Aggies ready for Round of 16 FCS showdown with Illinois State
Larison 5th, Hastings 7th in voting for Walter Payton Award
In a football playoff format that includes 24 participants, some teams regard being selected as a reward and are just happy to be included, while others regard it as an opportunity to go deep into the draw and maybe even win a national championship.
UC Davis is definitely among the latter group as the No. 5 Aggies enjoyed their first round bye and are now ready to host No. 12 Illinois State Saturday afternoon in the Round of 16.
Game time at UC Davis Health Stadium is 1 p.m.
The game will be televised live on ESPN+ and will be broadcast by Sactown Sports, 1140 AM.
"Since we're in it, we may as well win it," said Aggie head coach Tim Plough.
The Aggies have every right to believe they are in the mix for their first national football championship, as elusive and difficult as that goal might be.
After all, their lone FCS loss in a 10-2 season came against No. 1 and undefeated Montana State by a score of 30-28 after UCD missed a two-point conversion that would have tied the game late in the fourth quarter.
Montana State's other Big Sky wins came by scores of 37-17, 55-17, 38-7, 44-14, 42-28, 49-7 and 34-11.
UCD's other loss came in the season opener to now bowl-bound Cal, 31-13.
Along the way to a 7-1 finish in the Big Sky Conference, the Aggies beat Idaho and Montana, both of which were ranked in the Top 10 on game day.
Plough knows full well the task in front of his charges.
"Every team in our bracket can beat us and we can beat every team in our bracket as well," he noted.