I'm with you. We're a yearly contender, still feature true student athletes, and the FCS playoffs seem exciting. Ivys, Villanova, the Redbirds... and yes, we can provide more resources at the FCS level.

The FBS is all over the place, constant turnover, $$$, drama, HCs with $20-million, $30-million contracts. ICA departments massively in the hole (like Cal). We can add spice in our pre-season games. Who knows what happens in 3-5 years. Cross country travel already an issue for some.

So who are you rooting for in today’s games and the finals? I’d like to see the rebirds make it to the finals against the cats. I see the cats winning the big prize which is good for the big sky. I can’t root for a Hauck coached team.

Want to make it is known if you are on this board and do not say hello while passing the AST.com tailgate for a.free beer or other beverage we will make you do double on the second try.

Man, I learn a lot on this board. We have guys that sound like they know a thing or two about construction management, engineering, private equity, not to mention all the history we get sprinkled in. I appreciate you guys

my 92-year old mom was down Sunday for an early Christmas with grandkids and asked ‘what does this 6-7 thing mean?’

‘It doesn’t mean anything, gramma’

‘Yes, but, what does it mean?’

This went on for about 10 minutes.

I for one would like to state that I am interested in buying official Connors bros merch but them not being able to play next year will directly dampen my interest and make me less motivated to get products with their names, images, and likenesses on them.

That one. I’ve never liked it.

My intention was to come on here and bitch and moan (especially) about special teams play, stopping the run, and how the Redbirds scored four TD to our one between the 2nd and 3rd quarters. However, after throwing my board in the water yesterday and sitting on the beach, then sleeping on it for two nights, I am announcing my retirement from posting about the 2025 season. I will end this run with a few more mellow contemplations:

-Special teams play... Two of the four losses saw critical mistakes. Possibly the absolute worst play of the season was when the entire Aggie punt return team turned their back to the Illinois State punter and ran with the coverage team. The punter saw what happened, that no one was home, and took off because not one player stayed to check to ensure that the ball was kicked. I almost puked when I saw him change his footwork while he was reading our guys.

-The old adages that "Defense Wins Championships" and "You Must Run to Win" still hold true. Illinois State did both of those things very effectively, and won. We didn't. That's the ballgame.

-Kudos to the fans: students, parents, alumni, community, especially for the final three games. Plough has built something pretty special and the momentum is tangible. The games I went to were a great time! And we won most of them. And we hosted two playoff games.

-This team far exceeded their circumstances. There were so many reasons why they could have had a down year, yet they earned a #8 national seed and won a playoff game. With a first-year, freshman QB. With devastating, season-ending injuries to all-Americans and all-Big Sky performers. With guys being sick. With more injuries. The program was tested and still nearly pushed through to the semifinals.

-And finally, to wrap up my kinder, gentler post on 2025 Aggie football, Corey the Rocket Dog redeemed herself and put in possibly her best performance of the season. Given the rumors about other dogs being able to fill her role through the dog pound portal, she renewed my faith in her retrieving abilities and brought her A-game in the quarterfinals. Maybe we expand her role in 2026 with supporting our special teams by running down the field to cover kickoffs and sitting at the line of scrimmage until the ball is punted...

That's all folks. No more from me about this game or any of the 2025 games, I am now forward focused from here on out. I trust Plough and Co. to fix what needs to be fixed, to address the roster needs, and to come out loaded for bear in 2026.

At the start of 2025 year it looked like both Nava and Simonson would not be back, all starters on defensive line graduating, two DBs transferring to FBS, loss of standout linebacker to graduation, loss of record setting qb, loss of all american running back and loss of three prominent wide receivers. It looked like it was going to be a rebuilding year.

Isn’t this supposed to be a rebuilding year? And we made it into the quarterfinals! I know every team has injuries, but come on, we were missing some major players. This tells me we’re on the right track and that we’re getting deeper. The future is bright.

All the problems the Davis program has, are problems of a successful program. Most FCS programs would kill to be in our position as Quarterfinalists two years in a row with two different Quarterbacks.

Gosh, Mike, was there ever any doubt? We can't lose faithful, knowledge fans like you and your family. My wife and I will be there until I croak!

