UC Davis football – Page 3 – VACAVILLE INSIDER

UCD senior in leading role

Isaiah Thomas has been worth his weight in yards as a punt returner for UC Davis. That might come as a surprise to anyone who checks statistics for Big Sky Conference teams. Thomas ranks sixth with an average of 6.6 yards per return and that is only after a 31-yard return last Saturday in a 60-27 victory over Dixie State.

Head coach Dan Hawkins can live with Thomas’ paltry average when it comes to measuring the senior’s effectiveness as a punt returner after three games this season. Hawkins would much rather think of how many yards Thomas can save the Aggies by catching a punt instead of letting the ball bounce and roll away.

“We don’t call (Thomas) the punt returner. We call him the punt catcher,” Hawkins said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. He was joined by Thomas and associate head coach Cha’pelle Brown. “Pretty much every time the ball hits the ground, you’re going to lose an average of 19 yards. Every time he catches one, that’s (an advantage of) 19 yards before (the offense) even starts.”

Every yard will count for UC Davis on Saturday when the Aggies battle Weber State in Ogden, Utah. UC Davis is ranked 12th and Weber State 15th in the FCS Coaches Poll. The Wildcats are the four-time defending Big Sky champions and claimed the title outright for the first time in the spring by going 5-0. Weber State shared the title with UC Davis and Eastern Washington in 2018. And there were plenty of folks at the time that thought the Aggies were not deserving because they did not play the Wildcats three years ago.

A shocking loss to Northern Arizona cost Weber State the outright title in 2018 because the Wildcats beat Eastern Washington, which crushed UC Davis 59-20. All those folks who questioned whether the Aggies were worthy of sharing the championship might have gotten their answer in 2019 when Weber State paid a visit to UC Davis and came away with a 36-20 victory. The Aggies had just 44 yards rushing in the loss, their lowest total on the ground since staggering to 13 yards four years ago in a 41-3 loss to … Weber State.

Hawkins looks forward to the day when Weber State returns to Davis. The rivals clashed in Ogden last March with Weber State pulling out an 18-15 victory and will do so again just 195 days later. “I should have bought a condo there,” Hawkins quipped. “We’re very used to the hotel there, the field there and the trip there.”

Weber State fans will have to be at their best to match the electricity in Davis last Saturday night. Fans returned to UC Davis Health Stadium for the first time since 2019 and 9,865 enjoyed an impressive performance by the Aggies. Ulonzo Gilliam rushed for 186 yards and three touchdowns. The junior also caught one of Hunter Rodrigues’ two touchdown passes. The defense contributed to the victory by intercepting five passes for the first time since 1985.

“It was magical here at the stadium on Saturday night. The stands were packed,” Hawkins said. “Our guys didn’t disappoint.”

Thomas energized the Aggies during pregame warmups by stomping and hollering in front of his teammates. He has stepped out front this season as one of four team captains. That Thomas has become a leader does not surprise Brown, who played for Hawkins at Colorado and was hired by UC Davis in 2017.

“I didn’t wait until he became a captain to tell him that he’s a leader. I told him that years ago,” said Brown, who works with Thomas and the other defensive backs. “But you have to do it the right way to be the captain. That’s why he’s the captain now because he does exactly what we ask him to do. And he’s doing it at a high level.”

Brown made it clear what he expects from the defensive backs. “To have been here for five years and seen the guys develop,” he said, “there are no more excuses.”

Thomas makes no excuses for his punt return average because saving yards for the Aggies is more than important than trying to break a return for a touchdown. “I’m definitely aggressive when it comes to catching a punt,” he said. “It’s harder for the offense to get going when we’re backed up. My goal is if I can get there, I’m going to catch it.”

As a starting safety and return specialist, Thomas has been quite a catch for the Aggies.

No place like Davis for Castles

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Sleeping on an air mattress in the basement of his uncle’s house was not all that bad. Having to leave his football gear in the garage after getting home from practice at South Tahoe High School was no big deal. His mother believed the smell would keep bears away from the garbage cans outside the family’s home.

Sharing a house with four of his UC Davis teammates has its benefits. There are three full size refrigerators and the garage was turned into a weight room when the five sophomores were stuck at home during the COVID-19 quarantine. Each of the five has a car, so they often squabble for dibs on the driveway.

