This article first appeared in the Davis Enterprise on November 30, 2018. Special thanks to Bruce Gallaudet. For the original version, please visit: https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/1982-uc-davis-ndsu-game-was-one-for-the-ages/

Saturday, Dec. 4, 1982 …

Finally, overnight rain turned to a drizzle … then stopped altogether.

Slowly but surely, the birds and the squirrels returned to their chores. Suddenly, downtown Davis got unusually busy. Despite the damp ground, just before noon, barbecues were lighted in Central Park.

Despite the threatening clouds, children were playing outdoors, the scent of hot dogs everywhere.

The Davis gloom was gone while the celebrations around town were a harbinger of doom — for visiting North Dakota State — in what some UC Davis faithful call the greatest Aggie football game of all time.

UCD and its all-everything quarterback Ken O'Brien entered the Division II playoff tilt at 11-0. The Bison were on a roll at 12-0. The winner would go to McAllen, Texas, to play for a national championship.

Regional media sang the praises of two crazy-good squads over the seven-day buildup to the game. CBS televised the contest; it was time to get it on.

By noon Friday, the game was a sellout. By kickoff the next day, it was standing room only as 12,700 fans jammed themselves into 10,400-seat Toomey Field.

The result? History tells us the Aggies won, 19-14. But how UCD managed the victory … well, it's the recipe for lore.

Expectedly, O'Brien was running the show. He threw for 253 yards in the first 35 minutes of the contest. The former Jesuit High standout (who played his freshman collegiate season for Sacramento State) had helped open a 19-7 lead that featured his three, 1-yard touchdown runs.

But early in the third period, disaster struck. O'Brien was sandwiched on the tackle, suffering a broken leg. Backup QB Scott Barry valiantly came on, but North Dakota State was now feeling its oats.

Three times, the Bison drove to first downs inside the Davis 28 but came away empty. They managed to score after an 11-play drive and had dominated the clock. The last time the visitors ventured near the Aggie goal line, the score was 19-14 and the final 25 seconds of play were downright heart-stopping …

"The defensive guys were just dramatic," recalls O'Brien, remembering that North Dakota State had a first-and-goal at the Aggie 8, the clock under 30 seconds. "(We) had to come up with that great stand at the end. It was right in front of the student section.

"I still remember that last play — the guys on the sidelines were going crazy and the fans in the stands were going even crazier."

That "last play" was an incomplete pass from QB Mark Nellermoe to TE Mark Luedtke. Nellermoe's third pass of the series just grazed his big tight end's fingers right in front of the residents of the Aggie student section in the north end zone. Instantly, a 4-foot-high fence separating the crowd from the action disappeared as Aggie Nation went goofy.

D-lineman Bob Slater, who made a key stop on that final Bison march, remembers the game …

"We made a stupid play at midfield before that (goal-line stand). A pass interference kept their drive going … things weren't going well for us then," he recalls.

"But they had to pass as time was expiring. That actually was a good thing for us — them passing — because they didn't do it very well."

Turning to Luedtke looked like a good idea at the time, as the 6-foot-5, 240-pound receiver briefly broke open in the back of the end zone. Defenders Jay Lawson and Bo Eason bolted to Luedtke, but Nellermoe apparently slipped on the poor Toomey turf and the pass sailed high.

Plus, the film shows that Lawson did just enough to upset the apple cart.

"All I can say is that I felt contact on my legs as I went up," Luedtke told The Enterprise's Bob Dunning later that day. "I thought it was a catchable ball … and I wouldn't have been out of the end zone."

The missed connection sent UCD to the Palm Bowl, where Southwest Texas State (now known as Texas State) clocked the O'Brien-less Aggies, 34-9.

O'Brien weighed in on UCD's teams in the early 1980s …

"We were fortunate in that time," he says. "Coach (Jim) Sochor had built a solid, great program year in and year out and we were there at the right time to take advantage of it.

"We had so much support all throughout Davis, Sacramento … everywhere. All the games had a big crowd, especially when you got to the playoffs. Students would pack in the end zone.

"I remember the steam engine and its whistle. The Band-uh. It was quite a show."

With Northern Iowa coming to town Saturday for UC Davis' first-ever Division I playoff appearance, head coach Dan Hawkins, an Aggie fullback on that '82 team, says he and his crew are feeling some of the same attention and support that he got during his playing days.

Hawkins says it's nice for his guys "to bring back a playoff game of this magnitude. It's good for the alumni to see all this success. To get back to that level — and move up the football divisions — it's taken some time. And again, it looks like (the players) have it going again in that direction."

Things like UCD's 38 straight winning seasons and almost 20 straight league crowns are out of reach for anybody in this day and age. But who's to say this 2018 team isn't going to write another story that stands the test of time?

Hawk, with pride, savors his two seasons as an Aggie:

"That North Dakota State game? It was an extremely physical game. I remember being a fullback, I didn't get the ball a lot, I blocked a lot.

"They had some big, thick dudes playing inside 'backer. They were kind of an old-school 5-2 defense.

"And if you remember, we had a very electric offense, but that second half didn't get much of a chance to play offense. And their last drive? You couldn't have asked for more drama."

Well, maybe just a little more … Saturday and down the road.