Having cracked the top-five nationally after last week's dominant outing at Northern Arizona, the Aggies return to UC Davis Health Stadium for the first time in three weeks to renew one of the most intense rivalries in the FCS. The Aggies will be looking to top Eastern Washington for the first time in nine tries dating back to 2005 in a game that figures to have a significant impact on the Big Sky Conference standings and the FCS playoff picture.
      
Who: Eastern Washington
When: Saturday, Nov. 13 • 5 p.m. PDT
Where: Davis, Calif.
Venue: UC Davis Health Stadium (10, 743)
Live Stats: http://statb.us/b/353632
Listen: https://tunein.com/radio/Sports-1140-KHTK-s33038/ 
Watch: https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/eventCalendarId/401328046?gameId=401328046&sourceLang=en

COVID POLICIES
Starting with October 2's game against Idaho, a new COVID policy took effect for all remaining home football games... All guests aged 12 and up must show proof of vaccination or results of a negative test administered within 72 hours prior to kickoff... Proof of vaccination can include a completed CDC vaccination card, or a State of California digital COVID-19 record (e.g. SMART Health Card)... The policy includes game staff and media members... Face coverings will still be required for all indoor spaces, including restrooms, and will be encouraged for all patrons when social distancing is not possible... Anyone in close contact to coaches and student-athletes – including sideline personnel and media on the field – must be masked at all times... Additionally, the field will be closed to fans during and after the game... A full summary of all gameday policies and procedures can be found at https://ucdavisaggies.com/feature/footballgameday.

UC DAVIS LAST WEEK
The Aggies used a dominant stretch across the second and third quarters to score 26 unanswered points and run away with a 40-24 win over Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, Ariz. 

Miles Hastings continued to get comfortable at the quarterback position, going 24-36 for 279 and two touchdowns and the Aggies used some of their trademark misdirection to set up a 41-yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Carson Crawford to Lan Larison. 

Trent Tompkins broke off the longest rushing play from scrimmage this season, pulling the ball back on a play action fake and rushing 54 yards up the middle for a touchdown. Tompkins rush was the longest on a TD run by an Aggie since Tehran Thomas went for 69 yards against Eastern Washington on 11/10/18.

Isaiah Gomez was a perfect 4-4 on field goals from 31, 24, 31 and 31 yards again. 

The Aggie defense held NAU to 336 yards of total offense, including just 177 passing as UC Davis tied a season-high with six sacks. 

IN THE POLLS
UC Davis rose in the Stats Perform and AFCA polls for the fourth straight week and are approaching new heights in the national polls. 

At No. 4 in the AFCA and No. 6 in the Stats Perform, the Aggies have their highest ranking since September of 2019. 

RUNAWAYS
The Aggies are running at a clip of 192 yards per game, a Division 1-era high and the most since the 2002 Aggies finished with 2,143 yards and 178.6 per game. Averaging 42.4 rushing attempts per game and at 382 on the season, the Aggies are on pace to run more than any team in the Dan Hawkins era at UC Davis. 

UC Davis have done it via a balanced attack despite the presence of Ulonzo Gilliam Jr., one of the top running backs in college football over his career. Four Aggies have gained over 200 yards on the ground this season with the fourth, quarterback Hunter Rodrigues, only having his net yardage hurt by sacks. That group consisting of Gilliam Jr,, Trent Tompkins, Lan Larison and Rodrigues have accounted for 17 touchdowns.

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU
The Aggies have now outscored eight opponents by a combined 96-13 margin in the fourth quarter... In fact, Northern Arizona's score with 6:37 to go on Saturday was the first touchdown the Aggies have allowed in the fourth quarter all season. Helping this cause is a 14-for-30 (46.7 percent) third-down conversion rate, while opponents have managed to succeed on just 10-33 (30.3 percent) in the fourth quarter, including Cal Poly being held to 1-5 in the fourth quarter on Oct. 23... However, the most dramatic statistical difference has been in turnovers: seven of the Aggies' 16 takeaways have come in the fourth quarter... Four have effectively clinched the game: Chris Venable's forced fumble at Tulsa, Erron Duncan's interception (tipped by Venable) at Weber State, Devon King's pick against Idaho, and Jaylin White's last second interception against Cal Poly. 

Helping the Aggies is a redzone defense that ranks sixth in the FCS with opponents having scored on 15 of 23 trips into the red zone. 

A GOOD BOY
Saturday marks the final game in the tenure of UC Davis' kick off tee retrieving assistant, Pint. 

