UC Davis head coach Tim Plough wonders how a game that does not count will count against six players who are sidelined with season-ending injuries. Playing in five games constitutes a season according to the NCAA, so an injured player who has done that cannot apply tor a medical redshirt.
All-American safety Rex Connors will end his career on the sideline if the NCAA counts the Aggies’ season opener against Mercer as a game. Plough does not think it should count because lightning strikes halted the game in the fourth quarter. The game was canceled, but the NCAA is counting it.
Connors sustained a season-ending knee injury Sept. 27 in the Aggies’ fourth actual game, a 34-12 victory over Weber State. The other players who will be out of luck if the Mercer game counts are Connors’ twin brother Porter, Ernesto Nava, Winston Williams, Grant Garretson and Matteo Perez.
Four of those five were starters – Porter Connors and Garretson at linebacker, Willams at tight end and Nava at offensive tackle. Perez contributed at running back as well as returning kickoffs and punts. UC Davis is 5-1 and No. 6 in the FCS polls because the depth chart has come to the rescue.
UC Davis led 23-17 when the Aug. 23 game was stopped with 7:46 to go, but Mercer had momentum after trailing by 20 points and had the ball on the UC Davis 48 when the stadium was cleared. Officials in Montgomery, Ala., canceled the game after a 1½-hour delay. Plough was willing to wait to finish it.
The game would have counted if there had been fewer than five minutes remaining or if UC Davis had a two-score lead. Plough did not have his team travel 2,400 miles to come away with nothing and will not let his players be denied a medical redshirt because the NCAA wants to call it a game.
“The guys should get their year back or count the game and give us a win,” Plough said. “I think in the late ‘70s something like this happened, so they made a rule back then. That was 40 years ago and probably should be reevaluated. I’m keeping my toes crossed that they will do the right thing.”
SIX PACK OF SACKS: The Aggies have already surpassed their 2024 sack total of 14 by getting six in the 45-24 victory over Norther Arizona last week. They have 15 in six games and are on pace to finish the season with 27.5. UC Davis has not had 20 sacks in a season since getting 24 in 2021.
Ty Pennington was sacked twice on Northern Arizona’s first possession and was also dumped by Zack Psyk, who reached the quarterback as he was handing off the ball. Psyk has six sacks to lead the Big Sky and is tied for sixth among FCS players. Joshua Stoneking of Furman is first with 10.5.
Psyk is the first UC Davis player to record six sacks in a season since Nick Eaton had 6.5 in 2019. Mason Moe set the single-season record with 10.5 in 2018. Psyk had 6.5 sacks for Harvard in 2024, when the Crimson won the Ivy League and Psyk was an all-conference pick.
TAKING NO CHANCES: Plough took nothing for granted last Saturday with the Aggies leading by 14 points, the Lumberjacks out of timeouts and two minutes to play. Plough had a play in mind for a touchdown and Caden Pinnick made it work by tossing a 7-yard pass to tight end Mitchell Dixon.
Some folks would say the touchdown was a bit too much, but Plough was not going to count out Pennington. “They were giving our defense fits,” Plough said. “They could go down the field with that offense and that quarterback and score, go for an onside kick, get the ball back and score again.”
Pennington is the Big Sky leader in passing yards with 1,802 and threw for eight touchdowns in the first four games. He has had just two in the past three weeks. Pinnick leads the conference with 16 after throwing five last Saturday. The redshirt freshman was 25-of-29 for a career-high 348 yards.
