yes, but he is typically credited as Cal.

Then he shouldn't be playing.

That was def a problem not taking the 3 at the end of the 2nd. I agree. But we have some really talented QB's on the roster. It might be time to give them some run. I'm not sold on Caden as the starter. He holds the ball too long, doesn't go through his progressions fast enough, and depends too much on his legs.

this take makes no sense. Bro is literally one of the leading Jerry rice award candidates.

I agree our defense was getting gutted. Our special teams has always been awful so no surprise there. But Caden's play was really bad. His play single-handedly lost this game. From the large sacks because he is holding on too ball to long, to the fumbles, to the interceptions. I'm not trying to bash the kid, but he needs to sit for a while until he regains his composure. Right now he head is on a swivel and he isn't seeing the field at all. He missed multiple wide open receivers and you can tell he is deciding on throwing on running before the play even develops. He needs to sit for a while.

So? What does that count if the team loses?

Did you miss three consecutive POTW Big Sky awards?

Sit behind who?! This has to be rage bait

I mean, I simply don't agree about Caden "single handedly" losing the game for us but I guess it's good to have different perspectives. The offense put up 36 points... That should be enough to put away ISU.

I'm not sold on Caden as the starter. — Sailorgabe

I've never disagreed more on a take, respectfully.

Still in disbelief... I will admit that I was way off in my prediction and the inspired team that executed better won the football game. Working from the questions posed on the Aggie Pride Podcast postgame autopsy, "Why we lost" and "What we lost":

WHY WE LOST: Because we lost in all three phases of the game:

Great teams don't give-up Special Teams TD, especially blocked punts with a scoop and score cherry on top. TEAMS THAT BLOCK A PUNT TYPICALLY WIN AT A 90% CLIP. ISU did. Ags also had a PAT blocked. Unacceptable.

Defense got gashed in the 1st quarter, mostly by draw/delay run plays vs. a very light box. Our LBs played on the fringe of the box on many snaps, giving ISU an equal numbers advantage (5-on-5) at times. IDAHO STATE RUSHED FOR 111 YARDS ON 5 CARRIES IN THE 1ST QUARTER AND SCORED ON A 15 YARD RUSH ON THE FIRST PLAY OF THE 2ND QUARTER EN ROUTE TO 21 POINTS ALLOWED IN 16 MINUTES! When we finally settled in the second half, we were stunting our DL and playing heavier to the box with the LBs. Too little/too late. My guess is that ISU ran more than they showed leading into the game and we took the bait to stop the quick passing game which sacrificed run defenders. Who knows. Pass rush was non-existent. We adjusted eventually, but the damage was done and the Special Teams score happened.

Offense was sloppy. We all know about the turnovers, but two sacks are almost as bad as turnovers. Procedure penalties hurt. More slop. All contributing factors. What especially sucks is losing a game you should win because of self-inflicted wounds and bad football. I believe in CP. Is he perfect? No. Is he tall? No. Does he make mistakes? Absolutely. He is also a 20-year old kid playing the most difficult position in sports. He's going to screw some things up. But does he give UC Davis the best chance to win football games in 2025? ABSOLUTELY.

It felt like the Ags were waiting for the momentum to shift (maybe because they're so comfortable in close games) while the Bengals created momentum and made things happen. It came in spurts for Davis, especially in the second half (desperation, perhaps), but it felt flat. Nothing to do with injuries or crowds or coaches. That part has to come from the players.

WHAT WE LOST: A first round bye, and, most likely, any opportunity to host a home playoff game. Those of you who understand bracketology better than me can straighten me out, but I feel like we need to go 2-1 to even make the playoffs, and the possibility of hosting at, say, 8-3 is unlikely. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Sickening and maddening weekend.

The loss hurts but if someone told you before the season that we’d have this record without 5 All Americans and losing some school greats to graduation. I’ll take it! We’re so young and beat up, they fought and I can take that any day.

Let's review your take once you see the other QB's get some reps. I've got nothing against the kid, hope he does well, but after seeing multiple games, he continues to have the same problems. He is slow on his progressions, he holds the ball way too long, and I think he depends too much on his running to bail him out. However, this will get harder for him as defenses adjust. Idaho State was stacking the box daring Caden to throw it. I think we are going to see a lot more of this type of defenses who are going to look to cut off his running and force him to pass.

Defense wise we are holding on. However, the loss of the so many great defensive players might be too much to overcome this year. And while that sucks, I always thought this season was going to be a building year, so if we can get the young kids reps for next season, I'm all about it (Cofield has been amazing, hope we keep him).

Great analysis. I agree with a lot of what you said.

how is Pinnick going to improve if you sit him? There’s no one on the roster who would improve the offense more than he does. He’s played 9 college football games and has been player of the week multiple times. If you seriously believe he should be sat I’m not exactly sure you understand football very well. He’s proven he’s an above average passer even with the issue of holding the ball too long at times. Gotta trust the coaches to continue to iron out his kinks and remember how good the offense has been all year with him at the helm.

I saw plenty of two high, 6 man boxes on passing downs and he still was effective. Even saw them throw a 3 high safety look. I think we’re fine if a team loads the box.

In season awards mean little to nothing. I want you to watch his play the next 3 games.

@Idaho (they have a 2 game winning streak and a good running game) maybe a W?
@Montana St - Loss. We are not even close to these guys this year.
SacST - This will be at toss up. Hoping for a win but its 50/50.

There is a real possibility we might miss the playoffs if we go 0-3.

If we lose against Idaho, they should really look at getting the young kids some action in prep for next year.

