I think things are going to get pretty rough for a while for Aggie football. Our defense is taking some hits: Buchanan, Maae and Kennedy to the portal already.

The last two seasons, while successful, ended in bitter disappointment when UCD was denied playoff bids both times.

The lack of a bid after the just-completed 2023 season was especially disappointing, given that Sac State was selected despite having just lost to the Aggies.

"I thought we were in, but I was wrong," said Hawkins at the time.

"My dad told me that life's not fair, and neither is football, so that was something that was out of our control."

At last week's football banquet to conclude the 2023 season, Hawkins told his players, "Sometimes life throws you a curveball, but you have to deal with it and make something positive out of it. Everything happens for a reason, so find that reason. Get up in the morning, put your boots on and start walking."

https://www.davisenterprise.com/news/hawkins-steps-down-as-aggie-football-coach/article_727c5c44-8e4c-11ee-860b-1384b37691bc.html

11/28 games:

Gonzaga 81 Bakersfield 65
Washington 83 UC San Diego 56

I think that would be illegal under the NCAA rules. Supposedly, teams can not contact players prior to them officially declared for the portal but I think we all know that there are ways that many schools find to get the message out to players "through the grapevine."

Thanks Hawk for your 7 years at the helm of the Aggies. You'll be in the Aggie Hall of Fame real soon.

Got my fingers crossed!

Wow...I wonder is we could really lose a lot of talent with players hitting the portal now that Hawk is leaving?

Hawkins leaving could impact us negatively but I hope our players will stay loyal to the Aggie progam and help move us forward in this time of change.

You really have to wonder how this will affect our current players, our recruits and our pending recruiting. I would imagine that there will be more players who may consider transferring now. Time will tell but this is going to be a time of uncertainty for a while and I think that it could have some negative impacts in the days to come before everything settles down.

Wow...I'm shocked to tell the truth. Like everyone else, I didn't see this coming at all but I certainly understand his longing to spend more time with his family and grandchildren.

Hawk is a very wise and deeply philosophical man and he walks the talk. He fully understands what things are truly the most important priorities in life. I'm glad we had him for 6 years and wish him the best going forward on his own Hero's Journey.

He'll be missed for sure. He's a great football player and an outstanding teammate. Some school will be thrilled to get him. I wonder who will be the next Aggie to hit the portal?

11/27 game:

Santa Barbara 69 Fresno State 65

I agree and we're so unbalanced offensively with Pepper and TY carrying 2/3 of the scoring or more. Pepper is the more reliable of the two as TY is more streaky. Teams can focus on slowing them down and they know, if we don't have any reliable scoring coming from elsewhere in the line up, Pepper and TY are not enough to beat them by themselves.

Sometimes I think the men should practice their FT's from the women's basketball team and learn from them. For whatever reason, it seems that women players tend to shoot a higher percentage from the line. I don't know if it's a mental thing or a physical thing. It seems that FT shooting requires more of a "light, fluid, soft touch" which is more of a fine motor skill than a large motor skill that requires more strength and force. Women generally have better fine fine motor skills so perhaps FT shooting is more intuitive for them and makes the execution of it easier. I certainly have no scientific knowledge to support this idea but it seems reasonable enough to be food for thought...

It was good to see Borra out there and moving pretty well despite a big brace on his knee. Our defense is usually pretty good but we couldn't contain Sac in the paint and Sac did a good job of hitting some critical 3's. We must find some balance in our offense though. Right now it's Ty or Pepper and, after that, we simply are not getting much help. Right now, even when Pepper and TY score 20 some, it's just not enough.

11/26 games:

Sac State 69 Aggies 63
Nebraska 85 Fullerton 72
Long Beach 75 Montana State 69
Riverside 109 Bethesda 63
Seattle 79 UC San Diego 67

We will not win many games this year when Pepper and TY are the only offense we have. It's going to be a long season if we do not find some semblance of balance in our scoring. We forced 16 Sac TO's in the first half and could not capitalize on it because the only offense we had was Pepper. Sac was 1-5 coming into this game and they beat us in our house...not good at all...

29-26 Ags at the half.

You would think that the Ags would have more than a 3 point lead after forcing 16 Sac TO's in the first half but the Ags have squandered a bunch of opportunities to lead by double digits including only 4-11 from the line.

No Losé either.

Powered behind a group that has leaned on its depth and defense to create the 11th most turnovers in the country till this point, the Aggies are also off to a 3-1 start in large part due to Elijah Pepper and his 23.0 PPG. Pepper ranks seventh in the country in this department and is inching closer and closer to breaking the UC Davis all-time career scoring record, needing 128 points to overtake Audwin Thomas for the top-spot.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2023/11/25/mens-basketball-causeway-cup-returns-to-university-credit-union-center.aspx