Love Jon Grant - like literally, a legendary Aggie, but when he ran cold it could spiral fast, however, when he was hot he could beat Stanford when it mattered. The strength of those '05 and '06 teams was actually in the defense. I know in '05 we literally handled Stanford defensively, we held NDSU to 3 yds rushing and 14 first downs in the FargoDome...but lost to New Hampshire and Portland State to open the year...but it wasn't due to the defense. Just so inconsistent on offense. Names like Faletoese, Reece, Elbanna, Amaral, Amos, Bergan, Ng, Evero, Barsi, de Graaf... all come to mind.

We all thought the team was trending up - then when the full-time FCS slate hit the University...over time we just couldn't keep up, had no plan, no real commitment...wasn't until Hawk and Blue showed up that it all really changed.

'06 the offense was a lot better - we had Kays and a young Chris Carter and a young Brandon Rice at WR, which was pretty potent in hindsight. Played @ Youngstown that year as well - I just remember we always had these horrendous road trips against really tough teams in those transition years.

Check out this 2006 lineup to open the year:
@ Northern Colorado
@ TCU
@ Montana State
@ Youngstown
@ Cal Poly

That's the M-U-R-D-E in MURDER to open a season -- still ended up 6-5.

Let's be fair. Stanford helped us a little w QB #1 going down w an injury.

That's all true, but the dude wasn't playing lights out necessarily, but yes, he did go down, and the backup looked very unprepared. Stanford scored 14 of their 17 points on fumble recovery TDs.

The Davis run defense was really good in 2005 Stanford averaged 2.5 yards per carry on 30 attempts. NDSU rushed for 3 yards on 23 carries. #10 ranked Cal Poly gained 50 yards on 33 carries. I miss the shut down run defense we had in that era.

how about agreeing to scrimmage us in the Spring, giving Foster/Arp a chance to figure out a plan to completely stop them!

Yes. I recall also seeing a quote which said our players realized then they could play with them, mystic gone. ... you mean Biggs / Arp?

My mom lived in Dallas at the time, so after the Stanford victory, we decided to go. The weather was extremely hot, and we were actually leading 3-0 at the end of the first quarter. Great time.

I guess I meant Bronson who was DC

As a Davis football alum and peninsula guy who grew up with Stanford football-- remember we came down to the Farm for a controlled scrimmage the year before THE upset-- Davis defense dominated the Stanford offense-- it was the same story in the game the next year-- it was no fluke !

I use elders with all due respect

At this stage in my life - it's simply a point of fact that a lot of us older guard are simply this, elders in the UC Davis Football lore machine. I'll talk with Dr. Mike, my Dad and agalum sometimes and you get stories about the team and the University even further back than my generation. It's great, tell all the stories, share the information, this is generational responsibility in my opinion.

Amen and agreed. Keep em coming!

ESPN2 for the Eastern Washington game!

I can't imagine the UC Davis-Montana game not being televised on one of the ESPNs as well. Probable Top 10 matchup in the best conference in FCS football.

At our last Zoom, Plough was speculating that would be televised. that would have been pretty cool since its the first-year student night and we'd have a very big crowd for TV.

Exactly. Tremendous opportunity for the program

Is that water under the bridge at this point or can they move it to ESPN assuming it is still a top 5 matchup that week?

It can always be moved, depends on existing contracts with conferences slated to play in that slot. Usually get a late (5pm PST) SEC game sometimes, but they could move the Davis kickoff to 8pm our time. Who knows

Too bad its a late start but I’m sure espn is in the drivers seat.

That week is loaded in the SEC. ESPN does not want two Big Sky games on their networks at the same time and MSU has that night. So it’s unlikely.

Good observation. Was looking at schedule and no chance we get a FCS double header that early in the season. Bad overlook from ESPN in my opinion. MSU will beat Northern Arizona by 28+

Good investigative work. Absolutely no way there will be two FCS/Big Sky games televised.

Looks like MSU is on back to back weekends.

I have been told by a source close to the program that DB Marquise Bell is no longer with the team. A loss for the aggies who are already thin at DB spots in terms of depth

https://youtube.com/shorts/u063xQFPZLo?si=LI_dEGOh-2WytZgQ

yeah tough loss

Well, that sucks for Davis.

Reported loss of Bell sucks as depth is often the difference between living and dying in the playoffs. IF it is the case (still listed on the roster today), next man up. A "source close to the program" is probably accurate... Bummer.

ESPN isn't really looking at premier match-ups with that line-up. Best game on there is likely MSU @ Idaho. How does Idaho get two games? Why does Idaho State even get one? The Brawl probably gets an ABC or ESPN slot, but the ESPN2 games are real yawners if you're not a Big Sky aficionado.

Akem does a good job.

Here’s a hint. ESPN isn’t really looking at the visiting teams aside from preferring competitive games. They do not have a contractual relationship with the new PAC 12, MWC, or the Big Ten, so there are open windows when the ACC and Big 12 can’t fill two slots on or after 7 pacific. Which is often. They are evaluating these Big Sky programs and the conference relative to viewership of the MWC and P12 in prior years.

Idaho State = Hawk?