They did not play a two high in the 4th qtr. They played a single safety back with a spy on the Caden. They decided to take away his run and dared him to pass. Watch how Idaho plays him next week. They know he likes to run and he holds the ball too long, I expect them to bring pressure and force him into sacks or interceptions.

Caden has to be more disciplined in progressions. He has to be decisive - hike the ball, go to his primary and secondary and get rid of the ball in less than 2 seconds. He can't continue to hike the ball and go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, start running....then either get sacked or throw a poor attempt.

If he can fix that, he will be really successful, but right now...he is seeing shadows out there.

Before this season even started nobody even knew who the starter was going to be. But remember we signed Axel Eason and Trynor Cleeland both 3 star QB's. If the season takes bad turn, I'd like to see what they look like on the field. I'm a big fan of Cleeland. That kid has an arm, but I'm really interested in seeing the legacy Eason.

I really just struggle with this narrative around Pinnick considering that he beat out the other qbs in training camp, is a redshirt freshman during a potential "rebuild" year due to injuries or new players and has still continued to protect the ball quite well through the games so far, and stack up yardage. We also have scored impressive numbers of points in each of our games so far (including the ISU game last weekend). While I agree at times he held the ball longer than he should, we are also used to Hastings who's whole thing was these short-medium range quick shots. I am not going to blame our defense totally with how many injuries we have, but in the last game it was more of a problem of them giving up points and special teams struggling than it is worth placing blame on Pinnick.

the coaches chose Pinnick because he was the best quarterback in the preseason. He has proven he can lead an extremely explosive offense. If his only issue is missing a check down sometimes, then they obviously chose correctly. He’s an inexperienced QB with a horribly injured defense and still has us staunchly in playoff contention. Davis will be playing to win every game from here on out, which means we won’t be seeing the 3rd or 5th string QBs at all this year.

yup. At this point they have what they have.

We have some issues, but Caden Pinnick 'aint one of them.

The kid completed 71% of passes passes in a 2 pt. loss. 1 INT was tip (I still believe the second defender was blocked from his vision on that 1st INT- a fluke, not necessarily a bad decision).
Incredible to me that of all the things that went wrong on Saturday, he would be questioned.

His season completion percentage is 70%. If you remove the Washington game its nearly 72%
He has added a dimension to the offense we've been sorely missing for a long time- the ability to create with his legs. He's won 5 (arguably 6) games and put up incredible stats.

He is the starter because the staff believes he is the best QB on the team, that's all that matters.
He is doing young-QB-things, of course. But the great has faaarrrrr outweighed the bad.

He is an ok player. He has talent. No doubt, but is he better than some other players we recruited? I'm not sure. We will see.

Anybody who saw the Spring Game knew who the starter was going to be. It was obvious.

You are being generous and that's ok. I'm really not trying to bash the kid, I just think in the next 3 games we are going to find out a lot. If he can improve on his flaws he will be good. I just think with the talent that Idaho, Montana St, and SAC ST have, it might be a good idea for the coaches to get plan B ready just in case. I think our best player is Jordan Fisher. Fisher and Vargas are playing really great.

Drive 1: Fisher TD
Drive 2: Vargas TD
Drive 3: Interception
Drive 4: This is after Cofields INT. Immediate sack. Incomplete. Scramble for 2 yards. Blocked punt.
Drive 5: Jones TD
Drive 6: Caden runs and fumbles. End of half.
Drive 7: FG after getting to the four yard line.
Drive 8: FG after multiple penalties.
Drive 9: Punt. Another sack taking to long on reads.. Forced throw to Pinnick who was double teamed.
Drive 10: FG. 3rd and 14. He runs. He is short.
Drive 11: Interception. Forces throw into double team. Ball game.

Just a tough game. Hopefully he can learn from this and get better next time. But if he can't get his reads down and get that ball out there, it's going to be more scrambles and sacks, because no defense thinks he can consistently throw accurate balls. They are going to load the box and get him rattled and hope he pulls it down and runs. Watch.

What I find odd is the lack of designed QB run plays. Get that +1 in the run game, especially in short yardage or low RZ. Wildcat was a staple in the RZ last year. I know Caden's not a bruising runner but I'd take fish or vargas running that all day.

Definitely something Shelton and Plough need to scheme up a bit more. Obviously, it's a QB preservation thing right, and a RFr. QB at that.

I totally trust the UCD staff, but I have noticed that NDSU, SDSU and MSU mix in designed QB run really effectively.

It is obvious by really reading your takes that you are knowledgeable regarding QB play, I appreciate that. It's good to chat with you. Looking at all the QB scenarios, here's my take:
1. I think CP gives us the best chance to win now. He won the competition and you're going to take some lumps with a young QB. ANY young QB. From where I typically sit, I know that he struggles with vision at times due to his height. He throws some balls blindly, but most of the time he is on time and on target. Other times, he pulls it down because he loses sight or something is covered, and that causes problems for the protection, etc. and he bails. Guys that can run tend to try to create space for themselves and don't like being squeezed.
2. I forget who mentioned the QB run game, and while CP is an outstanding athlete and can really go, any reliance on QB runs is going to equate to more hits which means more reps for the back-up. I would entertain some Q Draws, especially if Vargas is banged-up, but I would be cautious due to our QB depth being so inexperienced and young.
3. Looking further down the depth chart, you have the Cleeland kid who can really spin it and behind that, who knows. I saw Cleeland get reps in a scrimmage and he impressed me. Wrighster was the next in line as far as depth at Northern Colorado when CP didn't play, so not sure where that places Eason, who has some physical attributes it looks like. Now is not the time IMO to start messing around with QB depth, we need to win two of the final three games and hope is not lost. We need to focus on improved Special Teams play and taking care of the football.