Plough doesn’t seem like a guy who’d settle for “coasting,”

100% agree.

Bingo. They'll do it big or not at all

Not me. I think its a mistake. If Nebraska can't break through, I'm not sure how North Dakota can.

And Les' record here is around .500.

I just can't get fired-up about playing "exciting" new opponents (like Nevada and San Jose St.), striving for barely .500 seasons, getting monkey-stomped in another money game, and hoping to receive a crappy bowl bid. Give me a weekend in January in Nashville and an FCS national championship (hell, even a Quarterfinal win) until college football listens to my man SailorGabe and splits and makes another level of playoffs for that lower group.

Interesting point about Nebraska and NDSU. Different measures of success there but interesting analogy. I'd bet NDSU does better as a mid-major before Nebraska does anything significant in the Big10/Power 4.

My worry is if it splits and makes another playoff we have no idea if we will get invited to join considering how big the g5 already is. Getting stuck in the third tier would be rough.

Also I think NDSU understands in the move to the new MW its a much more winnable league.

I generally agree, but I think .500 would be bare minimum assuming we retain the current staff and the positive recruiting trend continues. People seem to forget last time we played NDSU we lost by 9 (shouldve been closer) on their turf and we're arguably much more talented now.

All valid points to ponder. Hard to tell when the best time to jump is, I think we'll probably see how the next 2-3 years plays out and it might be a little more clear.

I agree with you , .500 may be a little low given the current staff and what they're doing recruiting-wise.

Not going to happen if one evaluates the economic situation. Plenty of Tier 2 programs are simply going to drop football. The only reason Rutgers has a 30m football budget is because they have a 90m conference distribution. That distribution is entirely contingent upon fielding a football team and will be reduced by 90% when they are pushed down a level. Ohio State and Texas aren’t going to willingly subsidize Rutgers or the other 50+ programs in Tier 2 after the split. Have already seen this in the northwest. Oregon State is teetering and will either fold or slide way back. They burned through the P12 residual and one time funds in under two academic years.

Another tough part about Oregon State is that the Pac 12 shake up took place just as they were completing a very expensive stadium renovation.

Anyone seen similar news on the UCD v. NDSU series?

That would be an interesting tell for the future of Davis football classification..

I think so too

This rule change is for NDSU. Sac State is light years away from being bowl eligible. That is, unless the decide to host the Yacht Water/Yachty's Pizzeria Bowl Presented by Lil' Yachty to be held at Rio Americano High School Stadium.

I think not being eligible for a few years is a detriment for recruiting. Now that is removed. I think not being playoff eligible for a few years when Davis transitioned to FCS hurt Davis:

I agree that it could be advantageous to Sac. I just doubt the competency of anyone there being able to build it and get bowl eligible!!! The more interviews I see on social media, the more confident I am in that statement. Hopefully they prove me wrong but I doubt it.

Sac St is an historically strong FCS program?

Tell me you know nothing about FCS without telling me you know nothing about FCS.

I'm not seeing the home and home w/ NDSU on the future schedules anymore. Big bummer. They're the measuring stick for mid major CFB in my view. Woulda been fun

I still see it on the uc davis website?

Interesting. It's not on FBSchedules and NDSU's site doesn't show the schedule that far out

Interesting that they relate this to the Mountain West. They need this to keep pace with the Big Sky leaders as well since half the teams opted in last year.

Dr. Wood must've wrote that.

I hope that Davis can get their house settlement up to the allotted $20mm. That would make the football team competitive in the FBS. I see why they want to be able to capitalize on the revenue of movie up to FBS by upgrading the stadium.

Just as the goal 25 years ago was to move up to FBS from D2, the next goal after moving up to FBS is to get into a P4 conference. Most likely Big 12. Davis can do it. The school is in one of the top TV markets and has a rich alumni base. Just need success on the football field and fan turnout/ tv numbers.

I love the enthusiasm, but...

They say winning cures everything. UC Davis is the winningest college football program in the region since Covid, is it not? If winning is the cure, why does it take so much begging, pleading, and promotions/giving away free tickets to fill a small stadium? The fact is, the Bay Area and Sacramento are truly not great football markets. If they were, Cal and Stanford would have been desirable commodities when the Pac 12 broke up. Nobody wanted them because there is no money there, and they sit in much better locales to pack stadiums and draw viewers than Davis ever will. The alumni base is full of people who don't care about football. God bless the small percentage that does, they are the ones doing the heavy lifting.

What is happening in Shredville is special for the FCS level. The Ags have yet to get past the Quarters, and people want to ascend into the abyss of the MWC and then the Big XII? I'd advise to be careful what you wish for. Let's see the "community", that is: the alumni, the surrounding area, and these "top markets" support this thing to a National Championship or two or three, actually prove they are building to compete at the FBS level (and not getting 70 hung on us in money games), build a strong financial foundation, then re-consider it when the program is actually ready and built for that level. Just my two cents.

Been saying this for a while.
The question regarding football is: when the region is an FBS town, will Yolo/Sac be more like Cal/SJSU or Fresno? So far its been verrrrry sleepy when it comes to football.

Participation (consistent attendance) exists when the team becomes part of the emotional identity of its community members.....Steelers, Packers, Notre Dame, Michigan, Montana, Boise, even Fresneck. This can happen on a large or small community scale. It can look like 100,000 or 18,000 attendance.

This has always been a tall ask in California. I have low confidence in Sacramento becoming something it hasn't ever been for Sac St, and definitely less confidence for it to become that for Davis.

I think Davis has a better shot as there seems to be more alumni pride (in the closest non-Sac metro - the Bay Area) and large donations (although rare) to the program and university as a whole. I think UCD needs to focus more on the East Bay - I've never seen a billboard and there are a ton of Contra Costa/Alameda/Sonoma/Napa County alums within 1 hour of Aggie Stadium.

I believe Davis can get to a special place, and it might look more like the 15,000-18,000 experience. And how fun would that be!

The trajectory is there. Since I've been in the Davis-sphere the attendance has looked like:

Toomey (Great West) 6,000
Aggie Stadium (Great West) 8,000
Aggie Stadium (Big Sky non-Gould) 9,000
Aggie Stadium (Hawkins revival) 10,000
Aggie Stadium (some W's and playoffs) 12,000