UC Davis football outlasts Southern Utah, improves to 2-1

Sep 16, 2024, 6:50 AM

UC Davis football defeats Southern Utah in 2024....

(UC Davis Athletics)

BY UC DAVIS ATHLETICS

Sactown Sports

This story was initially published by UC Davis Athletics

Score: No. 15 UC Davis 24, Southern Utah 21

Location: Cedar City, Utah (Eccles Coliseum)

Records: UC Davis 2-1, Southern Utah 1-2

The short story: Thanks to 18 third quarter points and a defensive showing that allowed only seven second half points, No. 15 UC Davis snagged its second-straight win with a 24-21 road win over Southern Utah.

FIRST DOWN

Senior running back Lan Larison finished with 180 all-purpose yards (92 receiving; 88 rushing)
Larison finished with 15 carries, averaging 5.9 yards per carry and had seven catches, with a long of 60 yards and one receiving touchdown
Senior quarterback Miles Hastings finished with 266 yards passing, going 24-for-30 with two touchdown passes
Junior Hunter Ridley hit three field goals in the game (39; 37; 23)
Senior Kavir Bains led the defense with eight tackles and finished tied with a game-high two pass break ups
Graduate Semaj Verner added a pair of pass breakups and made seven tackles
Redshirt junior David Meyer sealed the game with an interception and added seven tackles of his own
Senior Zach Kennedy added a sack, for a loss of 14 yards, had five tackles and one quarterback hurry
Senior defensive end Evan Bearden had a blocked punt in the game, adding five tackles to the mix
Between graduate Ben-Banks Altekruse and junior Cade Cox, the Aggies punted for a solid 194 yards, putting three inside the 20, with Altekruse hitting a long of 50 yards
Graduate Rory Bell kicked off five times, sending all five into the endzone for touchbacks

WHAT HEAD COACH TIM PLOUGH HAD TO SAY

“I couldn’t be prouder of our football team and I thought it was a complete team win. I love the way our offense bounced back from adversity to make some great plays in the second half for us. The play by Lan was a tremendous play, but it doesn’t happen without the effort of our guys blocking down field. We were able to get a blocked punt and a big kick return to set us up late from CJ [Hutton] and our defense showed true Aggie Pride to scratch and crawl for the victory.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

Southern Utah intercepted Hastings in the Aggie opening drive, taking the interception back for a touchdown to give Southern Utah a quick 7-0 lead
In response, the Aggies went 54 yards on 17 plays, eating up 8:34 of clock. UC Davis ended the high play drive with a 39-yard field goal that got the Ags on the board at 7-3
Southern Utah put together a drive with 7:26 to go in the half, going 12 plays for 88 yards, scoring a touchdown to make it 14-3
But the Aggies again had a response, and with a quick six-play 56-yard drive UC Davis put home a 37-yard Ridley field goal to take momentum into the break at 14-6
Out of the break, the Aggie defense forced a Thunderbird three-and-out, setting the stage for UC Davis to mount its comeback
After recording a pair of first downs, the Aggies were set up inside the Thunderbird 10-yard line, and on second and goal Hastings found senior tight end Winston Williams in the back of the endzone, and following a Larison two-point conversion the Aggies had tied things up at 14-14
Another three-and-out by Southern Utah meant it was time for Lan Larison to show why he is on the 2024 Walter Payton Award Preseason Watch List
On the first play of the drive, Hastings rolled to his right and saw Larison working across the field
Hastings’ throw started to go behind Larison, but the Aggie running back found a way to tip the ball to himself while it was behind him, shake off a tackle and go 60 yards down the sideline for what would be the eventual go-ahead touchdown for the Aggies
Both teams traded drives before the Aggies would find themselves in good field position late in the quarter
Following a four-play drive the Thunderbirds lined up to punt, on the play Bearden split the middle blockers, getting his hand up as the punt was sent blocking the punt straight to the ground
Senior linebacker Luka Sarac would fall on the ball, putting UC Davis in field goal range
Ridley would put home an eventual 23-yard field goal to put the Aggies up by two scores
Southern Utah would score another touchdown, when they punched it in from two yards out to make it 24-21
With two minutes to go, UC Davis would eventually need to punt the ball back to Southern Utah, but following a great punt from Cox the Thunderbirds had a long field to go
After converting a fourth-down and making three first downs in the drive, the Thunderbirds’ quarterback went to the well one to many times
On what would be the final play for Southern Utah, the Thunderbird quarterback looked to get a pass up the right seam, but Meyer was there and for the second-straight game made the winning interception
Following a victory formation, UC Davis locked up its 24-21 road victory

GAME NOTES

Hastings was on fire in the third quarter, going 5-for-8 in the period with a pair of touchdown passes and 126 yards thrown
Bearden’s blocked punt was the first by an Aggie since 2022
Larison’s 60-yard run was the first run by an Aggie between 50-75 yards, resulting in a touchdown since 2022
The win was head coach Tim Plough’s first career road win as head coach
UC Davis has blocked a kick in some capacity in two-straight games, blocking a field goal against Texas A&M-Commerce in the previous game
Williams has scored a receiving touchdown in two-straight games
Hastings now has 697 career completions, passing Jon Grant for third all-time in program history
The two touchdown passes by Hastings we career numbers 46 and 47, moving him to sixth all-time in program history

UP NEXT: The Aggies return to UC Davis Health Stadium on Sept. 21 for the first of back-to-back home games when Utah Tech 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.

This story was initially published by UC Davis Athletics