A great chance to be part of the crowd as Aggie football will be on national television

ESPN2 has selected the UCD-Rhode Island playoff game for a 7 p.m. start on Saturday night

This is your chance to be a part of history.

On Saturday night, when UC Davis plays host to Rhode Island in the second round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, the game will be carried live nationally on ESPN2.

Game time in UC Davis Health Stadium, where there’s truly not a bad seat in the house, is 7 p.m.

This allegedly marks the first time in UCD’s storied football history when an Aggie football home game has been featured on national television.

Yes, “allegedly” is the operative word here, because on Dec. 3, 1977, fully 48 years ago to this day, powerful Lehigh came to legendary Toomey Field to battle the Aggies in an NCAA Division II semifinal showdown.

That game was nationally televised by ABC, which sent its lead broadcasting team of Bill Fleming and former Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseghian to call the game.

Toomey Field’s cramped press box was temporarily expanded with plywood and nails provided by Davis Lumber, and Parseghian opened the telecast by welcoming everyone to the “beautiful San Joaquin Valley.”

Details, details.

Jim Sochor, the all-time winningest Aggie football coach whose middle name was “Preparedness,” forgot to pay attention to his gas gauge, flat out ran out of fuel and had to hike the last half-mile to the stadium.

Jim Sochor’s statue graces entrance to UC Davis Health Stadium

Because people in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire and Poughkeepsie, New York did not wish to wait all day to watch this game, the starting time was an ungodly 10 a.m. and the field was encased in the densest fog in the history of Yolo County.

Lehigh jumped to a quick 14-0 lead, but quarterback Mike Moroski rallied the Aggies, who entered the game with an 11-0 mark as clearly the best team in the west.

UCD trailed, 32-30, late in the game before a final Lehigh touchdown produced a 39-30 win for the visitors.

Lehigh went on to win the national championship the next weekend with a 33-0 rout of Jacksonville State in Wichita Falls, Texas.

UCD’s 1982 Division II quarterfinal against Northern Michigan was preceded by a week of heavy downpours, leaving Toomey Field a muddy mess.

Because the game was to be televised regionally, UCD administrators worried over how the field would look on television screens from Arcata to Arcadia and Seattle to San Diego, so a plan was quickly hatched to put lipstick on this pig.

Yes indeed, head groundskeeper Tony Martinez, one of the most beloved figures on campus, led his crew in painting the mud green to fool those watching the game at home.

The Aggies crushed Northern Michigan, 42-21, hosted and beat the Bison of North Dakota State, 19-14, in the semifinals and advanced with their 12-0 record to the title game in McAllen, Texas against Southwest Texas State. Alas, the dream ended there in a 34-9 setback to the powerful Bobcats.

So let’s just say this Saturday’s Aggie-Rhode Island battle is the first nationally televised home game in the Division I FCS era, though UCD has several times been on national television with road games, most recently on Nov. 15 at Montana State in Bozeman.

Back to the present, the No. 8 Aggies are a slight favorite over the No. 9 Rams, though folks in Rhode Island have a bit of a chip on their shoulders because they feel those seedings should be reversed, meaning this game would be played in Kingston, not Davis.

Yes, it will be chilly, and Aggie students are staring finals week in the face, but UCD’s athletic administration is pulling out all the stops to make this experience memorable for everyone in attendance. The field is already green, so no paint will be necessary.

ESPN loves to do crowd shots, so dress in your Sunday best.

In anticipation of the press box windows being wide open, I went to Big 5 yesterday and bought a splendid pair of gloves and I suggest you do the same.

Jim Sochor always wore a Blue and Gold scarf, rain or shine or falling Fahrenheit. That might not be a bad idea either.

At the first UCD home game back on Sept. 20 against Southern Utah, 17,217 fans packed UC Davis Health Stadium to watch the action on Jim Sochor Field. That crowd helped the Aggies to a convincing 50-34 win.

In the final regular-season game against Sacramento State on Nov. 22, the 14,590 in attendance again fueled a dramatic, come-from-behind 31-27 Aggie win over the dreaded Hornets.

If you’ve never before attended an Aggie football game and experienced the thrill of victory and the roar of the crowd, this would be an excellent time to start.

Win or lose, this is almost certainly the final home game of the season.

Tickets are available by calling the UC Davis Athletics box office at 530 752-2471 or emailing aggietickets@ucdavis.edu.

Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com