I did look at sac’s football website and they do look pretty formidable. They are using the
Portal very effectively. But don’t all football websites look formidable. TAMC’s is actually quite scary so we will see ery soon.
At least in my opinion (which isn't worth much to be perfectly honest) the only thing that I find worrisome about this game against Commerce is the "unknown factor" with having a new coach/system. Commerce relied a lot on their defense last season to keep them in games, but they've lost their top 2 tacklers, leader in sacks, and leader in interceptions from last season. On offense they may be without their dual threat QB from last season and lost their go to receiver. But I guess my point is that who knows if any of that really matters when you're going to have new schemes, new playbook, etc. Cal Poly, Sac State, and Weber all kind of fall in the same category for me in that they could fall anywhere on the spectrum between significantly worse to significantly better... there's just no way to know.
That being said, I believe that the Aggies are going to leave Texas with a W.
I think wholesale changes when a team is bad like Cal Poly is more likely to lead to improvement, while wholesale changes when a team is good like Sac or Weber is likely to lead to regression. Texas A&M was a transition team that suffered from QB injuries, so they were neither good nor awful. They have a tradition of winning at a lower level, like Davis did in 2005.
The challenge of this game is that their offense will be un-scouted, its conceivable they will get some points off of the unexpected, their defense is thought to be good. It might be a low scoring game and they have a good field goal kicker and we have a new one. Add in some risk of bad weather, and that Davis has a new offensive coordinator, QB coach, and also have to replace some key personnel so there are things one can worry about. If we have a good game plan and our offense scores its usual amount of points we should win.
I attended the Team Aggie football preview last night. Super fun evening with several players (and of course coaches) mingling around visiting with attendees. I was really impressed with the players and coaches. I had been worried about the youth of our defensive coordinator Matt Coombs and our new offensive coordinator Mike Cody. All i can say is we are in good hands. Both are very impressive. And all the players were excellent ambassadors for UC Davis. BTW, when asked about the weather factor next week, It didn’t seem to be overly concerning. One player commented that both teams are on the same field.
Go Ags
We were hoping to attend but couldn't make it. Was there a good turnout?
I've always been impressed with how bright and articulate the Aggie athletes are whenever you hear them speak so I'm not surprised that the coaches are impressive as well. Being an Aggie means being a scholar-baller...the way it should be in college athletics!
I met Daniel Swain during a Picnic Day once and recall when he was the meteorologist for the Aggie. He later went to Stanford for grad and UCLA for PHD. Were you in school around that time?
The speculation on The Lion Wire blog is that Peter Parrish will be the starting QB. Former four star 247 recruit as a dual threat QB, began at LSU, transferred to Memphis, then to East Mississipi Community College, where he lost the starting job.
Link to the Texas A&M fan “analysis” of the game, https://thelionwire.com/2023/08/26/the-pre-snap-read-lion-offense-vs-aggie-defense/
I think their offense struggled so much after losing their QB for the last three games that they think the offense was their only issue. Statistics can lie, when a team has no offense the opposing offense doesn't call the same game, making the defense look better. Example: they are proud that they held Incarnate Word well below their average but they were not in the game,
Nice of them to extend a nice welcome to the opposing coach by playing at “The Hawk”. Odd to find out that UCD is “near Davis”. Maybe I would have gotten better grades if I had gone to the correct campus :-). Some metaphor mixing it seems … always thought it was an “800 lb. Gorilla” and “the elephant in the room” without the need for weight specification of said elephant.
Maybe they have a 500lb elephant formation where that’s the weight or the tight end and the fullback,
These same guys have a podcast where one explained what an Aggie was. This from a branch of Texas A&M! But i’m grateful they cover the team. It’s a rare event when we are playing an opponent with less publicity than us.
I wonder when we're going to get game notes posted online considering it's a Thursday game this week. I like looking at the list "2 deep" even though I know it's going to say 'player A' OR 'player B' at every position like it always does under Hawk.
i too like to look at it. I hope its out on Monday.
Last year they listed a guy who didn’t get in a game all season, but still, it will be interesting who they have in what positions on the offensive line and linebacker, defensive back.
There will be some juniors sophomores and redshirt freshmen that they forgot to mention in the position videos that will be in the depth chart, and we have some transfers from last year that might get into the depth chart.
If we just don’t make any big mistakes we should be fine. Do not underestimate TAMC! They are a good football team and will come out fired up before a big crowd. It will be a very close game. IMHO
Football in Texas is right up there with religion on the hierarchy of popularity and importance. I think TAMC is a program with big ambitions and that they are probably under quite a bit of pressure to grow into an FCS power quickly. They'll be fired up for the Aggies and I expect that they will have a big, boisterous crowd behind them. They'd like nothing better than to start the season off with a win over a "left coast school."
I agree with the sentiment that we can't underestimate Commerce, but that's generally how I feel about every game. I fully agree with you that this is a game the Aggies should win convincingly if we want to be a playoff team this season. If we lose this game, we're in for a LONG season in the Big Sky.
A negative outcome of this game doesn't portend anything in the Big Sky but it would seriously diminish the likelihood of getting seven wins. This team like Southern Utah, Idaho State, Cal Poly,, Northern Arizona, is a team we should beat handily but upsets happen. Any loss to one if the above teams would need to be offset by beating Weber, Montana or Sac.