I think it is a very effective psychological motivator for someone you respect to call you “the best ever” as you will do all that you can to prove it correct. I seriously doubt any of the marine commanders in WWII would tell their men “well, you are very talented” before they went into battle. “You are the best and prove it” they were most likely told. IMHO.

Former Cal QB Chase Garbers secures a spot on the Las Vegas Raiders practice squad. Raiders only keeping 2 QBs on the roster, Garbers is the #3 basically, but McDaniels will roll the dice each Sunday dressing only 2.

The Write For California author confirmed he also wrote the 2019 preview for a different site, meaning this author is 2 for 2 for writing the most thorough game previews I've seen for Davis games.

Quickly becoming something to look forward to whenever we play UCB

UC Davis Football Defensive Preview
It's time to see what the revamped Cal offense can do.
Defensive Line

"After an entire season of UC Davis games, there was one particular player who jumped out on tape: sophomore defensive end Michael Ambagtsheer. He was a 3-star tight end coming out of high school, with offers from FBS programs like Utah and Boston College, but opted to play defense at UC Davis instead. Ambagtsheer has both the speed and power to beat blocks:..."

"Another young, promising player (like Ambagtsheer, also entering his sophomore season after starting as a freshman) that stood out was linebacker Teddye Buchanan..."

"...UC Davis also has a 350 lb. space-eating sophomore nose tackle, Chubba Maae...."

Secondary

"The standout on the secondary is the safety Chris Venable. The secondary is probably the weakest part of the defense, but at least Venable is the most consistent...."

https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/uc-davis-football-defensive-preview

Plumber reportedly throws a deep ball, so my guess is we'll be tested.

Berkeley weather this Saturday, high of 81, low of 57, mostly sunshine with winds coming in from the West at 10 to 15 mph.

Bob Dunning - Miles Hastings to start

Interesting given the time Dixon and Newman played in the Blue Gold Game.

https://www.si.com/college/cal/news/5-questions-davis-2022

I can't say that I'm super encouraged going into the game if Hastings is the starter. I want to believe that Dan is going to play whatever QB gives us the best chance of winning, but unless Hastings has made big strides over the offseason well... it could be a rough game.

That being said, I hope that Miles proves me wrong. I want whoever was selected to lead this team to a playoff berth. If he comes out and looks spectacular I will absolutely eat crow on this one.

Dunning picks Cal 35, Davis 14.

No chance of winning with Hastings. Aggies were never in games versus good teams with him. I just don’t get the bias towards Hastings with Hawkins. Nothing against the kid, but if you want to win and improve you go with someone else. I had thought Newman would be the logical choice with a bit of mobility and his experience. Or give Dixon a shot if he has the strong arm and is decently accurate.

Hope Dunning is wrong. Maybe just surrender any chance of win and find a quarterback within the first 2 games.

I’m with CA on the Hastings start. My memory might be off, but as i recall he really struggled in the last several games last year. With that said, maybe he’s a new man. Or maybe bait and switch?

BTW, are we limited on how many we can suit up? If not, bring every QB on the roster.

Very unusual for Bob to predict a loosing game for the Ags.

well it’s a third-party source and maybe Dunning has a bad source, so I still have hope some Dixon or Newman will troy out as starter. Experience is fine, but it has to be backed up by (good) performance. I’m going to real bummed if Hastings starts against Cal.

From. BigSky Conference:
There is no travel squad limit for non-Conference contests (including FBS) when air travel and/or overnight lodging are not involved.

line has opened up at Cal -17.5, the total is 41.5. I would lay the points

" "The Aggies emerged from spring practice seemingly with a five- or six-player logjam at quarterback. But sophomore Miles Hastings, who started the final five games last season, has secured the job, as Dunning explains in the video at the top of this story."
Actually, I did not hear in the video where Dunning said Hastings is starting. Frankly, I would be shocked if he said it. Other than the quote, what is the source?

Cody Hawkins referenced a “new quarterback” in his video. Hastings is not new.

I love Dunning but I think he has some creds recently.

The video is difficult to watch because it gets blocked by the automatic tracking blockers on web browsers.

I disabled some security features in Edge and watched it. The interviewer leads with mentioning Hastings won the job and Dunning gives a take on what he likes about Hastings and a bit of the "QB U" history at Davis.

He says the day before Hawkins was insisting that there were multiple candidates from camp and the starter would be revealed Saturday, but that "it kinda leaked out that Miles is the guy, which I don't think surprised anybody".

So not clear to me if Dunning was responding to the interviewer's leading question, or they both had a mutual source, or it was something Dunning mentioned before the camera started rolling, or what.

In the Blue Gold game, it looks like Newman took the most snaps, and Hastings second. (No Dixon or Faulk.)

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/football-aggies-finish-productive-spring-practices/

Ironically the Cal writer is higher on Hastings than most of this forum.

