Greed got the best of Tim Plough with UC Davis at the Idaho State 18 and seven seconds to go in the first half last Saturday. Settling for a field goal would have put the Aggies ahead at halftime. Taking a timeout would have allowed Plough to huddle with quarterback Caden Pinnick to pick a surefire play for six points.
Plough did neither. He called in a play to Pinnick as usual and hoped the redshirt freshman could pull a rabbit out of his helmet. The Bengals must have kidnapped the rabbit, however. Pinnick was flushed out of the pocket, scrambled to his left, was hit from behind and fumbled the ball away at the 20.
That was not the only squandered scoring opportunity for the Aggies in a 38-36 loss. They got inside the Idaho State 5 on each of their first two possessions in the third quarter only to get two field goals. Idaho State scored a touchdown between those kicks to win the exchange 7-6.
Losing running back Carter Vargas to a leg injury in the second quarter was probably a factor in not going for touchdowns. The 6-foot, 212-pound Vargas is better on short-yardage plays than Fisher at 5-8 and 180, but any play designed for Vargas was left in the locker room at halftime.
Playing it safe by having Hunter Ridley kick chip-shot field goals of 23 and 26 yards was in contrast to how Plough handled the final seconds of the first half. On first down at the 23, Plough called a pass play that “we felt like was open and we had a chance to hit Sam (Gbatu Jr.) for a touchdown. Caden made the decision not to throw it and ran out of bounds (to stop the clock).”
That left Plough with a timeout and a difficult choice. He saved the timeout in case he needed to stop the clock if Pinnick completed a pass short of the end zone. Pinnick’s fumble was 20 yards short.
“That was awful coaching by me … being too greedy. We had a timeout, so we thought we could take another shot at the end zone,” Plough said. “Putting Caden in that position was a really bad decision at that point. It was really bad coaching by me and a really bad decision and it cost us.”
His decision might have had as much to do with the defense as the offense. UC Davis was gouged by Dason Brooks in the first half. The redshirt junior had a 57-yard touchdown run on his first carry and gained 111 yards on five carries in the first half. Brooks finished the day with a career-high 224 yards and two touchdowns.
Brooks was named the Offensive Player of the Week in the Big Sky Conference, Idaho State swept the Big Sky’s three weekly awards with linebacker Nathan Reynolds (defernse) and kicker Trajan Sinatara (special teams) also honored. Sinatra kicked a 50-yard field goal with 52 seconds left to put the Bengals ahead.
Reynolds’ first interception of the season sealed the victory with 15 seconds to play. Pinnick threw two interceptions in a game for the first time this season after going four games without one. The redshirt freshman passed for 325 yards and set career highs for rushing yards with 70 and carries with 15.
UC Davis lost despite sizable advantages in total yards (567 to 471) and time of possession (36:42 to 23:18). Idaho State had 219 rushing yards after averaging 124.7 in its first eight games. That has to be a concern for the Aggies with upcoming games against the top two rushing teams in the Big Sky.
After playing at Idaho on Saturday, UC Davis will travel to Montana State (228.8 rushing yards per game) and host Sacramento State (249.8) in the final Causeway Classic. Sacramento State’s Rodney Hammond Jr. ran for 208 yards and two touchdowns last Saturday in the Hornets’ 35-13 victory at Eastern Washington.
