UC Davis falls to Cal in Tim Plough’s head coaching debut despite encouraging first half
UC Davis spent the first half hanging with the Cal Bears on the road Saturday in new head coach Tim Plough’s debut with the Aggies.
UC Davis, a FCS team, in the first 30 minutes more than doubled up the home Golden Bears in yardage and first downs. Perhaps it was an upset in the making and would shock the college football landscape.
Plough’s team hit halftime trailing by one after missing a field goal and an extra-point attempt while allowing a kickoff return touchdown.
Alas, things came apart in the first 16 minutes of the second half for the Aggies, when Cal’s struggling offense found traction after failing to get a first down on six of its first seven possessions. The Bears scored 17 points on their next three possessions and pulled away from Davis in what turned into a comfortable 31-13 victory for Cal.
Plough, coaching his alma mater, admitted to being emotional before the game.
“There’s definitely some emotions there,” Plough said. “Would lie if I said I didn’t get a little teary-eyed in the locker room just talking to the team before the game. This logo means a lot to me and I want to do a good job for UC Davis, the community and the alumni. So we’re disappointed, obviously, but I feel really good about the team and hopefully we can ... play a lot better (at home next week).”
Plough said during the week he understood the challenge facing his team, saying he was more concerned with the way his team played than with the result. Plough spent last season working as the Bears’ tight ends coach before taking the Davis job to replace Dan Hawkins, who coached the Aggies for the past seven seasons, finishing with six consecutive winning campaigns.
Cal was a 20 ½-point favorite coming into Saturday’s game.
UC Davis junior linebacker Porter Connors had glowing things to say about his new head coach.
“He’s fully flipped the environment at UC Davis for the good and for the better,” Connors said. “He’s brought energy and a new culture, and (we’re) really fighting for that Aggie pride.”
Senior quarterback Miles Hastings echoed the thought.
“The beautiful thing is he obviously used to play here and knows a lot of it,” Hastings said. “He has such a passion for it that it just makes you really want to play your heart out for him. He shows us the Aggie tradition. All the new guys coming up, it’s great for them to know that.”
Hastings completed 24 of 48 passes for 221 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions. Running back Lan Larison had 62 yards on 17 carries with a score.
Davis’ last points came on Larison’s 1-yard touchdown run with 4 minutes, 42 seconds left in the first quarter. Cal rotated quarterbacks between starter Fernando Mendoza and Chandler Rogers.
Bears standout running back Jadyn Ott had two touchdown runs and gained 49 yards on 14 carries. Mendoza finished with 158 yards and one touchdown on 15-of-22 passing. Rogers completed 3 of 6 passes for 21 yards with five carries for 17 yards.
Nohl Williams had an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown for Cal in the second quarter immediately after Davis had taken a 13-7 lead.
Davis outgained Cal 234 to 109 in the first half with a 16-4 advantage in first downs, but things turned around quickly as the home team found its footing. The Bears had more first downs, 12 to 4, and outscored the Aggies 17-0 after halftime.
Plough said despite hanging with the more well-funded program for the first half, he’s not taking moral victories from his team’s performance.
“We’re not a pat-on-the-back program,” he said. “We’re not going to accept pats on the back ... but I wanted them to know I loved them, that I’m thankful they’re buying into what we’re trying to do.”
After five straight drives without getting a first down, Ott capped a 10-play series with 7:18 left in the third quarter with a 6-yard touchdown run, his second of the game, giving Cal a 21-13 lead. The Bears added a short field goal on their next possession and then took advantage of Hastings’ second interception with a touchdown pass to Nyziah Hunter.
Cal scored the season’s first points when Ott walked into the end zone from 1 yard out midway through the first quarter. The points came after Davis had a promising drive into Cal territory end with a missed 46-yard field goal by kicker Hunter Ridley.
Davis threatened on its next possession but failed to score on fourth down from the 2-yard line with an incompletion following three straight runs by Larison.
But the Aggie defense made up for it quickly.
On Cal’s next snap, UC Davis defensive back Kavin Bains forced a fumble with a hard hit on backup running back Kadarius Calloway that was scooped by Connors and returned four yards for Davis’ first touchdown of the year. It was the Aggies’ first fumble returned for a score since 2019.
But the extra point was missed as Cal maintained a 7-6 lead.
Larison, who came into the year on the 2024 Walter Payton Award preseason watch list, gave Davis its first lead of the season with the short touchdown run with 4:42 left in the first half to cap a nine-play, 66-yard drive. It was the senior’s 25th TD of his career as he looks for his fourth consecutive first-team All-American nod. That score was followed by Williams’ kickoff return touchdown.
Plough played quarterback for Davis from 2003 to 2007 before two stints as an assistant coach from 2008 to 2012 and 2017 to 2020.
It was fitting his first game in his new role came in Berkeley, where he served as Cal’s tight ends coach last season under Justin Wilcox. Saturday marked the 12th time the Northern California public schools had squared off at California Memorial Stadium with Cal winning every time.
Plough had good things to say about Wilcox, his former boss. The two remain close but didn’t speak leading into Saturday’s game.
“I love him,” Plough said. “And we get to talk now, again, which is nice. Not being able to talk to him is a bummer. But there’s no one I love more in coaching than him. He’s family.”
Cal — which sits roughly three miles from the San Francisco Bay — was playing its first game as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference after the dissolution of the Pac-12 Conference. The decision’s unpopularity was voiced by Bears fans in attendance who booed while the marching band formed the ACC logo before the game. Cal was a member of the Pac-12 since 1915.
The Pac-12’s downfall was spurred by mismanagement from conference officials and big-name schools bolting for more money elsewhere. Oregon, Washington, UCLA and USC are now members of the Big Ten while Utah, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado joined the Big 12. Cal and Stanford were left to take less money to join the ACC.
Davis will play its home opener against Texas A&M Commerce on Sept. 7 at UC Davis Health Stadium.
This story was originally published August 31, 2024 at 7:37 PM.
