Score:  No. 9 UC Davis 50, Southern Utah 34
Location: Davis, Calif. (UC Davis Health Stadium)
Records: UC Davis 2-1, Southern Utah 1-3
 
The short story: No. 9 UC Davis survived several Southern Utah counter punches before pulling away by outscoring the Thunderbirds 28-14 in the second half to come away with a commanding 50-34 win in front of a UC Davis Health Stadium record crowd of 17,217.
 
FIRST DOWN

• Jordan Fisher ran for a career-high 170 yards on 12 touches for his second career 100-yard rushing game and second of the season
• While Carter Vargas ran all over the Southern Utah defense, finishing with 136 yards on six carries and two rushing touchdowns
• The Aggies finished with a pair of 100-yard rushers for the first time since 2012
• Caden Pinnick led the Aggie offense in the air going 13-for-21 with 162 passing yards and two passing touchdowns
• Rex Connors led the Aggies with 11 tackles
• Jacob Psyk recorded a pair of sacks and made seven total tackles
• Samuel Gbatu, Jr., finished with 143 all-purpose yards, receiving 45 while totaling 98 kickoff return yards

WHAT HEAD COACH TIM PLOUGH HAD TO SAY:
"First thing that has to be said is how grateful we are for having such a great turnout tonight. This program means so much to me and the players and to have a student turnout like that shows what we are capable of. I can almost cry knowing there are so many people out there that showed up to support these players. Now our motivation is to keep playing well so the fans, community and students keep wanting to come back and support the team. I am proud of the team and have a ton of respect for Southern Utah and Coach Fitzgerald. Defensively I thought we struggled in situation football but played well, and in the second half there were great adjustments by the staff for us to shut them down. On offense we had great rhythm and for the first time this year we didn't turn the ball over. I know we can do better, but it was great to see them do well. And on special teams I thought we were great, with all three phases having their moments. But I'm proud of these guys for coming out and playing this well after a few long weeks."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Aggies took their first two possessions down the field and punched it in for seven on both drives
• In the opening drive the Aggies went seven plays for 84 yards powered by Pinnick going 5-for-5 on the drive
• UC Davis capped off the opening drive with Zach Jones crossing the line on the ground from 11 yards out to make it 7-0
• It did not take long for the Aggies to get the ball back, thanks to the coverage of Khalani Riddick using his helmet to bounce the ball up in the air where Nate Rutchena came down with the interception to give the ball right back to the Aggies
• Four plays and 68 yards later, the Aggies had scored again this time led by Vargas' first explosive run of the game going 50 yards on third and two to get the Aggies to the Southern Utah 10-yard line
• From there Pinnick connected with Winston Williams to make it 14-0 after nearly 10 minutes of action
• Southern Utah would cash one in near the end to make it 14-7 after the first period
• After Southern Utah scored on a 16 play 80-yard drive to make it 14-14 the Aggies looked like they might have a fight on their hands
• But on the next drive, the offense answered back in just two plays
• Fisher took the first carry of the drive 57 yards up the gut to carry the Davis offense to inside the Thunderbird 10-yard line. The Aggie running back then took the next hand off six yards off the right side for six
• UC Davis then reached into its bag of tricks, running a fake extra point play with the holder, punter Dylan Mauro, taking the snap and directly running it in to make it 22-14 Aggies
• The tired Aggie defense, having not had much rest thanks to the quick UC Davis score, dug in during the next drive but Southern Utah was able to go another 10 plays for 80 yards to cut into the Davis lead
• With Southern Utah's late scoring drive at the end of the half the score was close at 22-20 in favor of the Aggies
• Fisher got the Aggies on the board quickly to open the second half breaking off a big run, going 75 yards off the left side for a lighting quick score to put the Aggies up 29-20
• Southern Utah answered on its next drive, going 66 yards on seven plays to get within 29-27
• It was the last time the Thunderbirds would score until their final drive of the game
• From that last score the Aggie ground game and Davis defense took control of the action
• The Davis special teams set up the next Aggie score thanks to Riddick's 45-yard punt return that put the Aggies on the Southern Utah eight
• Mitchell Dixon then got his first career touchdown, scoring on an eight-yard pass from Pinnick to make it 36-27
• Another Aggie takeaway, this time a strip sack by Psyk and recovery by Jackson Sievers set up the next UC Davis score
• Using one of the longer drives of the game for the Aggies, UC Davis went eight dominating plays for 83 yards capping off the drive on a Vargas explosive run down the left sideline for 23 yards and another six for the Ags
• The third quarter came to an end with UC Davis sitting comfortably ahead at 43-27
• Vargas had one final highlight in him, putting the finishing touches on the final scoring drive for the Aggies when he went 47 yards up the middle to post his second rushing touchdown of the game making it 50-27
• Southern Utah would score one final late touchdown, making it 50-34, but the Aggies had enough juice to finish it off and secure a home opening win in front of a record crowd

 
GAME NOTES

• The 17,217 is the largest crowd in UC Davis Health Stadium, surpassing the previous number of 14,832
• Vargas and Fisher become the first pair of Aggies to each run for at least 100 yards in the same game since 2012
• This was the second career 100-yard rushing game for Fisher
• It was the first career 100-yard rushing game for Vargas
• The Aggies nearly set a program record for rushing yards, finishing with 357 total rushing yards, the most since 2021 (the program record is 396 set in 1993)
• The back-to-back scoring drives on the opening possessions were the first time the Aggies have done that since last season (2024) when they opened with 14 points against Northern Colorado
• Trent Carrade's sack was the first of his career
• Psyk finished with a career-high seven tackles, and he fell just half a sack shy of tying a career-high in sacks
• Fisher's 75-yard touchdown run was the longest run by an Aggie this year, and it was the longest play from scrimmage for the Aggies this season
• The Aggies finished with five total sacks, the most in a single game since 2023
• Sam Goligoski tied a career-high with two sacks in the game
• Rex Connors passed 300 career tackles, becoming the first Aggie to reach that mark. The Aggie safety finished with a game-high 13 total tackles (12 solo)

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