UC Davis football defeats Sac State 48-30 in the 63rd Causeway Classic

Coming off of a tough loss to Montana State, the UC Davis football team geared up for the 63rd Causeway Classic at Aggie Stadium against the Sacramento State Hornets last Saturday. The cold, windy and rainy weather did not stop the Aggies from performing, as three players put up career-high numbers, breaking school records in the process.

Seniors running back Manusamoa Luuga and quarterback Ben Scott, along with sophomore wide receiver Keelan Doss all had tremendous games that contributed to the 48-30 victory, giving UC Davis its second straight Causeway Classic win.

“Those guys said that they wanted to keep the trophy at home, and it’s at home. The hat goes off to all the guys in that locker room,” said head coach Ron Gould. “I can’t be more pleased with the effort of this football team, and with the heart and the character that has been exhibited by these men. Sometimes people don’t see the foundation, you only see when you start putting the house together, but the foundation is solid, and it is because of the character of the men that we have here.”

The game started off strong for the Aggies; Luuga ran the ball for a 58-yard touchdown on the Aggies first possession, leading 7-0. Sophomore running back Josh Kelley ran for a 17-yard touchdown later in the quarter after Sac State had equalized, pushing the score to 14-7.

Scott threw three touchdown passes to Doss, all in the second quarter at 12, 57 and six yards. The Hornets earned a field goal and a rushing touchdown to bring the score to 34-17 at the half.

Early in the third quarter, Sac State scored an early 10 points off of a 35-yard field goal and a fumble recovery for a touchdown, shrinking the lead to 34-27. Scott completed a touchdown pass to senior tight end Nehemiah Winston at 6:24 for a 14-yard touchdown in the third quarter, and threw another touchdown to Doss in the fourth for an incredible 58 yards to extend the lead to 48-27.

After a field goal by Sac State in the fourth, the Aggies were able to hold onto their defense and finish the game 48-30.

Luuga ran the ball for a career-high 249 yards and earned him over 1,000 rushing yards overall on the season, and his one touchdown allowed him to break through the Aggie’s single-season top 10 in touchdowns, rushing for 11 on the year. Luuga’s performance is the third-highest single game total in school history.

“The biggest thing that pushed me was that this could be my last game ever,” Luuga said. “I wanted to give my all for coach and my teammates. I don’t know what the future is going to bring, but I wanted to take the win and today, we did that.”

The passing game for UC Davis was attributed by Scott’s 14 of 24 completed passes, 292 passing yards and five touchdowns, all without being sacked even once.

“It isn’t about me or about the other seniors,” Scott said. “It is bigger than what we know. It’s about Aggie Pride and about taking pride in your university. We don’t lose to Sac State, and I think our record over the years shows it. We find a way to come together to play against those guys.”

The offense clicked for the Aggies throughout the entire game, proven by Doss who totaled 207 receiving yards and four touchdowns, tying the school record for most touchdowns in a game. His 207 yards put Doss as the fifth Aggie in UC Davis history to go over 200 yards.

The defense held Sac State to only 232 total yards. Sophomore safety Ryan Parenteau and junior linebacker Ryan Bua each had 10 tackles, Bua earning two sacks to go along with it.

UC Davis finished the game with 598 total yards, its second highest of the year, and the season-high 306 of those yards came from the rushing game. The win broke the Aggies’ three-game losing streak to finish 3-8 overall and 2-6 in the Big Sky Conference. The 3-2 home record for UC Davis was the first winning home record since 2012.

“That’s our team: the grit, the heart and the passion,” Gould said. “When I tell you guys that we are close, we are close. I don’t know why things didn’t turn out the way we wanted to this year, but I will tell you that the men in that locker room are special individuals. They came to work every day, busted their tails and had a smile on their face. That was the reason we were able to be victorious tonight.”

Written by: Ryan Bugsch — sports@theaggie.org

Former UC Davis football head coach Ron Gould

It’s 1:26 p.m. on a rainy Monday afternoon. Five men are sitting in a room with whiteboards for walls, which are blackened by marker ink and color-coded magnets labeled with random, short words like “base,” “tex” and “ace.”

There’s an oval-shaped table in the center of the room surrounded by a dozen chairs; one of the men sitting is scribbling frantically on his bright yellow notepad while the others chat casually about their wives and weekends.

More men file in and fill a chair, each greeted by the company present, until there are eighteen people crammed into a room that’s only slightly bigger than a walk-in closet.

One seat — the seat — at the head of the table is still empty, a throne of sorts.

