UC Davis avoids Big Sky’s biggest upset of 2024. Aggies score on final, controversial play
UC Davis avoided perhaps the biggest upset in FCS this college football season and certainly in the Big Sky Conference on Saturday afternoon in Oregon.
Ranked No. 8 in the FCS, the Aggies drove 94 yards in the final 1:50 to stun winless Portland State 27-26 at Hillboro Stadium for their fifth consecutive victory, though the hard-luck Vikings were fuming that this was their game.
A laser pass by Miles Hastings was tipped and then went off the finger tips of leading receiver C.J. Hutton in the end zone as time ran out. UCD coaches argued that there should be at least one second remaining, and referees agreed. A second was added to the clock.
Hastings then rolled right and drilled an 11-yard touchdown to Trent Tompkins over the pylon in the front corner of the end zone. The side judge referee standing next to the play raised his arms to signal touchdown while Vikings players and coaches waved their arms in arguing that it was incomplete. A review of several moments by the referees to go over replays was upheld, and the Aggies won their fourth straight over Portland State, which hosted its latest home opener since 1971 and fell to 0-5 on the season.
Hastings passed for 398 yards in completing 36 of 53 passes and three touchdowns. The senior also rushed for a score. Lan Larison rushed for 124 yards, including a 50-yard burst, and he caught nine passes for 109 yards and a score. Hutton had seven receptions for 106 yards and a score, and the Aggies overcame a big day by Dante Clachere, the Vikings quarterback who passed for 259 yards on 17 of 23 passing for 259 yards and three TDs.
UCD came in having beaten previous No. 4 Idaho at home last week, the program’s first Top 5 victory in its 20 years in the FCS after decades of football success in Division II.
UCD is 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big Sky. Portland State (0-5, 0-2) canceled its Sept. 14 home opener against South Dakota after a whooping-cough outbreak within the program. It’s been that sort of season for the Vikings.
UCD first-year coach Tim Plough won his first Big Sky road game, and he spoke earlier in the week about how difficult it is to win on the road, breaking it down to a 35% success rate for visiting teams in this meat-grinder of a conference.
Plough knows how difficult it is to beat Portland State, which leads the all-time series that dates back 50 years 11-8. Plough’s teams were 1-2 against the Vikings during his Aggies quarterback days in the 2000s, and he was 4-2 against the school as an Aggies assistant coach.
UCD on Oct. 12 hosts rival Cal Poly on homecoming night.