I think Lehigh is immensely overrated but oh well

this is the argument going on in the montana-verse at the moment

FCS Coaches Poll for Week 7:

Football can't get 500 alums to kick in $1,000?

The life of a nomad coach (wife, family) isn't ideal. A friend moved every 2-3 years - Oregon, Florida, NorCal, Panama (wife's family), NorCal, Minnesota. His wife finally said, "Pick a place we can stay put."

I think Coach Plough is a great fit. If he were to jump to School X, and things went south, he's too young to retire, so he probably becomes an OC elsewhere, and awaits another shot as a HC. So that's three more moves, maybe more.

Very impressive! This guy is an inspirational person and I hope we can keep him

I think there was a palpable difference in offensive team speed that helped UCD separate from NAU. Gbatu, Dobbins, Fisher and Vargas in particular. Pennington was also thrown off with the pass rush, that was also critical to take pressure off the DBs.

Plough often says, with regard to support, 'We aren't where we want to be, but we are much better than we were'.

I think we're gonna need a big boast in support from Mrak Hall (or is it now central campus) is order to bring in more out of state players and continue to bring in transfers as grad students. Those scholarships cost (or will cost for grad transfers) twice the cost of an in-state which limits us to about 10 or them on the roster. I don't think that HAS to be the case.....seems like Chancellor could decide to charge the program the same. I'd be curious how other UC's handle out-of-state and/or grad transfers in terms of cost of a scholarship. If that doesn't happen, we'll need more external support to pump up the scholarship budget.

Its a great point especially when you have players parents being pushed by girlfriend's mom on the wonders of what U$C could offer during the Cal Poly game in the stands. Showing loyalty is a great value that gets lost in this age of NIL and flashiness......even attempts like Sac State where not only in Marion overpaid but allowed to make money of his GOGO

Thats not to say turn down Millions of dollars but to say work ethic has value as well

I imagine that when Plough took the UCD job, he knew the support wouldn't increase dramatically overnight. And that he'd have to produce winning teams for it to happen. He produced in Y1, and so far in Y2. Hopefully, support, both institutional and boosters/alumni have started to increase as well.

UCD is moving to the Mountain West in Y3 - though not in football. But we will get a revenue share from the MW media deal, some of which will likely be allocated to football. If the on-field success continues, then he should reasonably expect that support also continue to grow.

That being said, UCD isn't going to match the Dakotas in the next couple of years. Even if we did, it would take some time for the money to take effect, at least in terms of facilities. So the hope here is that Plough understands all this and is reasonably patient. If he continues to produce winning teams, and he doesn't get the support he wants, there will be other, and probably better, opportunities in the future.

Even if the support meets or exceeds his expectations, at some point Plough may want a new challenge.

Hopefully UNC beats Sac State.

Lamb is a very good football coach and proven program builder. This game is one to be cautious of. However, UNC is prepping for travel to and a game against Sac State. The Aggies start UNC prep today with four extra days of practice and the weekend off. And we're better. Advantage: Plough boys...

I still can't get over that overturning 'incomplete pass' call at the end of the Colorado State game. Ed Lamb must be so battle torn that the call didn't even phase him - can you imagine Paul Wulff getting that call turned around against him?

Plough says he can win a national championship but he has to have the resources to do it — BlueGoldAg

100% believe this.

Exactly! Even Trent Bay is owed around 4 million. How do you tell the wife no to that?! Haha

If program support from alumni and fans doesn’t continue to increase, that could be a nail in the coffin. — agalum

No matter how much you love something, if you don't feel supported its hard to stay committed.
(that was deep :roll: )

The school / alums need to do their part if they really want something great

I agree with you that Oregon State wouldn't be a good fit for Plough, and I'm thinking OSU probably realizes he wouldn't be a good fit for them at this point. You're absolutely correct that Oregon State is a really tough place to win, especially right now.

To get back to any type of relevancy, first in Oregon, then at the Group of 6 level, and (hopefully) eventually beyond, OSU needs someone who has more than a good coaching resume. They need someone whose name and/or background brings instant credibility to Corvallis. Someone whose hire might also raise the stature of the new Pac 12 as a whole. Not sure they can get that kind of person, but a rising star with a successful 1 1/2 year HC stint isn't going to be that guy.

I think Plough is smart enough to know that he would be the type of hire OSU settled for, rather than being the guy they really wanted. He wouldn't even have the built in connection that Bray had. Given the condition the Oregon State football program...and maybe the whole athletic program, his situation would likely be exactly as you described, "3-4 years of aggravation before you're fired." Career killer.

My nomination as the guy that should top their list, would be Mike Gundy. In addition to the "name/credibility" quality, he shown he can rebuilt a program in a P%/4 conference, that when he arrived, was probably much like Corvallis is today. The caveat would be, could Gundy better adapt to the NIL era than he did at the other OK State?

My first two years in Davis, I lived so close to Toomey, we walked over for the game from our house. There was a walking group and we'd sort of build to it block after block like the Buckaroo Banzai trailer. Good times indeed! That was a loud North End Zone - seeing tube sock madness come back was great, at one point it got sophisticated so that socks could make it to the top rows of the seating when the "Aggie S.W.A.T." Team would come out with a compressed air gun and fire them up to the top rows so everybody got some action - I think those cannons were discontinued for obvious reasons as they shot those socks out pretty fast. Still a fun time when tube socks were in the game, not sure if the S.W.A.T. guys were ROTC, but they were fun to watch - ROTC guys and Band-Uh! used to always do push ups together, and in those J.T. O'Sullivan days there were 100's of push ups a game.

