No excuses but it must be hard for a team to come into the stadium and see it mostly empty with maybe a 100 students in the Aggie Pack. It's obvious that the students are not interested. The atmosphere in the stadium was flat and so was the team. In the Enterprise recap Maier said he was even surprised how flat the team was in the beginning.

I'm getting more and more skeptical that Aggie Football will ever regain a consistent following no matter how much better they get. There were 10,500 at the Poly game, then we trounced ISU and then we get to play the top team in the Big Sky and the stadium is practically empty...that doesn't bode well for us and it must certainly be disappointing for the team. A lot of the fans that do show up just sit there quietly and most don't even stand up for the kickoffs anymore...and that used to be a tradition...

I think a little Iowa v. an Ohio State, Auburn v. Georgia, Miami v. Notre Dame, Iowa State v. Oklahoma beat down would be a good thing.

It's hard because once Hawkins was hired our expectations went through the roof. There has been a lot of improvement in year one and some weaknesses that will most likely be addressed this offseason. One game left and it's a big one that scares the daylights out of me.

Late to chime in here, but it was embarrassing considering I was schmoozing some local recruits (both committed to UCD last night though). There was nothing good last night. The offense, awful. The defense, a sieve. The crowd, anemic. Where are the damn students?

I think the offense has looked better this year, but there was absolutely no adjustment on D last night. No attempts at pressure, and they destroyed us. We had an easy early schedule, CP and PSU having horrible years helped, and it led me to believe we were better than we were. Good teams have waxed us. Long way to go!

Someone remind the students their fees in part go towards athletics and facilities, that’ll get them fired up.

Wait, on second thought........

Good thing those recruits weren't deterred by that performance. Hopefully whoever they are, they are real impact players!

Both are studs. There has been nothing public yet, so I'll keep it quiet for now.

Yeah I've been keeping an eye out in the twitterverse. I wouldn't want you to tell me before anything is public. Announcing these things are a big deal for these kids. Awesome to hear that they are ballers though.

For sure, I've coached these kids a little in the past. They will make a difference.

I just don’t understand the students not showing up. Less than 5% of the students are attending football games!?!?! I understand Davis is a very competitive school, I majored in mathematics and statistics and still managed to never miss a basketball or football game.

Part of the explanation, 3 day weekend. Not every game was packed at the Toom. No coverage in The Aggie. I was shocked we still had free tshirts at 3:30, and surprised at all the community late arrivals. Atmosphere, food, video board substantially better.

I never saw an in-session game at the Toom with less kids than last weekend, but they were almost weekly winners back then.

MAYBE 1% of the student body showed up and I would say that is generous.

Is there any marketing to students other than signs on campus?

Everything else has vastly improved regarding the game day experience. Now it's time to win and get butts in the seats. Not sure which will happen first...

Is there any marketing to students other than signs on campus?

I have an undergrad intern who was a nose tackle in HS. He doesnt go to any of the games for two reasons. One, the team was not very good ( but he heard theynwere improving), and two, he said there is essentially zero marketing on campus. From what i see, the marketing is geared towards FB and tweets. They need to overwhelm the students with old fashioned posters, pep rallies, and freebees. Make it exciting.

Heck, fork out the bread for a pizza party before game time. How about a tent, like the team aggie tent, for students in the tailgate area.

If you watch the top teams- they can run and play defense. The line of scrimmage is a weak spot for the Ags and that is where most games are won. A solid o-line and a couple of really good running backs would have made a big difference. Really need to recruit lineman in my opinion. On both sides of the ball.

I'm sure that the marketing can be more focused and improved but I'm worried that the problem goes much deeper. I think the Aggie fan culture has changed over the years since we went to D1.

UCD is rightfully known more for its academics than its athletics. The student body is huge but it is made up of mostly very scholarly students who grew up in the digital age. These students were studious in high school and most likely they were not that much interested in their high school's sports.

High school sports used to be the center of high school social activity and that is not the case anymore. Kids today have their digital devices, all sorts of social media to participate in, immersive video games and addictive cable TV series to binge on with their friends. If you didn't grow up a sports fan, you are not going to become one at college when there are so many other innovative digital things to do in between studying.

I've got nothing against "nerds," in fact, I love them and most "nerds" could give a hoot about college and pro sports. When you look around Aggie Stadium you see a lot of folks in the older generation and some families with young kids...not a lot of students.

Then there's all the concerns about CTE and the number of injuries in football and the huge financial cost of the sport. Football participation has declined among youth and high school athletics except perhaps in the deep south where it rivals religion.

Davis is a progressive and informed community and I think, that even though the population of Davis has increased dramatically recently, there is a lot less interest in Aggie football in the community than there was in the D2 days. I think the majority of Davis families see football as just too dangerous.

I don't want to be a Debbie Downer, I love the game, but I think the times have changed and football, especially at our level, faces some really big hurdles in a university town like Davis.

I get what you are saying, but the VAST majority of students who are at UCD aren't from Davis and I would say most in the stands don't live in Davis.

We have to sell the team and the game day experience. Reach out to the Greek system, club teams, clubs, and then go beyond Davis. Does the football team send players to area elementary/middle schools to read or participate in PE/classroom activities? Do we market to groups in Yolo/Sac/Placer/El Dorado/Stanislaus counties? What about the Bay Area? We should.

