“ Montana is 8-1 all-time against UCD. The first meeting was in 1926, a 21-0 victory in Davis. Montana beat UCD five consecutive times between 2008-2015 before Hawkins and UCD beat the Griz 49-21 on the road in 2018 en route to a share of the Big Sky championship. The teams last played in 2019, a 45-20 Griz win. Montana is 6-0 all-time at UCD. “The Big Sky rolls on,” Hawkins said. “We’ve got the Griz coming. They’re really good. We know they’re a formidable foe.”

https://www.sacbee.com/sports/college/article280099954.html#storylink=cpy

I believe I recall that 2019 game in Davis. We had Maier, a solid team, and came out FLAT.

Every season has that moment where you realize this might just not be the year. In 2019 that was the Montana game.

What hurt the most about that were the sky high expectations we all had following the previous year. In 2018 that moment of realization did not occur until the last minute of the quarterfinal game vs. EWU...

https://missoulian.com/sports/college/big-sky-conference/university-of-montana/montana-grizzlies-play-uc-davis-aggies-in-fcs-top-25-ranked-football-game/article_2b607943-38f9-5f50-bc0e-67469950ae96.html

“Here are five things to watch in the game, which will be televised on the Montana Television Network, streamed on ESPN+ and broadcast on the Grizzly Sports Radio Network.

Offensive approach
Montana has had its most offensive success with a run-heavy attack keyed by quarterback Clifton McDowell. If he starts for the second week in a row remains to be seen. So too does the decision of whether he plays the majority of the snaps and how much Sam Vidlak will rotate in.

Defensive adaptability
UC Davis might be missing running back Lan Larison, who is leading the Big Sky in rushing yards per game but suffered a knee injury two weeks ago. His backup, Trent Tompkins, also injured a shoulder last week and didn’t return. The status is unknown for each of them.

Turnovers
UC Davis quarterback Miles Hastings earned first-team All-Big Sky honors last season but has struggled early on this year. He’s thrown six touchdowns and been intercepted five times. He’s completing 62.9 percent of his attempts for 192.6 yards per game, sixth in the Big Sky.

Penalties
The Griz have committed 31 accepted penalties for 286 yards through five games, an average of 57.2 penalty yards per game. Their 31 penalties are the third most in the Big Sky. Their nine penalties last week were their most in a game this season. UC Davis has the least penalties committed (20) and the fewest penalty yards per game (35.6) in the Big Sky.

Special teams
The Griz returned just one punt, for 5 yards, on seven punts by opposing teams the past two weeks. They didn’t return any kickoffs against Northern Arizona, which had five touchbacks. Their two kickoff returns on four kickoffs by Idaho State, went for 15 and 17 yards.”

It is crazy to cite season statistics for Montana given their weak schedule. Big Sky games are more representative.
The Missoulian article above says: “The Griz are averaging 153.6 rush yards per game, sixth in the league”. In their 2 Big Sky games they averaged 92, and 2.6 yards per carry.
On defending the run the Missoulian says “The Griz enter the game with the No. 1 rushing defense in the Big Sky for yards per game and yards per carry.“ In the conference games they are third in both, behind Davis and Northern Arizona.
We need the defense to step up and dominate this game, and it is reasonable to expect it can. Davis’ defense has been “stifling” in games this year but has not done so for the entire game. Now would be a good time.

Good points. It didn’t occur to me that they were including non-big sky team statistics in with big sky numbers.

I'm good with victory by committee.

Hero Spors article about the game:

"Saturday Is A Prove-It Game for No. 17 Montana & No. 20 UC Davis"

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-prove-it-game-montana-uc-davis-bzbz/

GO AGS! BEAT THE GRIZZLIES!

Go Ags!

Gonna be about 94 degrees at kickoff

It's ridiculous that they scheduled this game for a 4 pm start in early October when everyone knows it can be very hot here at this time of the year. It's bad for the players and the fans alike given how hot the Aggie stadium gets when it heats up. I'll bet that the temperature on the artificial turf will be over 100 degrees in the early stages of the game.

Yea it doesn’t really make any sense. I assumed they scheduled it earlier because of other Big Sky games occupying the later windows but the other two games start at 5. Game should be flexed to 7

That ship sailed.

Aggies wearing all blue with chrome CA today. I'm not opposed to alternate uniform selections, but it seems strange to not have blue and gold for homecoming.

Please someone tell me that we are not going to have to listen to a Montana broadcast team for today’s game.
I saw they did the NAU game, and our game today is broadcast by Scripps Sports in the Montana area, plus Scott Marsh has no twitter post about the game, so I’m fearful.

This game is a toss-up.
The fans on the Griz board seem to not know much about Davis (and the current injury situation on offense). They seem to be down on their QB situation, while citing that Hastings is an all-conference QB on the Payton watch-list. Some of them don't understand we are limping into this one......

They are missing the opportunity to use turquoise, silver and turquoise we could look like the Navajo.

if we weren't hurting we’d be solid favorites.
Questions to be answered:
1) Is Tompkins going to play? And if so effectively?
2) Are we going to play Jordan Fisher?
I think we need at least one of those to happen to have an effective running game. Not that the other running backs can’t be used effectively in spots.
I’m assuming Larison is out.

I agree with you that if we are healthy, we are favorites.

With Lan and a healthy Trent we are a different team.
Even then, the lack of downfield threat is a big problem. Hopefully Gale can be better utilized downfield. Can the O-Line give Hastings just 1 more second to get the ball out further than 5 yards? Gonna be tough with Montana's size.

Defense is going to be the deciding factor in this game. A couple picks, and a fumble recovery would be great.

Somebody posted that LL won’t be back until after the bye. My read is that TT will be back today.

But will MM, WW, CC, PP, and GG play ? That's what I'd like to know.

Agreed. Outsole of Oregon State defense has been very good especially against the run. I believe Montana has the second most rush attempts on big sky (Montana State first) and their rush per attempt average is

My keys to the game:

1. Dominate on defense. Don't give up big plays and create a turnover or 2.
2. Don't turn the ball over on offense and don't make critical penalties.
3. Give Hastings a couple of more seconds in the pocket.

As Hawk often says, this game will probably come down to 3 or 4 critical plays.

Time to head over to the Aggie oven. Go Ags!

Family stuff so it’s looking like I’m missing the game.

Dan Hawkins called and he wants you on his staff because his strategy of turning the ball over, playing poor defense, making critical penalties, and giving Miles Hastings as little time as possible is not working. Lol JK.

Man I hope the football team plays better than the new band - whatever they call it. Star Spangled Banner was cringe-worthy.

It's soulless husk of what the Band-uh! used to be. Truly a shame.

ESPN lists the temperature in Davis at 94 F. and UCD as 7.5 point underdog. No surprises there.

Oh god it's Montana commentators on ESPN+ :vomit: