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DAVIS, Calif. – When Football Championship Subdivision schools visit Pac-12 teams, its usually for a nice paycheck and an on-the-record scrimmage, outings which result in frequent beat-downs.

In its Division I era, UC Davis has frequently ventured into that abyss. But Saturday's season kickoff at Cal has a very different feel.

Sure, the Golden Bears come in with one of the nation's elite defenses. But these Aggies are a far cry from the 2010 squad that lost at Cal, 52-3, in 2010.

Ranked No. 5 in the American Football Coaches Association's preseason poll, UC Davis comes in as a legit contender for a national championship. Aggie quarterback Jake Maier is a next-level prospect who is one of the favorites to earn the Walter Payton Award. To boot, Dan Hawkins is the reigning Eddie Robinson Award winner as national coach of the year.

Sporting a veteran defense, returning 15 starters from both sides of the ball and entering Saturday's fray in tip-top shape, these Aggies aren't headed to Berkeley simply to pick up a check.

"I really feel good about our team," Hawkins told assembled media at a Monday campus press conference. "Playing a Cal team that is one of the best defensive teams in the Pac-12, if not the country? It will be fun.

"Anytime you get two University of California schools playing, it's great for the alums, the faculty and the fans. It should be a great setting in Memorial Stadium and we're looking forward to it."

Saturday's kickoff is slated for 3:37 p.m. The game will be carried by the Pac-12 Network.

There are a handful of markers that hint at the increased competitiveness of Big Brother vs. Little Brother:

    • Those lofty rankings of UCD. In addition to the AFCA polls, HERO Sports puts the Aggies at No. 3 — behind only No. 1 James Madison and defending champ North     Dakota State (who Davis visits on Sept. 21).
    • VegasInsider.com has the Golden Bears as just a 13-point pick.
    • Harkening back to 2018. Stanford had its hands full with Davis, winning 30-10 in a contest even Hawkins allowed was closer than the score.
    "If (an early touchdown) doesn't get taken off the board ... we're up 10-0," Hawkins remembers. "How does that alter the game? How does that alter the confidence,     the flow? It could have been dramatic."

Regardless of the hints and harbingers, the matter at hand for these Aggies provides a steep hill to climb.

In senior linebacker Evan Weaver, the Bears have the nation's second-leading tackler (158) last season. Coach Justin Wilcox returns eight of his top defensive players, including a secondary with run-like-the-wind strong safety Jaylinn Hawkins and supporting cast Camryn Bynum, Traveon Beck and Josh Drayden. Together, they helped

Cal lead their conference with 21 interceptions.

But hardly woe is UC Davis.

With Maier at the helm, the Aggies have one of college football's best players — regardless of division. Last fall, Maier threw for 3,931 yards and 34 touchdowns against only 10 picks. As the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year, Maier brought leadership beyond his years to Jim Sochor Field.

"Obviously, Jake's a real special player," points out Hawkins. "He's one of the better players in the country. It's hard for me to accurately describe what he brings to our football team in terms of leadership. He runs our team. He really does."

Scouts, one after another, have rolled in to UC Davis Health Stadium to take a look-see at Maier, each thinking about what Hawkins knows:

"Football is an era where everybody doesn't have to be 6-5 to be a quarterback. Jake is a great player."

And part of that success has revolved around an offensive line that keeps their QB clean while maintaining wide-open passing lanes.

Returning in the trenches will be juniors Colton Lamson and Kooper Richardson and sophomores Connor Pettek (Thousand Oaks High) and Jake Parks (Serra High in Southern California) as four-fifths of a line that did some amazing things in 2018.

Maier, despite the loss of now-Oakland Raider receiver Keelan Doss, has junior wideout Jared Harrell back and will rediscover a cast of veteran receivers like Carson Crawford, Justin Kraft, Khris Vaughn. Each will now share the bounty reserved in the past for Doss.

As good as the Aggie offense is expected to be — remember UC Davis is coming off a 10-3 record and conference title — the Saturday challenge is stark.

"Justin Wilcox is doggone smart," notes Hawkins, who gave the Cal coach his first job as an assistant at Boise State in 2001. "He can bait you into a lot of things on defense. They are good at disguising. Their free safety can really run. A former track guy, he can cover a lot of ground. They are fundamentally sound. It's not surprising they're one of the better defenses in the Pac-12."

Nonetheless, Hawkins promises UC Davis will work toward a balanced attack. Running backs Ulonzo Gilliam and Tehran Thomas combined for more than 1,600 rushing last season, but can the Aggies move the ball on the ground against a stout Golden Bear front seven which gave no quarter to opponents during a 7-6 bowl run in 2018.

"We'll see. We'll have to try."

So, coach, any final words on the 10th meeting all-time between Cal and Davis?

"I've been doing this a long time," offered the 58-year-old Aggie mentor. "This goes all the way back to when I played here ... I've always gone into every game feeling like 'we have a chance to win.'

"I've never gone into a game thinking, 'Oh, yeah, we're going to beat these guys' or 'Oh man, we have no chance."

Hawkins then defaulted to the age-old, college-game idiom: "You just never know ... and that's why you play the games."
 

— Editor's note: One of the most well-known and respected sports writers in the industry, former Davis Enterprise sports and managing editor Bruce Gallaudet joined the UC Davis Athletics staff as its feature writer in the summer of 2018. Since then, visitors to UCDavisAggies.com have enjoyed his unique perspective on campus student-athletes, coaches, teams, individuals, programs, events and projects that represent the fifth-ranked public school in the nation.