In a contest originally scheduled as the season opener on February 27, 21st-ranked UC Davis celebrates the end of the winter quarter final examinations by hosting Cal Poly for the Battle For The Golden Horseshoe. This is the 17th meeting since the rivalry game became branded with a perpetual trophy. Fans will not be admitted into UC Davis Health Stadium, but Saturday's game will be televised on local CW31 (more details below).

ABOUT THE GAME
Who: Cal Poly
When: Saturday, March 20 • 1 p.m. PST
Where: Davis, Calif.
Venue: UC Davis Health Stadium (10,743)
Live Stats: http://statb.us/b/327737
Listen: Sports 1140 on TuneIn app (http://tun.in/serGW)
Watch: CW31/Pluto TV Channel 1063 (https://pluto.tv/live-tv/1063)

Note: Sacramento-area fans should check local provider for CW31's channel info.

MILESTONE GAME
While the 2018 Big Sky Conference co-championship season marked the 100th in UC Davis history, Saturday's game is the 1,000th in the record book... The Aggies hold an all-time 525-441-33 record for 999 total games... The original spring schedule had a March 13 home date with Eastern Washington as the milestone game, then the revised slate announced in January would have put the contest on the road at Weber State... However, with the postponement of the Feb. 27 game to the bye weekend of March 20, the 1,000th contest now will take place in Davis.

Current Sports 1140 color analyst Doug Kelly can claim 264 of the 999 games to date in the radio booth, meaning he has more games as a UC Davis announcer than Jim Sochor (202) or Bob Biggs (230) had as Aggie head coaches... Of course, Biggs had another 15 years as an assistant... Meanwhile, the G.O.A.T of UC Davis football coaching longevity was the late Fred Arp... The beloved D-line guru coached 427 games at the time of his retirement to end of the 2007 season, logging a career record of 307-115-5 in 41 seasons... Arp's total is even higher, considering he stayed on to help with various administrative duties after he hung up the coaching headset.

UC DAVIS-CAL POLY SERIES
UC Davis holds a 23-20-2 all-time record in the series against Cal Poly, and a 9-7 mark since the rivalry was branded as The Battle For The Golden Horseshoe... Head coach Dan Hawkins has won seven straight against the Mustangs: three as a head coach (2017, 2018, 2019), three as an assistant coach (1983, 1984, 1985) and one as a player (1982)... In a series that otherwise alternates between Davis and San Luis Obispo, Saturday will mark the first time the Aggies have hosted the Mustangs in back-to-back games since the Oct. 10, 1992 and Sept. 11, 1993 meetings... UC Davis hosted Cal Poly for its Homecoming game on Oct. 12, 2019, the highlight of which was arguably a 78-yard intercepted pitch for a TD (officially a fumble recovery) by Nick Eaton... The play largely earned him a trio of conference and national Defensive Player of the Week awards.

THE AGGIES LAST WEEK
UC Davis held a 10-0 lead on No. 2 Weber State before the host Wildcats rallied back in the third quarter to fend off an upset, resulting in an 18-13 Aggie loss... Still, the performance bumped UC Davis up two places in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25, while Weber State fell one spot to No. 3... The Aggies outrushed (185-121) and outpassed (139-136) their hosts, holding two-time All-American RB Josh Davis to just 71 yards on 20 carries... On Tuesday, the AFCA launched its first set of rankings for 2021, slotting UC Davis at No. 25.

ABOUT THE MUSTANGS
Cal Poly ushered in the Beau Baldwin era with a loss to 34-24 home loss to Southern Utah... The Mustangs had to delay its season start due to COVID-related issues in the preseason, postponing the Feb. 27 date at UC Davis to this Saturday and moving its Weber State matchup to the April 17 bye weekend...Sophomore QB Jalen Hamler threw for 272 yards and three touchdowns, including two to fifth-year senior Quentin Harrison... SUU had not defeated the Mustangs on the road in 15 straight meetings.

FAMILIAR FACES
Freshman defensive lineman Sami Fonongaloa is the younger brother of Saia Fonongaloa, a former Cal Poly defensive tackle who was expected to return for the fall of 2020 before the season was postponed... However, the most familiar face on the Mustang side will be offensive line coach and running game coordinator Paul Wulff, who served as a volunteer assistant for the Aggies in 2019... Wulff joined the Cal Poly staff to reunite with head coach Beau Baldwin, who served as an assistant at Eastern Washington during four of Wulff's eight years at the Eagle helm in Cheney.