If program support is a big deal to Plough, why would he leave his self proclaimed "dream job" to take a job on a much less level playing field than the Big Sky and FCS? Oregon State can't win in today's college football and nobody wants them. That job is a dead end. 3x the pay for 3-4 years of aggravation before you're fired. Bray (former OSU HC) was an alum and a rising star as a D-coordinator and he got fired after 1.5 seasons. I highly doubt that Plough would uproot his family, have the kids change schools and the wife resettle, and leave his dream job to go coach against the same teams he'll be facing in 3-5 years anyway. I agree that he should leverage this situation to better his situation and the situation of his coaching staff and the program, but it would not be smart to take the Oregon State job. No one can ever accomplish what Erickson and Riley did there ever again. They don't have the money or the bandwidth to compete and win consistently.

Added a few more stats for Defense. Jacob Psyk is a terror and Marquis Bell stepping up.

NCAA FCS Statistics

Total Offense... #25 - 421 ypg
Total Defense #101 - 432 ypg
Turnover Margin #17 (t) ---- [up 17 spots]
Turnovers Lost.. #12 (t)

3rd down Conversion % - #17 (t) --- [big jump up]
3rd down Conversion % - Defense - #119

First down Offense - #69 ---- [up 14 spots]
First down Defense - #91

Red zone Offense - #17 (t) ---- [up 18 spots]
Sacks Allowed - #115 (t)

Team Passing Efficiency - #7 -- [up 7 spots].. 174.88

OFFENSE

Completion Percentage
Caden Pinnick #8 ------ [up 27 spots]

Passing Efficiency
Caden Pinnick #5 ----- [up 8 spots]

Yards Per Pass Attempt
Caden Pinnick #7 ----- [up 10 spots]

Receiving TDs
Zach Jones #66
Samuel Gbatu #7 ---- [up 14 spots]

Rushing Yds per Carry
Jordan Fisher #6 ----- [up 3 spots]

[Carter Vargas 7.3 YPC = #5 in FCS, but he is 7 carries below the minimum threshold - 10 carries per game.]

Rushing Yds per Game
Jordan Fisher #24 ----- [big jump]

Rushing Yards
Jordan Fisher #26 ----- [up 10 spots]

DEFENSE

Sacks
Jacob Psyk #7 ------ [up 6 spots]

Forced Fumbles
Jacob Psyk #2 (t)
Khalani Riddick #11 (t)

Passes Defended
Marquis Bell #28

Tackles for Loss
Jacob Psyk #5 (t)

I like all of those. I’d add Yang Kee

Ultimately this is Gary’s call and he needs to make a decision as to whether he wants to build a legacy or turn this place into a commuter campus. — LeFan

What do you mean by this? Gary May needs to give Plough a raise, among other things?
In what scenario would Davis become a commuter campus? (genuinely curious)

Others in coach’s circle may have some ideas on what is joyous and millions of dollars seems to appeal to people. Nothing scares Mrak more than a football coaching search. The last two games of the season do not set up well for the Ags. The best outcome for joyfinding would be to leverage this success into real institutional support for football (donors, in game experience, travel and road experience, baseline nil, natural turf, increase staff budget). Ultimately this is Gary’s call and he needs to make a decision as to whether he wants to build a legacy or turn this place into a commuter campus.

......ugh.....Lets say this is good publicity for the program, and Plough is ignoring any phone calls :sweat:
Vigen is a waaaaaaay better fit :wink:
Jerry Neuheisel also.....Plough bad, very bad.

Aren't there no contact periods?

BTW, Lan Larison was in the house yesterday... I wish Coach Sochor could see the beginning of Coach Plough's run.

Last year he was competing w Hawks guys. He has inserted and trained a Frosh QB, a new WR crew, and a slew of portal additions. Impressive so far, but he has a thin defense.

I could see Plough staying til his kids are through high school. Cal may lose out if (when) a Super Conference is created.

You are probably right about Pinnick regarding offers. Though, he seems to be an all-in Aggie at the moment.
Getting to play baseball as well is likely unique to Davis and sweetens the pot here. I can't see that happening in the FBS at any high-level program. Hopefully we can find some dough to make it easier to keep him.

Caden Pinnick in Big Sky play (3 games):

62-82 75%
10 TD 0 INT 949 yards
213 Efficiency

Regardless of the strength of the opposing defenses so far, the most impressive stat to me is the 0 interceptions for a rs. frosh. He's been sacked 8 times - only Pennington has been sacked more times (9).

Pinnick and Lamson (Jr.) are the class of the conference. Lamson has completed 71% of his passes w/ 214 efficiency.

I did not realize Lamson was from right here in El Dorado Hills.

I agree with everyone saying that they believe Plough is staying in Davis. Corvallis is a nice place and they can offer him more money than us, but the OSU program is a mess right now. That and I really do believe that the Davis factor is real. This university and program means a lot to Plough and as @Jdur said, he already have some insider information on future conference plans.

Staying in Davis.

I'm going to pretend I didn't see this.
All these guys would follow him to Corvallis, can't blame them......ugh...

I believe the head coach when he says he's committed to staying in Davis for a long time.