2018 UC Davis Aggies football team

American college football season

2018 UC Davis Aggies football

Big Sky co-champion
NCAA Division I Quarterfinal, L 29–34 vs. Eastern Washington
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 7
FCS Coaches	No. 8
Record	10–3 (7–1 Big Sky)
Head coach	Dan Hawkins (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Tim Plough (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Robert Tucker (2nd season)
Home stadium	Aggie Stadium
Seasons← 2017 2019 →

2018 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 6 Weber State +^	7	–	1	10	–	3
No. 2 Eastern Washington +^	7	–	1	12	–	3
No. 7 UC Davis +^	7	–	1	10	–	3
No. 17 Montana State ^	5	–	3	8	–	5
Idaho State	5	–	3	6	–	5
Montana	4	–	4	6	–	5
Cal Poly	4	–	4	5	–	6
Northern Arizona	3	–	4	4	–	6
Portland State	3	–	5	4	–	7
Idaho	3	–	5	4	–	7
Northern Colorado	2	–	6	2	–	9
Southern Utah	1	–	7	1	–	10
Sacramento State	0	–	7	2	–	8

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Although North Dakota was classified as an independent, games against them still counted as Big Sky Conference games. Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2018 UC Davis football team represented the University of California, Davis as a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by second-year head coach Dan Hawkins, the Aggies compiled an overall record of 10–3 with a mark of 7–1 in conference play, sharing the Big Sky titlewith Eastern Washington and Weber State. UC Davis received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs where, after a first round bye, they defeated Northern Iowa in the second round before losing in the quarterfinals to Eastern Washington. The Aggies played home games at Aggie Stadium in Davis, California.

Preseason

Polls

On July 16, 2018, during the Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington, the Aggies were predicted to finish in ninth place in both the coaches and media poll.

Coaches poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	134 (6)
2	Weber State	124 (3)
3	Northern Arizona	121 (3)
4	Idaho	101 (1)
5	Sacramento State	94
6	Southern Utah	91
7	Montana	82
8	Montana State	76
9	UC Davis	64
10	Cal Poly	40
11	Northern Colorado	30
12	Idaho State	29
13	Portland State	21

Media poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	651 (27)
2	Weber State	636 (19)
3	Northern Arizona	535 (1)
4	Montana	496 (2)
5	Idaho	483 (3)
6	Southern Utah	449 (1)
7	Sacramento State	415
8	Montana State	391 (1)
9	UC Davis	331 (1)
10	Idaho State	170
11	Cal Poly	169
12	Northern Colorado	166
13	Portland State	103

Preseason All-Conference Team

The Aggies had two players selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.

Keelan Doss – Sr. WR. Also selected as the preseason offensive player of the year.

Wes Preece – Jr. TE

Award watch lists

Award	Player	Position	Year
Walter Payton Award	Keelan Doss	WR	SR
Walter Payton Award	Jake Maier	QB	JR

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	7:00 p.m.	at San Jose State*		CEFCU Stadium San Jose, CA		W 44–38	12,675
September 8	7:00 p.m.	San Diego*		Aggie Stadium Davis, CA	Pluto TV 245	W 54–21	7,305
September 15	11:00 a.m.	at No. 9 (FBS) Stanford*	No. 23	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	P12N	L 10–30	31,772
September 22	7:00 p.m.	Idaho	No. 21	Aggie Stadium Davis, CA	ELVN	W 44–21	8,179
October 6	11:00 a.m.	at Northern Colorado	No. 16	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	Pluto TV 241	W 49–36	4,155
October 13	4:00 p.m.	Idaho State	No. 14	Aggie Stadium Davis, CA	Pluto TV 245	W 44–37	10,849
October 20	4:05 p.m.	at Cal Poly	No. 10	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA (Battle for the Golden Horseshoe)	Pluto TV 244	W 52–10	8,503
October 27	1:00 p.m.	at Montana	No. 6	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	SWX	W 49–21	24,141
November 3	1:00 p.m.	Northern Arizona	No. 6	Aggie Stadium Davis, CA	Pluto TV 245	W 42–20	7,890
November 10	1:05 p.m.	at No. 5 Eastern Washington	No. 4	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX	L 20–59	8,789
November 17	1:00 p.m.	vs. Sacramento State	No. 9	Mackay Stadium Reno, NV (Causeway Classic)	ELVN	W 56–13	2,482
December 1	4:00 p.m.	Northern Iowa*	No. 7	Aggie Stadium Davis, CA (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN3	W 23–16	8,306
December 8	1:00 p.m.	at No. 4 Eastern Washington*	No. 7	Roos Field Cheney, WA (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)	ESPN3	L 29–34	5,503
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

The game against Sacramento State on November 17 was moved to Mackay Stadium in Reno, Nevada due to unhealthy air quality as a result of the Camp Fire in Northern California.

Game summaries

At San Jose State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	14	21	2	7	44
Spartans	14	7	10	7	38

San Diego

	1	2	3	4	Total
Toreros	0	0	21	0	21
Aggies	7	13	7	27	54

At Stanford

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Aggies	3	0	0	7	10
No. 9 (FBS) Cardinal	0	17	10	3	30

Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	0	7	0	14	21
No. 21 Aggies	14	13	17	0	44

At Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 16 Aggies	14	14	14	7	49
Bears	0	10	0	26	36

Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Bengals	9	14	7	7	0	37
No. 14 Aggies	7	7	8	15	7	44

At Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Aggies	0	31	7	14	52
Mustangs	10	0	0	0	10

At Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 6 Aggies	3	0	10	36	49
Grizzlies	7	14	0	0	21

Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	0	6	0	14	20
No. 6 Aggies	21	0	7	14	42

At Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Aggies	10	7	3	0	20
No. 5 Eagles	7	14	14	24	59

Vs. Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	3	7	3	0	13
No. 9 Aggies	14	21	7	14	56

FCS Playoffs

Vs. Northern Iowa–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	6	0	7	3	16
No. 7 Aggies	10	6	7	0	23

At Eastern Washington–Quarterfinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Aggies	0	14	7	8	29
No. 4 Eagles	7	7	0	20	34

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	RV	RV	23	21	19	16	14	10	6	6	4	9	7	7
Coaches	—	RV	RV	25	22	21	19	16	13	9	7	11	7	8

References

"Eastern Washington Picked to Win the Big Sky".
"Doss, Buss Headline Big Sky Football Preseason All-Conference Team".
"FCS football: 2018 Walter Payton Award watch list". August 1, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
"Causeway Classic relocated to Mackay Stadium in Reno, Nevada". www.ucdavisaggies.com. UC Davis Official Athletics Site. November 16, 2018. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
"NCAA Statistics". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved May 15, 2022.

v t e UC Davis Aggies football
Venues	Moreing Field (1925–1927) Sacramento Stadium (1928–1931) A Street Field (1932–1948) Toomey Field (1949–2006) UC Davis Health Stadium (2007–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Cal Poly: Battle for the Golden Horseshoe Sacramento State: Causeway Classic
Culture & lore	Gunrock the Mustang UC Davis Marching Band Aggie Fight KHTK
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

v t e Big Sky Conference football champions
College Division / Division II	Idaho State (1963) Montana State (1964) Weber State & Idaho (1965) Montana State (1966) Montana State (1967) Idaho, Montana State, & Weber State (1968) Montana (1969) Montana (1970) Idaho (1971) Montana State (1972) Boise State (1973) Boise State (1974) Boise State (1975) Montana State (1976) Boise State (1977)
I-AA/FCS	Northern Arizona (1978) Montana State (1979) Boise State (1980) Idaho State (1981) Montana, Idaho, & Montana State (1982) Nevada (1983) Montana State (1984) Idaho (1985) Nevada (1986) Idaho (1987) Idaho (1988) Idaho (1989) Nevada (1990) Nevada (1991) Idaho & Eastern Washington (1992) Montana (1993) Boise State (1994) Montana (1995) Montana (1996) Eastern Washington (1997) Montana (1998) Montana (1999) Montana (2000) Montana (2001) Montana, Montana State, & Idaho State (2002) Montana State, Montana, & Northern Arizona (2003) Montana & Eastern Washington (2004) Eastern Washington, Montana State, & Montana (2005) Montana (2006) Montana (2007) Weber State & Montana (2008) Montana (2009) Montana State & Eastern Washington (2010) Montana State & Montana (2011) Eastern Washington, Montana State, & Cal Poly (2012) Eastern Washington (2013) Eastern Washington (2014) Southern Utah (2015) Eastern Washington & North Dakota (2016) Southern Utah & Weber State (2017) Eastern Washington, UC Davis, & Weber State (2018) Sacramento State & Weber State (2019) Weber State (2020) Sacramento State (2021) Montana State & Sacramento State (2022) Montana (2023) Montana State (2024)
National championships in bold

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