The Aggies fell to 1-3 overall while dropping their league opener. The Eagles improved to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in Big Sky play, while winning their second consecutive contest

Quarterback London Lacy completed 16-of-24 for 172 yards, including a 70-yard dart to a streaking Keelan Doss for a touchdown as time expired in the third quarter. Doss led all Aggie receivers with 77 yards on three catches as eight different UC Davis receivers caught balls on the night.

Senior running back Colton Silveria led UC Davis on the ground with 35 yards on 12 carries, breaking into the school's career top 10 with a three-yard run late in the third quarter (1,432 yards). Manusamoa Luuga, who carried four times for 17 yards, picked up his first touchdown of the season on a two-yard run in the second quarter to give the Aggies a 7-6 lead with 11:22 remaining in the half.

Linebacker Steven Pitts posted 11 tackles, including 2.5 TFLs, to lead all defenders on Saturday night. Cornerback Darryl Graham and linebacker Brady Stibi each had eight stops while sharing a sack.

Vernon Adams, Jr., finished 23-of-28 for the game for the Eagles, throwing for 303 yards and a pair of long touchdowns to Cooper Kupp (61 yards) in the third quarter and Blair Bomber (40 yards) in the fourth quarter for the final score of the game.

Mario Brown finished with 84 yards on 12 carries and one of three touchdowns on the ground for the Eagles, who rushed for 163 yards as a team and helped EWU to a 475-260 advantage in total yards. Kupp finished with a game-high 94 yards receiving on seven catches to pace the Eagles.

""I'm very, very pleased with the energy and the effort that our kids played with for 60 minutes," said Aggie head coach Ron Gould. "We had some drives where we shot ourselves in the foot. We converted some third downs that would extend some drives but they got called back for penalties. That's a little disconcerting. We're not a team that has a lot of penalties but tonight we had several at inopportune times. When you're playing a really good football team, it's paramount you don't have those penalties."

Jabari Wilson's five-yard touchdown with just over two minutes remaining in the first quarter staked Eastern Washington to the early lead, but that was answered by the Aggies, who drove 75 yards on 12 plays, eating up almost six minutes on the clock before Luuga barreled into the end zone, and the extra point gave UC Davis the one point lead.

Following an Aggie punt, Eastern Washington regained the lead just before the half, answering with an eight-play, 57-yard drive that ended with a Tyler McNannay field goal from 27 yards out, putting the Eagles up by two at the break.

The flood gates opened from there for EWU, as the Eagles got Kupp's long touchdown pass, and a pair of rushing scores by Adams, Jr. (four yards), and Brown (six yards) to help Eastern Washington pull away.

"We are going be in these types of games. This felt a lot like certain games in the playoffs we've had," said Eastern Washington head coach Beau Baldwin. "Davis can do that to any high-powered or fast offense - they'll frustrate you by the way they play. All it takes is for them to get a couple of big plays on defense, and then grind out the clock. The next thing you know you're in a close game in the fourth quarter. I see them doing some very strong things in the Big Sky, so it's a very big win for us."

Despite the loss, Gould is encouraged with his team.

"I am pleased with the team and the effort. I'm very pleased with the fight. We're going to get back to the drawing board and we're going to get better, we'll continue to get better."

The Aggies return to the field next Saturday at Portland State for a 4:30 p.m. kickoff from JELD-WEN Field. The game will be televised by ROOT Sports.