UC Davis appeared to be on its way to blowing out Eastern Washington las Saturday after scoring twice in the first five minutes. The offense stalled after that, however, and the Eagles capitalized to climb within 14-12. The Aggies went nearly 23 minutes without scoring after jumping ahead early.

Eastern Washington entered the game at 0-2 in the Big Sky Conference and 1-4 overall. The Eagles did have history on their side, however, with a 5-0 record in Davis. The Aggies were 0-11 against Eastern Washington before a 48-38 win in 2024 in Cheney, Wash. Last Saturday’s score was 49-38.

UC Davis was shut out in the first quarter two years ago and then scored 28 points in the second to lead by 19 at halftime. Eastern Washington fought back to trail 31-24 with 14:19 remaining in the game, but UC Davis pulled away when Miles Hastings followed by tossing two touchdown passes.

The first was a 30-yard pass that wide receiver Sam Gbatu Jr., turned into a 90-yard touchdown.  The senior scored the Aggies’ first touchdown last Saturday on Treynor Cleeland’s 50-yard pass. The redshirt freshman added three touchdowns passes in the second half and has 14 in six games.

Gbatu also had a key block in the second quarter to spring running back Jordan Fisher on an 87-yard touchdown run, the longest of the senior’s career. Fisher added a 37-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and finished with a career-high 255 yards in a performance that was long overdue.

Head coach Tim Plough took the blame for Fisher’s meager numbers in the first four games. Fisher had an average of 4.4 yards per carry  after averaging 7.8  in the  first four weeks  last season He rushed for 102 yards Sept. 26 against Montana, but his effort was not worth much in a 62-22 loss.

Plough was so concerned about asking too much of Fisher that he probably did not ask enough. Fisher had just 40 carries in the first three games against FCS opponents (he had eight in the 56-10 loss at SMU) and 39 in the past two. Twenty carries in a game will likely become a habit for Fisher.

UC Davis is thin at running back after sixth-year senior Matteo Perez sustained a season-ending knee injury against Montana. Perez worked his way into being the backup this season and is the only back other than Fisher to have more than 20 carries.  Fisher has 87. Perez bowed out with 22.

“I felt like we let Jordan down early in the year,” Plough said. “The hope is that we’re going to have a long season and we’re trying to keep him healthy. From the first play of the game (last Saturday), he had that look in his eye that he was going to something special. We’re very fortunate he’s here.”

Money talks in college football these days and Fisher could have easily been lured away by an FBS team offering thousands of dollars. Quarterback Caden Pinnick could not resist Washington State’s offer of $600,000 and transferred after exceeding Plough’s wildest expectations as a redshirt freshman.

“There’s a lot of players that choose to leave (schools) in the world that we live in,” Plough said. “(Fisher) is a Davis guy. He came back for his teammates and this program. I’m just super thankful to coach him every day. That’s why I want to be the head coach here. Just coaching these guys brings me a lot of joy.”

The joy will resume after a bye week when UC Davis travels to play Southern Utah on Saturday. The Aggies climbed from No. 15 to No. 11 in the FCS coaches poll and No. 16 to No. 14 in the Stats Perform Top 25 by beating Eastern Washington. Five Big Sky teams are ranked in both polls. 

UC Davis has already played Montana and will not face the other three – Montana State, Northern Arizona and Idaho State.