It’s 1:30 p.m. now. The last man shuts the door, and the casual atmosphere is replaced with tacit respect — maybe even fear. “Sup, coach?” they all ask in unison.

Former head coach Ron Gould takes his seat. “What do you guys have for me today?” His voice is raspy from shouting on the field for so many years. “I want some good news.”

Everyone turns to the man in the far corner opposite Gould as he clears his throat and says, “Well, Coach, I’m not too sure about Spencer.”

“How is that good news?” Coach Gould demands. The rest of the men laugh, but the coach is waiting for an explanation. With Portland State coming to town this weekend, he’s anxious to know what — or who — he’s got to work with.

“Tell me more,” Gould says. The meeting begins.

***

Even though Gould’s office is very tidy, he spends countless hours every week there — watching film, hosting high school or professional coaches, talking to prospective Aggie players and their families.

There’s a flat screen that’s paused on a potential high school recruit’s film from last week’s game. On his desk are pictures of his two sons, Tevin and Trae, who are both going to school in Oregon. Gould sat down with both of them to ensure they didn’t feel pressured to play football for the wrong reasons. Neither one of them does.

Next to their pictures is a brick that has the UC Davis emblem on it and the phrase “Every Man a Brick, Together a Wall,” reminding him of his primary goal as head coach: creating strength through togetherness.

***

Ron Gould was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, where he played football as defensive back at Scottsdale Community College for a year before earning a scholarship to Wichita State. After its program was discontinued, Gould went to the University of Oregon to continue playing football and eventually graduate in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in criminology.

He stayed with the Ducks as a graduate assistant until he was offered a defensive back assistant coaching job at Portland State and, later, Boise State. Gould eventually made his way to UC Berkeley, where he was the running back coach for ten years before moving up to associate head coach in 2008.

In 2012, Gould took the head coaching job at UC Davis.

“I’d never been on campus before I got hired,” he said. “But I knew it was a highly academic, diverse school.”

Since his appointment, Gould has taken UC Davis’ football program to a new level — both on the field and in the classroom. He emphasized how high his expectations are for prospects because UC Davis has such a rigorous core curriculum.

“We have four pillars that we look for in recruits: athletic ability, academics, character and competitive spirit,” he said. “We don’t compromise one for the other.”

He emphasized the necessity of well-rounded players, doing their part as full-fledged adults in the community.

Gould wants each player to feel important. His priority lies with his desire to develop the men on his team as athletes, students and, most especially, people. He constantly reminds them, “If football is the only thing I’ve taught you, then I have failed you.”

He and his wife, Teresa, moved to Davis after spending almost 16 years in Berkeley. Teresa served as interim athletic director until the university named Kevin Blue for the position this past spring. With the Goulds so involved in collegiate athletics, the UC Davis athletic staff has become like family.

“Coach Gould loves to cook,” said Mike Robles, assistant athletic director and communications coordinator. “He invited the entire staff and team over and we thought, there’s no way coach would actually be cooking for all of us and he goes, ‘Oh yeah? Come on over.’”

***

When Coach Gould blows the whistle, chaos ensues. With a quick shuffle, dozens of players hustle into their respective sections — offense, defense, quarterbacks and running backs — with their designated coach across Jim Sochor Field.

Gould is in the dead center of the commotion, calm and collected, directing each section like a conductor of an orchestra, trying to restore order in the music: blown whistles, strained shouting, bodies crashing into each other, the football meeting the arms of their intended receiver.

The timer on the jumbo screen overlooking the field is counting down from 05:00 and buzzes loudly throughout the stadium as soon as it reaches 00:00 before resetting. Each time it does, the configuration of the field changes into something completely different from the one before — Coach knows how to make the most out of these practices.

This goes on for two hours before Coach calls the team in for a huddle, ready to deliver the make-it-or-break-it evaluations.

On his wrist he wears a rubber bracelet with “RESPECT THE PROCESS” typed across the band.

“Be patient, respect the process, and good things will happen,” Gould said.

It’s why he has in-team programs he likes to call Big Brother, much like a mentoring program, and Accountability Program, in which players nominate teammates as coaches and are drafted onto five different teams. He wants them to bond and trust one another like brothers.

“If one member of the team is slacking, either in the classroom or just in the community, the others are just as responsible,” he smiles. “That way they’re helping one another succeed both on and off the field.”

***

In the heart of Aggie Stadium, the Bruce Edwards Club Room is empty after a long night of football. The UC-Davis-emblem-patterned backdrop that sits behind the table at the front of the room has a spotlight on it expectantly.

