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CA Forever
859The Aggies managed to squeak out a win against the Thunderbirds on the road, but get 1 more warm up game before jumping into the meatgrinder that is our conference schedule. This week we have the Trailblazers of Utah Tech coming to town. Utah Tech has had a rough go of it so far this season with an 0-3 start and none of them looking fairly competitive.
Montana State @ Utah Tech - L 7 - 31
Utah Tech @ UNLV - L 14 - 72
Northern Arizona @ Utah Tech - L 17 - 45
The Trailblazers starter at QB is listed as (per game notes against NAU) Deacon Hill who stands at a whopping 6'4 258, but has struggled to find his footing so far this season. On the season he has completed 28/57 passing attempts (49.12%) for 315 yards with 2 TDs and 1 INT. That being said, 3 QBs have taken snaps in all 3 games so far this season with the other 2 being Reggie Graff who has completed 14/22 (63.64%) for 137 yards and 1 TD and Luke MacPhail who has completed 5/14 (35.71%) for 52 yards and 1 INT. This frankly seems like a team that has little to no identity when it comes to the passing game. 3 games into the season and they don't have a receiver on the roster who has cracked 100 yards cumulatively.
It looks like their run game hasn't fared much better this season if we're being totally honest. They are led by previously mentioned QB Reggie Graff who has rushed the ball 20 times for 102 yards (95 net). Their 2 main RBs taking snaps are Nygel Osborne with 17 rushing attempts for 66 yards and 1 TD and Chris Street with 20 rushing attempts for 62 yards (61 net).
To make matters worse, their defense is giving up almost 50 points and 580 yards of offense per game (obviously skewed a little bit due to the game against UNLV). Their leading tackler is LB Spencer Rich with 26 tackles on the season followed by DB Brevin Hamblin with 22 tackles. The Trailblazers defense has forced 0 interceptions so far this season (maybe we can get a clean game from Miles) and have a singular fumble recovery.
Kicker Ilya Uvaydov is 1/2 on FGs this season. He made a 48 yarder against NAU and missed a 37 yarder against UNLV.
Frankly, I tried finding some positives for this Utah Tech team and I'm not really finding many or really any at all. This is a bad football team and the Aggies SHOULD dominate in every single phase of the game. Massey is giving the Aggies a 93% chance of winning with a predicted score of 38-14. To be honest, I would like to see a bigger stomping than even that. We have to get the offense some confidence before Idaho comes to town, but first thing is first... taking care of business in this game.
GO AGS! BEAT THE TRAILBLAZERS! -
AggieFinn
713Is Utah Tech really a Tech central university? All these years they were Dixie State, just wondering why it wasn't Dixie Tech or something.
Look, they're 0-3, they're on the road, they just got blasted, they have nothing to lose. Ags are banged up, and will likely see this as another week to help key guys recover, but you have to put your best game forward every week. No free rides on this crazy train, Aggies have to be ready to execute at a high level to win. Can't be looking past to the next week, take care of this week's business first. Will Kennedy finally break loose?
Interesting that this is the second time this season Davis will be playing a transitioning FCS team...in fact, with the landscape today, it sounds like both SUU and Utah Tech are working to get to the FBS level in the next 5 years. -
CA Forever
859The name change from Dixie State to Utah Tech was specifically to get rid of the "Dixie" moniker due it's ties to the Confederacy. I mean, their mascot used to be the Rebels as well. Now I don't know the specifics in terms of the history of the school, but I at least understand the name change in this day and age.
https://utahtech.edu/nameprocess/
And you are correct, we can't be looking by this game because anything can happen during Saturday college football. I don't think Eastern Washington was expecting to lose to Drake for instance. Hopefully Plough will have the guys ready to go and we don't sustain any more injuries. We've already been sort of beat up and we've yet to get to the meat of the schedule. -
AggieFinn
713Yeah, yeah, know all about that Dixie stuff...thought it was odd having a school in southern Utah with such a name. Didn't really fit or make any sense, ha ha. St. George though is a beautiful town My stepdad's brother lived there for 30 years before he moved South to Arizona, when we next play down there I'll have to get him to come to the game, and get my Mom out there too.
St. George is even closer to Vegas than Cedar City, so nice trip if you're a fan.
Interesting history however, due to all the nuclear testing in the 50's, much fallout came to the region around St. George, and for roughly 3 or 4 decades locals suffered cancers at a 100x to 1000x rate that of the national average. Look up "Dirty Harry" 5/19/1953, bad stuff. Used to call those affected as "Downwinders".
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BaseballAtDobbins
135They also changed the name because while it wasn't named after the CSA, it hurt the ability of their graduates who sought jobs outside of Utah.
St George is one of the fastest growing communities in Utah and the US. -
NCagalum
336copied from a Washington County Historical County webpage ….
“By the mid-1850s, the reality of civil war hung over the United States. Brigham Young asked the Indian Missionaries in southern Utah to see if cotton could be grown in there. When they reported in the affirmative, President Young immediately made plans to colonize the Virgin River Basin. In 1857, the Samuel Adair and Robert Covington Companies were called to settle southern Utah and to grow cotton. Nearly 40 families, mostly with cotton growing experience (from Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia, Texas, and Tennessee), arrived in Washington Utah in April of 1857. The region was dubbed "Dixie".
The families endured the summer's blistering heat and were forced to continually rebuild their washed out dams on the Virgin River. Due to the alkali soil, the cotton crops did not completely germinate as expected, resulting in a limited harvest. A spirit of frustration and hopelessness overcame many of the early settlers. Any by the time the Civil War ended, the economics no longer justified growing cotton in Utah's Dixie.”
