North Dakota State fans sure are a cocky bunch. They buy tickets to the FCS championship game early in the season with the confidence their team will get there – again. The Bison reached the final in each of the past 13 years and won 10. Their fans had good reason to invest in a shot for 11.
North Dakota State will not be playing in the championship game on Jan. 5 in Nashville, however. The top-seeded Bison lost 29-28 to Illinois State last Saturday after being favored by 23.5 points and leading by 14 in the fourth quarter. At least all those fans have a month to unload their tickets.
News of the upset spread through UC Davis Health Stadium on Saturday before the Aggies played Rhode Island. That raised the stakes of the second-round game with the winner earning a home game in the quarterfinals. Neither team had a problem with canceling charter flights to frigid Fargo.
UC Davis (9-3) rallied to beat Rhode Island 47-26 and will host a quarterfinal game for the first time. Rhode Island (11-3) traveled nearly 3,000 miles, its longest trip in the continental United States, to have its season end by squandering an 11-point lead and being outscored 29-6 in the second half.
This is the third time UC Davis has reached the quarterfinals and the Aggies lost the first two. UC Davis beat Illinois State 42-10 last year in their first-ever meeting and then lost at South Dakota. The Aggies lost at Big Sky Conference rival Eastern Washington in the 2018 quarterfinals three weeks after losing to the Eagles in the regular season.
The Big Sky is one of the strongest FCS conferences and having three teams in the quarterfinals is a testament to that. Second-seeded Montana and No. 3 Montana State join UC Davis in the final eight. Fourth-seeded Tarleton State also advanced, but No. 5 Lehigh and No. 6 Mercer bowed out.
UC Davis was in danger of joining the vanquished when Rhode Island used two big plays to build a 21-10 lead in the second quarter. Antwain Littleton Jr. raced 63 yards to the end zone and Marquis Buchan caught a 75-yard touchdown pass from Devin Farrell as the Rans grabbed hold of momentum.
The Aggies cut the margin to three points at halftime when Caden Pinnick’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Zach Jones capped a 10-play, 82-yard drive in 1:56. Pinnick was 6-of-9 for 122 yards and two touchdowns in the second quarter after starting 5-of-13 for 56 yards with a costly interception in the red zone.
After Rhode island went three and out to start the third quarter, UC Davis needed just two plays to take the lead for good. Jordan Fisher gained six yards on first down and then bolted 50 yards for a touchdown. Pinnick made it 33-20 five minutes later with a 9-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ian Simpson.
The game was never in doubt after that because UC Davis buckled down on defense after yielding 272 yards in the first half. Rhode Island was shut out in the second half until scoring a meaningless touchdown with 1:11 to play. The Rams had 122 yards in the second half until driving 73 to score.
Pinnick finished 17-of-29 for 277 yards and a season-high five touchdowns. The redshirt freshman ran for a season-high 99 yards and would have had 100 if not for losing 25 yards on three sacks. Sam Gbatu Jr. had his seventh 100-yard receiving game of the season with four receptions for 121.
Gbatu and Fisher each had 100 yards in a game for the fourth time this season. Fisher had his sixth 100-yard rushing game by gaining 140 on just 16 carries. Fisher and Gbatu each surpassed 1,000 yards Saturday. Gbatu has 64 receptions for 1,070, while Fisher has gained 1,051 on 172 carries.
Head coach Tim Plough believes redshirt freshman Carter Vargas will be ready to split carries with Fisher next week. Vargas had 67 carries for 445 yards and five touchdowns before sustaining a leg injury against Idaho State on Nov. 1. He also has 10 receptions for 177 yards and two touchdowns.
