Nov. 18, 2004

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OPENING KICKOFF
UC Davis reaches the midway point of its football transition from NCAA Division II to I-AA when it concludes the 2004 season at Portland State... The Aggies are finishing the second of a four-year reclassification process and are ineligible for postseason play during that time... UC Davis is also looking to finish the regular season with a win, something it's done 10 times in head coach Bob Biggs' previous 11 seasons... A victory will also give the Aggies' at least seven wins for the ninth time the Biggs' era... The Aggies will be playing Portland State for the first time since 1996 and are playing the Vikings in Portland for the fifth straight time in the brief all-time series... UC Davis is coming off a 25-7 loss to North Dakota State which dashed hopes for an outright Great West Football Conference championship by the Aggies and dropped them from the national rankings... A possible co-title was erased later Saturday night when Cal Poly blanked Northern Colorado 31-0 in San Luis Obispo... UC Davis will have second-place to itself should South Dakota State (1-3 in GWFC) win at Northern Colorado (2-2) on Saturday... A guaranteed second-place finish by the Aggies is one spot higher than what was predicted in the preseason league coaches poll and right in line with what the media voted... Cal Poly was the preseason pick by the coaches while Northern Colorado was tabbed by the media.

ON THE AIR
UC Davis and KHTK (1140 AM) partner for the ninth straight season to air Aggie football games... Steve Buzzard (play-by-play), Doug Kelly (analyst) and Scott Marsh (sidelines, studio host) return to bring all the action to Aggie fans... KDVS (90.3 FM) will also carry the feed of all games while www.ucdavisaggies.com will offer live internet streams... A 15-minute pregame show begins on KDVS 30 minutes before kickoff and is hosted by KDVS Sports Director Angela DaPrato, while KHTK assumes control 15 minutes before kick, heading up the simulcast... Two games this season (Sac State; North Dakota St.) were also televised by the new Comcast SportsNet West... Veteran local broadcaster Walt Gray - currently a news anchor at local KCRA-TV - handled play-by-play chores while former Aggie football player DeWayne Quinn (UC Davis '92) provided analysis... Live stats have also been available for all home football games on the Aggies' internet site.

WELCOME TO THE GREAT WEST
UC Davis, South Dakota State, North Dakota State and Northern Colorado, along with Southern Utah and Cal Poly, make up the new Great West Football Conference which is comprised of current I-AA teams and others moving to I-AA... The conference was announced in February... Southern Utah and Cal Poly are currently I-AA, UC Davis and UNC are in the second year of reclassification, and NDSU and SDSU are in their first year... UC Davis was picked second in the GWFC preseason media poll and was third by the coaches... The conference affiliation marks the Aggies' first league membership in football since it was a member of the former American West Conference in 1993 (3-1, T1st)... Prior to that, UC Davis was in the Northern California Athletic Conference (1982-92) and the Far Western Conference (1925-81)... Conference affiliation has been nice to the Aggies as the program captured 20 consecutive league titles from 1971-1990.

DIVISION I OR DIVISION II? A LOOK AT THE TRANSITION
UC Davis is in the second of four years of reclassification to Div. I-AA and is ineligible for the postseason until 2007 - its first official year of Div. I-AA status... While still officially a member of Div. II until that time, UC Davis is following all Div. I rules and regulations beginning this year (including scheduling requirements) and its football statistics are being listed with Div. I-AA teams by the NCAA... National media have been including UC Davis in polls and awards consideration, and its coverage of I-AA since last year, noting the Aggies' committment and transition to the new division... The University announced its intention of reclassifying to Div. I in March 2003 and will join the Big West Conference in 2007-08 in most non-football sports... The Aggies will begin competition against Big West Conference teams this year in those sports but are not members of the league yet.

ALL-TIME VS. PORTLAND STATE
The Vikings have a 4-1 lead in the all-time series between the schools and have won four straight... The series had a brief two-year run in 1974 and '75 - with UC Davis winning 50-21 in the first meeting - before going idle until 1992... The Vikings won meetings in 1992 (42-28), '95 (40-13) and '96 (32-27), all of them in Portland... All games in the series after the first matchup have been on the Vikings' turf... Portland State and UC Davis have two common opponents this season in Sacramento State and Weber State with both the Aggies and Vikings posting wins in each.

A LOOK AT THE HEAD COACHES
Bob Biggs (UC Davis '73) became the second coach in UC Davis football history to reach the 100-win plateau when the Aggies beat Northern Colorado 30-20 on Oct. 2... Biggs owns an overall mark of 102-37-1 (.732)... He is the second winningest coach in school history behind Jim Sochor (156-41-5) and is a member of the Cal Aggie Athletic Hall of Fame after a standout playing career... Biggs, in his 12th year, has led UC Davis to at least 10 wins in five different seasons - the most in school history - and has coached the Aggies to the playoffs eight times, including seven straight from 1996-2002... He is 55-14-1 (.793) at Toomey Field, 47-23-0 (.582) on the road and 33-10-0 (.767) in games played during November... Bigg is 0-2 against Portland State... Like Biggs, Tim Walsh (UC Riverside '77) also earned his 100th career win this year, a 31-0 shutout against Sacramento State on Oct. 9... Walsh is 103-73 (.585) in 15 years as a head coach overall and is 76-59 (.563) and in his 12th year with the Vikings... Walsh has coached the most games in Portland State history, is the program's all-time leader in wins and four times has led the Vikings to the postseason... He is not a stranger to UC Davis having coached at former Northern California Athletic Conference foe Sonoma State from 1989-92, in fact earning a 23-12 win over UC Davis in the final game of the 1991 season.

A BRIEF LOOK AT THE VIKINGS
Portland State enters this weekend fueled by three straight wins, including a 35-32 win over nationally ranked Montana on Oct. 30... Victories over Idaho State and Weber State have set the table for Portland State's try for a seventh win this season... The Vikings ended their Big Sky Conference season with a 4-3 record... Portland State's offense is strengthened by a potent rushing attack (203.7 ypg) that leads the Big Sky and is 27th in Div. I-AA... RB's Joe Rubin (97.0, 32nd) and Ryan Fuqua (96.89, 33rd) are second and third, respectively, in the conference with both coming off 100-yard rushing days at Weber State on Saturday... Fuqua carried 21 times for 168 yards and Rubin carried 25 times for 121, both of them scoring touchdowns... Also impressive, Rubin had just two negative rushing yards, the only ones of the day between the pair... The Vikings are averaging 375.7 ypg of total offense with QB Joe Wiser throwing for 167.1 ypg... WR Shaun Bodiford (38-534, 5 TD) leads the receivers in all categories while WR Allen Kennett (21-238, 1 TD) is the next leading receiver... Wiser has thrown for 1,671 yards and 12 scores while being intercepted 11 times... Defensively, Portland State is allowing 349.5 ypg, a majority of it through the air (247.1) and a much smaller portion (102.4) on the ground... The Vikings, who held Weber State to just 61 net rushing yards, are 11th in Div. I-AA against the rush and 58th in overall defense... MLB Tolo Tuitele leads the team with 65 total tackles, SLB Joey King (61 tackles) is second and DT Chuck Jones (6-4, 290) is third with 48... Jones leads the team with 6.0 sacks for 44 yards in losses, a total included in his team-best 11.0 TFL's... Deep safety Nick Chenault has a team-high three interceptions while SS Steve Shinen has two, including an 82-yard return for a touchdown... Brendan Ferrigno is a threat on punt returns, ranking 14th nationally with a 12.8 avg.

