I hate it when BD makes these blowout predictions. Bad JuJu!

Even though we are 5-0 and highly ranked, I'm just not sure how strong we really are overall. We put a beat down on San Diego and Dixie State but so has everyone else who has played them and, remember, we gave up 27 points to Dixie State who was averaging 5 points per game coming into the contest. All of our other wins have been close battles where we found a way to win late in the game. I expect that the game at ISU will be tougher than most FCS followers think it will be.

In three of their five games so far this season, the UC Davis Aggies have been outgained in total yardage, sometimes by a significant margin.

In those same three games, the Aggies have trailed entering the fourth quarter. Two of those three games were on the road in front of hostile crowds.

And yet, despite all those negative statistics, UC Davis sits at No. 7 in the nation with an unblemished 5-0 record, hoping to stay unbeaten as it heads to Pocatello to take on winless Idaho State in a Big Sky Conference battle Saturday afternoon.

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/aggies-playing-indoors-on-saturday/

Well, we are scoring 35 points/game compared to 17 for the other side. This also says something about this team. They create scoring situations and FOLLOW through on them. That means our defense gets tough in the red zone. Also, Dixie State, one of the weaker teams we played scored 27 points. That is more than any of the other teams we played. And, all four were supposedly better teams.
This just says to me we were so far ahead, and Hawkins is not one to rub this in, so they probably played a softer defense scheme.
There is much beyond offensive statistics. The coach seems to put the Aggies in a position to win.
And fortunately, our players execute this just fine. So, credit the players for excelling and palying tough in crunch time.

This game is huge; win and you’re 6-0 with two of the weaker teams in conference coming up. Never look ahead BUT a win puts us in a spot for quite a finish.

After the San Diego game the critique of the performance is that we didn’t have an impressive ground game. After Dixie it was we didn’t have a good passing game and that our pass defense was suspect. We easily won both games. . Not much can be gleaned from those games, and they inflate our scoring average. Its probably best to disregard those two games.

In the Tulsa, Weber and Idaho games we outscored the opponents 63-51.

Our wins showed that we can hold good offenses under twenty points, and our offense can opportunistically score and can run out the clock at the end of games. We aren’t an offensive juggernaut, except against weaker teams. We’re not a shut out defense either, we’re more bend and get turnovers. Both offense and defense have ability to turn it up in spots. We have reason to think the team will get better on both offense and defense due to the youth we have.

good points. The most important defensive stat, to me, is scoring defense. We’ve held our 3 quality opponents to 20 which should give us a chance to win every week. Our fourth quarters have been incredibly good, which is a sign of a quality team.

Well, if we disreard the scoring average we must also disregard the defense portions also of those games too. Which when I did disregard those two games altogether, our offense and defense won the 4th quarters. So, the team and the coaching gave us the opportunityto win all the games. Which we did. That is a sign of a good team.
I think sometimes stats do not tell the whole story. Why? They most likely played some softer teams than we did. Tulsa- OK State #12 beat Tulsa by 5, Idaho- very tough to tell one way or the other, Weber also tough to tell as they played JMU and lost. But they scored after the game had been decided. And, Utah scored big to beat Weber. Leaving it also tough to tell how good they are.
But, we are 5-0 and they are 2-3. And, do not not believe Weber is a bad team or is Idaho by any means.

It's tough to tell. You could also say our other three games that were close, one was against an FBS team and one was against a good Weber team (2-3 but lost to Utah and JMU). And we don't really know how good Idaho is either. They hammered a bad DII team and lost to two FBS teams. I think you're right that we're probably not the 7th/8th best team in the country but I don't think we're way overranked.

I am also confused about EWU. They have a great offense, but as they say defense wins games. Marino went up against the 49ers after one of the best years a quarterback every had, but lost big to the niners. So, there is something about defense that most offenses cannot overcome. EWU does seem weak against the ground game. So, I am thinking with 2 QBs who can run the ball (Crawford and Tomkins) on the field at the same time, makes their defense need to stay awake and at home. That gives Gilliam some extra room to run. If their D Backs come forward to stop the run, we could have receivers wide open for the two QBs. This is a situation I do not believe EWU has ever faced. And, both QBs can also catch the ball. So, you cannot leave either alone. I could see Gilliam having a big day after a few set of downs of Crawford and Tomkins.
We'll see. I could be wrong. But, when you offer more opportunities to strike the more careful the defense has to be to stay home and contain.
It'll be interesting to say the least.

I wonder if the “lone safety” 25 yards back that we have utilized so far is actually in preparation for EWU and its very mobile QB. As some have said: the bend but don’t break defense. Barrier got blitzed a lot in the playoffs last season and did not handle it well and EWU lost that game. We have a big D-line and very fast and Mobile LBs, so, yes we give up some big chunks of yardage some times but so what if we eventually stop the offense and they do not score? That lone safety is a big part of that IMHO.

What I remember most about the Niner-Dolphins Super Bowl is the Niners' pass rush. I remember that team also had a good-to-great secondary, but it's the front four (weren't they playing a 4-3?) I remember. Of course I watched at the Graduate with the rugby team, so I'm not what you might call reliable when it comes to the details.

Yes, I believe they started with a 3 -4 but, on the Dolphins first drive they scored a TD. The niners then went to the 4-3 for the rest of the game.

I suppose the lone safety is usually Venable. On the plus side, he’s still involved in a lot of tackles, leading the team. Which leaves unanswered if the scheme allows too many intermediate depth passes. Against a team with really dangerous after the catch runners, allowing that catch result in big plays. Idaho had some dangerous receivers though, as did Weber.

I think the fourth quarter success also points to very good depth and conditioning.

“ I think the fourth quarter success also points to very good depth and conditioning.”
Exactly. I think it was the Tulsa game, in their house, and their players were dropping from cramps/exertion. I don’t think we had one guy go down in that game.

I loved the Tulsa player who cramped up after flexing his muscles showing off.

Shout out for unheralded DL Michael Ambagtsheer - Redshirt Frosh - #81 in the nation for Sacks per Game.

if he were a slot receiver, his name might not fit the top of the jersey.

when I clicked the ‘listen’ link for tomorrow’s game it took me to something called The Varsity Network. I downloaded the App and will listen while watching my 4 year old grandson’s soccer game.

Hmmm….I can’t find Davis in the search. Only show 6 Big Sky teams.

You are right about no UC Davis on varsity app. I checked too. Seems like whomever embedded the app link in the website didn’t bother to follow through and check. I suspect these websites get contracted out - and they clocked out at 4:30 rather than finishing as coach Hawkins alluded to in his press conference.

Game day! Go Ags! Beat the Bengals!

Oh no, the Aggies are here...

hopefully TunedIn still works or the Varsity thing will somehow work

also someone said just go directly to khtk website directly and “listen live”.

I’ll try different options from 12-1 while watching. I wonder if the varsity network only shows schools with archived content?

Yes, just go to the 1140 AM website and you will see “listen live.” It takes you to a streaming website. After a short commercial, you are live.

I listened a bit to UNLV Fresno state game a few weeks back on varsity network. I think it has to do more with what universities/stations have agreements with them and these college websites are so pro forma these days that maybe the “listen” link points to varsity by default. But ya, maybe it’s like the old “stretch” network with archived material.

Need some game-day energy? Magic last year.

https://twitter.com/UCDfootball/status/1373410033963134978?s=20

30 seconds.

I’ll give all 3 (varsity, khtk and tunedin) a try before I have to hit the soccer fields. Has anyone been listening to the radio calls?

I have the KHTK pregame on TunedIn so that’s a good sign