His comfort level with the Aggies and garage workouts have contributed to McCallan Castles becoming one of the top tight ends in the country. HeroSports.com ranked Castles as the No. 1 returning tight end among FCS teams. The 6-foot-5, 233-pound Castles and Idaho’s Hayden Hatten are the only FCS tight ends to have three touchdown receptions after the first two weeks of the season.

Hunter Rodrigues threw two of his career-high four touchdown passes to Castles last Saturday as UC Davis cruised to a 53-7 win at the University of San Diego. The Aggies avoided a letdown after coming away with a 19-17 victory at Tulsa on Sept. 2. Tulsa is one of eight FBS teams to lose to an FCS opponent so far this season.

UC Davis is one of three Big Sky Conference squads to upset an FBS team in 2021. The others are Eastern Washington (35-33 in double overtime against UNLV) and Montana (13-7 against then-No. 20 Washington). The Grizzlies’ victory over the Huskies was the first by an FCS team against a ranked FBS program since 2016.

Castles played in an FBS vs. FCS game in 2019. He happened to be attending Cal at the time and earned the starting job at tight end as a redshirt freshman. Castles committed to the Golden Bears as a junior at South Tahoe after catching 65 passes for 1,193 yards and 15 touchdowns in the 2016 season. Cal was by no means the only school pursuing the three-star recruit. He also received scholarship offers from Arizona State, Colorado, Duke, Oregon State, Utah and Washington State.

Wanting to play as close as possible to home led Castles to making his verbal commitment to Cal without giving his other suitors the time of day. Adjusting to Berkeley after being raised in South Lake Tahoe, moving to Bethroud, Colo., and then returning to South Lake Tahoe was 100,000 volts of culture shock. Castles had never lived in a city with more than 22,000 residents. More than 42,000 students attend Cal and account for one third of Berkeley’s population.

To say Castles was overwhelmed would be putting it mildly. He would have been better off in the basement of his uncle’s house in South Lake Tahoe. Castles lived with his uncle so he could start the school year at South Tahoe High in 2016 as his parents were clearing out the family’s home in Bethroud.

His decision to leave Cal came after Castles started in the 2019 season opener … against UC Davis. He played the next week against Washington before going to Golden Bears head coach Justin Wilcox to turn in his playbook. Castles would need more than fingers and toes to count how many people he feared he would disappoint by quitting. That paled in comparison, however, to how he would have felt by staying at Cal where he did not belong.

“When you take that (recruiting) visit, you’re usually only around the campus. I didn’t really experience all of Berkeley,” Castles recalled. “I’ve never been a city person. I was calling my mom and dad every week and I’d tell them, ‘I don’t know if I can make it here.’ It was like I was letting the environment affect how much I liked football. I was questioning if I even wanted to play anymore.”

A warm welcome from the Aggies rekindled Castles’ passion, which had been called into question when UC Davis coach Dan Hawkins spoke to Wilcox about Castles’ resolution. “Wilcox said he didn’t know if I loved it anymore,'” Castles said. “When I got to Davis, I knew I had to prove to myself and everybody else that I wanted to be here. For (Hawkins) to let me come in and give me an opportunity to play, it’s been great. This is more my speed.”

Aggies open by closing out win

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Four minutes stood between UC Davis and an improbable victory at Tulsa last Thursday. The Golden Hurricanes had three timeouts , but stopping the Aggies and forcing a punt would have been far better than resorting to calling timeouts to stop the clock. All Tulsa needed was enough time to kick a field goal to avoid losing at home to an FCS team after being a 22-point favorite.

UC Davis had just dodged a bullet when Chris Venable slammed into Tulsa wide receiver Kenyon Stokes at the Aggies’ 8-yard line and forced a fumble. The ball bounced through the end zone because Erron Duncan arrived in time to prevent any Tulsa player from recovering it for the go-ahead touchdown.

“The fumble caused by Venable was amazing. The next thing that was amazing was to watch Erron Duncan go 100 mph to get to the ball,” UC Davis coach Dan Hawkins said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “As soon as it was a fumble, the first thing that came into my mind was we’ve got to get on that. If they get the ball, we go home with a nice try instead of a nice win.”

**McCallan Castles (from left), Hunter Rodrigues and Ulonzo Gilliam**

Sealing a 19-17 victory would require the Aggies to make two first downs and force the Golden Hurricanes to spend their timeouts. Wide receiver Kris Vaughn added to the degree of difficulty by being called for a fast start on first down to put the Aggies at the 15-yard line with 15 yards to go to maintain possession.

A 6-yard run by Ulonzo Gilliam was made possible by 6-foot-5, 233-pound tight end McCallan Castles aligning right and pulling left to pave the way for the running back through the hole. Castles followed by catching a pass from quarterback Hunter Rodrigues for a 12-yard gain and a first down at the 33.

Tulsa stopped Gilliam for no gain on the next play. It was his sixth carry in which the junior did not gain an inch. Thirteen of his 25 carries went for 3 or fewer yards. Hawkins credited his son Cody, the Aggies offensive coordinator, for sticking with the running game even though Gilliam was not having much luck.

“(The Golden Hurricanes are) pretty stout up front,” Hawkins said. “The tendency is when you play a team with a dominant defensive front that you give up on the running game and then everything else collapses. We kept chipping away.”

UC Davis finished with 88 yards rushing, its lowest total since managing just 63 against Sacramento State in the 2019 Causeway Classic.

Gilliam has been a workhorse for the Aggies since arriving from Merced High in 2017. He paid his dues for a year as a redshirt and then became a starter in 2018. In the opener at San Jose State, Gilliam ran for 143 yards and scored three touchdowns in a 44-38 victory. The Aggies also beat the Spartans in 2010 for their first win against an FBS team since climbing to Division I in 2007.

His hands have also been put to good use. Gilliam’s 124 receptions are the most by a running back in school history. His 124th came at the perfect time last Thursday with UC Davis facing a third-and-4 at its 49-yard line after Tulsa called its third timeout with 1:56 to play. Rodrigues faked a handoff to Vaughn on what appeared to be a jet sweep to the left as Gilliam slipped out of the backfield to the right for an 8-yard reception to seal the deal.

“He’s a real special player. He’s unbelievably tough,” Hawkins said of Gilliam. “He’s someone our offense leans on.”

The University of San Diego knows that all too well. In 2019, Gilliam ran for 139 yards and two touchdowns as the Aggies pulled out a 38-35 victory over the Toreros. His 1-yard scoring run with 3:35 to play was the difference. San Diego was one yard away from winning when Devon King forced a fumble that Isaiah Thomas recovered to bail out UC Davis.

Hawkins can only hope his players will not take San Diego lightly or suffer a letdown after knocking off Tulsa. “We’re not going to overestimate Tulsa or underestimate anybody else. That’s just not how we roll,” Hawkins said. “You may outscore (San Diego), but they will not beat themselves. They’re a tough out. It helps you as a coach because you’d better be on it because you know they’re going to be on it.”

Aggies can cash in with victory

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Playing at Tulsa on Thursday was far less lucrative and perilous for UC Davis than going to USC on Saturday. The Aggies reaped the financial benefits of losing to three Pac-12 teams in the past five seasons. After scoring first in each of those three games, UC Davis remembered it had no business occupying the same field as Oregon (2016), Stanford (2018) and Cal (2019)

UC Davis was in store for another payday as easy prey for USC, but fans of the Trojans could not believe their beloved team would stoop so low by opening the 2021 season against an FCS program. USC is one of just three FBS teams to have never paid an FBC squad to roll over and play dead. The other two are UCLA and Notre Dame. The Trojans eventually caved in and backed out of the game.

The cost for doing so was $725,000. The Aggies not only bolstered their coffers, but they also avoided losing players to injury in a no-win situation. It would be suffice to say Tulsa will never be mistaken for USC.

Storylines abound this season for UC Davis. The Aggies are striving to regain their footing after a 5-7 finish in 2019. UC Davis raised the bar in 2018 by sharing the Big Sky Conference championship for the first time and making its inaugural appearance in the FCS playoffs. The Aggies beat Northern Iowa 23-16 in their postseason debut at home and then lost 34-29 to Big Sky rival Eastern Washington in Cheney to finish 10-3.

Falling to Eastern Washington is nothing new for the Aggies, who are 0-9 against the Eagles. A victory over Eastern Washington last April 3 would have sent UC Davis to the playoffs for the second time. UC Davis went 3-2 in the makeshift spring season and missing the playoffs was just fine with Aggies coach Dan Hawkins. UC Davis would have had to practice for two weeks after losing 32-22 to Eastern Washington before the playoff bracket was announced.

Hawkins never wanted five games in the spring, so playing into May was not at all appealing. He said as much at his press conference earlier this week. “We wanted to get our guys back in a normal cycle of lifting and running,” Hawkins said. “We have not had the usual training camp. We weren’t trying to grind our guys every single day. We were trying to pace them and play the long game.”

Colton Lamson started at right tackle against Tulsa. He lost the job to Nick Amoah after nine games in 2019 and did not start in the first two games last spring. Lamson supplanted Kooper Richardson in the Aggies’ 73-24 rout of Cal Poly. Richardson is playing at Sacramento State as a graduate transfer. He was joined by his brother Kaden, a freshman, in transferring from UC Davis to Sacramento State. The two have reunited with their father, Kris, who is the Hornets’ assistant head coach and offensive line guru.

His demotion in 2019 left Lamson at a crossroads. He made the right turn because “I don’t want to be a negative guy. I wasn’t going to pout about it. It drove me. It made me a better player. I think (the coaches) saw how hard I was working in camp. I really prepared myself. I’m supremely confident because I put in the work.”

As Lamson has worked to rebuild his confidence, linebacker Cole Hansen is trying to repair his reputation. Hansen was ejected in the fourth quarter of the April 3 loss to Eastern Washington after being called for targeting. Hansen lowered his helmet to drop running back Dennis Merritt for a 1-yard loss on third-and-3 at the Aggies’ 27-yard line. The penalty extended what turned into a 69-yard drive for the Eagles that ended with a field goal and a 10-point lead with 5:34 to play.

Hansen apparently did not learn his lesson after being warned about targeting two weeks earlier against Cal Poly. The Big Sky Conference notified Hansen that he should have been ejected against the Mustangs. That would have been an easy pill to swallow in the Aggies’ 49-point victory. His infraction against Eastern Washington came six plays after UC Davis, which trailed 16-0 at halftime, scored a touchdown with 11:11 remaining to trail 29-22.

That his left hand was in a cast might explain why Hansen resorting to lowering his helmet. He broke his thumb a week before the March 6 opener at Idaho State and feared he would be out of action. He finished the spring as the Aggies’ second-leading tackler with 34, including a team-high 7.5 for loss. It would have been 35 if his third-down stop against Eastern Washington had not been nullified.

“I could understand that call from the referee’s point of view if it’s more of an open-field situation with a defenseless receiver,” Hansen said. “You don’t see that too often in college football when you’re in between the tackles and it’s short yardage and you’re trying to make a play. I thought it was clean.”

With his left thumb healed and the cast removed, Hansen is targeting a clean slate this season.

First play often goes astray

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Hunter Rodrigues has figured out how to conquer his nerves as the starting quarterback for UC Davis. All the junior has to do to calm down is botch the first offensive play. He did that twice in three March victories for the Aggies, so getting his worst play out of the way right away was not catastrophic.

Confusion on the first play March 6 at Idaho led to Rodrigues mishandling the snap and having to scramble to recover the loose ball. “We got (to the line of scrimmage) a little late and the play clock was going down,” Rodrigues said. “It was down to about 5 seconds and we were all trying to rush. Not a good start.”

**Hunter Rodrigues was nearly sacked for a safety and then fumbled on the first play against Cal Poly on March 26.** **UC Davis went on to win 73-24.**

Rodrigues bounced back to complete 23 of 29 passes for 236 yards and three touchdowns in a 27-17 victory. UC Davis knocked off the No. 19 team in the FCS rankings and then joined the Top 25 at No. 23.

The first play against Cal Poly on March 26 was worse. A holding penalty on the opening kickoff left UC Davis starting its first possession at the 9-yard line. Rodrigues dropped back to pass and was immediately under pressure. He retreated into the end zone and then scrambled to his left with Cal Poly’s Lance Vecchio in pursuit. Vecchio caught Rodrigues, who lost the ball on his way to the turf.

Rodrigues lost the ball because he was trying to flip it forward in hopes of the play being ruled an incomplete pass. “No (receiver) was open, so I was rolling out trying to find someone,” Rodrigues said. “I noticed I was in the end zone and I didn’t want to take a safety. I should have thrown it away sooner.

“Yeah, another not a good start.”

The Mustangs recovered the fumble, but the Aggies defense bailed out Rodrigues by limiting Cal Poly to a field goal. The turnover by Rodriguez was long forgotten by halftime, when UC Davis led 49-10 on its way to a 73-24 victory. UC Davis was to play Cal Poly again on April 10, but Cal Poly has bowed out.

