If anything, the Aggies have been consistent during Ron Gould’s tenure at the former Division II powerhouse. Gould took over at Davis for revered head coach Bob Biggs before the 2013 season, UCD’s second in the Big Sky Conference.
Gould’s first season, guided the Aggies to five conference wins during a 5-7 finish. The 2014 and 2015 seasons were nearly identical with Davis earning just two wins in each campaign. Davis has two games left in 2016 to buck the trend, yet four wins is as high as Davis could climb.
Davis played at Montana State, the only team without a Big Sky win this season, on Saturday. The Aggies finish with rival Sacramento State at home for the Causeway Classic.
UC Davis head coach Ron Gould/by Brooks Nuanez
Just like the rest of the seasons under Gould, UC Davis has been solid and competitive but unable to break through for many wins. The team’s depth has been tested because of injuries. The team had a break through in a 34-21 win over Northern Colorado, UCD’s only Division I this season. The next week, UCD pushed No. 17 Cal Poly to the brink before losing 21-16. But the Aggies took a step back, falling behind 51-16 in a 51-29 loss to Portland State.
Davis was competitive in a season-opening 53-28 loss at No. 24 Oregon, Gould’s alma mater. The Aggies beat Southern Oregon, the 2014 NAIA national champion and 2015, for their first victory, 52-35.
UCD rallied from a 32-10 deficit against Weber State at home to tie it 35-35 before a muffed punt led to a Weber game-winning field goal as time expired. Davis held a 30-28 lead over No. 4 Eastern Washington midway through the third quarter before the Eagles pulled away in a 63-30 EWU victory. Davis allowed Southern Utah just 12 first downs and just 77 yards rushing while possessing the ball for nearly 34 minutes but could not convert in the red-zone or on third down (4-19) in a 24-3 loss.
QUICK HITS
Location: Davis, California
Nickname: Aggies
Founded: 1905. The University of California, Davis is a public research university and one of the 10 campuses of the University of California (UC) system. It has the third-largest enrollment in the UC System after UCLA and UC Berkeley. The university has been labeled one of the “Public Ivies,” a publicly funded university considered to provide a quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League.
Enrollment: The university has 36,104 and an endowment of $1.1 billion.
Stadium: Aggie Stadium. The 10,743-seat venue is one of the newest in the Big Sky. Built in 2007 for $30 million. The Aggies are averaging 6,444 fans in four home games this season.
THE TEAM (1-5 in the Big Sky, 2-7 overall)
The Coach: Ron Gould, fourth season at UC Davis. The Pokey Allen disciple began his career as the defensive backs coach at Portland State. He followed Allen to Boise State, where he coached from 1993 until 1996. In 1997, he took the running backs coach position on Tom Holmoe’s staff at Cal to begin of the most successful runs as a position coach in Pac 12 history. Jeff Tedford retained Gould, who spent 15 seasons at Cal all told. During his time working with the Bears’ running backs, he coached players like Marshawn Lynch, Shane Vereen, Justin Forsett and Will Ta’ufo’ou, all who went on to the NFL. Gould is 11-32 overall after taking over at Davis in 2013. He is 9-21 against Big Sky competition.
THE OFFENSE
Manusamoa Luuga, running back, 5-9, 215, senior — The former Long Beach Poly High standout has been productive since breaking into the starting line up for two games as a true freshman in 2013. He rushed for 977 yards and nine touchdowns as he shared carries in Davis’ pro-style West Coast offense.
This season, Luuga has been one of the standout ball carriers in the Big Sky. Gould has a penchant for developing running backs and Luuga is the latest thriving in his senior year. This season, Luuga has 812 yards on 162 carries (5.0 yards per carry). His nine touchdowns are tied with Cal Poy’s Joe Protheroe, North Dakota’s Brady Oliveira and Montana’s Jeremy Calhoun, a fellow Long Beach Poly alum, for the league lead. His yardage total is the fourth in the league.
Luuga is also UCD’s second-leading pass catcher with 22 catches for 228 yards and a touchdown.
Joshua Kelley, running back, 6-0, 207, sophomore — Kelley averaged 5.0 yards per carry and rushed for 530 yards in 10 games during a breakout freshman year last fall.