Lots of credit to the red birds. They started the playoffs unranked and have been traveling every week. They’re a well coached and greased machine. I won’t be surprised to see them in Nashville.
Darn, the way this bracket sorted out was a real opportunity for us.

from what I recall, Gould was a Terry Tumey hire and Tumey was a Katehi hire. Incompetence begot incompetence squared. I don’t know whether Katehi or Ralph Hexter fundamentally found Kevin Blue, but what a refreshing corner turn that was. Sure seemed like alumni and donors appeared out of nowhere after that. Wood would be wise to get out of his own way here and allow Orr to make a hire with some level of buy in from the Hornet community, but I don’t think that’s his style.

hopefully you didn’t use the bathroom behind 123 - no lights! Urinal use by ear!!

I was thinking on the drive home that I don’t recall us ever substituting defensive groups during the game. Same approach whether it was 1st and 10, 3rd and 1 or 3rd and 15 - Coombs had I choice except keep the remaining healthy guys out there and play a pretty vanilla scheme. Losing Pysk, along with Sam’s limitations, was too much. That being said, take away that damned kickoff and convert in the red zone, and that puts a bit more pressure on QB.

Great season. Great group of players and coaches.

Someone said the flu really hit the locker room this week. If so, this makes the game play understandable.

Still, I'm actually not too upset about the lost. Sure, it was a blown opportunity, but in the long run I think the program is going in the right direction. I look forward to seeing what this team does next year.

This press conference tells you everything you need to know about how special this football program is and how lucky we are to have Tim Plough as or head coach. I'm so very proud of this team.

Eli started a whole season in 2023 without anyone noticing. I had to email the athletic department to get his stats and bio corrected. I’m a fan of his.

At a certain point the injuries just catch up to you. Tally on the unforced errors and it’s hard to consistently beat good teams like is needed in the playoffs.

We have Caden. All 3 of his leading receivers back. Gbatu 1K receiver
Dobbins over 700 yards
Fisher 1k rusher.

We’ll be absolutely electric next year. GREAT YEAR FOR A REBUILD SEASON

I think there’s a fairly good chance the Nashville game is Montana State vs Illinois State. The Illinois coach seems like a nice guy. I’ll root for anyone but Bobby Houck in the final. But I think it’s Montana State’s year.

Pretty wild that either Davis or Illinois State would host a semifinal. Who would have guessed this just 3 weeks ago?

Very cool story. He had a big smile on his face at one of the lunches when someone mentioned Mendoza was named the starting qb at Cal.

‘ Heisman Trophy favorite Fernando Mendoza was a redshirt freshman and Cal’s third-string quarterback at the start of the 2023 season when he walked into the office of tight ends coach Tim Plough.

“Would you be willing to meet with me?” Mendoza asked. “Would you be willing to teach me the offense and talk to me about quarterback play, go through the game plan with me?”

Mendoza knew that Plough had spent virtually the entirety of his career as an offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach.


“He has this insatiable desire to be a great player. And when you’re the third-string guy, you’re not getting a lot of one-on-one time with the quarterback coach or the OC,” Plough said this week. “So he was kind of looking for some guidance, some mentorship.”

Thus began what tutor and pupil labeled the Midnight Meetings. For the rest of the season, Mendoza arrived at Plough’s office nightly at 9 p.m. and the two spent as many as three hours watching film, talking fundamentals and mechanics of the position and studying that week’s game plan.

Even though Mendoza had no shot yet at getting onto the field.’

LET'S GO AGGIES! BEAT THE REDBIRDS!

Time to break the quarterfinals curse!

oh for sure! Could you imagine they’d probably want us to circle up to chant the principles of community in iambic pentameter.

But it’s fun to be able to have provoking if not spirited conversation and debate here without it devolving into the gutter. One of the better corners of the internet for sure.

I'm not so sure we can read too much into Wrighster entering the portal in regards to Pinnick coming back. Wrighster may see himself still battling with Eason and Cleeland and, potentially, still be #3 if Pinnick transfers out.

We won't know until we know but, what we do know, is that the big boys will be offering our best players some big NIL money and the promise of huge crowds and fame even though only 1.6-2% of all college football players ever go on to play in the NFL and the vast majority of those players are from big time FBS teams. So 98% would be much better off with a highly regarded UC Davis degree.

Mercer's freshman of the year QB is hitting the portal

For all you KNBR 680 listeners (home of the Giants), Tim Plough will be on at 8:15.

GREAT effort by the promotions folks, and very generous of the old Dutch Bros. to get involved.

I just hope they're serving $1 beers and hot dogs again on 12/20 in Stephenville!