Beating No. 16 Oregon State is ‘tall order’ for UC Davis, but not impossible. Ask Stanford
UC Davis heads to the Pacific Northwest to take on the No. 16-ranked team in the land on Saturday night, and if there’s one player who epitomizes the considerable wow ability of the Oregon State Beavers, it’s their quarterback.
All 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds of him. That’s DJ Uiagalelei, the Southern California native and Clemson Tigers transfer who battered San Jose State on Sunday with his arm and legs in a 42-17 victory. He passed for 239 yards on 20-of-25 passing with three touchdowns and rushed for two more scores in the South Bay.
UCD coach Dan Hawkins praised his defense for being “stifling” in its opening-game effort, a 48-10 triumph at Texas A&M Commerce. It’ll take more than that to slow down this truck of a team and quarterback.
“They have no weaknesses,” Hawkins said of the Beavers. “They really don’t. Super solid. Their culture is really good. These guys are loaded. They’re a top 10 football team, at least. It’ll be a tall order.”
On Uiagalelei, Hawkins said: “We better tackle the guy. He’s built like a linebacker — big, big kid. He can run. He can move. He can make all the throws. A phenomenal athlete, big, big body.”
Hawkins is correct that this will be a tall order. Power 5 programs have for decades scheduled FCS programs like this, years in advance, to fatten up for a playoff run. For accepting this challenge and road game, UCD will receive a check for $635,000. Oregon State expects a sellout in its $161-million upgraded venue.
UCD will compete, of course, because the Aggies always compete. A tall order indeed, but not impossible.
UCD opened its 2018 season, its second under Hawkins, with a 44-38 victory at FBS-level San Jose State when Jake Maier passed for 446 yards and three touchdowns and Ulonzo Gilliam rushed for 132 yards, prompting San Jose State coach Brent Brennan to say after the game: “We have to learn to block and tackle.”
Stanford stunner
The Aggies opened the 2021 season with a 19-17 victory at FBS-level Tulsa in Oklahoma. But a Pac-12 opponent? That happened for UCD on Sept. 17, 2005, behind quarterback Jon Grant, when the Pac-12 was still the Pac-10.
Grant huddled the Aggies and told them: “What better stage could we be on? We’re at Stanford Stadium. We’re about to go on a game-winning drive.” He drove UCD 72 yards at the Farm and hit Blaise Smith with a 3-yard touchdown to win it with eight seconds to go in one of the signature moments in Aggies sports lore.
UCD that season was in its first year transitioning from Division II to Division I-AA, now commonly called FCS. The Aggies and coach Bob Biggs were coming off losses to New Hampshire and Portland State before pulling the Stanford stunner.
UCD trailed 17-0 midway through the second quarter, leading Grant to say later: “We’re always the underdogs. We’re not that big. We’re not that strong. We’re not that fast. We just go out and play football the way it should be played.”
Famed and late UCD defensive line coach Fred Arp said of the triumph that night: “I’ve been here 39 years and nothing compares.”
Underdogs
UCD is still an underdog on Saturday, certainly, but the Aggies as a whole are as big and strong and fast as they’ve ever been since the program started playing the sport in 1915. Oregon State is 4-0 all-time against UCD, though the teams last met in 1930. All of the games were played in Corvallis.
Hawkins went 1-2 against Oregon State when he was the head coach at Boise State, winning in 2004.
UCD running back Lan Larison rushed for three touchdowns and had his first 100-yard career day with the program against Texas A&M Commerce. He said of this challenge: “It’s a really cool opportunity to play those guys and to show our stuff and play our brand of football.”
Miles Hastings passed for 242 yards and a touchdown in UCD’s opener. The Aggies had four turnovers but no penalties.
This story was originally published September 7, 2023 at 5:00 AM.