Jon Grant: FIRST YEAR HAS BEEN A SUCCESSFUL ONE
QB Jon Grant gets set to conclude his first year at the helm of the Aggies' offense and has enjoyed a standout season, entering this week with 2,469 passing yards, 17 TD's and a 274.3 ypg. avg... He needs just 217 yards for the No.3 spot on the program's single-season list for regular-season games, and 263 for the No.10 position for all games... He entered the season with just six career passing attempts... His 151.41 passing efficiency this season is 11th best in the I-AA stats while his 282.4 ypg of total offense is 10th best... Grant also has the No.11 mark for "points responsible for" at 15.3 ppg. and is 16th in completions per game (19.7)... In addition to his passing, he has been the team's leading rusher against Stephen F. Austin (55 yds) and Cal Poly (53 yds)... A couple of notes on his season so far:
· His 23 completions against North Dakota State mark his fourth straight game with at least 20 completions.
· His 12 completions vs. Weber State to reach 311 yds passing is the lowest amount of any 300-yd performance in school history.
· He's thrown at least two touchdown passes in six of nine games.
· Grant has just four interceptions in his last 244 pass attempts going back to the fourth quarter at Weber State in September (1.64 int. pct.)
· His shortest "long pass" of any game is 28 yards... Grant's season-long is an 84-yarder to RB O.J. Swanigan at Weber State.
· Grant has not had less than 21 attempts in any game and has six straight games with at least 33... His season interception rate is 2.12 percent.

BALANCE AMONG THE RECEIVERS
UC Davis has five receivers with at least 17 catches and 250 receiving yards with WR Kevin Freeman leading the way with 45 receptions for 670 yards... But he's not alone as the quintet of receivers has no one averaging less than 13.6 yards per catch... 12 different receivers have caught passes, including WR Jason Yaklich who has just seven receptions but has turned three of them into touchdowns.

Name Rec. Yds. Avg. TD Lg. Avg./Gm
Kevin Freeman 45 670 14.9 6 65 74.4
Tony Kays 37 502 13.6 5 27 62.8
Jesse Oliva 33 486 14.7 4 70 54.0
Daniel Fells 30 477 15.9 1 30 59.6
O.J. Swanigan 17 255 15.0 2 84 28.3

OLIVA'S PUNT RETURNS BEST IN GWFC AND TOPS IN I-AA
WR Jesse Oliva entered the season with nine career punt returns totaling 23 yards... With one game remaining, he has 19 returns for 418 yards, averaging 22.0 yards a return and resulting in a pair of touchdowns... Notable notes:
· Oliva had a return of at least 28 yards in the first seven games.
· His average is the best in the I-AA stats... His total yards trail Marquay McDaniel of Hampton by just seven yards.
· Oliva's career average of 15.8 yards is currently the best in school history.
· His 418 punt return yards are currently second on the single-season list... Armin Anderson (1983) had 536 for No.1 in 1984... His 441 career yards are fifth.
· His 85-yd return at Weber State and his 68-yd return vs. Sacramento State rank second and sixth on the Aggies' all-time punt return list, and are second and third for those returns that have resulted in touchdowns.
· Oliva's two TD punt returns are a school record for a season.

SECOND QUARTER IS BEST QUARTER
The second quarter has been the most productive of the season for UC Davis this year... 124 of 302 total points have come in the second, 45 more points than the Aggies have scored in first, their next best period (79 total).

OPPONENTS NOT RUSHING FOR TOUCHDOWNS
UC Davis has given up just ONE rushing touchdown this season, that coming on a 63-yard score by RB Ryan Mole of Sacramento State on Sept. 25... That is the lowest total in Biggs' tenure and believed to be a school record... UC Davis posted a program-best rushing defense avg. of 68.2 ypg. in 1983 and has added two more of the top five in since 1999... (2002, 92.0 avg, 2nd; 1999, 94.6, 5th)... UC Davis is giving up 101.4 ypg. this season.