He happened to play in the games we lost but I'm not sure how much is on him -- those games included Sac State, EWU, and part of the SDSU game as I recall (and SDSU made life brutal for HR as well).

I'm of the opinion he could be fine -- in this offense in particular given where our known talent and experience is -- if he's making throws when he needs to and otherwise the talented backs, TT, and Hutton are mostly advancing the ball. I'm thinking back to to grad school where SDSU's QB (the one who started against Davis) was a pocket passer whose job was understood to be 12 attempts a game and otherwise let the backs take turns grinding down the defense.

Problem with that is if Hastings' job is to hand off 3/4 of the time, why not have someone more mobile primarily take the snaps in order to add another threat?

problem has been that our offensive line and running attack has not been overpowering (flashes but not up to the best on the big sky) so we do need production out of our qb. Maier (with Doss) provided that. If we had a defense like the Montana Schools and Weber we could have different expectation of qb production. But even as such, I am not clear that Hastings is the best option in any case.

We have to trust that the coaches make the best decision. I wasn't blown away by our play calling last year, but it's tough against a Pac-12 foe with superior size. Cal has lots of new players, hopefully works in our favor. I have a few specific hopes, but will save for after the match. Go Ags.

If anything or all breaks down on the OL we need a very mobile QB. So I would go with TT. I would guess the cal will blitz every time on Saturday

I'm not trying to dump on this kid. If Dan and Cody think Hastings is the way to go then I hope he succeeds. He was a freshman last season and was thrown into the fray due to injury, but man... there were just a lot of unimpressive decisions from him down the stretch. It's really really tough to overcome throwing more picks than TDs. If Hastings doesn't work out this season then the coaches need to hit the recruiting/transfer trail HARD.

Maybe it’s a deke by Dunning (with the Hawks’ blessing)?

I think you may be onto to something, Mike. Here's Bob's latest pick for the game:

AGGIES over CAL … Here we go again. Another great FBS challenge to open the season in one of the most storied venues in all of college football – Strawberry Canyon. So many great memories there. Cal is good, but not great. The Aggies will not be intimidated. Another notch on the long list of UC Davis shockers. Take the Ags by 7.

Let's not forget also that Bob correctly picked the Ags over Stanford by 1 point and he picked the Aggies by 4 over Tulsa last year as well. I hope his run of Aggie upset predictions continues!

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/bobs-picks-another-great-fbs-challenge/

I get the disappointment but we aren’t getting very far unless our offensive line and running attack are up to the best in the Big Sky and our defense is at the level of our competitors. in the spring season last year we tried to do exactly what Zander was suggesting to be run heavy, and to not make the QB carry the offense.
I don’t think the plan was to have Hastings win the job, but something happened and he did, at least for now..
I don’t think Cal gives a plug nickel who our QB is, so the likelihood that this is a disinformation campaign is low.

In brief spurts I thought we did OK with a West Coast ball control offense (short passes), but then we went back to UG between the tackles on 1st and 2nd down, with an ocassional fly sweep and a halfback pass.

spread up to 21.5

Sports Illustrated: Ex-Cal TE McCallan Castles Returns to Berkeley as UC Davis Star

He is one of three former Golden Bears players now on the UC Davis roster for Saturday's game

"...Castles was one of Cal's highest rated recruits in the class of 2018, and he was a starter in Cal’s 27-13 victory over Davis in 2019 as a redshirt freshman. But he had only one pass thrown his way and had no receptions in that game."

"It was less than two weeks after that game that he decided to leave Cal. He says he was too hasty in his decision out of high school, and he was not ready for the city life he found in Berkeley."

"“Now that I’m older I can honestly say that I was still immature, just out of high school, wasn’t ready for that kind of culture shock, going from the mountains to a city,” said Castles, who is from South Lake Tahoe, Calif. “The city wore down on me, I wasn’t ready for that kind of school, the way football was going for me, I kind of let it all funnel into me and it was kind of overwhelming. It was one of those things where it felt like it wasn’t going to get any better. So I kind of had to take a step back and leave.” ...

"Hawkins gave Castles a call, and he visited UC Davis and loved it. “It was wide open, far away from the Berkeley city life,” he said, “so it was more close to what I wanted. Been here ever since and very happy with the decision.”

"The differences in Cal’s FBS program and Davis’ FCS operation is not dramatic, Castle says. The chief difference is in the perks and facilities at FBS schools. But he thinks the Aggies have a chance to win Saturday’s game. UC Davis is ranked 22nd in the coaches preseason FCS poll and return many of the players from last year’s 8-4 squad that beat FBS team Tulsa and reached the FCS playoffs."

Hastings again noted as the starter.

https://www.si.com/college/cal/news/uc-davis-mccallan-castles

Includes 3 short video clips. (Note above him there appears to be an Old Davis Road sign.)

Hope Castles balls out.