I remember Marsh commenting on the radio feed that the SJSU defense basically looked overwhelmed on the first drive.

Important also to note that Rodrigues skewering the Tulsa defense with Shredville-like urgency in the first five minutes set the tone for basically that whole game, where the FBS guys had to play from behind.

If I had to put my money on exactly one start to the game, I'd guess a play action pass to our #2 or #3 receiver for 7ish yards with Tompkins out wide as a decoy, then 15 seconds later a screen pass to LL to pick up the remainder. Nothing particularly gimmick-y, just showing that the Ags will play fast and use everyone on the field

Davis has to hope the relatively high turnover at Cal results in some missed assignments.
Tulsa had had a good season the prior year, but some of their DBs had transferred, some starters were suspended due to an altercation in their bowl game the prior year, and they had incoming transfers who seemed to be of the same quality, but were new playing in the system and with each other.
The Tulsa coach said Davis showed them some “looks that they hadn’t seen”. Davis out played Tulsa in the 4th quarter and put the game away with a sustained drive.
The formula for success is to have some new wrinkles, be better prepared for an opening game, better conditioned and have some luck.

I see this game is going to be televised on espn+

Good to know. Thanks.

About 6 weeks away everybody - have a feeling, depending on how the men handle Plough's installation this summer - the Aggies could really sprint ahead with some tremendous scheme looks. The question is who's going to sling it?

I’m still thinking Miles is going to get the call.

When Plough was Offensive Coordinator at NAU and his most recent stint at Davis he had QBs that when on to be play professionally. What will he do if he doesn’t have that level of QB? If he does and it is someone who hasn’t played will he play a true or redshirt freshmen?
In 2022 Davis had scored 43+ points six times , and three games of 56 or more with Hastings at QB. Why the drop off in 2023? Perhaps losing Cody Hawkins as QB coach and offensive coordinator contributed. Can Plough restore that scoring?

I am certainly not an offensive football expert, but what I do see coming is this. And this relates to the topic of MH at the QB and the passing game. LL will be a big part of the game this season. He will bring the opposition LBs close to the line and the SS as well. Just in apprehension of LL getting the ball. And then with a fake hand off to LL the receiver guys are going to get open. So, in my very limited information and knowledge a 10-21 passing game is going to be hard to stop. So we don’t really need an O'Brian or a Maier, just 10-15 yards and MH can definitely do it.

It's maybe since Doss that we had a dominant receiver. Last year we had Magic w a lot of dump offs and gadget plays, and four receivers w 300 yards on the season.

Damon Wrighster was mobile in high school.

I think we have a good group of receivers, particularly if you include the tight end and running backs. But the new wide receiver coach may very well change the depth chart position of some of the wideouts.

I think MH will be the guy again this season. They've been using him in promotional material online and if I had to guess the rest of team would back Miles as the guy for this season.

In terms of receivers, I just went back and looked through the stats since our last season with Doss and we really haven't had anything close to a go to guy at WR. KD had 1338 yards and 9 TDs in 2018, then a sharp drop off in production with the next closest guy being Khris Vaughn in 2019 with 756 yards and 9 TDs. It coincides with Maier graduating.

Hastings certainly has all those snaps that he has logged, and that experience is valuable.

Hasting’s year in 2022 was better than Maier’s last year, 2019.
Comparable yards per game, better rating, fewer interceptions and better yards per attempt.
I hope the coaches can correct whatever caused the drop off in 2023.

A full season from LL would be huge, Fischer looks great, and I think we overdid the gadget plays to TT. Everybody keys on him, no longer a surprise. We were still close last year.

TT in the slot is a very dangerous threat. He is great at the catch and run, he can block and yes he doe the double pass very well. And he can also step back and take the direct snap and run very well. Do not underestimate TTs ability be a to big factor next season. He is a gamer. Oh yes, he can also return punts. A very underestimated talent indeed.

