It’s Game Week: Get To Know The UC-Davis Aggies

After a strong start to the season against San Jose State, Oregon State will hop back into action on Saturday against another Golden State mid-major in UC-Davis. The Beavers are looking to start 2-0 for the second straight campaign, which is a bit of foreign land for a program who before 2022, hadn’t managed to start a season with two consecutive victories since way back in 2014. But enough about Oregon State, let’s learn about their Week Two opponents in the Big Sky Conference’s UC-Davis Aggies.

The Season So Far

UC-Davis (1-0, 0-0) | Last Game: 48-10 Win at Texas A&M-Commerce

Like most “mid-majors” of the college football universe, the early season either means accepting a batch of pure tail-whipping for a paycheck or handing that out to someone else, the latter of which UC-Davis opted to begin the 2023 campaign with.

The one-sided scoreline aside, there was cause for concern in the Aggies’ output as quarterback Miles Hastings - one of the Aggies usually reliable talents on offense - threw two interceptions to the Texas A&M-Commerce defense, to muddy what was an otherwise remarkable 22-30 for 239 yards passing display. Yet, Hastings was picked up by the backfield duo of Lan Larison and Matteo Perez, who combined for 29 carries for 197 yards and 4 touchdowns on the ground in the victory.

To put it perfectly honest, it’s not easy to get a gauge on how much UC-Davis can bring to the table after a lopsided win in their opener, but if Oregon State is to prove their one of the country’s most talented and cohesive units, than they’ll need to take care of business against opponents like the Aggies.

Quick Notes

Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

• Dan “Division I Football” Hawkins: The former head coach at Boise State and Colorado, at the ripe age of 62, Dan Hawkins is still bouncing around the college football ranks, as he enters his seventh leading in charge of the UC-Davis program. Maybe most famous for his famous rant about the time commitment of Division I football and his encouraging nature to have certain student-athletes consider intramurals as an alternative, Hawkins has turned the ship around for the Aggies, leading them to a 15-9 record over their last 24 outings.
• New Rules And Ground Tools: I spoke to two Division I football coaches that I know after their games this past weekend and both spoke about how they’re intrigued to see how teams who love relying on the time of possession - mostly run heavy teams - will try to chew up clock and alter the flow of games with the new clock rules oriented towards a quicker overall game in terms of actual playing time. Week One was probably too early to see it on display too much - and Week Two might not be all that much different - but if a team like UC-Davis finds that success pounding the rock again, I’d be stunned if they didn’t use it to their advantage as much as possible.

Game Information

• Date: Saturday, September 9th
• Time: 6:00 PM PT
• Location: Reser Stadium (Corvallis, Oregon)
• Coverage: Pac-12 Network