It was pretty disappointing when Plough mentioned losing "5 All-Americans" when he was talking about the rash of "catastrophic injuries" we had.

Thanks davisguy52! My wife and I will watch it tonight after we get back from dinner.

sending my thanks too! Parents are in Paris and wanting to watch the game :up:

What a coincidence! I wish I had brought some Aggie swag. I could have taken a a great Aggie promo photo at the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe or some other famous landmark here.

Being this thin, and many Aggies having played both ways in high school, what reserve players we can transition to defense?

OL Frosh McLoughlin and Denning (72 tackles, 5 sacks) played D line in HS.

WR Frosh Bradley (136 tackles) plated DB in HS.

This is the perfect time to adjust w bye week. We've got young OL, TEs, and WRs who could add depth to the defense.

We can't assume we'll get magically healthier. We've got big games coming up, and odds are good, the playoffs.

If I were Plough, I would consult w my assistants, put together a list of 8-10 top candidates, call them in and explain the predicament. Or ask for volunteers. At minimum, this would allow defensive players to avoid contact midweek, and provide critical reserves. Do we have a young TE who can play LB?

I was thinking the same thing! My dad has been wearing his hat everywhere. He went to Notre dame wearing it :lol:

We were at Notre Dame a week ago. Did your dad get a photo with his Aggie hat? If he did, you could post it here and then send it to Rocko as well. I'm sure they'd use it on social media in some way...Aggie fans in Paris!

Not so impacted that they need to convert players. There are young players who were highly regarded recruits at all the lost player positions that still aren’t playing, but would be better than anyone switching sides.

Defense Starters lost: Safety Rex Connors, linebacker Porter Connors, cornerback Ty Richardson
#2 man on depth chart lost: Edge linebacker Garretson.
Offense starters lost TE Williams and OL Nava,
OL Rodriguez is somewhat limited but plays.
Depth chart player lost RB Perez
Can anyone add to this list? Its not 11 guys but the other 3 are unknown to me.

Kam totten, a few freshmen, and a few guys that got hurt before the season started

Caden Pinnick in Big Sky play (3 games):

62-82 75%
10 TD 0 INT 949 yards
213 Efficiency

Regardless of the strength of the opposing defenses so far, the most impressive stat to me is the 0 interceptions for a rs. frosh. He's been sacked 8 times - only Pennington has been sacked more times (9).

Pinnick and Lamson (Jr.) are the class of the conference. Lamson has completed 71% of his passes w/ 214 efficiency.

I did not realize Lamson was from right here in El Dorado Hills.

[ Not minimizing the loss of those guys, but OL, RB, TE, and Safety were the deepest positions on the team. Fortunately Sievers is filling in well for Porter Connors.

Big difference in yardage for Pinnick in conference games, about 100 yards per game more than Lamson.

Yep. Lamson 222 yards per game. He is running more though- Lamson has more rushes and almost as many yards as Carter Vargas. (32 for 124 yards)

*edit* Lamson isn't running much more. Pinnick has 29 carries. A little different since Pinnick is mostly scrambling, vs. Lamson rushing as part of their offense?

Hero Sports: FCS Top 25: Sam Herder’s Ballot For The Week Of 10-13-2025

FCS Top 25
1. North Dakota State
2. South Dakota State
3. Montana
4. Montana State
5. Tarleton State
6. North Dakota
7. UC Davis
8. Southern Illinois
9. Tennessee Tech
10. Lehigh
11. Illinois State
12. Monmouth
13. Harvard
14. Abilene Christian
15. Mercer ...

"North Dakota and UC Davis slide up a spot after impressive wins. UND beat Youngstown State 35-17 to improve to 4-2 overall and 4-1 vs. the FCS. YSU was ranked in the coaches poll. UC Davis beat media poll No. 14 Northern Arizona 45-24 to improve to 5-1 overall and 5-0 vs. the FCS."

https://herosports.com/fcs-top-25-sam-herder-ballot-10-13-2025-bzbz/

Our kicker is our best tackler, legit upper body strength

Added a few more stats for Defense. Jacob Psyk is a terror and Marquis Bell stepping up.

NCAA FCS Statistics

Total Offense... #25 - 421 ypg
Total Defense #101 - 432 ypg
Turnover Margin #17 (t) ---- [up 17 spots]
Turnovers Lost.. #12 (t)

3rd down Conversion % - #17 (t) --- [big jump up]
3rd down Conversion % - Defense - #119

First down Offense - #69 ---- [up 14 spots]
First down Defense - #91

Red zone Offense - #17 (t) ---- [up 18 spots]
Sacks Allowed - #115 (t)

Team Passing Efficiency - #7 -- [up 7 spots].. 174.88

OFFENSE

Completion Percentage
Caden Pinnick #8 ------ [up 27 spots]

Passing Efficiency
Caden Pinnick #5 ----- [up 8 spots]

Yards Per Pass Attempt
Caden Pinnick #7 ----- [up 10 spots]

Receiving TDs
Zach Jones #66
Samuel Gbatu #7 ---- [up 14 spots]

Rushing Yds per Carry
Jordan Fisher #6 ----- [up 3 spots]

[Carter Vargas 7.3 YPC = #5 in FCS, but he is 7 carries below the minimum threshold - 10 carries per game.]

