1974 W 50–21.

i was at a game when Davis had a bigger margin of victory over PSU.

Trivia question when was that game?

Because usually they play with no one watching,

I guess that shows how small time FCS football is if it is unheard of for opponents to scout games. Maybe it is rarely the head coach, but so what?

Your comment about pulling guards reminded me of a video presentation Speckman made for coaches where he was explaining his version of the fly offense, and he didn’t like pulling guards.

Here is a good summary from Portland State’s site.

https://goviks.com/news/2023/10/30/football-vikings-seeking-a-november-to-remember-as-they-travel-to-uc-davis-this-week.aspx

Portland State offense is working at the level Davis’ did last year as far as yards and points. Last year in conference games Davis averaged 39.6 points. PSU is averaging 39.4. In conference games this year. Davis this year only averages 23.2, with predominantly the same players as last years team.

I don’t think they are that committed to Hastings. Next year looks to be a rebuilding year.

Hawkins said last years team was the best, I don’t think he said that again this year, but I might have missed it.
Can’t forget the season as there are some goals still achievable.
Making the playoffs is only possible if they sweep the remaining games and that looks unlikely.
Other goals:
Winning season. If they win two of the three.
Have one quality win on the year. If they beat Sac. I think Weber is so bad this year that that win doesn’t count. Upsets used to be what Davis was known for but they have been very few in the last few years.

Both offense and defense are have been middling.
The scoring in conference games is down two touchdowns from where they were last year. With same QB, virtually the same receivers, very capable running backs to replace Gilliam, and a tight end to replace Castles, and a veteran offensive line. The biggest change is the assistant coaches.
Conference opponents are scoring about four points more a game than they did last year.
I expected more from the defense because we seem to have more talent there. They are perhaps the fourth or fifth best defense in the conference statistically. The offense maybe 7th or 8th.

yes the offense has regressed by a couple of touchdowns a game with essentially the same talent they had last year, except for the injuries at running back for a few games.
But the defense hasn’t been stellar either.

The defense gave up two drives for touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
They have underperformed their talent all season.

Or David Razor. He could play in each game and still redshirt,

I know everyone was waiting with bated breath to see if they could list the starting lineup correctly. And the answer is….. NO.

They still list a defensive lineman as starting at left tackle, And that guy doesn’t wear number 70.

[ I happened to watch again some of the Montana game. Hastings had two 25 to 30 yard in the air completions in the third quarter against Montana. He also had two consecutive passes for losses, one to a running back and one to the tight end. I’m not sure Hasting has the arm to throw more than 30 yards effectively, so maybe they should figure out how to make the short pass plays work, or not call so many of them. There are two ways to increase the average per pass attempt and one is to not throw for losses. With Larison back they might just run in some of those situations.

On the coaching staff they have a receivers coach with a lot of experience at SFCC, Hawaii, and Washington State, a tight end coach who was the passing coordinator at San Diego, a running back coach who was passing game coordinator at Case Western, and an offensive assistant who was an offensive coordinator at Willamette, in addition to Cody and Shanbour. I don’t think the coaching staff are without ideas. Hopefully Cody is open to input from those guys.

True. On the other-hand Hastings is easier to catch than some other qbs. I think our line is not the problem

obviously our defense is the better performing unit. I think our defensive has the potential to be even better. They are so close to being able to dominate a game but haven’t done so yet. They tend to give up yards mostly in the second half.
Our offense will look a lot better with Larison and Tompkins. It will be interesting to see what they do with Tompkins. I think part of the answer to deeper pass plays is Gbatu.

. I don't think stats comparing teams which play vastly different schedules are meaningful. At this point of the season they have played enough big sky games that the conference only stats is much more meaningful.
Davis is
2nd in defense points allowed, defensive efficiency, defensive rushing yards & average per rush 2nd in points allowed
9th in points scored
5th in rushing yards and average per play yards (largely without Larison and limited Tompkins)
6th in passing and offensive efficiency.
11th in yards per pass attempt
Only two interceptions on offense and one on defense.

Even with our injuries at running back that left us playing without our best runner in 3 and a half of the four conference games we are still averaging 4 yards a carry in those games. Davis also is at the top of the conference in not allowing sacks. It is not o-line issues.
The games we lost were largely determined by Eastern Washington and Montana being very successful in moving the ball in the third quarter. I think that is indicative of the other team making adjustments Davis coaches didn’t have a quick answer for.

Eli Simonson #70. The transfer from Nebraska.
Sophomore, started every game,
They list another player as #70 and he gets all the participation stats even though I’ve never seen him on the field. That players jersey is #93

Are you referring to my post? I’m talking about the game stats where they list who started and who played. The box score, The information flows from the game statistics automatically into each players bio and the season statistics. The player participation tab of our games this year have never listed the guy who starts at left tackle, and at in early games messed up with the players that have duplicate numbers. A player who transfers here from out of state because he never got to play at his major college team, and then starts here the first game he is eligible, deserves to have that recognized so his friends back home can see that he is playing here.

Almost every college team posts a depth chart in their game notes. In our case it never changes and is not accurate anyway.
No college team gives information about medical issues. I think its violates medical confidentiality policies and perhaps even legal mandates