Strong season by UC Davis football comes to end in FCS quarterfinal defeat

Often, coming off a huge upset victory, a team will suffer an emotional letdown. The oddsmakers in Vegas count on it.

But the unranked Illinois State Redbirds built upon their stunning 29-28 victory last week against No. 1 North Dakota State by coming to No. 8 UC Davis and pushing the Aggies around and advancing to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoff semifinals with a 42-31 win Saturday in Davis.

Illinois State is roughly halfway between Springfield and Chicago in the town of Normal. It’s the only city or town named “Normal” in the nation. What they’re doing in the FCS playoffs this season is anything but. They’ll play on the road next week at Villanova, in one FCS semifinal game. Montana and Montana State, the top two teams in the Big Sky Conference in which UC Davis competes, play in the other.

“The leaders on this team did a really good job not losing focus,” said Redbirds coach Brock Spack. “Right after the game last week, (quarterback) Tommy Rittenhouse got the team together and said, ‘Hey, we’re not done yet. Let’s enjoy the win, but let’s move on and get ready because you know exactly who we’re playing.’ (The players) did all the work and the coaches did a good job keeping the players grounded.”

Victor Dawson, a bowling ball of a rusher, had numerous runs in which he didn’t encounter opposition until the second level, and even then it was dicey tackling proposition because the 5-11, 220-pound senior is just as large as the Aggies linebackers. He finished the game with a season-high 148 yards on 29 carries and helped control the clock in the second half, thwarting any chance of the Aggies getting to the program’s first FCS semi-finals. The Redbirds came to Davis last year and were thumped by the Aggies, 42-10, in the second round of the FCS playoffs.

The Aggies (9-4, 6-2 Big Sky) were certainly missing the services of defensive end Jason Psyk. Psyk was on the sidelines in a hoodie. He dressed and warmed up but could not make it to kickoff. Named a Buck Buchanan Award finalist to become the second straight Aggie to earn that honor list along with David Meyer, Psyk, finished the regular season with 46 total tackles, 12 of them solo, while adding 15 tackles for loss and a team-high nine sacks.

Psyk, a grad student and Harvard transfer, led the Big Sky Conference in sacks, tackles for loss and fumbles forced. The Aggies did not have a hurry and put up just one sack on Rittenhouse, who threw five interceptions against North Dakota State, and one Saturday against the Aggies.

Fourth down misses costly for UC Davis

The Redbirds beat up the Aggies in the trenches, and then Dawson beat them up with the ball in his hands. The Redbirds control the clock. Against North Dakota State a week ago, they had the ball for 47 of 60 minutes. Their defense was just as stout. After giving up a 78-yard TD pass on North Dakota State first play from scrimmage, the Redbirds allowed just another 121 yards.

The Aggies offense, nicknamed “Shredville,” put up more yards in the first quarter against Illinois State (231) than North Dakota State did in all of last week’s game (179). But the Aggies needed just 3 yards to keep two drives alive and were stopped on a pair of fourth-down plays in the red zone in the first half. And failing on fourth-and-goal from the Redbirds’ 2, plus two costly turnovers in the second half contributed to the season-ending loss.

The Aggies were shut out in the second and third quarters. They finished with 533 yards of offense, but much of that came late in the game when the result was well in hand.

The Aggies even tried a fake field goal for the first time since 2003. Punter Dylan Mauro took the snap and ran up the middle, but ended a yard short. On the first play after the turnover on downs, Rittenhouse hooked up with Daniel Sobkowicz for a 93-yard yard bomb to put the Redbirds up 21-10 late in the first half.

Those three possessions where we got no points, a fake field goal stopped on fourth down, and the interception on the goal line. That’s the game, right?” Aggies coach Tim Plough said. “If those three plays are touchdowns, then we got 53 points, and we win the game, right? So, those three plays are the difference for sure.”

The Aggies have missed the services of Rex Connors since Week 5, when he tore his ACL. Rittenhouse threw for 266 yards and three touchdowns and most of his long completions came in one-in-one situations where Connors excelled.

The program’s single-season solo tackles leader is battling the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility due to the injury, but has been denied, said UC Davis Director of Athletic Communications David Collins — and Connors may sue the NCAA. The university has offered to help with the legal process, Collins said.

The Aggies have been to the FCS playoffs four of the last seven seasons, not counting the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic year, and have now reached the quarterfinals in back-to-back seasons. The program’s rise under Plough continues, and he and his staff and players will have plenty of time to reminisce and reflect.

For now, on a foggy Saturday in Yolo County, the sting of the loss persists.

“Whenever we lose a football game, it starts with me,” Plough said. “I got to do a better job, and I got to figure out, you know, what we’re missing at this point in the season, and I how to get ourselves over the hump. But this team, man, this 2025 team will be one that I remember for a long time. It’s a special group of guys. They had to overcome a lot of adversity. They never quit, as you saw tonight.

“I love UC Davis. I love coaching these kids, and as much as it hurts right now, I know that there’s a way to get there, and I’m gonna just work as hard as I can to figure out a way, how I can help this program, figure out a way to get to that last game.”

Will Pinnick return?

Aggies redshirt freshman quarterback Caden Pinnick, a former standout from Del Oro High, threw for 402 yards and three touchdowns in the loss Saturday. He finished the season with 3,206 yards and 32 touchdowns through the air, plus 437 yards and another three scores using his legs.

Pinnick has reportedly received multiple offers to play elsewhere next year, and he and Plough have already had discussions about his future in Davis. The transfer portal opens on Jan. 2 and closes two weeks later. If by then Pinnick has not accepted an offer, he will remain an Aggie.

Plough said he plans to talk to Pinnick soon, with the playoffs now over.

“I support Caden with whatever he wants to do, but if I was advising him, I think the best thing he can do is to continue to mature and learn the position from one of the best, I think, quarterback development schools in the country,” Plough said. “We plan on him coming back.”

To Plough’s point on quarterback development: Plough, on Cal’s coaching staff in 2023, served as something of a tutor to the Golden Bears’ then-third string QB Fernando Mendoza. Though Plough was Cal’s tight ends coach, Mendoza knew of his quarterback expertise and started to meet with Plough as a mentor.

Mendoza transferred after the 2024 season to Indiana. On Saturday, he won the Heisman Trophy, the honor given to the best college football player in the nation.

This story was originally published December 13, 2025 at 7:46 PM.