ABOUT THE GAME
UC Davis opens its season against an FBS opponent for the 10th time in its Division I era, taking on American Athletic Conference member Tulsa, which celebrates its quasquicentennial season (125th) of football this fall... The Golden Hurricane went 6-3 overall and 6-0 in the AAC in 2020... They fell by a 27-24 final to No. 6 Cincinnati in the conference championship then dropping a 28-26 thriller to Mississippi State in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl... UC Davis had its season postponed to the spring, finishing with a 3-2 mark and final national rankings of No. 14 (Stats Perform) and No. 16 (AFCA)

Who: Tulsa
When: Thursday, Sept. 2 • 4:30 p.m. PDT
Where: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Venue: H.A. Chapman Stadium (30,000)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast (http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statmonitr.php?gid=tuls)
Listen: Sports 1140 on TuneIn app (http://tun.in/serGW)
Watch: ESPN+ (https://www.espn.com/espnplus/player/_/id/3929bc8f-8d09-4777-bbf5-1b4b59bd9883)

SOONER OR LATER
This marks just the fourth time in history that the Aggies have faced a team from the Sooner State, and the first time they will do so in the regular season... UC Davis hosted Central Oklahoma in the 1996 NCAA quarterfinal, then rematched with the Bronchos (yes, with the "h") in the 1999 NCAA first-round contest... A week later, the Aggies lost to Northeastern Oklahoma in the national quarterfinal round... UCO is located in the OKC suburb of Edmond, while NSU sits about 25 miles from the Arkansas border in Tahlequah... As Davis Enterprise writer Bob Dunning has already noted, this will also mark the Aggie football team's first-ever trip to our 46th state... The city of Tulsa also has an association with one of the key moments in UC Davis athletics history: the BOK Center served as the site of the Aggies' NCAA round of 64 game against Kansas on March 17, 2017.

AGGIE OUTLOOK
UC Davis enters the 2021 season with early buzz, landing a No. 23 in the Stats Perform media poll and a No. 21 nod from the coaches' association... Athlon Sports also listed the Aggies at No. 17 on its preseason predictions... UC Davis returns 12 of its 13 All-Big Sky Conference honorees, with only linebacker Connor Airey not returning... Punter Daniel Whelan led the parade of preseason honors, earning four All-America nods plus the equivalent in College Football America's 2021 yearbook and an FCS Punter of the Year watch list mention... Whelan joined CB Jordan Perryman among Phil Steele preseason All-America teams, and appeared alongside Perryman and TE McCallan Castles on the HERO Sports Preseason All-America rolls... Finally, Whelan, DT Bryce Rodgers and C Connor Pettek made the Preseason All-Big Sky team as announced during the league's media event in July.

AGGIES ON THE AIRWAVES
UC Davis recently announced a renewed agreement with Sports 1140 KHTK... Scott Marsh enters his 15th season as the Aggies' primary play-by-play voice, while Doug Kelly continues to his analyst roll that dates back to the 1990s... However, the 2021 football season also marks the first under the Big Sky Conference's deal with the streaming platform ESPN+... During home games, Marsh will go to the TV booth to provide play-by-play for the video stream... Replacing him next to Kelly will be Greg Wong, a UC Davis alumnus best known to Aggie fans as the radio voice for the Aggie women's basketball team... Wong also serves as fill-in radio announcer for the nearby Sacramento River Cats Triple-A baseball team.

CAPTAINS OF THE SHIP
Following the 2021 spring, UC Davis football rolled out its fall captains: RB Ulonzo Gilliam, Jr., C Connor Pettek, CB Jordan Perryman and S Isaiah Thomas... Gilliam is the lone repeat captain, as he served that role in the 2020-21 year... Pettek becomes the first center to serve as co-captain since Ray Wilburn in 2012... With two DBs, it also marks the first time since 1996 that two captains came from the same position group: Ted Corcoran and Jeff Brunswig both starred at linebacker.

#PUNTERSAREPEOPLETOO
The most decorated player on the UC Davis roster ended up being punter Daniel Whelan, who made four spring All-America squads (Stats Perform, the AFCA, HERO Sports and Phil Steele)... The sustainable environmental design major from Rancho Mirage led the Big Sky Conference with a 47.9 gross average, and ensured that UC Davis led all FCS teams with a 43.47 net average (56 opposing return yards)... Overall, Whelan finished with seven punts of 50-plus yards, including a career-best 67-yarder against Idaho State... Eight of his punts pinned opponents inside their 20-yard lines.

Unfortunately, UC Davis' offense was so effective that Whelan had only 17 punts for the year, making him fall one short of qualifying for the NCAA FCS leaderboards... Still, he enters his fifth season with a 43.20 average (151-for-6523)... In comparison, the previous top two punters in UC Davis history were Colton Schmidt (41.12 from 2009-12) and Colby Wadman (40.96 from 2013-16), both of whom went on to NFL careers.

THEIR PLACES IN HISTORY
RB Ulonzo Gilliam, Jr. shut his season down after the third game of the 2021 spring season, but not before raising his career rushing totals to 2,534 yards and 25 touchdowns... He now ranks 4th and T5th on the school's all-time career lists in those respective categories, while his 3,301 career all-purpose yards moved him into 9th in the Aggie record book... Only three players have broken 3,000 career rushing yards: G.P. Muhammad with 3,589 from 1995-98, Preston Jackson with 3,325 from 1991-93... Gilliam still has two remaining years of eligibility, as the spring 2021 season does not expend a year for any football player who opted to play... DB Isaiah Thomas returned for another year as the Aggies' primary punt returner, finishing with eight runbacks for 81 yards (10.13)... He enters this season with 476 yards, 5th in school history and 32 away from surpassing Artemus Jones (1996-99) for 4th on the list... See page 7 of the full notes set for the complete career Top 10 list and other school lists facing amendment in the fall of 2021.

ABOUT LAST... YEAR
A season originally intended to run in the fall was postponed to the spring in the form of a six-game, conference-only schedule... The spring slate was then further delayed when COVID-related issues in San Luis Obispo forced Cal Poly into a two-week stoppage of its preseason workouts... The February 27 spring opener against the Mustangs then moved to March 20... In returning to action with a March 6 road game at Idaho, the Aggies ended a 469-day layoff since their last game (2019 Causeway Classic), the longest drought from competition since World War II canceled the 1943, 1944 and 1945 seasons... In addition to their Stats Perform and AFCA rankings throughout the season, the Aggies also climbed to No. 9 in the NCAA FCS Committee's first spring rankings, announced days prior to the April 3 spring finale with Eastern Washington.

UC Davis ranked among the top 10 of the 97 active FCS programs in rushing offense (8th, 226.4 ypg), total offense (9th, 454.6 ypg), third-down conversions (9th, 50.7 percent), completion percentage (8th, 65.5 percent), kickoff returns (9th, 24.46 average) and net punting (1st, 43.47 average)... The rushing offense and third-down conversion rate also topped the Big Sky Conference.

For additional notes, rosters, stats and more, click through to the full set of Game #1 notes. 

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ABOUT UC DAVIS:
Centrally located between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, over 700 student-athletes across 25 teams enjoy an unrivaled undergraduate experience at the fifth-ranked public school in the country.

Ranked annually in the nation's top 10 in diversity and students' social mobility, UC Davis and its innovative Aggie EVO system helps student-athletes develop passions, connect with a comprehensive network of alums and industry leaders, gain real-world experience and thrive as a young professional following a successful launch to full-time employment or graduate school.