UC Davis football’s day on the beach includes rivalry win at Cal Poly
Tim Plough’s day started next to the Pacific Ocean, watching young sons Jackson, Camden and Bodie frolic in the sand and surf at Pismo Beach.
The long drive back to Yolo County late Saturday evening wasn’t such a bore for the UC Davis football coach, his giddy group of Aggies and suddenly weary and sleep-ready sons. FCS-ranked No. 7, UC Davis transformed a 20-20 game in the fourth quarter into a satisfying 34-27 triumph over rival Cal Poly on Mustang Memorial Field at Spanos Stadium to maintain mounting momentum of a season of promise with the meat of the schedule looming.
UCD players handed the Battle of the Golden Horseshoe trophy around like the treasured prize that it is. That is the hardware that has been part of this series since 2004. The Aggies extended their winning streak over the Mustangs of the Central Coast to nine games and lead a series that started in 1939 to 28-20-2. UCD now leads the series at Cal Poly, 13-12.
The Aggies offense behind quarterback Caden Pinnick amassed 449 yards. The defense — playing without injured All-American safety Rex Connors — withstood the spirited efforts of a vastly improved Mustangs program under the leadership of third-year coach Paul Wulff, a former Aggies assistant and a 1980s Davis High School lineman star.
“May not have been the prettiest game, but finding ways to win is great; just super proud of the team,” Plough said afterward, flanked by his two youngest sons.
Plough reminded that this win was one of a series of goals for the program. The next immediate rivalry goal is to beat Sacramento State in the annual Causeway Classic in the regular-season finale, and the other one is to win the Big Sky Conference before the real fun starts in the playoffs.
UCD is 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big Sky. Cal Poly is 3-3 and 1-1.
Pinnick on-point
Pinnick dazzled in sparking the Aggies. The redshirt freshman quarterback out of Del Oro High School in Placer County completed 21 of 26 passes for a season-best 313 yards and three touchdowns, and he rushed for a season-best 60 yards on 11 carries and a score.
Pinnick was poised, crafty and effective. He certainly did enough to impress Wulff, who found the quarterback after the game to congratulate him before embracing his old friend, Plough.
“Tonight was his best football game,” Plough said of Pinnick. “He grew up tonight. Thought his decision making was really good. He took care of the ball and was very accurate. He took a real big step tonight, and we’re going to need that offensively. Super proud of Caden. That was a great Aggies quarterback performance.”
Pinnick had touchdown strikes of 36 and 6 yards to Zach Jones, and he had a 6-yard touchdown to Samuel Gbatu Jr. Pinnick’s 7-yard touchdown run pushed UCD ahead 34-20 with 6:05 left to play.
Pinnick hit seven different receivers. The Aggies rushed 37 times for 136 yards and two scores, including a 9-yarder by Carter Vargas as offensive coordinator Paul Shelton and Pinnick kept the Mustangs backpedaling on a cool evening, one that started with the sun-splashed backdrop of the Santa Lucia Mountain Range.
‘Finding joy’
That the Aggies prevailed despite a rash of injuries especially pleased Plough. UCD will be without Connors, the program’s all-time career tackler, for the remainder of the season after he suffered a knee ligament tear last week against Weber State.
His linebacker twin brother, Porter, did not play as he heals from a foot injury.
The pride in Plough’s expressions and the tone of his voice was reflective of the theme that every victory is to be savored in this rough-and-tumble sport, one in which no one weeps for the wounded. His cap reads, “Find Joy.” Plough learned about appreciating this game from famed UCD coach Jim Sochor, a college football Hall of Fame coach who led the Aggies to championship success from 1970 to 1988. He died 10 years ago next month.
“Coach Sochor told me when I was younger that if you’re not going to be joyful and happy after winning, then why are we doing this? Why are we coaching?” Plough said. “Even if it’s not the prettiest win, even if we made mistakes, man, you’ve got to find joy in every single moment you get. And man, when you can beat the team down south and keep the trophy, and you’ve got that long drive home, it feels a lot different.”
It feels like a day on the beach.
Cal Poly remembers tragic 1960 team, triumphant ‘80 club
Before every Cal Poly home game, the public address announcer mentions the 1960 Mustangs team that made national news for the most tragic of reasons. After playing at Bowling Green on Oct. 29, the team’s World War II-era Curtiss C-46 aircraft crashed shortly after take off amid dense fog, killing 22 of the 48 on board, including both pilots and 16 Mustangs players, a student manager and a Cal Poly booster.
Cal Poly canceled the final three games of the 1960. The team did not play any games east of the Rocky Mountains until 1978 — anything to avoid flights. The 1960 Cal Poly team was inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame in 2006, the same year a memorial was created next to the football stadium that has 18 copper pillars, one for each Cal Poly player, the student manager and the booster.
One of the pillars honors Jim Ledbetter, an offensive lineman who starred at El Dorado High in Placerville and at since-closed La Sierra in Carmichael.
The Cal Poly scoreboard before games often refers to Cal Poly’s 1980 team that won the Division II national championship. Cal Poly beat UC Davis that season, 28-25, and it suffered a 24-19 loss to Sacramento State before winning three playoff games, including a 21-13 triumph over top-ranked Eastern Illinois in the Zia Bowl in New Mexico.
Cal Poly moved up to NCAA Division I-AA in 1994, now known as the FCS.