That leaves UC Davis (3-1) with one more game this spring. The Aggies, who are No. 11 in the FCS rankings, will host No. 9 Eastern Washington (3-1) on Saturday with the winner likely receiving an at-large berth to the 16-team FCS playoffs. Eleven conference champions will receive automatic berths, leaving just five at-large bids.

Weber State (3-0), which is ranked No 3, will likely receive the Big Sky’s automatic bid when the FCS playoff field is announced April 18. The Wildcats’ remaining games are against two 1-3 teams in Southern Utah and Idaho State. Weber State beat UC Davis 18-13 on March 13 and will not play Eastern Washington.

Rodrigues welcomes the challenge of facing Eastern Washington with the opportunity to lead the Aggies to their first win against the Eagles in nine meetings. The Whitney High School (Rocklin) graduate arrived at UC Davis from American River College in 2018, when the Aggies lost 59-20 to the Eagles in the regular season and 34-29 in the FCS quarterfinals.

UC Davis quarterback Jake Maier was the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year in 2018, but he was not at his best against Eastern Washington. He threw two interceptions in each loss. To put that in perspective, he was picked off just six times in the other 11 games. When asked about Maier’s performances against the Eagles, Rodrigues looked beyond the errant passes to see what made Maier so successful.

“It was the true grit that you have to have to play this position,” Rodrigues said. “You have to put your heart and should into this position in order to be successful. It meant everything to (Maier). It means everything to me to play at my best when the best is needed.”

Rodrigues will have to be at his best against Eastern Washington – except for the first play. That is the one he can afford to botch because “it takes away any nerves or butterflies you might have.”

He would know.Edit

Hornets flip script on Aggies

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UC Davis linebacker Nick Eaton resorted to grabbing Kevin Thomson’s towel in hopes of stopping Sacramento State’s quarterback in the 66th annual Causeway Classic on Nov. 23. Thomson and the Hornets were not to be denied, erasing a 14-point deficit to beat the Aggies 27-17 and earn a share of the Big Sky Conference championship in Troy Taylor’s first season at the helm. Sacramento State will host an FCS playoff game for the first time Dec. 7 against Austin Peay.

Khris Vaughn
Andy Richardson and Troy Taylor

Elijah Dotson
Brothers in arms

Time for Weber State exorcism

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Jake Maier will leave the ghosts to Sam Darnold. Even if the UC Davis quarterback happened to see one in a game, the senior would never admit it. He will graduate in December with a degree in communication, not parapsychology. All Maier needs to know about apparitions is to steer clear of them.

Weber State did not need ghosts to spook Maier in September 2017 when he was a sophomore making just his fourth start for the Aggies. The Long Beach City College transfer passed for 943 yards and eight touchdowns in the first three games as if to prove the jump from a junior college to Division I was not all that daunting.

Not only were the Wildcats daunting two years ago in Ogden, Utah. They were downright scary. UC Davis needed just four plays after receiving the opening kickoff to reach Weber State’s 3-yard line. Maier was sacked for a 6-yard loss on first down, and a false start penalty left the Aggies with second-and-goal at the 14. All a 7-yard pass on third down did was give Max O’Rouke a 24-yard field goal.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is isu20-608x1024.jpg — **Jake Maier**

Those three points with the game not even four minutes old were it for the Aggies. The Wildcats answered with a 67-yard touchdown pass, a field goal and a 98-yard scoring run in the first 15 minutes. Weber State added an 84-yard punt return for six points and another scoring pass in the second quarter to lead 31-3.

The horror show ended after the Wildcats made it 41-3 in the third quarter and were nice enough not to score in the fourth. Maier chuckled when asked if he saw any ghosts that day. Even if they had appeared, he would have missed them because the Wildcats were in his face from start to finish.

Maier managed to throw for 327 yards, but he was intercepted twice and sacked five times. How about the transition from junior college to Division I not being that difficult? Maier was haunted into humility by Weber State, which finished 11-3 in 2017 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs.

“I definitely remember how good they were in man coverages,” Maier said. “We moved the ball pretty well. Once you get inside the red zone against them, they make it extremely difficult. They present you with different looks and funky pressures. They try to confuse you The sophomore in me at that time, it affected me and I got confused. That game taught me a lot. It was a wakeup call for me.”

