Here's another big play from the 1st half, what a hit:

As scary as Shaheed is, I thought that one of the unsung heros of the game was Daniel Whelan. His hang time is so huge that Shaheed only returned 2 punts for a total of 8 yards and had to fair catch 5 more. The guy averages 12.5 yards per punt return for his career and I wouldn't be surprised to see him returning punts and kickoffs in the NFL, maybe even a few punts by Whelan.

That’s a great point. I sometimes get hung up on distance with punters, but the hang time was the big thing with Whelan this game.

How did Rodgers beat his guy so badly when the QB is standing at the back of the end zone? They say ill advised pass, but the QB didn’t have an option. Couldn’t get anything in the ball because he didn’t have room to complete the motion. Best rush of the year! I can only imagine their team watching that play on film!

that was a puzzling play call. Their QB wasn’t accurate with long balls, so seemed way risky. Same head puzzling with the 2 passes prior to us stuffing them on 4th and 1 at the 20.

What puzzled me on offense is that HR never seemed to have a easy play with to a open receiver. Several, what looked like, longer one-man patterns with tight coverage. After the injury (his head hit hard), we called several shorter passes (pass and run to Gilliam on 3rd and long was a beaut) and e got in a rhythm. Weber guy had short passes in the holes of the zone all night. Maybe it’s our heavy use of two tight-ends?

Even with Hastings our receivers had to catch contested balls, and made great catches. In contrast theirs were rarely contested. We can’t play against Eastern like that.

You mean this bull rush?

https://twitter.com/UCDfootball/status/1441931292858146817?s=20

Bryce Rodgers has been a rock for our team his whole career. Maybe he is standing out more now because he has more size at NG to assist him. I spoke with his parents a few years ago, wonderful family.

Defensive Tackles - individual (4 games)

Venable 23 total / 17 solo
Perryman 17 / 14
Trimble 16 / 9
Buchanan 15 / 7 *18 years old*
Eaton 15 / 7
Mouisset 14 / 11
Rogers 14 / 6

I must have missed the fact that HR had a concussion. Was that confirmed? As CA said, he has been off before this game. Two time big sky player of the week and he struggled with Dixie and was off against Weber. Coaches seem to wait too long IMO to replace the QB. But when he is hot, he’s hot.

I don’t think they’ve announced a concussion for sure yet, but I heard he was pretty out of it on the way home last night. They’ll do more tests, of course, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the staff plays it close to the vest with his status.

Ok thanks. His health and well being are the most important part. I hope he recovers quickly.

VIP status, Mike!

It seems that the big gripe about the PI is that they're saying that the ball was totally uncatchable which negates the defensive player PI. It looked uncatchable to me from the tv angle as well. How did it look from your perspective on the field?

If HR was still showing concussion symptoms that long after the game, I would not be surprised to see him sit out our next game or even more. Head injuries require extreme caution. I hope he heals up well.

It's risky business to have him run as much as he does and he doesn't slide to avoid contact. He's a warrior on the field.

I think the ball might have been thrown differently if the target hadn’t been taken down. Defensive holding vs pass interference is the question not pass interference or no penalty

I thought about that too. The interference was obvious so, as you noted, the receiver went down just as Hastings was letting the ball go so there really wasn't a target for him. I thought he was just throwing the ball away though. I wasn't surprised about the interference call but I was surprised that it wasn't overturned since the ball seemed uncatchable. It would be interesting to hear what the replay officials based their decision on.

I think the QB was throwing the ball away after he saw his receiver was taken down. That is more than defensive holding, hence a PI

Pass was definitely high. Uncatchable? That wasn’t obvious. I think it was an intended pass since receiver did have some space. It’s hard to judge since the guy pulled him down so hard to gauge where the trajectory was relative to where the intended target’s hand could be.

One we may have got a break on was offensive PI on swing to Davis that wiped out first down and out them back at the 10. That set up the last drive, correct? I believe the rule is blocking is okay is pass is behind the line? If that’s the rule, it looked awfully close. We might not have got a chance to win otherwise

So should the call have been defensive holding in the end zone? Is there such a call that's different that defensive PI?

I think the officials must have taken into consideration the fact that the receiver was taken down so there wasn't a target to throw to. Hence, Hastings threw the ball away...??

of course it was the middle of the night and it was a long day so I’m sure a lot of guys looked out of it. HRs health is paramount and I’m sure he’ll only get back out there if he’s 100% healthy.

Defensive holding still would have been a first down at the six. We would have scored anyway

Makes sense, Mike.

The announcers questioned that offensive PI also and the replay looked like it was very, very close. We caught a couple of breaks on the opponents home field which isn't normally the case. Nevertheless, it was a gutsy win by the Aggies to hang in there after getting pushed around in the first half.

Dr.Mike, Question if the wr crosses the LOS and then comes back behind the LOS does that make it a legal or illegal block? It does appear he crossed the LOS and came back.

He looked off against Dixie State w limited throws. I believe HR was also dinged up last year. Maier ran less, and got down.

We were up big against DS and they put HR back in, and he had a few long runs which I thought were risky and unneeded. That was the last obvious game to get Hastings and even Gunnor Faulk reps. (I'm not at practice, but GF was 3 for 3 in limited PT last year.)

The Weber QB thinks his hurry by Bryce Rodger was a blitz. Maybe a blitzkrieg. Rodgers wasn’t left unattended due to a blitz, he was hand fighting and got by the offensive lineman with a move. Came like a torpedo trailing an offensive linemen behind him in his wake
And did you know CJ Hutton fell down of his own accord?
And that on the roughing the passer, the defensive end “just came down in the vicinity” of Rodrigues. Its ok for a sportswriter to present his opinion, but to deny that there was any basis for the calls whatsoever is a little much Rodriguez was off balance from throwing off his back foot and got pushed by an extended arm intentionally. Not grievous but there was a basis for the call.

https://www.standard.net/sports/weber-state/2021/sep/25/weber-state-football-uc-davis-score-recap/

You can see on the video above that we only rushed four, Rodgers just beat his blocker in about 2 seconds

Wow that is some laughable reporting. I agree that the roughing the passer call was soft to say the least, but HR had clearly already released the ball and as you said the defender extended his arm into his chest when contact was completely avoidable. But saying that Hutton fell down on his own? C'mon... that is objectively not true.

Put that reporting in the “the ref caused us to lose” category. On the roughing call, the replay that was shown was just a poor view of the play. The ref was standing right there.

The article is worth reading just for the quarterback thinking Rogers was blitzing. We only rushed four.
I bet he’s hurting today,

The comments on Miles Hasting are worth noting.

Hastings surprised them and the receivers really made tough catches.
But it’s a little incongruous to here from a team that’s expecting their own backup QB to perform

How did Josh Davis become human? O-line graduation?

Note: we have a young team... 13 seniors (2 WR, 2 OL), 17 juniors.

I couldn't tell you in terms of Josh Davis. I'm sure that they've had some offensive line turnover in the amount of time that he's been there. So far this season, he has the lowest yards per rush average of his career... 2021 - 4.3, Spring season - 5.8, 2019 - 6.2, 2018 - 5.4.

Frankly, so far this season and in the shortened season Dontae McMillan has been their better back. More yards per rush, comparable yards on less carries, more touchdowns. The only thing is Davis provides more in the receiving game. Definitely doesn't look like the same freshman phenom that I remember him being though.