Everyone here dreams of the day UC Davis is playing in the FBS, lining up against Notre Dame and USC. That day will come… just not yet.

Let me be clear:

We are not ready.

Before we make that leap, we need fans in the stands — sellouts, packed games, real energy. And the only way to do that is by winning. Not just occasionally, but consistently. UC Davis football has to become an event people don’t want to miss.

The administration understands this and is already building toward it. We have a great President, a strong Athletic Director, and an outstanding Head Coach. They are laying the foundation for a culture of winning while protecting the university’s reputation.

You’ll know when the time is right — trust me.

Watch this season closely. My gut says we’re about to take the next step. And imagine if we win the FCS championship next year… maybe even repeat. What’s right around the corner in 2029? New college football TV deals. Do you think conferences won’t be forming or looking to expand? Programs like ours will be on the radar.

The transition is coming.

Be patient, my friend.

“ Our product is stagnant/stale after 23 years. Not sure within FCS there is much we can do to elevate it. Dare I say…ascend?”

I don’t agree with that. During the Gould era, things were definitely stagnant. But Hawk got us going in the right direction and with Plough at the helm and Rocko’s help, the games have been fun to attend. Attendance has gone up, donations have gone up, and we actually are making a dent in NIL funding. Yes we need more big time donors. But success (at the fcs level) will build success and make us relevant for the big move. And we need the updated facility to be fbs anyway, unless we want to share Cal Expo with those other guys, lol.

I blame us and for that…I thank us

Dude complains about literally everything under the sun about cfb... and then joins a coaching stuff in the conference that actively is ruining the college football he misses.

Very true…being on par with UNLV may be tough given their Gameday facilities and investment in practice facilities by the Raiders. No reason we can’t be with most others in the MWC.

We also need to position for the “next” division of D1. It’ll be hard to be in the second group when the super conferences happen if we aren’t already there. Then, we are effectively back to D2.

I thought a big reason was that many people were sick.

honestly…I think most of the alumni base I know is more aligned with ANY FBS conference and would rather win the Toilet Bowl sponsored by Ajax than consistent runs at FCS playoffs. We don’t sellout because we aren’t putting out a product that’s interesting to our fans/community/massive staff (think main campus plus UCDHS)/industrial-academic partners (Fresno St does this very well with the Ag industry which we actually dominate the executive tier of compared to them).

More interest drives more revenue. Could we actually be hurting ourselves by remaining uninteresting?

Let’s study our student and alumni demographic…. Where did they come from? San Luis or LA/SF? Let that sink in as we think about generating athletic interest. Is UNLV (Vegas) or Weber St. (Weeeeburrrr not the BBQ) going to make students leave their dorm or adults come to a night game after the kids soccer matches all day? That’s what we are fighting. Watch us play Portland St. or go watch Tennessee / any SEC School (btw…went to a UTK game this year…OMG!!!!) on TV and have something other than Woodstocks Pizza made offsite and delivered to the stadium?

Our product is stagnant/stale after 23 years. Not sure within FCS there is much we can do to elevate it. Dare I say…ascend?

So with some background in communications/marketing and dabbling in fundraising, I will say the lack of a statement from our AD is concerning. Were they caught off guard, unprepared, or just don’t care and are apathetic to us?

praying. Hearing him say that he would basically have to be offered an insane amount to leave before winning a national championship made me happy.

I cannot believe the qb talent we bring in. Plough really is one of the best in the biz at qb development, its stunning. I am very excited for next season, especially with our schedule!

I agree a lot of teams that are still good in FCS and it will be no easy feat, but the dude who makes those rankings is actually the worst at his job. Stan seems like a nice guy but he is consistently wrong about his rankings. Sam Herder does a much better job. It almost seems like he doesn't actually watch any of the games and takes conference strength with a grain of salt.

Someone on reddit said something I think is probably true

My suspicion, and hope, is that the MWC and UC Davis did discuss NDSU's inclusion, and UC Davis approved it. But what I also hope is that UC Davis got something in return. Maybe the Ags did get fast-track approval for football inclusion. Or maybe, the Ags media term was changed from a one-sixth share increase over six years to full-share status to one-fifth share increase over five years to full-share status. Or, maybe, the Ags will get a balloon payment out of NDSU's $12M entrance fee.

