Haven’t noticed anyone on offense being out, except Nava.
On defense Rex Connors and Jayden Stanley, who play the same position missed the last game.
Backups Amone, Carrillo, Carrade, and Cloyd missed the game.
Don’t know why Alexander isn’t playing, could be injured.
On the plus side linebackers previously injured or ineligible, Porter Connors, Cal transfer Antzoulatis, and Garretson played.

BIG Big Sky Opener Alert! Our in depth look at the clash against the Vandals this Saturday night is
LIVE! We catch up with HC Tim Plough and Hero Sports Editor Sam Herder. Insightful from both!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Zkl9SWXOcrIju74LhVRJB?si=YPrY4eohSLCsjSsnqI-lgg&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A5PsvCKvR39lS5V9VObD5UL

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aggie-pride-a-uc-davis-football-podcast/id1758625363?i=1000670486041

I already listened to the episode this morning and 2 great interviews guys!

I can appreciate Plough wanting the stadium to be less friendly, but I'm not sure star wars and Zach Bryan are the way to go. Now, I haven't been to a live game in awhile as I live across the country, but family who has been going to Aggie games for decades said that they found the star wars thing on 3rd downs "weird and annoying".

“ Now, I haven't been to a live game in awhile as I live across the country, but family who has been going to Aggie games for decades said that they found the star wars thing on 3rd downs "weird and annoying".”

Absolutely agree. Once in a while might be ok but it definitely is annoying multiple times during a game.

Thanks! Hopefully, all the fans are into it this weekend! We need a raucous environment.

Oh I'm all for getting the place rocking. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I (and I think others too) just don't get what star wars music has to do with anything. Like, it's not particularly a hype up song or anything like that. I think a hype up song on 3rd downs isn't a bad idea, just I think some other songs probably should have been workshopped.

Hopefully we can get somewhat healthy this week! We're gonna need all hands on deck. I hope that the students show out, but season after season it's been nothing but disappointing turnouts for any game that's not the first game of students back, Sac State, or Cal Poly. This is probably the most important game of the season and I'm willing to bet that turnout will be lackluster. Fingers crossed I'm wrong.

I remember at San Jose the last time we were there, they would play a ‘this is Sparta’ on each 3rd and 4th. I think a 3rd down ‘stop them’ sound bite is fairly common. It’s annoying when they keep converting, thus leading to the reputation.

The student seem to sing the 4th quarter song - I’d just expect something livelier. Cal played that ear worm ‘Hot to Go’ and the students were into it.

New Coach Plough presser. I like this, authentic, real, confident, positive, not arrogant. Their defense sounds tough.

A win here would be big, a statement win. Go Ags!

https://youtu.be/7hUxbAA_uLk?feature=shared

I think the first one to 24 pts wins. That and we have to convert in the red zone

It's games like this where you earn your stripes as a coaching staff...and as players. Whatever the game plan is, be it brilliant or more of the same, Davis just needs to execute. Zero offensive turnovers, and a whole lot of maximum effort.

Hopefully, we'll have some players back from injury on both sides of the ball and, like you said, we'll need to execute and finish much better than we have been doing or this game could get away from us real fast.

Will they come back in record numbers again and will they be loud?

with the running of the first years, there will be a big crowd to start. they stuck around last week, so hopefully that continues. They were loud initially when we got the near pick-6 followed by a quick TD. Seemed like the redzone stalls sucked the energy out of them.

stadium folk need to figure out how to get them in the stadium quickly. when i walked in about 10 minutes prior to kickoff, there was a LOOOOOOONG line of students waiting to get in.

Idaho coach Eck had comments about his team and UC Davis in first half of this show. He mentions the limited crowd noise at Davis.

https://skylinesportsmt.com/vandals-weekly-idaho-head-coach-jason-eck-rb-eli-cummings-on-uc-davis-big-sky-opener/

Ouch. Like I mentioned elsewhere...those guys love a big, quiet crowd.

Haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but here's Tubs at the Club's preview

If Rex plays, this will be the first game since the Cal game that Davis has all its first team defensive players available. Plus they have Antzoulatos who wasn’t available for the Cal game. Idaho reviews of the Davis defense foxus in the defensive line and the corners, but safeties and linebackers are arguably the best units on the team, but have been the areas missing starters. Most of the other injuries have been to reserve defensive linemen, hopefully we get some of them back. We didn’t get to see our defensive line freshmen last week, although the box score says 6’5” LB Kyle Hill got in the game.

