I predict we will be entertaining. San Jose will tell us a lot. Our offense should again be awesome. Will the defense improve enough?

This year I think the first two games will be definitive. This isn't one of those years where the early games are either unwinnable or in which we are prohibitive favorites. Both should be competitive winnable games. San Jose is in year two of a new coaching tenure and year one didn't show much. This is as good an opportunity to beat a FBS team as we are likely to see.The Toreros are coming of a year with a FCS playoff win. Two pretty good games to measure against.

Long bomb, possibly TD, to Does on the first play if the season; calling it now. Gotta instill fear into those hotshot FBS DBs.

Incidentally it worked on a good SDSU defense and that first drive probably would have resulted in a score of it weren't for an unlikely tip to pick.

I predict we will be entertaining.

LOL...good one! I think I'll roll with that one!

Evan Hicks joins the Aggies as a quality control coach.

Collegiate Sports Nation thread jumps into discussing the possibility of the Aggies joining the FBS / Mountain West.

Starts about halfway down the page.

csnbbs.com/thread-853823-page-2.html

Nice find, movielover. I'm adding a link to the start of the discussion thread:

https://csnbbs.com/thread-853823.html

UW Coach and Aggie Chris Petersen in The Bee.

"UCD coaches believed in the power of positive thinking, Petersen said, and that’s why you won’t see Huskies coaching barking or spewing F-bombs at players.

“The main thing (about a healthy program) is the whole vibe and demeanor,” Petersen said. “One, (UCD) coaches were unbelievable teachers of football. It was finally the first time that football really started to make sense.

“They were unbelievable people in how they treated us, how they spoke to us. I don’t remember anybody — nobody was ever in kids’ faces or yelling at kids. If there was yelling on the field, out of excitement and having fun. That sets a cool foundation.”

Mercury News writer on San Jose State.

"Optimistically, I can see the potential for four or five victories."

"UC Davis should be a gimme, al though the Aggies have an NFL prospect at wide receiver in the person of Keelan Doss...."

I love that. Perfect. Reminds me of UOP in the old days. Sun Tsu

The coaches need to post that in big, bold letters on every locker in the locker room the week before the game.

We need to stay humble and focused, no boasting... no more silliness on the sidelines. Focused. If Coach Tucker and crew grow our players, we could have a special season.

Casper Star Tribune: Mountain West Football

"San Jose State

"The Spartans’ lone FBS win of the season came in the regular-season finale against a Josh Allen-less Wyoming. While a 2-11 record isn’t pretty, it sure beats going 0-12 against FBS competition."

SJS vs SLO, highlights: 35-13

https://youtu.be/li70QeybXgM

SLO could have easily won this game! They led 7-6 at halftime.

5 fumbles, 5. Lost 3. Two went for defensive TDs.

SLI only had 233 yards in offense.

Feels like this season is red hot. Maier to Doss for ONE more year, and it's now the second year under Hawk. Tough road ahead with this schedule, O going to ball, but the D? Stakes couldn't be any higher. Can we be Perfect?

Logan Montgomery is proven, we'll miss Aaron Moore, but we've got young studs coming in at WR ... CC, Gilbert and Harrell... Vaughn... will Gabe Martinez (6'7") or the new long WR see PT?

The first game will be very telling. SLO played SJ to a standstill at half before letting it get away. ... I've seen 2 clips from their coach that weren't impressive as far as leadership... one he was complaining that HCs hide certain aspects of their job from assistants, thereby handicapping his early HC start ... huh??

Go Aggies!!!

If Harrell and Vaughan are 100% back from their injuries, plus the other guys you mentioned it will be interesting to see who ends up playing. Got some speed with those guys,
Not to mention several prize freshmen,
Hopefully, we'll have our act more together for the first game than San Jose. They do have all their receivers back but the QB position is undecided. And they have change offensive coordinator, might take time to jell.

I saw a picture of a shirtless Logan M. on Twitter. Yolked!

Camp opened! 4 weeks until opening night!

SJSU coach rah-rah, jumps on table.

https://mobile.twitter.com/SJSUSpartanFB/status/1024693859324846080/video/1

Wow...you gotta be kidding me... :yikes:

College Football News, snippets.

"One Reason Why San Jose State Will Win"

"UC Davis won’t be able to play any defense.

"Yeah, the offense will push the ball all over the place, and it’ll keep up the pace, but it’ll also struggle to stop anything the Spartan offense wants to do."

"The O that couldn’t do much of anything last season should boost up right away under new offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven. He has eight starters back including almost everyone of note in the receiving corps. There’s nothing the Aggies will do that the Spartans can’t answer for."

What’s Going To Happen

"This should be as much fun as any of the FBS vs. FCS games in the first part of the season. Both teams are going to bomb away, and both teams are going to have their moments when they take control.

"Both teams can throw, both teams are going to be bad on D. San Jose State will be a little more efficient at throwing, and a little better on defense."

Fearless Prediction & Line

San Jose State 41, UC Davis 27

https://collegefootballnews.com/2018/08/san-jose-state-vs-uc-davis-fearless-prediction-game-preview

San Jose didn’t really shine at throwing the ball last year. This projection assumes they’ll be able to throw better against our bad defense. Their bombs away games seem to be just over 50% completion with for 180 yards. The assumption the author makes is that we’ll still be bad. But who knows?
If we are bad again defensively it will be a long year,

I can't believe I can't make it to the SJSU game. I've been waiting for this for so long :(

I'm hoping Coach Tucker, Foster and crew prove them all wrong.

We didn't recruit any JC kids on D, and we only had 2 defensive players drop off the roster, so they are satisfied with our roster. Or Hawk has doubled down on outscoring people. D was young, now seasoned.

Go Ags!

On D, I hope we have a lot of competition and some new faces earn playing time. As you said we are more experienced; defensive coaches were new to league last year. so they’ve learned something too.
The last two years we’ve brought in some good defensive players and I think they’ll show that this year.
Recruiting JC players is a bandaid. The guys we recruit as freshmen should be better by the time they become juniors to most guys coming out of JC.

Cloud, Moe, and Flowers are all JC recruits who have been key.

Hawkins made some reference at El Mercero about how we opened eyes with the Eastern Washington game (loss). Maybe he wants to go from #3 offense to #1, put up 60 points a game. Ranked #113 on defense, I'd figure improvement there would be more impactful. (3 JC recruits on offense.)

So if you bring in more JC guys they have to be better than those JC guys you recruited last year Usually only have them for two years, so they need to be able to get playing time. We also have two and three star underclass men and other veterans they would also need to be better than to make a difference. JC transfers are useful if you have immediate need. That was more true last year than this.

I think we need to win to open eyes. We need to beat one of these teams we haven't beaten since joining the conference, like Montana, Eastern Washington. Nationally, beating Montana or Eastern would be the eye openers for FCS fans, polls voters. Our reputation in the conference is still in the bottom half of the league. In the Big Sky, reputation is all about beating Montana, Montana State and Eastern Washington. I think if we beat San Jose and San Diego, we will have accomplished a lot, but in the Big Sky world they would still be snoozing.

100% agree. Hoping for the best in San Jose!

I wonder if we'll see either long WR (6'7" Martinez or 6'5" Sipes) opening night? Big targets!

I hope our D can put more pressure on the QB this year. Just that one factor would change some of the outcomes as time runs out.

For those familiar with the traffic woes in the San Jose area, any tips on beating it for the travel from the Davis area to the San Jose game? What time do we need to get through San Jose before rush hour?