Fans react as UC Davis loses in FCS playoffs: ‘I’m really proud of our team’
UC Davis’ run in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs had just ended with a loss at home Saturday to the Illinois State Redbirds in the quarterfinals.
But there was a silver lining for Liz Davis and her partner Paul Paquette, Davis residents who had gone to the game.
The Aggies fell behind by 25 points, not scoring in the second or third quarter, before a run by UCD in the game’s waning minutes made the final score 42-31. Liz Davis said as she stood on the concourse just after the game finished that the outcome “was a little heartbreaking,” though those weren’t her only thoughts.
“We were just saying how we felt proud of them for sticking to the end, like fighting to the end,” Davis said.
Other UCD fans shared that optimism, even as the defeat to lower-seeded Illinois State left a sting.
‘Sometimes it’s not your year’
After a close first quarter, Illinois State largely controlled the game. This followed a previous round of the playoffs where the Redbirds had upset No. 1 seed North Dakota State.
Dustin Boger, a UCD alum who now does web development work for the university, had to give the Redbirds their due.
“It’s actually a great story on their side,” said Boger, as the game was in its final minutes. “I mean, I would love to have seen the Aggies win, but they’re coming out being 16 as an unranked, beat No. 1. Not surprising that they’re delivering today.”
“I’m really proud of our team,” Boger added. “But sometimes it’s not your year.”
Shawn Holt, who played fullback for Sac State in the 1980s, then walked up. To Holt, Illinois State was a clear winner Saturday. “Illinois State was well-coached, well-disciplined,” Holt said. “They played a solid game throughout and they won it.”
Dan Mead, who lives in Martinez, said as the game was winding down that Illinois State “manhandled” the Aggies.
“Their line is huge,” Mead said. “They’re very aggressive. Our line is much smaller… You just see the size, big size difference. And their running backs were just tremendous.”
Lisa Fisher traveled from Boston to watch her son Jordan Fisher, an Aggies running back.
“It’s disappointing that we didn’t win to go into the championship,” Fisher said. “But we had a great season. We had a great season. I’m proud of the boys.”
There’s also room for hope for people like Mason Timko, a 24-year-old Woodland resident and former high school football player. Timko’s grandfather played for the Aggies in the 1950s, he said. Timko’s hopeful for what lies ahead for UCD.
“I think they have a pretty solid team,” Timko said. “They just need to do some more scouting for upcoming college freshmen.”
Pregame mood among fans, former players
Alfredo Amaya, who works for an education nonprofit in San Francisco, tailgated with friends in a campus parking lot before the game. Amaya went to games while attending UC Davis in the mid-2010s, when the team struggled. He said he’d recently started coming to many more games, given the Aggies’ improvement.
“I think they’ve always played to win, but it’s changed,” Amaya said. “It’s changed over the years.”
Chad Carlock, a disability law attorney who did both his undergraduate and legal studies at UC Davis, was with a group of people who “tailgate almost every game,” he said. He was pleased with this year’s team.
“It’s been amazing because they’ve had so many injuries this year and they’ve had so many people stepping up and being able to kind of fill the gaps,” Carlock said.
There were former players milling about before the game, representing both the Aggies and the Illinois State Redbirds.
Andy Ziebarth played left tackle for Illinois State from 1992-96. His son, Max Ziebarth, now plays for the team and is a tight end.
“We played UC Davis here last year,” Ziebarth said. “So we understand and we know that they’re a really good team. They beat us last year. And we suspect we’ll see the same.”
Corey Galindo played wide receiver for the Aggies before graduating in 2014. He has since become a police officer in Riverside in Southern California and is lucky to get to one UC Davis football game per year.
He sounded hopeful on Saturday, about the current Aggies team, giving some credit to coach Tim Plough.
“He’s someone that’s gonna always have the scheme laid out where he knows his playmakers,” Galindo said. “And he’s very good at riding the plays and getting the ball into the guy’s hands that they just make plays.”
One defining theme for this year’s UC Davis team has been the number of injuries it has had, including to quarterback Caden Pinnick and top defender Rex Connors. Jeff Hogan, former athletic trainer for the school, didn’t know why this was. “When I was working, we had episodes like this and there was never a good common denominator, just bad luck at times,” Hogan said.
Bob Kerr said he’d been coming to Davis games since 1972, including when the Aggies played for the Division II national championship in 1982. Asked how that team compared to the current Aggies, Kerr said he couldn’t make an honest comparison due to limited memories of the previous game.
“I know this team has overcome injuries,” Kerr said. “We’ve got a lot of young players as well, a relatively new coach and every week has just been a new adventure.
Larry Bradley played outside linebacker for UC Davis from 1978-81, rooming with Ken O’Brien. Bradley said that the Aggies’ Freshman All-American this season, Pinnick was “a very special quarterback” though different from O’Brien.
“Kenny was dropped-back, 6’4”, 235, had a great arm,” Bradley said. “Different era, different kind of thing.”
While Bradley was speaking, as he sat in a club area near the stadium, another of his college roommates, former Aggies fullback Mike Shaw walked up.
“I feel pretty good about the offense, the defense,” Shaw said. “I’m a little worried, just because of our health.”
Shaw’s fears proved prescient, with Illinois State ripping 21 points in the first quarter alone to put Illinois State up 21-17 at the end of that period. Things calmed in the second quarter, with neither team scoring.
This story was originally published December 13, 2025 at 4:15 PM.
