No. 18 UC Davis football starts fast, but falls at Cal 31-13

Sep 1, 2024, 6:56 AM

UC Davis football taking on Cal in Saturday's season opener....

(UC Davis Athletics)

Sactown Sports

This story was originally published by UC Davis Athletics

The short story: No. 18 UC Davis’ afternoon in Berkeley, Calif., started off with a bang, but California used the second half to eventually pull away from the Aggies to taking the season opener.

FIRST DOWN

Senior running back Lan Larison led the way 62 yards on the ground, scoring one rushing touchdown
Porter Connors finished with a career-high and game-high 13 tackles, scoring a touchdown on a fumble recovery and adding one sack
Redshirt junior linebacker David Meyer added 12 tackles junior defensive back Rex Connors mad 11 stops to give the Aggies three defenders with double digit tackles
Senior wide receiver C.J. Hutton finished with game highs in receptions (seven), and receiving yards (68)
Junior wide receiver Samuel Gbatu Jr., racked up a game-high 92 total all-purpose yards, receiving 53 yards and returning 39 in the kicking game
Senior quarterback Miles Hastings finished with 221 yards passing going 22-for-48

WHAT HEAD COACH TIM PLOUGH HAD TO SAY

“I told the team we are not a pat on the back program and that we are disappointed every time we don’t win a football game. I felt like we hung in there with a really well coached Cal team, but the turnovers we had in the third quarter offensively can’t happen, and we can’t give up a kickoff return for a touchdown. Those are things we will clean up this week. But I was really pleased with the defensive effort today and if we can get the other two phases to play at that level then we can be a good team.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

In the first quarter Cal took a lead early, scoring a touchdown after a eight play drive midway through the opening period. But the Aggies were up to the challenge and had an answer on defense early
After the Aggies turned it over on downs just outside the endzone and the short field that Cal would get played into the Davis defensive advantage
On Cal’s first play of the drive, the Golden Bear running back was met by senior defensive back Kavir Bains, who went low and put his hat on the ball, popping the pigskin straight out
Johnny on the spot was Connors, who scooped the ball up and scrambled into the endzone from six yards out to get the Aggies on the board at 6-7
UC Davis would take its first and only lead of the game in the second quarter, thanks to Larison punching it in from one-yard out to cap off a nine-play 66-yard scoring drive
Cal would take the next kick back for six to retake the lead at, 14-13, heading into the break
Out of the locker room Cal would pull away, as the Aggies turned the ball over twice in the quarter allowing the Golden Bears to pull ahead, scoring two touchdowns to take a 24-13 lead into the fourth
Cal would add one more touchdown to take set up what eventually became the final score, 31-13

GAME NOTES

Porter Connors’ fumble return for a touchdown in the first quarter was the first for an Aggie since 2019 when Nick Eaton took one back 78 yards against Cal Poly
UC Davis out gained the Golden Bears 304 to 281, passing for 221 yards to Cal’s 179
The Aggies finished with 20 first downs to Cal’s 16
Going back to last season, Larison has scored at least one rushing touchdown in four-straight games

UP NEXT: UC Davis opens UC Davis Health Stadium on Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. when Texas A&M-Commerce 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 originally published by UC Davis Athletics