Sac continues to get no respect. An Eastern Washington area paper, the Spokesman-Review picks Sac eighth, behind Idaho State, Idaho and Eastern Washington. I’d sure like to hear someone explain that but they don’t. I’m not rooting for Sac, but i think the low expectations is going to turn into excessive hype if they win one of their first two games.

There is no reason to couple whether the stats count with whether the game counts. The fairest outvome short of finishing the game is to have no winner or loser but count the stats.

You know who never seemed to be out of the game were the Connor brothers.
They rotated the defensive linemen all game, including playing true freshmen. The rotated the rush linebacker, but not much at linebacker or DBs. If Batson, Rex’s backup on the depth chart, got in the game I didn’t see it.
Played lots of two tight end but only brief appearances of WR Morales and Hennessy.
The whole team seemed to wilt starting at the last couple of plays of the drive following the safety when they stalled just before the missed field goal.

Strange that since 2022 Davis has played two teams that changed their name mid year.

Should Davis change its name, after all the years of the game notes saying it was UC Davis? That always puts us at the end of alphabetical lists we’d be much better positioned as Cal Davis.

My phone says it will be 87 at kickoff and feel like 86. Its at a couple thousand feet elevation.

95 David Huegel is a true Freshman as is 96 Jaden Few. True Freshmen playing at critical points in the game is probably due to the dehydration Plough says they were contending with. Lots of guys deep in the depth chart were in their when Mercer had their surge. Not all at the same time but rotating. I think Few trailed the Mercer RB on his 69yard run.

Press conference

Plough lets us know the dehydration and heat took a toll on the players. All three top wide receivers were unavailable at one point.
I had noticed prior to the long 69 yard run we were playing true Freshmen defensive linemen number 95 and 96, not necessarily at the same time, so thats why they were in the rotation.

Vargas was a Nevada commit, who de-committed there in December after Nevada made a coaching change. So Vargas was a legitimate FBS prospect. I’m not concerned about Fishers size, he’s 180 lb now. He shown he can run inside. He is only one inch shorter and five pounds lighter than Gilliam was as a sophomore.

The Bluebloods podcast made some interesting points. Mercer played more man coverage in the second half, which disrupts the timing on plays and Davis receivers were having a hard time getting separation and also that Davis scripts out their plays and practices those plays, when they get later in the game they need to make adjustments and run plays they haven’t practiced as much.

Mercer coach felt they got a hand on the missed field goal in addition to the block.
Davis has new special team coordinator this year. On the plus side they blocked a punt.

I like them too.

Mercer press conference,
Mercer defensive lineman Swain
“Pinnick is a great player”… “ I was talking with my Pops the other day and we were raving about him”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39Rb55k2r74

With all the talk of five O line starters back, the right side of the line was affected by Main still not back from surgery, although he apparently practices. They moved Nava to guard, and Porotasano at tackle. Porotasano had only played in a few games as a redshirt last year. Point being that we didn’t have the all veteran experienced unit advertised. Played a lot of two tight ends, and tried to play power football with mixed results. There were more than a few tackles for losses on running plays, but often with our 205 lb back.

Re They have apparently removed the game from ESPN. The game is still viewable, it just didn’t show the game when I selected resume, but works on restart.

This was the last year of year for FCS “week 0” games, from now on everyone starts the same week.

Starters memorialized.
After all the commentary about five returning OL starters, the right side of the line had a redshirt freshman playing tackle and the returning starter at tackle moving to guard. Played a lot of two tight end. The run blocking was not consistent.

On defense started a true freshman, the transfer from D3 Tufts, a redshirt freshman DT.. The defense was great except the big plays which was probably expected as it had so many new players and players in new roles.
The transfer from Dartmouth didn’t start but played quite a bit.

TE 0 SIMPSON,I
WR 7 DOBBINS,S
WR 8 GBATU, JR.,S
QB 12 PINNICK,C
RB 20 FISHER,J
TE 23 WILLIAMS,W
OL 52 COLLIER,Z
OL 64 RODRIGUEZ,J
OL 65 POROTESANO,D
OL 70 SIMONSON,E
OL 79 NAVA,E

DB 1 RIDDICK,K
DB 3 RICHARDSON,T
DB 4 CONNORS,R
LB 8 RUTCHENA,N
DB 10 STANLEY,J
DB 11 COFIELD,D
LB 31 GOLIGOSKI,S
LB 39 CONNORS,P
DL 90 CARRADE,T
DL 92 MAYO JR.,R
DL 94 PSYK,J

I think the last FCS kickoff that Mercer was in had a lightning delay
Rainy conditions forecast until 1AM local time Moderate intensity

The delay is fortuitous for Davis as they were getting whipped. Offense has no plays that they can rely on.
Defense was also either gassed or making mistakes. So a time out is a good thing.

Anyone find game notes or depth chart for Mercer?