We're recruiting players from those areas so there should be some sort of fan interest.

Yes, high school students have a lot of options, but if you have a team that competes the students show up. Kids want to be a part of the student section, you just have to make it interesting and tell them 7368628362 times there is a (home/away) game on (insert day of the week here) at (insert time here).

EDIT: Look at the influx of corporate dollars into the program. There are companies that have parted way with their money to buy ad space at Aggie Stadium. We have sold companies that spending their money at Aggie Stadium is a good idea, now it's time to sell the general public/students to do the same thing.

Liked the shovel passes (??) over the middle, and the pass & lateral play. Loved the 20 or 25 yard pass over the middle to Doss, not sure why we couldn't try something like that earlier. Modise had a nice night.

Special teams seemed lost. Are they distracted by the video boards and promotions? Blocked punt and one muffed return happened when we were facing the video board. Not sure when we started the pregame hugging and flowers, can't that be handled afterwards or at the yearly football banquet? Not sure if this is a common practice.

Odd that we come out flat with a playoff spot on the line. Given a comeback was a longshot, I would have given TThomas and others some PT. Not sure about the targeting call.

Pregame senior celebration happened when I was a student, and I think Idaho State did it before our game last week. So my guess is it's common practice these days.

The hook-and-ladder looked suspiciously similar to a certain do-or-die play that Boise ran a year after Hawk left...

I thought the targeting call was wrong and it was a clean play. Who was the player that got ejected? Will he be out for the Sac game?

I think it was Mason Moe. I just looked up the rule, its a little more involved than I thought. He may have been penalized b/c the receiver hadn't yet become a ball carrier. If penalized in the 2nd half, he sits 1st half at Sac.

https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/9/2/16218244/targeting-rule-ncaa-rulebook-helmet-crown-head-to-head-defenseless

The first muffed return put us in a deep hole which we never seemed to recover from. And they were w/out 2 studs.

I'm told we may have one DL contributor redshirting.

Zander. Step off the ledge. I think most are happy with our progress, and we had a massive recruiting class which should jump start the improvement.

7

Also, a lot of students are from foreign countries that may not have any culture of American football. The key would be if we can get those students to support our basketball or soccer teams and determine if there is a drop, proportional to their sports.

I happened to walking back to my seat and was at the same yardline when that hit occurred. As soon as the flags flew i told my wife 'he's gone'. forearms were up high, and the receiver's neck snapped back, so even if the hit was in the chest, I was pretty sure they would eject. I thought there was a SUU hit soon after that should have warranted AT LEAST a flag/review, and there was none. Tough rule to enforce consistently.

As for the students....if you go to a high school game anywhere in the bay area, its MUCH different than in any of our days (well, if you graduated at least 15 years ago). low student turnout, they sit away from the cheerleaders, no organized cheers....just hanging out. So, they come here, and without any leadership, its pretty much the same thing. Cal's student population is as diverse as ours, and they fill up their student section pretty well (even for a 8:00 PM Thursday night kickoff). why? there is a tradition there of a student section and a STRONG leadership group making the game fun. they get the Greeks there, which we certainly don't (and I don't remember a strong Greek support in the past, but I could be wrong). We're kind of depending on freshmen to wander over from the dorms and that's not happening.

Targeting is a very tough call to get consistently right and I support the efforts to protect the players and make the game a bit safer. It seems to me that, with all the concerning research about CTE, that the officials have been directed to throw the flag on any questionable hits and then review the play afterwards if there if any doubt at all. The rule favors erroring on the side of safety.

I didn't see our player's arms up high from where I was sitting. It just looked like a bang-bang play and the Aggie defender just reacted in an almost protective manner.

I've seen a lot of targeting calls where the ball carrier lowers his head when the defender is coming in low and they collide helmet to helmet and the defender then gets flagged for targeting. That's a rough call on the defender!

That last one was an excited observation, not a criticism.

But generally yeah, I'm going to on be pessimistic about Aggie Football until proven otherwise. Maybe it's just a perspective thing -- I've never seen UCD field a competitive football team since I've become a fan. Following this team for six seasons has entirely been an exercise in developing coping mechanisms and it won't be simple to let that part go.

Already a big improvement young Aggie!

No one has mentioned their trick play throwing to their offensive lineman.

I'm not sure we have had a big improvement yet, but I feel optimistic I thought the in-game decisions were very reminiscent of the Gould era...i..e not going for it twice on 4th and 1 in their territory (which they did against us a few times successfully). I like Hawk, we are getting better players, I feel a lot better about our traditions, but the product on the field looks very familiar. Expecting a turnaround in the first year is unrealistic anyway.

Landing JM was huge, so the ability to identify and land him is important. The offensive tempo and passing scheme many believe is a better approach. The last 3 yrs of Coach Gould we totaled 5 DI wins, so we have already matched that. We need the D and ST to step up.

We are winning the games we should win. I'd hope with M & D to have at least 1 'upset'. I thought we started w the wrong O gameplan w NAU, and adjusted too late. Surprised this Sat, given the hype. Growing pains. Next year will probably be tougher w a Montana, and PSU and SLO back.

Win Saturday!