To say Maier has a score to settle Saturday when Weber State pays a visit to Davis would be an understatement. The Wildcats are 5-2 and ranked fifth in the FCS poll. The Aggies are 4-4 and sit at No. 22. Three of the Aggies’ four remaining games are against teams ranked in the top 10. After Weber State comes No. 9 Montana State on Nov. 16 and No. 8 Sacramento State on Nov. 23 in the 66th annual Causeway Classic at Hornet Stadium.

UC Davis can only afford one more loss, so the Aggies must beat two of those teams to stand any chance of returning to the FCS playoffs after reaching the postseason for the first time in 2018. Looking too far ahead concerned Maier earlier this season when the Aggies talked of Big Sky Conference and national championships. A three-game losing streak changed their focus to now.

That was evident for UC Davis in victories over Cal Poly and Southern Utah the past two weeks, but those two teams are a combined 3-12. Weber State’s losses were against two FBS teams, San Diego State and Nevada, by a total of 12 points. When Maier looks ahead, it is only as far as Weber State.

UC Davis and Weber State did not meet in 2018, but they shared the Big Sky crown with Eastern Washington. UC Davis lost to Eastern Washington, which lost to Weber State, but Weber State lost to Northern Arizona.

“It’s all about us right now and preparing for a great opponent. Nothing else matters,” Maier said. “I like where we’re at right now. It will be as tough as it was two years ago, but it will be about how we handle some of those moments. If we take care of the ball, we’ll be OK. If you turn the ball over against them, they’re all over it.”

Aggies in rush to rebound

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UC Davis offensive coordinator Tim Plough has one goal each week in devising his game plan. He wants sophomore running back Ulonzo Gilliam to carry or catch the ball 25 to 30 times. Plough would also like 15 to 20 touches for junior Tehran Thomas. If the two combine for 40 or more, it usually bodes well for the Aggies.

Gilliam and Thomas came close to 40 against top-ranked North Dakota State on Sept. 21. Gilliam had 19 rushing attempts and caught seven passes. Thomas had 11 carries and one reception. Their combined 38 touches and 173 total yards are a big reason why the Aggies gave the Bison a run for the money in a 27-16 loss.

North Dakota State had won its previous eight games by an average of 36 points, with the closest score being a 38-24 victory over Eastern Washington last January in the FCS national championship game. UC Davis earned enough respect to remain fourth in the FCS rankings instead of dropping with the loss.

Tim Plough
Ulonzo Gilliam
Tehran Thomas

The drop came this week. UC Davis fell to No. 12 after being humbled at home in a 45-20 loss to Montana, which replaced UC Davis in the top 10 after vaulting from No. 18 to No. 9. UC Davis had been in the top 10 since cracking it for the first time after rallying for a 44-37 victory over Idaho State last October.

This week also brings a long flight to Grand Forks for Saturday’s game at North Dakota, which lost 38-7 at North Dakota State on Sept. 7. By the time the Aggies come home, they will have flown 7,000 miles in three weeks to face two teams separated by 80 miles. At least they should be accustomed to jet lag by now.

A 25-point loss is not customary for UC Davis. Fingers can be pointed in several directions after the Aggies’ worst home defeat since a 34-6 loss to Southern Utah in 2015. Rankings meant nothing in those days with UC Davis finishing 2-9. They went 3-8 in 2016 and then 5-6 in 2017 in Dan Hawkins’ first season as head coach.

A 10-3 finish in 2018 raised the bar for the Aggies, who earned a share of the Big Sky Conference championship and advanced to the FCS playoffs for the first time. That makes last week’s loss much more difficult to swallow. Start with three turnovers, nine penalties, poor tackling and no sacks. UC Davis sacked Montana’s Dalton Sneed five times last October in overcoming an 18-point deficit for a 49-21 victory.

Gilliam and Thomas combined for 147 rushing yards and each scored a touchdown that day. Thomas scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 56-yard run with 10:59 to play. UC Davis got the ball back 69 seconds later when Sneed was sacked and lost a fumble at the Montana 14. Gilliam scored two plays later on a 4-yard run.

The Grizzlies were not as generous last Saturday. The Aggies did not have a rushing touchdown, extending their losing streak when they do not have one to six games. Gilliam and Thomas did not come close to Plough’s goal of combining for at least 40 touches. Gilliam had 18. Thomas finished with just eight. They combined to run for 75 yards, and Gilliam was held to a season-low 2.7 yards per carry.

