What A Comeback! UC Davis Wins Opener At Portland State, 31-24

UC Davis football opened up the 2026 season in style thanks to a thrilling comeback win over Portland State on Saturday afternoon.

BY UC DAVIS ATHLETICS

Aug 31, 2026, 6:22 AM

Follow on Google News

UC Davis football

UC Davis (1-0, 1-0 Big Sky) scored 31 second-half points to erase a 21-point halftime deficit en route to a 31-24 comeback victory at Portland State (0-1, 0-1 Big Sky) in the season and Big Sky opener for both teams Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium.

Treynor Cleeland connected with Laviel Pickett for the 22-yard game-winning score with 0:27 seconds remaining and then a Vikings’ Hail Mary attempt from the Aggies’ 36-yard line on the game’s final play was thrown out of bounds.

“I can’t say enough about these kids, how hard they work, and the belief they had,” head coach Tim Plough said after the game. “It’s pretty special.”

“You’ve got to find a way to win road games, you’ve got to find a way to win weird games on the road,” Plough added. “To find a way to win this early in the season and get a conference win when a lot of teams would have shut it down, I think it speaks to our program, strength and conditioning, staff, players, everybody involved. That’s the magic of Aggie pride.”

WHAT A GAME. #GoAgs I #Shredville pic.twitter.com/Ye93A2VF6h

— UC Davis Football (@UCDfootball) August 29, 2026

The comeback started when UC Davis scored its first points of the season on its first safety since 2018 with 9:42 remaining in the third period. Portland State punter Emiliano Montenez was unable to come up with a high snap cleanly on the play before kicking it out of the back of the Vikings’ end zone.

Zach Jones returned Montenez ensuing free kick 87 yards to the end zone for an apparent touchdown but much of the return was wiped out by a blindslide block on the Aggies at the 50-yard line. But UC Davis would score its first touchdown anyway on the drive that followed as Cleeland marched the Aggies 60 yards on eight plays culminating with a 1-yard touchdown run by Jordan Fischer to cut the Vikings advantage to 21-9 with 6:01 to go in the third.

Fischer struck again with 0:06 remaining in the third when he capped a six-play, 50-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run to move the Aggies within 21-16.

Portland State reached the UC Davis eight-yard line on its next possession before stalling and settling for a 24-yard field goal from Joshua Hossmann Lees to increase its lead to 24-16 with 9:35 to play.

An interception ended the Aggies’ next drive, but UC Davis would make a critical stop on downs at its own 25-yard line to get the ball back with 6:54 to go.

Cleeland then went 5-for-5 for 57 yards on a game-tying drive that culminated in a 15-yard touchdown pass to Samuel Gbatu Jr. and a successful two-point conversion from Cleeland to Pickett with 2:19 to go.

Fish 2 … with vocals#GoAgs pic.twitter.com/UcnEdY5sSr

— UC Davis Football (@UCDfootball) August 29, 2026

Teeg Sione got the Aggies the ball back with his interception at the UC Davis 20-yard line and Cleeland marched the Aggies down the field again, completing 3-of-4 passes for 61 yards on the game-winning five-play, 80-yard drive.

Cleeland finished his first start for the Aggies 22-of-39 for 287 yards with two touchdown passes and one interception. In the second half he was 16-of-21 for 232 yards with both touchdown passes and the pick.

Cleeland’s favorite target was preseason Gbatu Jr. The preseason All-American senior wide receiver had team highs of eight receptions and 107 receiving yards for the 10th 100-yard receiving game of his career including seven last season. Pickett finished with three receptions for 53 yards, as well as the game-winning touchdown and game-tying two-point conversion catch.

On the ground, the Aggies went to another preseason All-American in Fischer, who finished with 14 rushes for a game-high 65 yards and his two third-quarter scores.

Hayden John, Porter Connors and Drew Cofield co-led the winners with eight tackles and Cofield also caught the Hail Mary out of bounds on the game’s final play. Jayden Few contributed six tackles, as well as 2.5 tackles for loss (-9 yards) and 1.0 sack (-5 yards) The Aggies finished with 7.0 tackles for loss (-18 yards) and 2.0 sacks (-7 yards).

Jones had four kick returns for 116 yards despite having a touchdown return called back. He also had an apparent long punt return nullified by a penalty.

The Aggie offense gave up just a single sack for 11 yards.

The game marked the earliest the Aggies had ever played a conference match.

UC Davis returns to action with a nonconference game at San Diego next Saturday (7 pm PT, ESPN+).