Soon enough, Coach Gould appeared through the sliding door and took a seat at the table. His eyes are bloodshot, but he still holds his shoulders high, prepared for anything that comes his way.

One of the reporters asked, “What happened tonight?”

The Aggies just lost to the Portland State Vikings. Badly. It was a disappointing regression. Definitely not up to Coach Gould’s standards.

As he takes his time to articulate, he may be thinking back to what he said during practice a few days before.

“No one is born a leader, okay,” he said. “They may have leadership qualities, but it’s using those qualities that makes someone a leader.”

For Coach Ron Gould, this is his way of respecting the process. This loss reminds him that there’s much more work to be done. He holds his team and, therefore, himself to the highest standard both on the field and off it.

Coach Gould finally put his hands up slowly and sighed, “We just didn’t execute.” He shook his head. “I told the players, ‘You can’t talk about it. You got to be about it.’ We just have to get back to Aggie Football.”

With only two games left in the season, the only thing the UC Davis football team has left to do is to get back up and finish strong. And with a leader like Ron Gould, that feat shouldn’t be that hard to accomplish.

Written by: Nicolette Sarmiento — sports@theaggie.org

When the NBA season started, I put out my predictions for the 2016 season, which included choosing Kris Dunn of the Minnesota Timberwolves to be the NBA 2016-2017 Rookie of the Year.

“Kris Dunn […] has seemingly won the position battle over Ricky Rubio for starting point guard. While I haven’t followed Dunn particularly closely, I like him over Joel Embiid, who’s going to have a season of distraction as his quest to earn the love of Kim Kardashian continues.”

Dunn is off to a very interesting start. An elbow injury to Ricky Rubio has opened up an expanded role for the young guard, and the results have been mixed. His struggles on the offensive end have been well-documented. He is shooting an extremely-inefficient 36.7 percent from the field while averaging a mere 5.3 points and 4.2 assists per game. On the other end of the floor, his tendency to gamble on defense has resulted in a solid 1.8 steals per game. Dunn’s numbers aren’t particularly eye-popping; however, the numbers of Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers have stood out immensely.

While I’m wary of reneging on my commitment to Dunn as the ROY due to Embiid’s extensive injury history, I will admit that I was wrong to write off Embiid after his first two seasons, in which he totaled zero minutes on the court.

For those unfamiliar with Embiid’s past, here is the breakdown: Embiid missed his rookie campaign with a broken navicular bone in his right foot, and the same injury recurred during his sophomore season. The Philadelphia Inquirer claimed that the 76ers believed this injury to be career-threatening.

Before this slew of injuries, Embiid was regarded as a generational talent and was a consensus number one overall pick; the fact that he only fell two slots when Philadelphia drafted him reflects upon Embiid’s tremendous talent — talent we are seeing now. It is still early, and while I haven’t been watching every minute of every Sixers game, Embiid’s numbers are outstanding.

At first look, his numbers were impressive. After five games of play, Embiid was averaging 17.6 points per game along with 6.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocks on 48.3 percent shooting from the field, and an unheard of 66.7 percent from deep. These numbers, especially the unsustainable 3-point percentage, are impressive for anyone, especially a rookie, but they stand out because these stats have been accumulated in heavily-managed minutes.

Embiid is averaging only 21.4 minutes per game, so these numbers are literally unheard of. I know it’s a small sample size, so this comparison must be taken with a grain of salt, but when extrapolating Embiid’s statistics to the often-used 36 minutes per game, the results speak for themselves.

Comparing Embiid’s numbers to three of the greatest NBA centers of all time through five games is something ESPN would probably do to prey on the minds of feeble and naive 13-year-old basketball fans via their show First Take — so the answer is yes, I made this graphic half-jokingly.

The point still stands, though, that Embiid’s tremendous success thus far is a delight to many. Foot injuries have derailed the careers of NBA greats such as Bill Walton and Yao Ming, so Embiid suffering similar injuries at the young age of 20 was hard to watch. After his second surgery, many (including myself) were quick to label Embiid as the NBA’s next big bust.

When you google “Joel Embiid Greg Oden,” 25,300 results appear, demonstrating a comparable career path to the 2007 first overall draft pick, whose career was quickly and painfully ended by debilitating knee injuries. Fortunately, Embiid’s play thus far has proven the naysayers wrong. Embiid is back in the conversation with other young stars such as Karl Anthony-Towns and Rudy Gobert.

Seeing young kids’ dreams dashed by chronic injuries is heart-wrenching, so I wish Joel Embiid good health in his quest to become one of the most dominant bigs in the NBA.

Written by: Michael Wexler — sports@theaggie.org