Oct. 20, 2007
Final Stats | AP Photo Gallery 
CEDAR CITY, Utah - Running back Brandon Tucker rushed for 119 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Matt Engle threw for 295 yards and three scores as UC Davis ended a three-game losing streak on Saturday with a 41-21 Great West Football Conference football win at Eccles Coliseum.
The Aggies, in the midst of trying to extend their streak of consecutive winning seasons to 38, improved to 3-5 overall and 1-2 in the GWFC. Southern Utah, which has played five NCAA FCS teams currently ranked in the top 25, remained winless in falling to 0-7. Saturday's game marked the Thunderbirds' conference-opener.
Quarterback Wes Marshall threw for 237 yards and two touchdowns for Southern Utah, which lost to UC Davis for the third straight time. Engle completed 21 of 35 passes, coming within a whisker of his first 300-yard passing game for the second straight week. He threw touchdown passes of 8 yards to Kale Turner, 20 yards to Brandon Rice and 27 yards to Bakari Grant, the latter coming in the fourth quarter after Southern Utah had closed to within seven points.
Tucker scored on a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs during an Aggie run in which they scored 28 consecutive points over the middle two quarters, including 21 points in the second after falling behind 7-0.
The UC Davis defense also had a strong day, highlighting their play early on by holding Southern Utah on a pair of fourth-down plays and forcing eight punts in the game.
"I thought we showed resilience today," said UC Davis head coach Bob Biggs. "That, to me, was really pleasing; very pleasing."
Neither team scored in the first quarter but Southern Utah managed to take the first advantage when Ryan Higgins hauled in a 24-yard pass from Marshall early in the second. But that would be it or the Thunderbirds until late in the third period after UC Davis scored 21 points in the second quarter for the second straight week.
UC Davis tied the game on a 9-play, 80-yard drive that included a 14-yard rush by Engle and a 41-yard pass to Turner that put the Aggies down to the Southern Utah 13-yard line. Engle then found Turner two players later from eight yards for the score.
The UC Davis defense put together back-to-back efforts on the Thunderbirds' next two drives, holding them to a combined minus-8 yards rushing which resulted in a pair of punts. The second stop led to a 10-play, 50-yard drive by UC Davis which converted a fourth-down-and-six while moving to the 1 where Tucker dove over the top for the score and an eventual 14-7 lead with just 1:25 to go.
The Aggies then picked up a big play on the Thunderbirds' next possession after Trevor Ward moved to his right on fourth down and tried to punt. The Aggies' Andy Rice, though, was able to get his arm up and block the kick, resulting in a first down with 14 seconds left at the SUU 15. Engle then hit Rice down the middle with eight seconds left, helping give UC Davis a 14-point lead at the half.
Tucker's second short plunge, this one with 5:26 left in the third made it 28-7 and capped another long 80-yard drive. Southern Utah, however, rallied back to within a touchdown with two straight touchdowns, the first on a 3-yard run by Johnny Sanchez late in third quarter and the second on a long 48-yard strike down the left sideline with 7:02 to play in the fourth.
UC Davis, though, re-established control, moving 75 yards on eight plays on its next drive with Engle hitting Grant on a 27-yard touchdown pass. Cornerback Jeremy Scott capped the scoring with his second career defensive touchdown on a 38-yard interception return with 2:33 to go.
UC Davis held Southern Utah to just 108 rushing yards. Linebackers Mike Morales and Dozie Amajoyi each had eight tackles to help lead the Aggie defense with Morales posting 3.0 tackles-for-losses. Cornerback Adam Cook had seven stops while ends Patrick Michelier and James Amos each contributing seven.
The Aggie defense also stopped Southern Utah twice on fourth down in the first quarter. The first came after the Thunderbirds moved inside the Aggie 20 when Marshall was stopped for no gain. The second came at the end of an 86-yard drive in which Sanchez was derailed by Michelier for no gain at the 12.
UC Davis had 474 total yards, including a season-high 179 on the ground.
UC Davis, which needs to win its final three games for its 38th straight winning season, will host South Dakota State in a 2 p.m. homecoming game at Aggie Stadium next Saturday.