#PUNTERSAREPEOPLETOO
Punter Daniel Whelan has six punts for 304 yards for a 50.67 average, but does not appear in the NCAA statistical leaders, which requires a minimum of 3.6 punts per game... That lifts his career average to 42.94 (6,012 yards on 140 attempts)... In comparison, the top two punters in UC Davis history are Colton Schmidt (41.12 from 2009-12) and Colby Wadman (40.96 from 2013-16), both of whom went on to NFL careers... The Dublin, Ireland product has 60 career punts inside opponent 20-yard lines... While no official records exist for this stat, Schmidt had 80 such punts while Wadman had 68 as four-year starters... Whelan also has three punts for 50-plus yards in two games, after hitting that threshold 17 times in each of his freshman and sophomore seasons.

HISTORY HAS ITS EYES ON YOU
With 63 rushing yards at WSU, RB Ulonzo Gilliam, Jr. raised his career total to 2,433, strengthening his No. 4 rank on the school career list... His next target is Ron Austin, who rushed for 2,968 ticks in 1977-80... G.P. Muhammad (3,589) and Preston Jackson (3,325) hold the top two spots... Gilliam is also fourth all-time in career rushing attempts (473), and fifth with 25 career rushing TDs... Speaking of Aggie lists, DB Isaiah Thomas has 413 career punt return yards... He needs 29 more to surpass Jesse Oliva (2001-04) for 5th in school history... I.T. was removed from punt return duties after his collision with WR David Ames on Saturday... Oddly, the man to replace him on the next punt was a quarterback: redshirt freshman Trent Tompkins.

AGGIES ON THE AIRWAVES
UC Davis football returns to Sports 1140 (calls KHTK) for the 2020-21 spring season... With fans not permitted at to attend events at UC Davis Health Stadium, all three home games (Saturday vs. Cal Poly, Mar. 27 vs. Idaho State, Apr. 3 vs. Eastern Washington) will also be televised locally on CW31 (calls: KMAX-TV)... A sister station to CBS Sacramento (KOVR 13) and best known as the home of the Good Day Sacramento morning show, CW31 last broadcasted the Aggies during the 2019 Causeway Classic at Sacramento State... Fans outside the Sacramento area can pick up the feed on WatchBigSky.com, which reroutes to the Pluto TV website... Cable and satellite subscribers can check to see if their carriers host the Pluto TV service, which is also available as an app on mobile devices.

Scott Marsh will move from the Sports 1140 radio booth to the CW31 television booth, where he will join 1984 All-American and Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame Scott Barry... Marsh and Barry first teamed up for the radio call for the Oct. 19, 2019 road game at Southern Utah... Barry was a teammate with head coach Dan Hawkins on the 1982 Aggie team, and even took over the starting QB role in that year's title game after senior Ken O'Brien was injured in the semifinal... He later earned Northern California Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors in 1984, then was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the sixth round the following spring... Barry still ranks 10th in school history in passer rating (144.33), 10th in career completions (465) and 4th in completion percentage (62.3)

Sports 1140 analyst Doug Kelly will be joined in the home radio booth by Greg Wong, a UC Davis alumnus best known to Aggie fans as the radio voice for the Aggie women's basketball team... A 2015 Aggie grad, Wong has also broadcast all levels of minor league baseball... Similarly, he took over radio chores for the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats during games when regular announcer Johnny Doskow moved over to the TV booth.

For complete notes, with a roster, depth charts, statistics and more, follow this link: 

---

ABOUT UC DAVIS:
With the addition of equestrian and women's beach volleyball in 2018, more than 700 student-athletes represent the fifth-ranked public school in the nation on one of 25 intercollegiate athletics teams.

UC Davis, a national leader in Title IX gender equity and leadership, is centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley; and offers an unrivaled student-athlete experience that features the ideal combination of elite academics, Division I athletics and personal growth.

Ranked annually in the top 10 in diversity and students' social mobility, UC Davis is uncommonly committed to preparing student-athletes for life after graduation with Aggie EVO — an innovative student-athlete outcomes program that helps young women and men develop passions, gain real-world experience, and enjoy a successful launch to full-time employment or graduate school. Through Aggie EVO, Intercollegiate Athletics provides unmatched resources and a vast network of working professionals to ensure post-graduation success for its student-athletes.