Kelley is the lightning to Luuga’s thunder for the Aggies’ smash mouth rushing attack. This season, Kelley has rushed for 453 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 6.6 yards per carry.
Kelley is also UCD’s primary kick returner. He is averaging 23.1 yards on 19 returns, including a 91-yard kick return for a touchdown to spark the comeback effort against Weber State.
Keelan Doss, wide receiver, 6-3, 206, sophomore — Doss announced his presence early on during his true freshman year in 2014, catching a 70-yard touchdown against Eastern Washington and a 36-yard touchdown the following week against Portland State. That rookie season, Doss averaged 14.8 yards per catch, notching 325 receiving yards on 22 catches.
Then disaster struck. Doss tore his ACL during fall camp and redshirted last season.
Doss has returned with a vengeance to become one of the elite receivers in the league. This season, he has 52 catches for 649 yards (12.5 yards per catch) and he has caught six of UCD’s 14 receiving touchdowns. His 5.8 catches and 72.1 yards per game are both in the top eight in the league and his receiving touchdown total is sixth.
Ben Scott OR C.J. Spencer, quarterbacks — Scott, a 6-foot-3, 203-pound senior, is a three-year starter and will certainly start in Bozeman on Saturday. Scott’s first career start came in a 77-37 loss to MSU in 2014 in the last matchup between the two teams. That evening, he threw for 379 yards and four touchdowns to spark an honorable mention All-Big Sky season.
He has battled injuries ever since. He started eight games and threw for 1,598 yards and 11 touchdowns before an injury ended his junior year. This season, Scott missed the Southern Utah loss and left last week’s loss to Portland State with an injury.
Scott has completed 59.1 percent of his passes for 1,792 yards and 11 touchdowns this season. He is throwing for 224 yards per game. If he can’t go Saturday, Gould will choose between Spencer, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound dual-threat sophomore who completed 8-of-19 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown against Portland State, or Brock Dale, a 6-foot-, 195-pound former junior college transfer who has thrown for 253 yards and two touchdowns in five games of spot duty this season.
THE DEFENSE
Zak Pettit, defensive end, 6-4, 260, senior — Pettit broke into the lineup early like many of Gould’s top recruits during his tenure. Pettit notched 11 tackles and three sacks in nine games as a true freshman in 2013.
Pettit appeared in 10 games, starting twice and leading the team with 6.5 tackles for loss, including two sacks, as a sophomore in 2014. Pettit notched 33 tackles, two tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks in his first season as a full-time starter last fall.
This season, Pettit leads the team and ranks eighth in the league with nine tackles for loss among his 34 tackles. He has forced two fumbles and has one sack.
Zach Jones, safety, 6-0, 200, senior — Jones played as a true freshman and has started since his sophomore season.
He finished third on the team with 59 tackles in 2014, including 39 solo stops. He notched 11 tackles against MSU that season. His finished sixth on the Aggies last year with 40 tackles, including 25 solos.
This season, Jones is one of the Big Sky’s top 40 and Davis’ leading tacklers. His 55 tackles lead the team. His 44 solo tackles trail just Montana State’s Mac Bignell (57) and Cal Poly’s Chris Santini (46) for the Big Sky lead. He’s also forced three fumbles, one of the top totals in the BSC.
Nas Anesi, linebacker, 6-2, 225, redshirt freshman — The former St. John Bosco Prep standout was a standout for one of the top high school teams in the country before redshirting his first season in Davis.
This season, he is Davis’ second-leading tackler with 45 stops, including 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack.
Keleen Culbertson, safety, 5-11, 205, senior — Culbertson redshirted in 2012 and missed 2013 due to injury. In his first healthy season in 2014, he led the team with 73 tackles and five pass breakups. Last season, he had 10 tackles in Davis’ opener before suffering a season-ending injury once again.
Now Culbertson has finally had a sustained streak of health. He leads the Aggies with seven pass breakups and his 41 tackles are third on the roster. He has 4.5 tackles for loss, a sack, an interception and a fumble recovery.
Photos by Ron Gould or noted. All Rights Reserved.
