Montana State earned a thrilling and perhaps pivotal win at No. 15 Eastern Washington. MSU’s second straight win in Cheney helped the Bobcats get off to a 1-0 start in Big Sky Conference play.
UC Davis suffered a 17-12 loss to No. 12 Weber State despite out-gaining the Wildcats 471-385 and notching 25 first downs. The Aggies missed three field goals and now sit at 1-3 this season, meaning a second straight playoff appearance and third since 2018 for UCD will become even more elusive with another loss.
“We have our sights set on another opportunity, playing on national TV (ESPNU), a night game, all of that,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said.
“To this point, being 1-3 doesn’t tell teh story of UC Davis. They were right there against South Dakota State (a 24-22 loss) with a chance to tie. Last Saturday against Weber, that was a back and forth affair. I do think as I have seen them — we haven’t played them since I”ve been here — but offensively, very diverse, a lot of weapons.”
QUICK HITS
Location: Davis, California
Nickname: Aggies
Founded: 1905 as a land-grant university adjacent to Davis, California, a quant farming town of 65,000 non-students in Yolo County 15 miles West of Sacramento. Davis is part of the University of California (UC) system and has the third-largest enrollment in the system behind only UC – Los Angles and UC- Berkeley. Davis 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: 40,330 including 31,162 undergraduates and an endowment of $2.25 billion.
Stadium: Aggie Stadium a 10,743-seat multi-purpose stadium on campus built in 2005 and renovated in 2007. Eventual plans include the venue being built to hold 30,000 seats. The field within the stadium is named for Jim Sochor, UC Davis’ legendary coach who led the Aggies to 18 straight conference championships and a rare reign of Division II.
Davis has played home games the last two weeks, averaging 11,608 including 14,343 to see a 43-13 win over San Diego.
THE TEAM (0-1 in Big Sky play, 1-3 overall)
The Coach: Dan Hawkins, sixth season at UC Davis. The eccentric, smart head coach returned to his alma mater after an eight-year absence from college football ahead of the 2017 season. During his early days, Hawkins cut his teeth as a fullback for Jim Sochor in 1981 and 1982.
He joined Sochor’s staff in 1983, serving as a compelling branch in a coaching tree that also includes Washington head coach Chris Petersen, former TCU head coach Gary Patterson, former USC head coach Paul Hackett and former Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti.
Hawkins’ first job as an offensive coordinator came at his junior college alma mater, Siskiyous CC between 1988 and 1991. In 1992, he joined Tim Walsh’s staff at Sonoma State as the defensive coordinator And in 1993, he landed his first head coaching job at Division III Willamette.
In Salem, Hawkins led the Bearcats to a 40-11 record that included three straight Northwest Conference titles to finish the run. Willamette advanced to the Division III Elite Eight in 1996 and lost in the D-III national title game in 1997.
From 1998 until 2000, Hawkins served as the offensive coordinator on Dick Koetter’s staff at Boise State, helping the Broncs to back-to-back 10-win seasons.
Between 2001 and 2005 with Hawkins as head coach, BSU won 53 of 64 games, including 37 out of 40 in Western Athletic Conference competition. Boise went 31-1 in league play, claiming four straight league championships Hawkins’ final four seasons at BSU. Two of the 11 total losses came in the final two bowl games.
In 2006, Hawkins ceremoniously took the Colorado job. After winning just 19 games in 58 tries and posting a 10-27 Big XII Conference record, he was unceremoniously fired in 2010.
He stayed away from college coaching for nearly a decade before returning to his alma mater. He did a stint as the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League in 2013, coached the United States National Team in 2005 and served as the OC of the Vienna Vikings in 2016, all the while working as a commentator for various college football coverage outlets.
Now he’s back at Davis and has the Aggies in the midst of an impressive turnaround. After a 5-6 finish in his first year, UC Davis won 10 games, including a playoff game, and shared its first-ever Big Sky title. Davis made the playoffs last season as well.
Players to Watch – Offense
Ulonzo Gilliam, running back, 5-9, 189 pounds, senior
The Big Sky preseason Offensive Player of the Year entered the transfer portal in the off-season only to return to Davis for his final year. He’s rushed for more than 100 yards three times in four starts this season, giving him 3,800 yards in his career, the most in UC Davis history.
Gilliam is well on his way to the second 1,000-yard rushing season of his career (he rushed for 976 yards as a freshman and 901 yards during a first-team All-Big Sky junior year last fall). Gilliam has also caught 187 passes for 1,242 yards and seven touchdowns, giving him 40 total touchdowns and 5,042 total yards. Gilliam leads the league in rushing yards and is averaging 6.8 yards per carry.
“Gilliam is probably as good an offensive player as there is in the league,” Vigen said.
Miles Hastings, quarterback, 6-1, 189 pounds, sophomore
Hastings had the unenviable task of taking over for Jake Maier, a three-year starter who quarterbacked the Aggies to a share of their first-ever Big Sky title in 2018. Maier, who now plays for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, was the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year that season. He finished his career with 11,163 passing yards and 88 throwing touchdowns, each UC Davis records.
Hastings threw for 1,173 yards, seven touchdowns and eight interceptions in 10 starts last fall. This season, he’s shown improvement. He’s thrown 1,041 yards and eight scores this season already. He went 39 of 57 for 256 yards and a TD in a 17-12 loss to Weber State
Players to Watch – Defense
Devon King, cornerback, 5-10, 170, senior
King was a Freshman All-American courtesy of Hero Sports in 2018 and a first-team All-Big Sky selection in 2019. He battled injuries last fall and managed just 13 tackles.
This season, he’s back healthy and leading the Davis secondary. He has 26 tackles this season (second on the team), giving him 136 solo tackles in his career, tied for the most in Davis history. He has 15.5 tackles for loss in his career.
Zach Kennedy, defensive line, 6-6, 251, sophomore
The towering defensive tackle had his breakout game last week, nothing seven tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and his first sack of the season against Weber State. He has 4.5 tackles for loss so far this season.
“On defense, tehy’ve played really well to this point,” Vigen said. “They give you a lot of different looks, multiple fronts, which we haven’t seen in a few weeks. We are going to have to play well to win. There’s no denying that. This will be a great challenge for us.”