Rushing Yds per Game
Jordan Fisher #24 ----- [big jump]

Rushing Yards
Jordan Fisher #26 ----- [up 10 spots]

DEFENSE

Sacks
Jacob Psyk #7 ------ [up 6 spots]

Forced Fumbles
Jacob Psyk #2 (t)
Khalani Riddick #11 (t)

Passes Defended
Marquis Bell #28

Tackles for Loss
Jacob Psyk #5 (t)

About what was expected. NAU was not explosive, and they resorted to trench warfare to limit Aggie possessions and run the clock. Defense played a solid game but struggled when NAU had their burst in the 3Q, Finished well.

The kickoff coverage unit is an issue. It all starts with the Placekicker. He may tackle well, but why aren't we hitting the ball higher and deeper like every other kicker in the country does? Is he putting the ball where the Special Teams Coordinator is telling him to? That matters a bunch. What about the coverage personnel? The ball kept exiting out the right side of our coverage scheme/returner's left. Something was amiss and I'm not sure if it was the inconsistency of the kicks or the guys covering on that side. Either way, teams score at a much higher rate starting at their 40 yard line and closer than they do inside their own 30. Little things like this are the difference between good and great.

Offensively, CP is really playing good football. He's distributing the football, he actually made some great decisions in not throwing balls and in throwing some away, and he seemed more comfortable in the pocket to me. #1 fumbled again and that needs to be addressed. I liked that they didn't bury him on the bench like last time; fix it in practice. Again, a little thing that separates good and great. It was great to see #7 emerge, his catch on that Corner route was huge. Sam and Fish are special.

Nobody ever talks about our OL so I will. Those guys are playing well. We are facing loaded boxes and all sorts of exotic fronts, stunts, and blitzes, and while we did allow several sacks, those aren't always on the O-Line, especially with a mobile QB. Keep up the good work big fellas

Pinnick wins offensive player of the week for the 3rd consecutive week

Well deserved - Adam Jones has to be thinking "What the hell do I gotta do up here?"

Well deserved - Adam Jones has to be thinking "What the hell do I gotta do up here?"

This was Jones first big week. Don’t know if the pre-season pick got to his head (likely not) but the offense is different at MSU this year.

well I dont have a photo of him in Paris with the hat... but I have a story to tell. My parents just got to Venice and were sitting at a cafe. They heard someone speaking english and looked to their left only to see a guy wearing a davis colored shirt. They joked about it for a minute onkly for the guy to turn around and be wearing a UC Davis Aggies t-shirt. Apparently their kid is a freshman and they have been wearing Davis merch all around Europe. Small small world!!

Is Pinnick a lot like Jake Maier?

Different QBs, Pinnick is turning into a better pocket passer, but is a way better athlete than Maier ever was. Maier more of a pure passer, very good leader, but I'd also say he wasn't the least mobile QB in the universe.

Did anyone here go to Brewfest? I was at an alumni gathering at the athletic facility and it looked much smaller and more subdued than in the past. Looked like patrons had wrist bands with punch spots to limit the number of drinks.

I think there was a palpable difference in offensive team speed that helped UCD separate from NAU. Gbatu, Dobbins, Fisher and Vargas in particular. Pennington was also thrown off with the pass rush, that was also critical to take pressure off the DBs.

I went and we had a good time. Nobody was limiting anything, but they did have a hard stop at 3:30.

I missed the milestone when it happened last week -- in one and a half seasons Coach Plough now has more wins than the entire time I was at Davis. And two of the wins in the Gould/late Biggs era that includes were non-D1 wins.

I was about to make a comment that this is the most comfortable and confident I've been in the passing game since the Maier and Doss years. But then I actually looked at the stats and in fact Pinnick is on pace for even better stats than Maier during his Big Sky PotY season in 2018.

Even ignoring his running ability (other than the extent it kept eventual pass plays alive), Pinnick's passing numbers are somewhere between really good for a RS Freshman and out of this world.

JM and CP both take (took) the job seriously, students of the game, smart. (Pinnick plays the piano.)

CP appears to have a better arm, mobility, and possibly accuracy. It's early, big boy matches coming. Montana State, Sac appears to have speed, and the playoffs, a different beast. During the JM we were riding high, I convinced a local friend to come to his first game in years, and I believe Montana came to town for a day game. We came out FLAT. It was so disappointing.

Plough seems to have a little edge, which I like. We've got the new athletic center and B school, no limits.

Psyk is a game changer. Wow. As good as Mike Wise?