College football: UC Davis wins fifth straight, sets up must-win Causeway Classic vs. Sac State
UC Davis players and coaches knew they had to make a run in order to salvage their season of promise. The Aggies are rolling, and now they have a chance to return to the FCS playoffs if they can topple their chief rivals.
On Saturday night in the Kibbie Dome, UCD led No. 15 Idaho 31-7 at the half and rolled to a 44-26 victory in Big Sky Conference play, the program’s fifth consecutive victory, thus setting up a showdown at No. 2 Sacramento State next Saturday in the annual Causeway Classic.
A UCD victory sends the Aggies to the FCS postseason for the third time since 2018. The undefeated Hornets need a victory to claim their third successive Big Sky championship and to secure a national No. 1 or 2 seed.
In Moscow, UCD all-time career rushing leader Ulonzo Gilliam Jr. rushed for 173 yards and three touchdowns, Miles Hastings completed 16 of 19 passes for 206 yards, and Lan Larison and Trent each ran for touchdowns as UCD moved to 4-1 against the Vandals, all since coach Dan Hawkins took over at his alma mater before the 2017 season.
Idaho (6-4, 5-2) was 4-0 in its all-wood home dome entering the contest, but the Vandals were stymied in the first half, yielding more than 200 yards rushing in the first two quarters alone. Gilliam rushing for 132 yards and two scores as UCD played its best half of the season.
UCD started the season 1-4 but now sits at 6-4 overall and 5-2 in the Big Sky. The early season losses included two points to top-ranked South Dakota State and competitive Big Sky losses to No. 3 Montana State and No. 7 Weber State.
Isaiah Gomez had field goals of 30, 35 and 32 yards for UCD, which rushed for 250 yards and had no turnovers. Gilliam has 1,175 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns this season. Gevani McCoy passed for 345 yards and two touchdowns for Idaho, which lost at Sacramento State on Oct. 29, 31-28.
This story was originally published November 12, 2022 at 7:39 PM.