Tim Plough has 18 wins in his first 23 games as head coach at UC Davis, so selecting one as the most significant is difficult. How about beating Eastern Washington for the first time in 12 tries or scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter to hold off Sacramento State in the 70th Causeway Classic.
And there is the 30-28 loss to Montana State last year in which UC Davis trailed by 22 points in the third quarter. What about overcoming a 14-point deficit and scoring on the disputed final play to beat Portland State in 2024. Beating Illinois State 42-10 in the FCS playoffs is worth remembering,
None of those victories are at the top of Plough’s list, however. His No. 1 pick is the most recent game, a 28-14 win at Idaho last Saturday. UC Davis scored on its first two possessions to lead 14-0, but Idaho did not deflate in the blimp hangar known as the P1FCU Kibbie Dome in Moscow.
What made that victory so significant was it came on the heels of an “embarrassing” 38-36 loss at home to Idaho State on Nov. 1. UC Davis fell despite 567 yards of offense and a 13-minute edge in time of possession because of three turnovers and a blocked punt being returned for a touchdown.
A roster depleted by injuries forced Plough to take four players to Idaho who had not played in a game this season. And one of the four had never been on an airplane. Injured running back Carter Vargas did not travel and offensive tackle Ernesto Nava was lost in the game with a recurring injury.
Winning at Idaho was also significant because of the challenge UC Davis will face on Saturday at Montana State. The Aggies are 1-8 against the Bobcats after winning the first meeting in 2006. And as Plough said, “We’re facing a really difficult opponent that is beating everybody by 100 points.”
Plough stretched the truth to make a point during his press conference Monday. The third-ranked Bobcats are 6-0 in the Big Sky Conference and have won by an average of 39.8 points. Saturday’s game will be televised by ESPN2, so the Aggies want to provide a show for a national audience.
UC Davis opened the season on ESPN by facing Mercer in the FCS Kickoff Classic in Montgomery, Ala. Lightning strikes forced officials to cancel the game with the Aggies leading 24-17 in the fourth quarter. The Big Ten Network carried Washington’s 70-10 rout of UC Davis in Seattle on Sept. 6.
The outcome of the Mercer game continues to be a thorn in Plough’s side. He has appealed to the NCAA with the argument that the game should not count against the eligibility of his injured seniors if it does not count as a victory. Plough wants to know the status of those seniors as soon as possible.
Mercer is ranked No. 8 in both polls, so having the Aug. 23 game count as a win would bolster the Aggies’ playoff hopes. UC Davis is 5-1 in the Big Sky and 7-2 overall, but Plough believes his team deserves to be 8-2. “I think if you get eight wins,” Plough said, “you’re going to get in the playoffs.”
Beating Montana State would be worth more than a win against Mercer. “We knew that if we took care of business, it would probably come down to us having to go (to Bozeman) and figure out a way to beat these guys,” Plough said. “We’re just glad this game still has conference implications.”
Plough was a junior at UC Davis in 2006 and threw the first touchdown pass of his career in a 45–0 win at Montana State. He threw for 1,355 yards and 11 touchdowns in 11 games in 2007. Redshirt freshman Caden Pinnick has 1,987 passing yards and 20 touchdowns in nine games this season.
Pinnick (Del Oro High) and Montana State quarterback Justin Lamson (Oak Ridge) both hail from the Sierra Foothill League. UC Davis was interested in Lamson because his brother Colton was an offensive tackle for the Aggies in 2017-20. Lamson came to Montana State after playing at Syracuse and Stanford.
UC Davis could have pursued Lamson when he was in search of a place to play, “but he’s always been a little bit out of our tax bracket,” Plough quipped. “I would say we really don’t look at transfer quarterbacks. If we don’t get them out of high school, we’re probably going to move on.”
