The Aggies return from a bye week having risen in both the Stats Perform and AFCA polls for the third straight week. UC Davis is 4-0 coming off bye weeks dating back to 2016 (the abbreviated 2020 spring schedule did not feature a bye week). UC Davis 2-4 all time against Northern Arizona but came out ahead 42-20 in their last meeting in 2018, a season which indcluded a trip to the playoffs and the first football home playoff game in the Division I era.
Who: Northern Arizona Lumberjacks
Where: Flagstaff, Ariz.
When: Saturday, Nov. 6, 1 p.m.
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: https://thevarsitynetwork.com/audioapplink/source/university-of-california,-davis:oas-1487
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=353133
ABOUT NORTHERN ARIZONA
The Lumberjacks enter Saturday's contest fresh off a 38-31 win over Idaho.
Northern Arizona and the Aggies share two opponents in common with the Lumberjacks defeating Idaho State 48-17 on Oct. 2 while Idaho State remains as UC Davis' lone loss of the season. Northern Arizona also lost to Northern Colorado 17-10 in overtime though while UC Davis handled the bears 32-3 at home.
One area to note is that Northern Arizona currently rank fifth in the Big Sky in passes intercepted while the Aggies lead the conference in interceptions. They also enter with the second-least efficient red zone offense in the conference with UC Davis the best red zone defense, allowing scores on just 65 percent of opponent trips inside the 20.
A middle of the pack rushing defense allowing 166.8 yards per game also trends in favor of the Aggies, who are averaging 195.2 yards per game on the ground which is good for 21st in the FCS and second in the Big Sky.
RUNAWAYS
The Aggies are running at a clip of 195.3 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 43.1 rushing attempts per game and at 345 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 16 touchdowns with none of that group rushing for more than five (Tompkins and Gilliam Jr.) touchdowns.
MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU
The Aggies have now outscored eight opponents by a combined 93-6 margin in the fourth quarter... Helping this cause is a 14-for-27 (51.9 percent) third-down conversion rate, while opponents have managed to succeed on just 6 of 26 (23.1 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.
GOING FOR TWO
Through eight games, UC Davis has already attempted five 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.
GIVE AND TAKE, REDUX
UC Davis remains ranked fifth in the FCS 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.
CHASING HISTORY
Gilliam also has 143 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 149... He ranks ninth at UC Davis, four away from CAAHOF receiver and 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.
AMONG THE LEADERS
The Aggies rank 11th in the FCS in first down offense having gained 190 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 eighth in kick off return yardage, averaging 25.56 per return.
Behind the leg of
Daniel Whelan, the Aggie punting unit ranks sixth nationally, averaging 45.1 yards per kick. Whelan's average currently ranks as the best in shool history.