Tompkins has good hands, he is elusive, hard to tackle and he is good at knowing where to run as a ball carrier..
Too many very short passes were completed to Trent for little or no gain. Plays which only had a chance if Trent worked his magic, but he wasn’t getting the ball in enough space to do something with it.

I just hope Tompkins can make it through 2024 with zero turnovers.

No doubt Miles will be the QB. He has the experience and there is no way you start a freshman (even redshirt) unless the upper classmen cupboard is bare. I think switching OC was a challenge to MH last year. I think Cody Hawkins did a very good job at OC and was helpful to QBs as he was one. No matter the intent of “Shredville”, a strong running game with Lan Larison leading, accompanied by a good defense will be important. Can’t overlook what wins championships.

Would be nice if the Ags would have a big body receiver emerge to embellish the otherwise rather small receiving crew.

A speedster on ST would be nice.

Ott is a big problem. I'm guessing we'll play ball control.

https://youtu.be/E-onTzH6pNk?si=uHhe1XcYnwOhPNwj

Ott was a big problem last time we were there in 2022.

Its gotta be Miles....he knows the thing, so to speak. He's the only QB on he roster with real game experience (Harper has a few snaps), which is a little scary. I really think he's going to have a bounce-back year.

I do look forward to seeing what Harper can do at some point.

Just bought our tickets. See some of you at Cal in a month and half.

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It was reported by attendees at the spring scrimmage that the second qb after Hastings who played wore #2, which is David Rasor’s number.
Maybe Plough will ditch the quirky tradition Hawkins has of having a depth chart in alphabetical order

I loved Hawk as HC, but I absolutely hated the "player A OR player B OR player C" thing he did with the depth chart. What's the point of even putting a depth chart together if it's not a... well... depth chart?

The depth chart is rarely updated during the season, but it is published each week in the game notes., They should put the link to the game notes back into the schedule, as they did prior to last year, instead of hiding it each week in the media center. The audience for the game notes is not just media, and i bet most fans don’t even know the “media center” url exists. Last year one navigated to it via sport, football, team info, more, UC Davis Media Center.

I think that as the end of last season showed, if LL can get even the tiniest hole thru the scrimmage line, he is likely to get significant yards on every play. Because he is so quick and strong. So now the question is whether we have the OL who can do this? Arm tackling LBs will not stop him. Sure, Ott is a great RB but not a breakaway RB like LL. If we can slow him down we can win this game. So I agree, a game control strategy might work.

Idk, man. I feel like this is really underselling Ott. He's pushing to be one of the top RBs taken in the next draft. This is from a scouting report on him...

"Ott has been the engine of California’s offense throughout his first two seasons of college football. Among Power Five running backs since 2022, he’s ninth in rushing yards (2,201), seventh in yards after contact (1,394), fifth in forced missed tackles (108) and sixth in receiving yards (517). Ott gets up to top speed quickly at 6 feet and 200 pounds. His 160 plays where he hit at least 15 miles per hour since 2022 rank third among FBS running backs."

I think what's more likely is Cal limits him if they get up early to avoid risk of injury.

i can’t believe they have a stat on how many times a player hit 15 mph.
I think Cal has the perfect template on how to win this game, do what they did last time. Ott had 17 carries for 104 yards more than 2/3 of Cals rushing yards.. (Davis actually had better rushing stats than Cal in that game though). Davis’s defense lost a lot of size with transfers and graduation.
It will be interesting who plays linebacker and how they do. It will be interesting to see if Teddye Buchanan starts or at least plays a lot for Cal. He is not the only all star FCS inside linebacker grad transfer Cal has.

It will be interesting who plays linebacker and how they do. It will be interesting to see if Teddye Buchanan starts or at least plays a lot for Cal. — Riveraggie

I would be surprised if Buchanan does not start for Cal. He was an impact player for us with his FBS speed, energy and ball awareness. I think he could be tough for us to handle.