DAVIS, Calif. --Five different players scored touchdowns, led by four scores from Ulonzo Gilliam, Jr., as No. 14 UC Davis rolled past Dixie State 60-27 on Saturday night at UC Davis Health.

The win improved UC Davis' record to 3-0 on the season while the Trailblazers fell to 0-3.

"It's awesome to be 3-0. These guys have been through a lot and have worked hard," said Aggie head coach Dan Hawkins. "It was not the cleanest game by any meaning, but we came into this game wanting to run the football, and we did. But to have a win like that and not be clean is good. It's good to have a little fire in the belly to improve on some things. I've had times when you didn't score as many points and still had things to work on.

"The Aggies are in a good spot, and I'm really proud of the entire organization, just battling through a lot of things."

Gilliam Jr. paced the Aggies rushing attack by accumulating 178 yards and three touchdowns over the course of the game, averaging 6.8 yards per carry. Gilliam Jr. also tacked on 20 receiving yards and one touchdown. Lan Larison also added 76 yards and one touchdown on the ground, averaging 8.4 yards per carry. Trent Tompkins chipped in with 63 yards and one touchdown as well, averaging 10.5 yards per carry.

Hunter Rodrigues' most prolific target in the ballgame was Jared Harrell, who caught two passes for 39 yards and one score.

Chris Venable showed out for the UC Davis defense, totaling three tackles and two interceptions. Jaylin White added two interceptions and two pass breakups and Algery McGuire had four tackles, 0.5 TFL, 0.5 sacks, and one interception in the win.

The Aggies won the turnover battle in Saturday's game, forcing five turnovers while coughing the ball up one time, with UC Davis turning those takeaways into 21 points. UC Davis recorded a stellar outing on the ground, logging 380 rushing yards while averaging 7 yards per carry and out-rushing Dixie State by 327 yards.

Defensively, UC Davis did an excellent job restricting the Dixie State rushing attack, holding the Trailblazers to 53 yards on the ground. The Aggies hassled the Dixie State passing attack all game long, totaling six sacks and adding five interceptions.

UC Davis put up 60 points on nine different scoring plays. The Aggies got on the board first, taking the lead for good at 7-0 with 11:10 remaining in the first quarter. carried it for a one-yard touchdown run to cap an eight-play, 71-yard scoring drive. The Aggies then rode that lead to victory, increasing their advantage by 26 points along the way.

• Saturday's win marked the eighth time in school history that UC Davis has scored at least 60 points in a game.
• Ulonzo Gilliam, Jr. rushed for 178 yards, his second-best game in his career behind only the 242 at Portland State in 2019.
• Carson Crawford hit Jared Harrell on a 26-yard strike for his second career touchdown pass... A former QB at Beaverton (Ore.) High, Crawford previously threw a 37-yard touchdown to Matt Hyman at San Diego on Sept. 7, 2019.
• The announced crowd of 9.865 had a disproportionately high number of UC Davis undergraduates, as the event was added to the Aggie Orientation schedule. The pregame also featured the "Running of the Second-Years," as that class was denied the opportunity to participate in the more traditional "Running of the First-Years" mad dash that precedes the UC Davis home opener.
• The 380 rushing yards fell 16 shy of the school record of 396, set at Southern Oregon in 1952. The Aggies also challenged the benchmark with 392 against Cal Poly last spring

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