Bob Dunning takes the Ags by 3:

AGGIES over IDAHO … Wow, where did these upstart Vandals come from? Rugged on both sides of the ball, dangerous in the Kibbie Dome, and ready to take on all comers. Both teams have their eyes on a playoff bid, but Idaho has the inside track at this point after a breakout season under a new coaching staff. Still, home or away, the Ags are red-hot and ready to rumble. Take the University Farm by 3. (But don’t bet the Farm).

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/bobs-picks-where-did-the-upstart-vandals-come-from/

I don't think the extra day for Sac will make much of a difference them. I'm sure their coaching staff and all of their players will be watching the Aggie game and taking notes though so they will get a small head start in preparation.

Sac State 45 Portland State 17 - Final Sac is now 10-0.

Two more nice wins for the Big West:

Irvine 69 #21 Oregon 56
UCSB 61 Fresno State 54

The Huskies were very physical and aggressive. They had 44 points in the paint and out rebounded the Ags 39-23 while shooting 52% for the game. The Aggies shot a decent 47% themselves but just got pushed around in the interior.

UW played very well and the Aggies looked good in spurts. The Ags have a lot of new faces on this team and it's going to take some time for the players to play together more cohesively. Games like this really expose weaknesses so Jen will be able to use it as teaching moment. Our defense broke down too often and we got hammered on the boards so I expect that those areas will be a point of focus this week.

Ags fall 82-60.

Huskies stretch the lead to 19 after the 3rd 62-39.

Much better 2nd quarter for the Aggies. 41-32 Huskies at the half.

Aggies fall behind 25-14 after the first quarter. The Huskies are shooting 58%. Turner is essentially the only Aggie offense.

Gipson was out of bounds. Sac got lucky on that call and Montana got screwed. It happens.

It reminded me of the horrible call that killed the Aggies final drive at Sac State some years ago when our receiver clearly caught the ball inbounds but was called out. Biggs went out of his mind along with every Aggie fan. You hate to see games decided on missed calls but it happens.

Yikes....!

Here's a link to the ESPN article about the Kibbie Dome:







https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/32319238/an-ode-kibbie-dome-college-football-weirdest-stadium

From the Enterprise:

“We’re down to the final stretch and it’s really about finishing now,” Hawkins noted.

“But for our guys to put themselves in position to play meaningful games in November is a great opportunity, This is where you want to be this late in the season. Idaho is playing really, really well, but we’re anxious to get up there in the Dome. These are two great football teams.”

Regarding the Kibbie Dome:

The Kibbie Dome itself is a conversation starter. While Hawkins describes it as “quirky,” with “dead air,” Aggie placekicker Isaiah Gomez is looking forward to playing indoors because “weather will not be a factor when I’m kicking.”

Today’s Kibbie Dome began as an outdoor stadium, but then a giant wooden roof was added over the stadium bowl in 1975.

According to a story by ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and Dave Wilson, “It’s made entirely of wood, which is a badge of honor in that part of the country. The University of Idaho launched one of the first forestry departments in the country in 1909, and it’s one of the school’s proudest moments.”
The title of the ESPN piece says simply “An ode to the Kibbie Dome, college football’s weirdest stadium.”

Noted Bonagura and Wilson, “It comes into view about a half-mile before the state border, dwarfing everything around it on the University of Idaho campus. Most first-timers assume it’s an airplane hangar. Students joke it’s a giant beer can on its side.”

The roof is 400 feet across, at the center reaching 144 feet above the playing field. In all, it covers 4.5 acres.

TCU head coach Sonny Dykes recalled visiting the Dome when he was coaching at Louisiana Tech.
“I love the place. There were between 6,000 and 8,000 people at the game,” he told the ESPN authors, “and it sounded like between 60,000 and 80,000. I’ve coached in a bunch of big places and that was as loud as any place I’ve ever been.”

A capacity crowd of 16,000 is expected at the Kibbie Dome on Saturday. By Dyke’s math, that should equate to the amount of noise created by a crowd of 160,000 or so.

The Aggies will do a traditional “walk through” at an empty Kibbie Dome on Friday afternoon. They can only imagine what it will sound like come Saturday.

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/bob-dunning-ucd-prepare-for-showdown-at-kibbie-dome/

Although we have had perhaps the toughest schedule in all of the FCS, the fact remains that win don't have a "significant" win yet. We fell off the radar with the pollsters after we went 1-4 regardless of how competitive we were in those loses. Even though we have won our last 4 games against weak opponents by an average margin of 40 points (54-14), no one has really taken notice.

I think Idaho is a must win for us. A close loss will only solidify the pollsters opinions that the Aggies can't win tough games. Could we still make the playoffs if we were to lose at Idaho and then upset Sac? Honestly, I think so.

We all know that Les preaches defense first and foremost and he feels that tough defense leads to good offense. He expects everyone on the team to play hard, fundamentally sound defense every minute they are in the game. Pepper and Adebayo are two of the best defenders on the team. Having both of them out was significant for sure but, as you said, it's not an excuse for a lack of intensity and effort.

I watched a good portion of the first half of LMU's loss to Riverside. LMU is athletic and has some good shooters and they will get out and run when they get a chance. I'm sure they are not happy with losing at home on a last second shot to Riverside after blowing a huge lead so they'll be very motivated to turn things around against the Aggies.

The Aggies win over Cal was impressive but the win over Cal Maritime left a lot to be desired. Coach Les was not happy with his team and I agree with him. We looked like a team who thought they could run away with the game just by showing up. There was a distinct lack of focus and intensity by the Ags for most of the game. The intensity and cohesive play that got us the win at Cal was missing against the Keelhaulers and, if we play like that against LMU, it won't go well.

I'm sure Coach Les has gotten his players gotten his players attention in the past couple of days and I'm hoping that we'll see the Ags playing with the kind of effort that we saw at Cal. This is a winnable game for the Aggies but only if we take the floor mentally prepared and play hard and focused on both ends of the court.

Coach Les was not happy with his team's performance despite the margin of victory.

“This was a step back,” Les said flatly.

“On defense especially, our intensity was just not there. We were not dictating play, we were reacting. It’s all correctable, but it was certainly not up to our standards.”

The casual fan might argue that such a letdown was predictable after the big win in Berkeley just two days prior, but Les rejected that notion.

“We have a certain expectation of how we want to play,” he added.

“Good teams have an almost businesslike identity, no matter who the opponent is. You have to bring it every night, know your job and do it. Otherwise, this game will humble you and there were times tonight when that’s what happened.”

“Our starters didn’t get us going and we just weren’t aggressive on defense,” Les noted.

“It’s up to us as coaches to teach them and correct that. You have to respect every opponent, but we didn’t show the maturity we would like.”

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/basketball-aggies-assert-superiority-over-keelhaulers/

UC Riverside beat LMU tonight 81-79. Zyon Pullin hit a step back jumper with 1.6 seconds left to win it for UCR. The Highlanders trailed 52-34 at the half but roared back and outscored LMU 47-27 in the second half to get the win. Great win for Riverside.

As will mine!

I think the Cal Maritime game was hard for the players to get mentally up for after the win over Cal. I didn't think we looked particularly sharp in our execution. We'll certainly need more focus in order to win at LMU though.