For football defenses, it's an era in which 25 is the new 10.

The criteria that apply to a good defense have been rewritten over the past two decades.

In days of yore, when a team threw the ball, "only three things can happen ... and two of them are bad," Ohio State's Woody Hayes used to say.

Today, rules for coverage, contact and quarterback harassment have changed. Advantage, offense. Often, a team doesn't even need to complete a pass to get a favorable results, such are the new rule protections for receivers and signal-callers.

If you play in the secondary, you have to keep your head on a swivel. The wideouts are faster and taller than ever before. The blockers bigger, stronger, swifter.

Chatting with UC Davis cornerback Vincent White, safety Isiah Olave and their coach Cha'pelle Brown, one is struck by the sense of confidence and pride in accomplishment that the Aggies have turned in on defense during what has thus far been a stunning 2018 season for No. 6 UC Davis.

First order of business, Brown was asked about the continued uptick in college scoring ...

"You run so many more plays now," the second-year UCD defensive back guru explains. "Back in the day you got 50 to 60 plays in a game. Now it's 80 to 90.

"I think it's just new-age football," continued Brown, who played for Davis head coach Dan Hawkins when he was at Colorado. "The more plays you play, the greater amount of scoring the offense will be able to do. And offenses have gotten better, too."

Especially in the high-flying Big Sky Conference. From 25 years ago, average points per game are up 50 percent for some schools.

Take the Aggies, for example. Their 27 minutes in time of possession ranks near the bottom of the circuit. Yet, the UC Davis offense leads the Big Sky in scoring (42.4) and is third in total offense (481 yards a game). Does that quick-strike attack — the Aggie defense getting back on the field so often — throw a wrench into the defense's ability to excel?

"No. It gives us the opportunity to score more points," says Brown, whose comment was accompanied by a look that would make a hungry wolf proud. "It gives us the opportunity to go out there and create more turnovers. That's part of the game. We can't worry about our offense scoring faster."

In a 52-10 blowout of Cal Poly last Saturday, the defense shut the door on the Mustangs after the Aggies fell behind 10-0. Two fumble recoveries led to Davis points and run-first Cal Poly had no aerial game on which to fall back (48 yards passing) as the Aggies tightened the screws.

Allowing 27.6 points per game, UC Davis has fashioned the conference's third-best points-against figure.

"It's all been working so far, so we just have to keep it up," Brown says with a smile.

So why such an improvement so quickly? These Aggies had been near the bottom of the Big Sky defensive barrel in recent years.

"It's now a group of guys that have been playing together," senior White reports. "I've been playing with I-O (Olave) for four years now.

It's a group of guys that you trust. A lot of trust and synergy with each other and able to play off each other, so even when we're not communicating as much, we still know what's going on."

Olave says the overall team leadership has been astronomical.

He notes that "the whole team was in town for the summer and player-run drills. Knowing the issues we had to fix from last year and previous years has helped a lot.

"And this year we're just focused on one game at a time. Last year we had a chance to finish up 8-3 or 7-4 and we finished 5-6."

At 6-1, the record guarantees the first UC Davis winning season in eight years.

Olave and White concur "that's nice," but they aren't satisfied. As Hawkins tells anyone who'll listen, the goals are lofty: a Big Sky title, a postseason berth, a national championship.

"All these (Big Sky) teams being ranked so high (three are in FCS top 6), and them knowing we're 6-1, (opponents) are going to give us their best every week," Olave says. "Staying prepared, staying on our toes — (the goal) is being able to play our best and, at the end, like coach says, win the Big Sky championship or make the playoffs."

White looked back on his four years in Davis ... a journey that has seen his Aggies win more games this season so far than they did during his first two seasons on campus. Why here in the first place?

"UC Davis is just a first-class institution, very good education. Also I wanted to go to a big college … so that was a plus for me," says the Lynwood High graduate. "It is far enough from home — close enough —where my mom can't keep popping up."

(A note to Vincent: Don't send this article to mother LaTrese or dad Vincent Sr.)

"Nah, I'm always happy to see my family at games," the younger White adds.

"And it's more of a brotherhood at UC Davis, less of business … and we all really like that, too."

Does anything surprise White about this season?

"Honestly? No. We put in the work, time and effort, so none of us are surprised we're winning games."

Olave is a San Ysidro native who soared at Eastlake High. He loved opening the 2017 season at San Diego State: "It was great. I had 30 family and friends there (including his parents LaCausha and Raul). It was the first time I got to play there.

"Just being able to play in my hometown in front of a lot friends and family that hadn't been to any of my games was a big thing for me."

Olave, on Sept. 19, 2015, went down with an ankle injury in a 47-27 loss at Hawaii. It was an injury that many thought might end his football career.

But the the competitive 5-10, 190-pounder never gave the end a thought. He doesn't even talk about it. From the extensive rehab to last Saturday, Olave lets his play do the talking...

Psychology major Olave comes into Saturday's game at Montana as the Aggies' No. 2 tackler (19 solos and 11 assists). He has broken up four passes and he put an interception in the books at San Jose State.

White, who says his career path will be in accounting, already has some lofty numbers to keep track of — 23 solo stops and five assists and a 48-yard pick six in the 51-24 win versus San Diego. He's defended 12 passes.

So what's the best part of UC Davis football, Isiah?

"The rich tradition. Just being able to be a part of it all: a lot of big names. The 20 consecutive conference championships. After being down for a few seasons, being able to hopefully start another one of those streaks this year."

Olave reiterates: Living Aggie Pride "is something special."

— Former Davis Enterprise sports editor Bruce Gallaudet writes "Inside Aggie Nation" weekly for UC Davis Athletics. He can be reached at bgallaudet41@gmail.com. His "Aggie Corner" column is published Fridays or Sundays in The Davis Enterprise.