AND THEY CALLED THEM "THE STREAKS"
UC Davis has assured itself its 35th consecutive winning season, the longest active streak of any non-Div. III school... Entering the 2004 season, the Aggies had the fourth-longest active streak overall, following Linfield (Ore.), which entered with 47, Baldwin-Wallace, which was at 37 and Pacific Lutheran, which began at 35... All three schools have assured themselves another winning season in 2004... Central (Iowa) allowed the Aggies to move up a spot after going 5-5 in 2003... Another streak worthy of a mention: UC Davis has not been shut out since losing 19-0 to Cal Poly in the fifth game of the 1990 season, a span now amassing 166 games... One more for the road? UC Davis has not had less than 200 yards in total offense since facing Nevada (L,12-30) in 1969; a streak now standing at 386 games... That streak was in mild jeopardy at Southern Utah with the Aggies totalling just 172 yards through three quarters but a final push netted UC Davis 312 total yards.

ELBANNA CLOSING IN ON TACKLES CHARTS
With a career-high and Aggie season-high 15 total tackles on Saturday, MLB Dan Elbanna moved closer to the single-season top 10 list... He needs has 72 and needs 10 to tie Jason Hairston (1992) for the 10th spot... His 49 assisted tackles puts him just one away from that single-season list as well... Hairston and MLB Kelly Valaau (2003) are tied for ninth... A big game (10 assists) would push Elbanna all the way to third.

A STAFF WITH EXPERIENCE... TOGETHER
UC Davis has benefitted benefitted from outstanding coaching throughout its rich history and this year's staff is no exception... Part of the reason for its success can be attributed to its having worked together for an impressive length of time... Five full-time members of the staff (Biggs, Arp, Bronzan, Moroski, Chapla) are completing 104 "coaching-years" together this year, having been together the last 16 seasons... The remainder of the staff adds another 37 years of Aggie service to the mix.

Bob Biggs - 12th year as head coach; 27th year overall.
Fred Arp (assistant head coach; def. line) - 38th year
Lou BRONZAN (def. coordinator) - 21st year
Mike Moroski (off. coordinator) - 17th year
Greg Chapla (running backs; special teams, strength) - 16th year
Mark Johnson (linebackers) - 8th year
Dan Gazzaniga (off. line) - 12th year
Preston Jackson (def. backs) - 7th year
Rich Scangarello (receivers) - 3rd year
John Shin-Lee (tight ends) - 5th year
Craig Lusiani (linebackers) - 2nd year

Another impressive note: All but Scangarello, Shin-Lee and Lusiani are UC Davis graduates.

LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE HONOR ROLL
Honors earned so far this season for Aggie players:
Great West Football Conference Players of the Week
· QB Jon Grant (offense, Sept. 6) - 278 yds, 4 TDs vs. South Dakota State; (offense, Nov. 1) - 393 yards, 2 TDs, 446 yds of total offense vs. Cal Poly. Also game-winning drive with 40 seconds to go.
· WR Ryan Ramey (special teams, Sept. 27) - 98 yds kick return vs. Sac State.

ODDS AND ENDS (i.e., stuff that belongs somewhere)
· UC Davis was held Saturday to its lowest point total since a 9-6 overtime loss to Grand Valley State at the start of the 2003 season... It was also just the fifth time during head coach Bob Biggs' era that the Aggies have not scored at least 10 points.
· North Dakota State reached the 'red-zone' just once on Saturday, the fourth time this year an opponent has been held to that total... The Bison didn't score, matching Western Oregon (0 for 1) and South Dakota State (0 for 2).
· UC Davis was held to less than 100 rushing yards for the third straight game.
· First quarter 'blues': NDSU had 10 first downs in the opening 15 minutes and 14 points, while the Aggies had no first downs, five total yards and no points... The Bison also held a 12:16-2:44 possession time advantage... Both their touchdowns came on fourth-down passing plays (24 yds, 29 yds).
· The 183 rushing yards by the Bison were an opponent high this season.
· There were no turnovers by either team in the game, the first time that has happened this year... UC Davis didn't have a turnover for the first time since a 27-7 win vs, Western Oregon on Oct. 11, 2003.