I’m sure officially UC Davis was offered, my guess is there’s a handshake agreement for Davis to move up in x amount of years once it gets its facilities up to par. And it wouldn’t surprise me if relevant Davis execs knew this was gonna happen somewhat in advance and watched it develop to get a sense of cost to move.

I just hope our home-home series with NDSU stays on. That's huge for us

Just give it some time.I think Davis is the in a great spot overall. Those games on ESPN are having a huge effect. Will we move to FBS sometime? Sure. But I'll be honest, I'd rather follow the NDSU route and win a couple championships first. And that can easily happen here. Let's do that first and then move to the FBS or whatever league is formed after 2030. There is no need to jump to FBS right now.

Oh my goodness folks. Considering how many guys we have back, how many exciting new additions we have, and all the fcs movement this could be an exciting year.

Lets go over some of the major changes in the FCS and how they could help the ags:
1. NDSU to the Mountain West. In a move that both weakens the FCS in its very top level of competition, NDSU also opens the door that has been almost completely closed the last 10 years with NDSU dominating the subdivision. Expected to compete year 1 in the MW, NDSU leaving gives our Aggies a much clearer path to a national championship
2. Montana Madness! Montana State loses its OC that has been there the entire Vigen tenure and the Griz lose Hauck to move a position coach into the HC position. These teams both have strong foundations, but leave space for Davis to fill at the top of the Big Sky.
3. Sac State leaves the Big Sky. This has its pros and cons, but takes away a competitive and coinflip game off of the schedule.
4. Southern Utah and Utah Tech join the Big Sky. Southern Utah has had some good seasons but Utah Tech has been atrocious. Seems like an easier addition than what existed before the Sac exit.
5. University of South Dakota gets a new coach.

I can understand your frustration with UC Davis when you try to compare it to FBS schools, however you need to take into the general landscape of college athletics as a whole. The entire college athletics you and I grew up with has changed. This change is still in its infancy.

I find your defense of Cal as hilarious. What has Cal ever won? When was the last time Cal won its conference? When will it win a national championship? Probably never. And you want Davis to follow that model? Yeah....nah. I'm good.

I would much prefer staying at the FCS level and making the playoffs and competing for a national championship vice being in Cal's position. And before you talk about talent, let me remind you the Seattle Seahawks had 9 FCS players on its roster, New England had 9 including our own Lan on the team. So its not about talent.

Davis is building a solid program and it will take time. It will take $$$ too. But don't be in such a rush to join an FBS league that might not even exist in 2029. I keep saying it, Cal and Stanford begged to be in the ACC....don't be surprised if the ACC decides the travel costs and fit just don't work and cut both programs in 2029. Then what? Where is Cal and Stanford going to go? See what I mean? Things are really fluid right now and the best option is to take it slow.

For the all the hub bub about FBS, I find it funny the only school who has made the college football playoffs since FBS joined the playoff format is UC Davis. USC Nope. UCLA Nope. San Diego St. Nope. Fresno St. Nope. Cal Nope. Stanford. Nope. And you want Davis to follow these schools? Nah...I'm good.

I think this hurts our readiness. Motivated backers aren’t so motivated this morning.

Let’s assume one of two things:
- we got first invite/consideration from the MWC to be an ALL SPORT member and we declined which is a little sad to not capitalize on recent energy around the program. It’s a buzzkill. Not even a statement from the AD. Poor.
- the MWC didn’t actually accept our application “first” and/or after giving us “first consideration” decided a school further away with a smaller budget and less reporters would be a better conference fit for the MWC than our full membership.

So either we think we are lame, or the MWC thinks we are lame. If the MWC thinks so, why are we wasting our time with them in other sports? If we think we are lame, what are we doing about it? Killing off ANY energy, and doing so silently, isn’t any way to build.