Game notes for the Ags are up. Nada at this point from the Vandals.
https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/ucdavisaggies.com/documents/2024/9/25/24FBGameNotesIDAHO.pdf

this game feels alot like the Montana game from last year. They were coming in 4-1, vs our 3-2. We had lost to EWU two games before (losing Lan in the game) and nobody was giving us a chance. Miles rose up and had a very good game, Fisher was solid and we had them for the taking (85 yard run and a late fumble right near the goal line doomed us). Idaho's defense sounds REALLY good, especially the front line. We'll have to take advantage of some mismatches, convert on 3rd downs and avoid the sacks that these guys have feasted on. I think the defense (starters all back) will shut them down if we can avoid the PI's and long passes. Should be fun!

It's great to hear that the injured defensive starters will be back on Saturday. Do you know if any other players on either side of the ball will still be out?

I think our defense has been the strength of the team so far this year. They've bent at times but they haven't broken and they've come up with the big plays that sealed the win for us in two games even while they had a significant number of injuries to key players. They've shown a lot of depth and toughness.

The defense will need to have another stellar performance in this game as well and not let the game get away from us. We all know that our offense has had their struggles especially in the red zone where it counts the most and, if we can't take advantage of our opportunities on offense again, it will be up to the defense to keep things close if we are to have a chance to win.

It's not likely that we can get down big and come storming back. Our wins have been over teams that are a combined 1-11 and, even though we are 3-0 against those teams, each one of those games was a struggle. A 3-1 record overall at this point is what we all hoped for but I think we also expected that our wins would have been more decisive and confidence building than they have been.

Right now, most of pollsters aren't sure if we belong to be in the top 15. A win would give us a significant boost and put us squarely on radar of the FCS nationwide. A close loss might not hurt us too much but we'd I think we'd still drop out of the top 15 and, if we get blown out, we'll drop out of the rankings altogether.

This is a huge game for us. We could possibly have another record crowd in the stadium and we need to play well if we want them to come back. I think this game is going to tell us a lot about whether or not we are ready to compete with the top teams in the Big Sky. Go Ags!

This just looks like its going to be a defensive kind of game on both sides. Somebody said the first team to reach 21 will win. That sounds about right to me. They have a young red shirt freshman qb, unless their starter is back. I think we can rattle him. He has a real good long ball, but misses a lot of open receivers. His long ball receiver has speed.

Idaho’s game notes are up.
https://govandals.com/documents/2024/9/26/Week_5_-_UCDavis.pdf

Wagner is listed in the depth chart, Layne not listed.
Interesting that they have a 260lb wide receiver.
Not a big team, particularly at linebacker.

Interesting that they have a 260lb wide receiver. — Riveraggie

Ooof...he's gonna be a load to bring down...

Third-year Idaho coach Jason Eck says UC Davis running back Lan Larison is "the best offensive player in the conference," though he notes it hurts to see an Idaho native (Larison is from Caldwell) playing against the Vandals.

Eck did provide a little bulletin board material when he said he feels his Vandals have played a tougher schedule than the Aggies, given that UCD's three victories are over teams that are a combined 1-11 this fall

Both Plough and Eck agree that Idaho has one of the monsters of the midway in defensive lineman Keyshawn James-Newby from Helena, Montana. James-Newby has seven of his team's 13 sacks, causing Eck to note that numerous NFL scouts are aware of James-Newby's talents.

https://www.thewaryone.com/p/no-11-uc-davis-vs-no-4-idaho-is-the?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2582284&post_id=149476377&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=31ratq&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

A Monster of the Midway has to play in Chicago.

“Third-year Idaho coach Jason Eck says UC Davis running back Lan Larison is "the best offensive player in the conference," though he notes it hurts to see an Idaho native (Larison is from Caldwell) playing against the Vandals.”

Eck might be forgetting that he has 10 players from CA, lol.

agree with your post. I think the one thing that folks don’t notice about Idaho is they don’t have a high scoring offense. I think this will be a low scoring game (yes Idaho has a stout defense) and the game could be determined by turnovers. If Rex ia back, I see the possibility of a couple picks of their young QB Wagner as the Aggie D has shown that propensity. Limiting their run game will be important.

"Eck did provide a little bulletin board material when he said he feels his Vandals have played a tougher schedule than the Aggies, given that UCD's three victories are over teams that are a combined 1-11 this fall"

Yikes. It is a very good thing the Aggies got to face Cal and experience a bigger / faster team.
Aggies will really find out who they are tomorrow.

Bob Dunning takes the Ags by 4.

https://www.thewaryone.com/p/can-the-aggies-tame-the-vandals-in