute extra period. Belgium was down 2-0 but scored in the 87th and 89th minutes to tie the game and force the extra play and win the game in the 120th minute.

England beat DR Congo 2-0 to advance as well.

I expect Larison to make the 53-man roster as the #3 RB and contribute as a Kickoff Return man.

I hope to see some big things from Lan this year!