Understood on Cal Poly not being Sac State, but it is one of Plough's pillar goals every year and I think the people in the building (players, coaches) look at it as a rivalry. As I stated many posts ago, I think the old trophy is buried somewhere in the depths of Cal Poly's existing, pile of crap football dumpster and someone needs to come clean and get that thing back. A BIGGER trophy may create more hatred towards them (joke).

I do disagree, however, on staying put in FCS for a little longer hurting the Aggie Ascent drive. Ascending with a plan > ascending unprepared. Plenty of improvements to be made at the stadium to bring it closer to FBS-ready, plenty of money to be spent to get to a consistent national championship contender (spend it on players, feeding them, summer housing/school, recruiting budgets, etc.). We're probably more prepared than Sac to make the jump today (minus all their newfound money), but not nearly as prepared as NDSU. That will be a decent barometer for us.

Absolutely. Plus the Griz are in transition. The door is open...

Be where our feet are... the allure of "FBS" and "playing more recognizable teams" is not what it's cracked up to be. A bunch of 5- and 6-win seasons (at best) and possible playing in some crap bowl game in a stadium filled 1/3 to capacity will get old in a hurry. People will blame the coach. You know where it goes from there. Then we're back on here crying for the "good old days" of losing in the Quarters with a team ranked in the Top 10 every year. Let's take care of our business, save some money, build a monster, and enjoy the ride.

Sac State was 7-5 or something this year with a much more talented roster than what they have today. Sure, we sell out the Causeway game and it's fun to whip their ass and take that ugly trophy, but they are toxic. The team to the south and the little horseshoe trophy now moves to game 12 and we'll sell that one out. We do not need Sac State.

I’m not even going to argue that sac moving to the MAC makes any sense, but they already left the big sky. That is our biggest FCS game off the board. Now we are going to play in a weaker FCS, with a weaker conference and expect the hype to continue building at the same rate? I totally think if we make a FCS CHAMPIONSHIP push this year that would be awesome, but I just don’t get this joining the MW thing and then seeming to be full steam ahead in another direction in the FCS.

I am so happy to be playing more recognizable teams for every other sport. Now I would like that football football too.

If UCD moves up, we'll also be ineligible for two years.

California Memorial Stadium was also build directly on top of the Hayward Fault so the renovation was made as much or more for safety reasons than game related. They also did it piecemeal because of concerns it would block views from Panorama Hill (fancy homes) or Tightwad Hill where people watch for free.

And lose hundreds of millions like UCLA and Cal? Pile up debt, lower academic standards? No thank you. Nobody knows what will happen in 5 years, we're on a good path, not like the Stingers down 'leaders'.

Young coaches are in the wings, Cody Hawkins one example. I'm OK if FBS poaches 1-2 players per year, that's reality.

Unless Mrak expands the stadium and moves up soon, I envision us either being 1) competitive until Plough leaves or 2) just being a farm program for FBS indefinitely 3) the program goes the way of every other non-FBS program in California (ceases to exist)

Move up already.

Has there been any reporting on this situation vis-a-vis us? Is it generally understood that we declined this time?

it was comical. Turner was irate, flailing his arms yelling ‘what did I do? What the f—- did I do!’ over and over. Pasternik, all 140 LBs of him, wanders up to half court to poke his nose into it. It then looked like an Irvine coach said something to him at which point he went nuts. He COULD have charged the Irvine coach but kind of let his assistants surround him and keep him from an altercation. It did earn him a T

I just turned it on with SB up 18 - Turner got two T’s, snd Pasternik got one while Turner was yelling at the refs. Pasternik had to be restrained by his many assistants - comical.

I love this photo of Rocak, Cooper and Amzil reacting to Sevilla's 3 pointer to put us up 4 with 4 minutes to go. The photo is by Mick Dunning.

repeat of info above so deleted

It sounds like Miro Little is a key player for them at PG.

The Gauchos (15-8, 8-4) were the hottest team in the Big West but were missing starting point guard Miro Little and key reserve Marvin McGhee IV in Thursday’s 10-point loss at UC Davis. Head coach Joe Pasternack simply said the players “were not able to play tonight…that’s it.” UCSB is 2-5 when Little doesn’t play.

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