Pint's tee-fetching all started as a conversation between then-assistant athletic director Scott Brayton and his next-door neighbor, who happened to be the medical director for the Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

What was supposed to be a one-time experiment turned into a national phenomenon as Pint's revered gameday duties inspired a handful of athletic programs across the nation to employ pups of their own as crowd-pleasing tee-retrievers. 

At the time, in 2013, Pint was just a bit over a year old.

He'll be honored with a retirment ceremony at Saturday's contest against Eastern Washington.

AMONG THE LEADERS
The Aggies rank 10th in the FCS in first down offense having gained 214 on the season. Speaking to how difficult the Big Sky Conference is to compete in annually, four Big Sky teams rank in the top 10 nationally in first down offense. 
UC Davis also rank fifth in kick off return yardage, averaging 25.58 per return.

Overall, the Aggies are the 21st best offense in the nation averaging 429.1 yards per game. At 192 yards per game, the UC Davis rushing attack is also 21st in the nation. 

Behind the leg of Daniel Whelan, the Aggie punting unit ranks third nationally, averaging 42.6 yards per kick. Whelan's average currently ranks as the best in shool history. 

Among the Aggies' notable national ranks: 

Turnover Margin: T-4th (.89)
Scoring Defense: 10th (16.9)
Fewest Penalty Yards per Game: 24th (46.44)
Team Passing Efficiency Defense: 16th (111.64)
Red Zone Defense: 14th (.692)
Passes Intercepted: 8th (13)

GIVE AND TAKE, REDUX
UC Davis is ranked tied for 22nd in the FCS and second in the Big Sky in turnovers gained with 17 (13 interceptions and four fumbles), although the NCAA Statistics website still leaves out the Venable-forced fumble in the fourth at Tulsa due to a glitch in the new software... The Aggies rank behind only Montana State among Big Sky schools on that list... Only eight teams in UC Davis history have recorded 20 or more in a season, with only one team (1997) doing so since 1972.

GOING FOR TWO
Through nine games, UC Davis has already attempted six two-point conversions, with QB Trent Tompkins involved in all five... He has run for three and passed for one (to Garren O'Keefe), most recently a rush after UC Davis' first score against Northern Colorado on Oct. 16... While an official school record for such plays does not exist, records dating back to 1964 show the following program highs: the 1967 (3-for-8), 1991 (4-for-8) and 1993 (6-for-8) teams had the most attempted conversions, with that 1993 squad owning the benchmark for most successful tries... Shaun Ayers scored three in 1991 for the individual best... However, UC Davis archives are incomplete, with the number of attempts missing from final reports throughout the 1970s and 1980s; and no individual info prior to 1964. 

For the 2021 season, Tompkins (and UC Davis) are 4-5 with the lone incompletion a Tompkins pass attempt against San Diego. 

CHASING HISTORY
Gilliam also has 147 career receptions,putting him at No. 10 on the all-time career receptions list. 

Gilliam Jr. is the only Aggie to appear in the top 10 on both the career rushing and receptions lists.
WR Jared Harrell brought his career reception sum to 159... He ranks eighth at UC Davis, ahead of Massachusetts General physician Tay Thompson (1970-72)... Against Cal Poly, Harrell became just the ninth Aggie ever to reach 2000 career receiving yards... He also became just the second to do so in the program's Division I era: Keelan Doss totaled 4,069 from 2014-18... Chris Carter had 2,434 career rec yards, with 703 in the D-I reclassification period and the remaining 1,731 in the full-fledged D-I era.


ABOUT EASTERN WASHINGTON
The Aggies and Eastern Washington has grown into one of the more intense rivalries in the FCS in recent years. 

The two famously met in the 2018 FCS Quarterfinals, a game that the Aggies narrowly lost 29-34 in the final minute of that game. 

Eastern Washington is still led by quarterback Eric Barriere who has spent the 2021 season rewriting record books. Barriere is averaging 391.8 yards per game passing for the No. 7/8 Eagles. At 7-2 and 4-2 in the Big Sky, Saturday's matchup has repercussions for the postseason playoff picture. 

While in recent years a matchup between the Aggies and Eagles has meant a matchup between two of the better teams in the FCS, UC Davis will be looking for their first win against Eastern Washington in nine tries dating back to 2005. 

UC Davis and Eastern Washington share three opponents in common but it's the Aggies who have more success against those three. 

Eastern Washington also beat Northern Colorado (63-17) and Idaho (71-21) but fell to Weber State (34-35) on Oct. 23 while the Aggies prevailed in their Weber State matchup 17-14 on Sept. 23.