I think so too. But he has competition, from an Ivy player who had 173 tackles in last two years, not to mention whatever Cal had. Teddye has outstanding athleticism based on his combine tests at Davis, doubt the Princeton guy has that athleticism. Maybe they’ll both play.

Interestingly sounds like Wilcox hasn't committed to Mendoza being the starting QB going into the Davis game despite being last year's starter. 2 transfer QBs are also in the mix.

https://www.si.com/college/cal/football/scrimmage-shows-cal-has-room-to-grow-before-opener-vs-uc-davis-01j5h73vge7b

I've also been reading about a transfer WR, Tobias Merriweather, that they got from Notre Dame. He's 6'5, very fast for that size, and has been beating their DBs in camp. DB is a strength of ours, but tough to defend that combination of size and speed.

I read an article a week or so ago that Cal has 47 new players -20 recruits and 27 transfers. Didn’t mention how many they lost. Biggest recruit was retaining Ott - kind of like us with Lan

So some definite unknowns on both teams. Turnover for the Bears and totally new offense for the Ags. I'm not deluding myself into thinking that we have much of a chance in this one though. Cal still has a massive size, speed, and skill advantage. Massey giving us a 7% chance of winning right now.

Did Cal use the high tempo offense when Plough was there?

It will be interesting to see what if anything looks different with the Davis offense beyond play calling. My guess is not much, but it could be that Plough abandons or diminishes some of the things we’ve been accustomed to seeing, like fly sweeps and wildcat plays. Plough says the team didn’t change the terminology in the years he was gone.

Well I certainly hope there are at least some changes. I'm guessing tempo is going to be a big thing, but we have to set Miles up with plays tailored to his strengths to get the passing game going. When Lan went down with his injury last season it became so incredibly apparent that we had become a 1 trick pony.

If you look back at the recruiting in prior years they didn’t bring in many scholarship running backs. In 2023 the team decided to feature the run more then they went down, just enough to make us miss the playoffs. My supposition is that the OC and QB coach changes contributed to a drop in Miles’ performance but also a major factor was for a stretch of games the offense was handcuffed by injured running backs.

I agree with your analysis. That's why I think that Plough and Shelton have to implement changes to help Miles out because whatever Cody had us doing last season just wasn't working.

Unfortunately I think it might take until week 3 to get a good idea of how we're looking

I don’t think our offense will be totally new. At the season ticket event Friday, the offense clips Plough showed were all from his OC days.

Win or lose at Cal, I just hope we come away healthy. I always worry about injuries when we play against and opponent with a big size and speed advantage.

Relevant to.your concern, last Cal game I think we lost both Jake Parks for the season and Noah Masui who started as a D-lineman.. He didn't play again until appearing in a couple of games in November.

This sports scribe likes our chances at Cal:

UC Davis over California

UC Davis has a talented roster. Miles Hastings is a top-20 quarterback in the FCS, running back Lan Larison is the preseason Big Sky Player of the Year, defensive lineman Zach Kennedy can set the edge and Rex Connors has an argument as the best defensive back in the FCS. That talent alone gives them a fighting shot against an FBS opponent, but against Cal, they could win. The key to stopping Cal will be shutting down All-American level running back Jaydn Ott, but UC Davis has only allowed one 100-yard rusher in its last 15 games dating back to 2022.

https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2024-07-23/12-potential-fcs-over-fbs-upsets-2024

Don't forget that Cal also retained the surprisingly good Fernando Mendoza at QB, possibly their best since Jared Goff. He has two good returning pass catchers in Trond Grizzell and Jack Endries.

ESPN is currently giving us a 6.7% chance of winning and Massey is at 7%. That sounds about right to me, but those numbers don't mean a lot early in the season. Cal is going to be a big uphill battle for us, but nothing is impossible in college football. I think the fact that we're returning a lot of our defense is going to be a boon for us, but to have any chance of winning we can't turn the ball over like we did early in the season last year.

reading a Cal review in SJ Mercury-News this morning makes it sound like they’re not sure about starting QB. I’d heard that Wednesday at practice from a staffer who is tight with one of their staffers. Wouldn’t be surprised to see 2 or 3 QBs playing.

Article also mention Teddye Buchanan would be starting

Article also mention Teddye Buchanan would be starting — DrMike

No surprise there for me. Teddye has legitimate FBS talent. Unfortunately, I think he will create problems for us. He's a beast!

Good.news us, the offense sort of changed.

Because both my parents went to Cal and I grew up being a huge fan, I used to watch all Cal football games on the Pac-12 Network and root for them against any other team but the Aggies. This year, I'm so disgusted with the breakup of the Pac-12 and the whole avaricious, modern nature of FBS football, that I plan to stick exclusively to watching UC Davis football.

1 week away! GO AGS! BEAT THE BEARS!

Game Notes,
No ORs except for special teams.
Lots of new names, and interesting where everyone fits.
They list only two deep on offense, didn’t have room for Gale apparently.
https://ucdavisaggies.com/documents/2024/8/26/UCDWeek1_atCAL.pdf

Pretty impressive that Dixon worked his way onto the 2 deep in the switch over from QB. Cool to see some freshmen making the deep as well. The offensive line has some size for FCS football. Here's hoping to a good season!

I skimmed through it. Its not bad!
A little confused on Gale.....isn't he TE #1?

We will see when they play the game, but he is the well established incumbent. I think it is just an error, unless he is injured. Tompkins is listed as a punt returner only.

I was specifically looking for some underclassmen and glad they made the list,

I certainly hope he isn't injured or out for some other reason. He's a playmaker for us. I doubt that it's an oversight on the 2 deep roster.

We've learned to take these things with a grain of salt. Under Hawkins they used the appearance in the depth chart as a reward. I can see how that might apply to the two guys listed.

RE: game notes

- Can’t seem to spell Lehigh correctly (transfer punter).
-Griz is a registered trademark with one “z” not two. Those Montana fans can get riled up quite easily.
-team and stadium information headers have no spaces between words.
-had to chuckle at “Just call us UC Davis” section in which they stipulate “no hyphens, periods or other forms of punctuation” when the document is rife with incorrect or inconsistent punctuation such as ellipses being used instead of periods for complete sentences, and inconsistent capitalization for first words in “by the numbers section” list entries. Also, I am wondering what an agate is besides a stone, as in “UCD is acceptable for agate”.

I stopped at page 5 with my edits. Doesn’t anyone edit these things? I’d do it for no charge, or maybe an have an English major or faculty member put a set of eyes on it? I suspect any and all errors will be pushed into subsequent editions. A bit embarrassing for an institution that prides itself in its academics?
I am perhaps too picky (just ask my wife).

No one verifies the box scores either.

Does anyone recall Jordan Fisher burning his red shirt year at Northern Arizona?
He and Souriolle both. Fisher had no stats just said to have participated. And he never played in any subsequent game.

There is an alumni zoom Thursday; I’ll ask about Gale if we don’t hear before then