Blue blood season: UC Davis Aggies beat Montana on ESPN2, host Montana State next
The last time UC Davis played a football game at the University of Montana, one of the blue bloods in the Big Sky Conference, was in 2018.
The Aggies delivered a decisive 28-point victory in Missoula that day and then went on to win a share of the program’s first Big Sky championship.
On Saturday night, the FCS No. 4-ranked Aggies dropped another stunner, belting the No. 7 Grizzlies 30-14 in front of an overflow crowd of 26,012 and a national TV audience on ESPN2 for their ninth consecutive victory in remaining one of two unbeaten teams in the 12-member Big Sky.
It wasn’t that UCD prevailed that turned heads in the FCS. It was how the Aggies did it against a program that usually wins at home. Miles Hastings passed for 226 yards and three touchdowns, Lan Larison rushed for 94 yards and caught a touchdown, and UCD’s stout defense halted Montana’s 11-game home winning streak in night games dating back to 2018.
UCD is 9-1 overall this season, losing at FBS-member Cal in an opener, and its winning streak is the longest in the Aggies’ 20-years in the FCS. UCD coach Tim Plough stressed this week to his players that in order to compete for a Big Sky crown, the Aggies had to beat the elite programs in the conference, starting with the blue blood Montana programs.
UCD on Nov. 16 will host No. 2 Montana State for first place in the Big Sky in what is billed the FCS Game of the Week.
The Aggies coming into Saturday were 1-9 all-time against Montana, an 18-time Big Sky champion that reached the FCS championship game last season. A paramount reason Montana is so difficult to beat at Washington-Grizzly Stadium is fans make it a crazy house by getting so into it, and the crowd was so loud that UCD had four false starts and a delay of game penalty in the first half.
UCD quieted the crowd with offensive production and defensive stops to set up next week’s Big Sky title game with Montana’s fiercest rival.
UCD defensive brothers Rex and Porter Connors each had interceptions to help stall out one of the top offenses in the FCS. UCD trailed 7-0, allowing a 72-yard scoring drive on the first series and then allowed a 55-yard drive in the third, but the Aggies owned the game otherwise. Montana rushed for just 77 yards on 27 in being held to a season-low point total.
Plough said earlier this week that Montana coach Bobby Hauck was the greatest coach in the history of the Big Sky with his string of championships. Plough is a former UCD quarterback who had two assistant-coaching stints at his alma mater before taking over as head coach in December. He and Hauck shook hands and shared a brief conversation, Hauck smiling in a measure of respect.
This story was originally published November 9, 2024 at 11:12 PM.