UC Davis football defeats Idaho, secures first win over top-five win program in history

Sep 30, 2024, 6:51 AM

UC Davis football defeats Idaho on September 28, 2024....

(UC Davis Athletics)

BY UC DAVIS ATHLETICS

Sactown Sports

This story was initially published by UC Davis Athletics

Score: No. 14 UC Davis 28, No. 4 Idaho 26

Location: Davis, Calif. (UC Davis Health Stadium)

Records: UC Davis 4-1 (1-0), Idaho 3-2 (0-1)

The short story: Behind three takeaways and a complete performance in all three phases, No. 14 UC Davis made history taking down No. 4 Idaho in the Big Sky opener, securing the first win over a top five program in the Football Championship Series era.

FIRST DOWN

Senior quarterback Miles Hastings led the Aggies in the air, throwing for 248 yards on 25-for-32 passing, tossing three touchdowns to tie a season-high
Junior Rex Connors, in his first game back, led the Aggies with 12 tackles, 11 solo
Sophomore Porter Connors, junior Lamont Shamburger and senior Kavir Bains each had an interception in the game
Senior Lan Larison finished with 54 yards receiving, grabbing one touchdown, and he added 46 yards on the ground with a rushing touchdown to finish with 100 all-purpose yards
Senior Winston Williams added 54 yards and one touchdown on four receptions to tie for the Aggie team lead
UC Davis finished with 115 kickoff return yards on four returns

WHAT HEAD COACH TIM PLOUGH HAD TO SAY

“This was a great team win, with all three phases having a hand in the win. We had a great defensive performance, C.J. [Hutton] with a huge return and our offense scoring 28 points against a defense that has not allowed that many points this year was big. It’s also been our focus, to win at home, because that’s how you this conference and tonight we did that. That’s a fantastic team, that I sure hope we don’t see again, but I’m sure they’ll make the playoff. Coach Eck had them ready to play, and tonight we played in a great football game.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

Idaho opened the game with back-to-back scoring drives, going 78 yards in seven plays for the first score and following that up with an 11-play 56-yard touchdown drive
The two opening possessions gave Idaho a quick 14-0 lead, but it also woke up the Aggies
On the Aggies’ second drive of the game, UC Davis finally got into the groove
Senior receiver Chaz Davis snagged a big 21-yard pass from Hastings to set the Aggies up at the 10-yard line
Two plays later, Hastings again found Davis, this time the Aggie receiver was in the endzone going up and over a defender to snag the touchdown pass to put the Aggies on the board
And after the Chaz Davis touchdown, the score sat at 14-7 with Idaho taking the lead into the second quarter
To big plays by the Idaho offense got them down into the Aggie side of things, but a bowing of the neck by the UC Davis defense held the Vandals to a 54-yard field goal attempt, which floated short and to the right
On the next drive, which saw UC Davis go 66 yards in 10 plays, UC Davis again found the endzone to answer Idaho’s back-to-back opening touchdown drives with a pair of Aggie scoring drives
A defensive holding penalty in the endzone put the Aggies inside the 10 and following a handful of plays, Larison smashed it home from one yard out to make it 14-14
Idaho answered, as the back-and-forth continued, nailing a 43-yard field goal to back up 17-14 with 5 minutes to go in the first half
Late in the opening half, senior Trent Tompkins was stripped of the ball to set Idaho up inside the Aggie 25
But just two plays later when Idaho attempted to get one into the endzone, Bains was there, snagging the interception to slam the door shut on Idaho as things went into the break at 17-14
Out of the locker room, the Aggies begun to take control, scoring 14 unanswered points in the third quarter
It didn’t take long, as on the opening kickoff of the second half a planned fake reverse to Larison sprung senior receiver C.J. Hutton for 72 yards, tackled by the last Vandal at the Aggie 26
On the second play of the short drive, Hastings lobed one up to Larison who, while diving backwards, caught a ball that went up and over the defender to score an Aggie touchdown and give UC Davis its first lead of the game at 21-17
Idaho, looking to respond, took things down to the Aggie five on the next drive, but again the Davis defense held
Forcing a turnover on downs after stopping Idaho on a fourth and goal from the five
On the next two Idaho drives, the Aggies ended things with interceptions, getting a pick from Shamburger and Porter Connors
After the second pick, snagged by Connors, UC Davis then went on a 54-yard six-play drive that was capped off on an absolute beauty of a throw by Hastings that split the gut of the Idaho defense, finding Williams in the endzone
The Aggie touchdown, put UC Davis up 28-17 heading into the fourth quarter
UC Davis’ opening drive, which lasted 12 plays, stalled out on a fourth and two at the Idaho 15-yard line
The turnover on downs led to Idaho driving the field to kick a field goal, getting it within one score with 4:28 to go
After a failed attempt at converting UC Davis gave Idaho the ball back with 2:22 to go
The Vandals proceeded to go 88 yards in 11 plays, driving to the three-yard line
There they punched it in to get it within two points
On the game-deciding two-point conversion, the Aggie defense was stout. Senior defensive lineman Zach Kennedy fought off a block as he chased down the bootlegging Vandal quarterback
But on the back end, the Aggie secondary blanketed the Vandal options forcing a throw over in the back of the endzone by Idaho to end the scoring threat
On the proceeding onside kick, Larison again was there, recovering the onside kick to secure a historic win for UC Davis

GAME NOTES

This is the first win over a top five program for UC Davis in the FCS era
The win marks first year head coach Tim Plough’s first win in the Big Sky
UC Davis has now had at least one takeaway in the first five games, the most to start a season since 2021
The 115 kickoff return yards is a season-high, the most in a game since returning 147 yards against Northern Arizona in 2023
Hastings now has 51 career touchdown passes, and his three tonight moves him into sole possession of fourth-place all-time in program history, passing Jon Grant (2003-06) and Khari Jones (1991-93)
Larison’s rushing touchdown gives him 28 on his career, moving him into a three-way tie for fourth-place all-time in program history. He is now tied with G.P. Muhammad (1995-98) and Jermaine Rucker (1995-96)

UP NEXT: The Aggies next hit the road for another Big Sky matchup when they head to Portland State on Oct 5. UC Davis returns home for homecoming on Oct. 12 when Cal Poly comes to Davis. Fans can buy season tickets, group tickets, mini plans, single game tickets and corporate ticket packages, by clicking the links or by calling the Aggie Ticket Office at (530) 752-2471 or by emailing aggietickets@ucdavis.edu.