Learning more on Thomas would have made sense, but suggest that to Plough and he will explain that Thomas’ productivity is dependent on Gilliam. Thomas is 2 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier than Gilliam at 5-foot-11 and 215, but Plough said Thomas is more likely than Gilliam to score on any given play.

“We love when Ulonzo starts the drives because he has earned it. He’s going to get the ball more,” Plough said. “We look at Tehran in the middle of a drive when the defense is tired and maybe Ulonzo is a little tired. (Thomas is) as fresh as a daisy and they’re breathing really hard. We look at Tehran as more of a home-run type of back. If he gets in the open and gets to full speed, he’s going to go the distance.”

The longest run for Thomas in four games this season was 18 yards against Montana. He missed the Sept. 14 game against Lehigh with an injury. Plough figures it is a matter of time before Thomas busts loose. Saturday’s game at North Dakota would be as good a time as any.

Montana manhandles UC Davis

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Montana had a score to settle with UC Davis on Saturday, and the Grizzlies did just that in a 45-20 victory. Montana avenged a 49-21 loss to UC Davis in 2018 in which the Grizzlies squandered an 18-point halftime lead. Top: Carson Crawford lunges for the goal line to score the Aggies’ first touchdown and Tehran Thomas implores the crowd to cheer. Middle: Kris Vaughn celebrates with Lance Babb II after his second touchdown reception. Bottom: UC Davis safety Tiger Garcia lays the wood to Jerry Louie-McGee to separate the Montana receiver from the ball.

Aggies receiver comes armed

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**Carson Crawford is nearly adept at throwing the ball as he is at catching it.**

Two field goals and a 15-point deficit were all UC Davis had to show after nearly 42 minutes of futility against Montana last Oct. 27. The Aggies had a little more than a quarter to mount a comeback if they were to beat the Grizzlies for the first time in eight meetings and improve to 5-0 in the Big Sky Conference.

The defense did its part after Max O’Rourke’s 41-yard field goal by stopping Montana on fourth-and-1 at the UC Davis 34-yard line. Carson Crawford, a redshirt freshman at the time, could sense a shift in momentum. Before the offense took the field, the wide receiver learned the first play would be his.

Offensive coordinator Tim Plough called a play in which Crawford takes the ball from quarterback Jake Maier and becomes the passer. His 40-yard toss found tight end Wes Preece, who then rumbled 16 yards for a first down at the Montana 10. The Aggies scored their first touchdown two plays later.

“Forty yards is not that hard for me, especially when the guy is pretty wide open,” said Crawford, who threw for 3,010 yards and 37 touchdowns as a senior at Beaverton (Ore.) High School in 2016 after switching from receiver to quarterback. “It’s nice that the coaches have trust in me for me not to do something stupid.”

The Aggies liked reaching the end zone so much that they kept going back, doing so five times in the fourth quarter to win 49-21. Crawford capped the onslaught by catching a 5-yard touchdown pass for Maier with 5:08 to play.

Montana will have a score to settle Saturday at 1 p.m. in Davis. The Grizzlies will surely be mindful of Crawford’s arm after being burned last season. They may also want to watch out for his hands because Crawford is not only deployed for what Plough calls “exotic plays.” The sophomore has become a reliable receiver and shares the team lead with 24 catches.

Crawford needs just two more to surpass his 2018 total of 25, not that he is counting. He was content contributing on “exotic plays” in 2018 and would be so again this season if that was his role. Plough appears to have more in store for Crawford now that Keelan Doss has left UC Davis for the NFL.

“That was my role last year because we had Keelan out there,” Crawford said of Doss, who graduated with 321 receptions for 4,069 yards and 28 touchdowns. “I was nowhere near Keelan then and I’m still nowhere near Keelan. As long as we’re winning, I’m pretty much OK with anything.”

The same goes for Crawford with jersey numbers. He has no idea how he got No. 86 last year and would have been happy with it again this season had his father Chris not said otherwise. Chris wore No. 6 during his glory days as a quarterback at Portland State and ordered his son to take it when UC Davis receivers Cody Hawkins offered it to Crawford last January.

“I didn’t need a new number,” Crawford recalled. “I didn’t do enough last year where I would think I should get a new number.”

Crawford lost his father to leukemia just weeks after accepting No. 6. He has since added the Roman numeral for six to the tattoo on the inside of his left wrist. His father had the same tattoo with his favorite saying, “Press on.”

And to think Crawford almost passed on taking it. “I’m glad I did, that’s for sure,” he said. “It reminds me of him every day.”