UC Davis falls just short vs. Montana State in Big Sky thriller

Score:  No. 4 UC Davis 28, No. 2 Montana State 30

Location: Davis, Calif.

Records: UC Davis 9-2 (6-1), Montana State 11-0 (7-0)

The short story: No. 2 UC Davis football scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to nearly comeback against No. 4 Montana State, but the Bobcats held off the Aggies to snap their nine-game winning streak.

FIRST DOWN

• Senior running back Lan Larison ran for 112 yards on 23 carries, scoring one touchdown and he finished with 109 receiving yards on eight catches to finish with 221 all-purpose yards
• Senior Miles Hastings went 22-for-33 with 320 passing yards and three touchdowns
• Senior Chaz Davis snagged four balls, finishing with a career-high 128 yards receiving and one touchdown
• Junior Rex Connors finished with a team-high 14 tackles, making 11 solo stops
• Redshirt junior David Meyer racked up seven total tackles, making five solo tackles
• The Aggies outscored the Bobcats 20-7 in the second half
• UC Davis held Montana State to a season-low 333 total offensive yards

WHAT HEAD COACH TIM PLOUGH HAD TO SAY

“We are not a pat on the back program, and tonight we did not do enough things to win the football game. I’m disappointed that I was unable to do more to help the team win tonight. Montana State deserves a lot of credit, they are outstanding and played great in all three phases of the game. I’m very happy about the crowd tonight, it meant a lot to me and I’m sure it meant a lot to the players to have that type of support. I hope the fans could see how they affected the game, and I hope they show up like that again when we have bigger games here down the road. But we have some things to clean up if we want to play and beat teams like that in the future.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

• UC Davis opened the scoring in the game, going 95 yards in 11 plays and a one-yard pass to junior tight end Ian Simpson in the back of the endzone from Hastings capped off the scoring drive
• The Aggies converted on a two-point conversion when senior tight end Winston Williams scooted off the right side to make it 8-0 UC Davis early in the first quarter
• A pair of Aggie turnovers over the remainder of the first half, along with Montana State taking a punt back for a touchdown in the second quarter helped Montana State build out a 23-8 first half lead heading into the locker room
• Montana State thought they had put things to bed when they scored in their opening drive of the third quarter, going up 30-8.
• It was the last time the Bobcats found the endzone all night
• The Aggies began to build back into the game by holding Montana State from converting long drives, each time the Bobcats looked to take the ball and kill the clock through the third and early fourth quarter the Aggie defense shut the door to get their offense the ball back
• Midway through the fourth quarter, the comeback was on and Larison’s tackle breaking run of 34 yards added onto a big 33-yard pitch and catch from Hastings to Davis in a drive that saw Larison punch one home to make it 30-15
• The next drive was big for the Aggie defense to keep things within reach
• With 6:21 left in the game, Montana State converted three first downs, but the Aggies ended the drive before the two-minute timeout to give them enough time to get the possessions needed to comeback
• Hastings hit Davis for 77 yards to open the Montana State defense up, getting the Aggies down to the four-yard line
• A four-yard pass to junior wide receiver Samuel Gbatu, Jr. from Hastings gave the Aggies another touchdown and made it 30-22
• An onside kick recovery was needed, with just 1:44 left in the game
• And an onside kick recovery was exactly what the Aggies got when junior Angelo Genetti got the perfect bounce to allow Williams to wrestle the ball away from a Montana State Bobcat to give the Aggies the extra possession they needed
• UC Davis then marched down the field, getting to the 11-yard line where a fade from Hastings to Davis gave the Aggies six points and made it a two-point game
• On the Aggies’ second attempt at a two-point conversion, the luck had run out. And when Hastings looked to find Larison in the endzone, he instead found a Montana State defender, who intercepted the ball
• And after the Aggies failed to recovery their second attempt at an onside kick, the Bobcats took a knee, exhaling as the Aggies nearly pulled off a historic comeback.

GAME NOTES

• Larison ran for at least 100 yards and caught at least 100 yards for the second time this season
• This was Larison’s sixth 100-yard rushing game of the season and the 12th of his career
• Davis set a career-high with 128 receiving yards and one touchdown, snagged a career-long 77-yard pass
• The Aggies’ 95-yard scoring drive in the first quarter was the longest scoring drive of the season
• The announced crowd of 13,947 was the fourth largest in UC Davis Health Stadium and the second top five largest crowd this season
• Hastings threw for over 300-yards for the fifth time this season
• The Aggie quarterback passed 10,000 yards in his career, finishing the night with 10,022 on his career and he sits third all-time in program history
• Hastings sits alone in third place all-time with 71 passing touchdowns in his career
• Larison now has 1,904 all-purpose yards on the season, and he sits just 59 yards away from passing Ulonzo Gilliam, Jr. for the all-purpose yard school record
• Despite the loss, UC Davis can still earn a share of the Big Sky Championship with a win over Sacramento State next weekend and a loss for Montana State against Montana

UP NEXT: UC Davis wraps up the regular season with the Causeway Classic when they visit Sacramento State on Saturday, Nov. 23 with that kick set to 2 p.m.

Upcoming UC Davis Football Schedule

• Saturday, November 23rd @ Sacramento State – 2:00 PM PDT

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