Aggie football camp opens with optimism high for another successful campaign

UC Davis aims for another playoff run in Tim Plough's second season as head coach

As Tim Plough begins his second season as UC Davis football head coach with today's first official day of "fall" camp, he faces a number of unanswered questions.

As he welcomes an interesting mix of battle-tested veterans with incoming freshmen who have yet to experience even one down at the collegiate level, expectations for Aggie football success are off the charts.

After Plough and a talented UCD squad produced an 11-3 mark and deep FCS playoff run in the coach's first campaign, how could the Aggie faithful be anything but excited for what lies ahead for a program on the rise?

Pressure?

Sure, but Plough and his dedicated assistants see it as a good thing that UC Davis has become one of the most respected teams in the country and is one of the favorites to win the Big Sky Conference championship in perhaps the strongest FCS league in the country.

Certainly better to be coming off an 11-win season than an 11-loss campaign.

"We're ready to storm the beaches," said an enthusiastic Plough.

"This is the best time of year to be a coach. It's exciting and I'm really looking forward to it. Starting on the first day of camp we need to understand why we were successful last year and hopefully improve our process a little better and get over the hump."

The "hump" being the rugged 24-team FCS playoff, where UC Davis reached the Final Eight a year ago before a 35-21 loss to South Dakota.

Plough makes no secret of his goal to develop a championship program at his alma mater and ultimately bring UCD its first national football championship at any level.

The closest UCD has come to that elusive goal was a 1982 run to the NCAA Division II title game where they dropped a 34-9 decision to Southwest Texas (now Texas State) in McAllen, Texas.

The Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) was formerly known as Division I-AA and occupies the space between Division II and the big boys of college football at the Football Bowl Championship (FBS) division.

At the Big Sky media gathering earlier this week in Spokane, Aggie defensive back Rex Connors was selected as the Big Sky's preseason Defensive Player of the Year, which is a great honor as far as it goes with a 12-game regular-season schedule beginning August 22 against Mercer in the FCS Kickoff Classic in Montgomery, Alabama.

Rex Connors (4)

"This season obviously starts with Rex," Plough noted.

"He's one of the best players in the history of this conference. Plus, I feel really good about our offensive line, where all five starters are back."

Missing, of course, is Lan Larison, easily the most productive and versatile running back in the FCS last year. Also gone is record-setting quarterback Miles Hastings.

"You don't replace a Lan Larison," said Plough flatly.

"But maybe you grow the next great player and he makes his own name."

Connors was a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award last year after leading the FCS with 74 solo tackles and 115 tackles overall. He also had six pass breakups and was just consistently around the football on seemingly every play. Connors had obvious chances for a big payday by transferring to an FBS school, but elected to finish his career at UC Davis.

"My job is to just create a great environment at a place where guys will want to be and become a part of something great," said Plough, who noted that Larison as well had turned down lucrative transfer offers a year ago but chose to stay in Davis.

Plough smiles a bit when he hears that the first game against Mercer, a school out of Macon, Georgia, will be played at a "neutral" site in Montgomery.

"We're playing a team from Georgia in Alabama, so that doesn't sound so neutral to me," he said.

The Aggies also have an incredibly difficult road date September 6 at the University of Washington in Seattle, but Plough welcomes the opportunity.

"U-Dub will be a great challenge," said the Aggie head coach of the Huskies, now entering their second season in the Big 10.

"I've told our guys if you want to win the Big Sky you have to win all your home games and at least one weird game on the road. Last year we won a weird game at Portland State, but we lost one game at home (30-28 to Montana State). If we had won that game at home, we'd have won the conference championship. Obviously, this season we’ll have a big game in November in Bozeman (against Montana State), but it won't mean as much if we don't take care of business between now and then."

UCD's five-game home schedule begins September 20 with a 7 p.m. non-conference matchup against Southern Utah at UC Davis Health Stadium.

Reach Bob Dunning at bobdunning@thewaryone.com