So sort of logical initial naming added to the fact that it was in the southern part of Utah (Zion amongst LDS). Cotton is only grown below a certain latitude to insure a long growing season. -
movielover
620The new NCAA ranking have us move up two spots. Lately this makes me nervous as we need to learn how to close out consistently against top teams.
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BlueGoldAg
1.5kI don't think we'll see the Aggies move up in the polls even if we crush Utah Tech unless some of the teams ahead of us lose. This is a game where we are expected to win big so a win by a big margin won't impress the voters that much. The Idaho game is the one that will that will catch the eye of the pollsters.
I feel like this game could be a bit of a trap game if we get caught looking ahead to the Idaho game and overlooking a hungry Utah Tech team. -
Riveraggie
349The good thing about Idaho being ranked so high is that a respectable loss to them would likely leave Davis still ranked. I was afraid Idaho was going to lose games with their QB out, so that even a win by Davis wouldn’t get much credit. Now a win by Davis would vault them in the polls.
I’m surprised Davis is currently ranked as high as they are given they really haven’t had impressive game scores. -
movielover
620NCAA FCS National Rankings (random)
Meyer - #3 solo tackles *
Meyer - #8 total tackles **
Meyer - #2 INT per game - tied w many at .7 pg
M Hastings - #5 - total passing yards
M Hastings - #7 - yds per game
* = he has 7.3 pg; the two players ahead of him at 8 pg only played one game each.
* = several w only one game played
https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fcs -
Aggie Pride Podcast
314you all provide much insight and pulse on what the people want! Thanks for your engagement here, in person and listening to the POD -
SochorField
419
Great to hear AST.com on the Podcast!
I know my posts can come off critical (regarding the AD and FBS talk), but you are correct in that we all want UCD to be big-time.
As a founding member of AST.com waaaaay back when, I've enjoyed all the viewpoints here over the years. Your podcast is really important work, so keep it up. -
Aggie Pride Podcast
314
No worries! For those that haven't tapped in, here are this week's Podcast Links: Pac 12 Dreams & Special Teams: Aggies Beat Southern Utah and Prepare for Utah Tech
APPLE LINK
SPOTIFY LINK -
CA Forever
859Honestly guys, very good work. I have come to look forward to the weekly podcast drop. I'm just hoping that we can have a turnover free game. While Miles has passing yards to his name, his overall passing efficiency and interceptions are a problem. From the same stats tracker his passing efficiency is middling (ranked #54) and through 97 ranked players is tied for most interceptions thrown.
I'll try to keep this thread about this game, but I think that if there are any real talks about a move up than Rocko will be keeping it pretty close to the chest until something more concrete materializes. That would be pretty cool if you guys got some sort of breaking news from him though!
https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fcs/current/individual/8/p2 -
Riveraggie
349There are clips of Plough’s press conference posted today, but the whole press conference isn’t posted anywhere.
The SUU coach had some strong praise of Davis, on a radio show..
Team executes all the time.
Well coached
NFL running back and defensive end,
They play together as a team, stick together.
Good weight program because all their players are really stout. -
CA Forever
859Utah Tech Game Notes
QB depth chart is listed as Hill OR MacPhail OR Graff so I'm assuming that we are going to be seeing all 3 QBs this weekend. This is updated from their NAU game notes that strictly listed Hill as the starter. Their QBs definitely have different skill sets that may warrant being on the field, but I think this is more an indictment of their general QB play this year. None of them have stood out as THE guy.
UC Davis Game Notes -
DrMike
965it is move in weekend. I thankfully booked my lodging last March - price is $100 higher now. The past couple years, they’ve been bringing the dorm kids over as part of their orientation - makes for a big, enthusiastic crowd -
Riveraggie
349Oddly enough, Utah Tech has given up exactly 339 yards rushing to each of their two Big Sky opponents, Montana State and Northern Arizona.
Davis ranks 10th in the Big Sky in rushing attempts and yards, and 11th in average per rush. If Davis can’t run effectively against Utah Tech that will be a serious red flag. -
Toke69
426I won't be watching the game this Saturday, but I just wanted to shout out to all of those who post on this site. It's quite incredible how much knowledge and insight are apparent from all of you true blue Aggie fans who check out every angle about the opposing school and not just the football team. At the same time, I hardly ever see any juvenile rants, insults or screeds. I think it's a tribute to what a UC Davis graduate brings. -
Zander
207Human polls are currently in agreement with Sagarin and Massey ratings That Davis is a #11-15 team, but probably for different reasons. Voters are giving us the benefit of the doubt and ignoring the Cal loss; computers are giving us credit for the Cal loss. All rankings are probably directly or indirectly baking in last year's ending rank too. -
Riveraggie
349Yeah, but the Cal game the score was what was expected even though the game was more competitive than expected. The next two games were closer than predicted, in the score and also comparative stats.
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NCagalum
336I noticed that Ian Simpson appeared to be in the game with Southern Utah (saw his number 0) and I believe the announcer called his name when he received a block in the back that pinned Southern Utah deep. If so, he was a gunner on a punt - I would think it a bit abnormal that a tight end would be a gunner. Anyway I remember him having a good game against Commerce last year and I believe was injured at some point. He would be a good addition to an already pretty strong tight end group. Good to see Gale make a couple big receptions. I believe he has the best big play potential of the group, and for whatever reason (maybe blocking?) was kind of marginalized the first couple of games.
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Riveraggie
349CJ wore 25, a retired number of Sam Paneno, a player who lost his leg due to a game injury.
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