A couple months ago there was discussion about, UCD, Sac St,etc moving up to the WAC and D1-A status in football. Well for one week anyway, UCD can stand proud after beating Stanford 20/ 17 yesterday. One game doesn't make their case but they have done something the WAC has not done this year, by beating a Pac 10 school. What a way to get your first win of the year.

nwp Wrote:A couple months ago there was discussion about, UCD, Sac St,etc moving up to the WAC and D1-A status in football. Well for one week anyway, UCD can stand proud after beating Stanford 20/ 17 yesterday. One game doesn't make their case but they have done something the WAC has not done this year, by beating a Pac 10 school. What a way to get your first win of the year.

Davis has a long tradition of winning and producing winning football coaches. Hawkins is a Davis guy.

I could see Davis as a D1A school someday and a very successful D1a school too.....

IF I remember correctly, I think UC-Davis was a I-A at one time but with new rules and all that went down.

I was talking to my father about this and he was telling me that Davis used to have some pretty good football teams. So he really wasn't shocked at this win by them.

Stanford to the WAC!

Maybe the Pac-10 will pull a Temple on them and boot them out for that loss...

Wow, how the mighty have fallen since they let Willingham walk. Davis traditionally puts out good players, especially QBs but I honestly never thought they would beat a Pac 10 team. I'd like to think that our WAC teams would pull off that feat before they did. Ouch!

wolf pack 1 Wrote:IF I remember correctly, I think UC-Davis was a I-A at one time but with new rules and all that went down.

I was talking to my father about this and he was telling me that Davis used to have some pretty good football teams. So he really wasn't shocked at this win by them.

No, UC-Davis was never D1A. They've been Division II since the numerical divisions were created in 1973, and now they're transitioning to D1AA.

They've been a DII powerhouse for decades, and have not had a losing season since Jim Sochor took over in 1970. Since then, they've had seven 1-loss seasons, ten 2-loss seasons, and eleven 3-loss seasons...in other words, they've lost 3 or fewer games 28 out of the last 35 years. From 1971 to 1990, they won 20 Northern California Athletic Conference titles in a row. Current coach Bob Biggs is in his 13th year at UCD, where he's compiled a 102-38-1 record.

During the 1970s-1980s, UCD was always one of the biggest games of the year for Nevada, with UCD holding a 5-4-1 advantage.

UC-Davis all-time records vs. WAC teams
Nevada: 21-28-3
Fresno: 5-11-1
San Jose: 3-2-2
Boise: 0-3
Idaho: 0-1

LINK: <a href='http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/greatwest/california_davis/index.php' target='_blank'>UC-Davis history (College Football Data Warehouse)</a>

clpack Wrote:During the 1970s-1980s, UCD was always one of the biggest games of the year for Nevada, with UCD holding a 5-4-1 advantage.

UC-Davis all-time records vs. WAC teams
Nevada: 21-28-3
Fresno: 5-11-1
San Jose: 3-2-2
Boise: 0-3
Idaho: 0-1

I'd love to see the rivalry with Nevada renewed. Behind Cal and Stanford I think this is the game most Aggies would go to see. UCD fans were estimated at around 12-13k for the game in Palo Alto. A game in Reno would probably draw close to 10k aggies (about the same we take to Sac). I know the Ags have SJSU in '06 and '08 (or '09). Hopefully the Wolfpack can squeeze UCD into the schedule soon. It would be a great game and the attendance should make it fairly profitable for Nevada. The UNR game from 1977 is still the home attendance record for UCD.

There's a lot of talk among Aggie faithful about an eventual move to the WAC and it seems there's a good amount of WAC talk about the Ags. After saturday's win this talk might be closer to reality. But for now we've got to make a mark in IAA.

Good luck to all the WAC schools this season.

It’s good to hear from a UCD fan. I’d also love to see a renewal of the Nevada-UCD series. I suspect it may be several years before it happens, although the addition of a 12th game and allowing a game against a 1AA team to count each year makes it a realistic possibility.

The current state of the WAC does seem like a window of opportunity for UCD, if they have the support to make it happen. What’s the status of the new stadium?

Congrats on the Stanford win! I just about fell out of my chair laughing when I saw that score!

I cannot pretend to know much about the WAC and it's ability or willingness to add new teams but I for one would like to see UC Davis and the Aztecs in. With over 9k fans at Stanford, they've proven that they could be a good draw for Bay Area teams. I know that it is a game that SJSU fans will get behind as well and with Nevada wishing to renew the game, there is no reason why they shouldn't join (at least from a fan's perspective). I would like to see the conference become a more "western" conference anyway.

There's acutally a giant dirt hole at the stadium site now. No infrastructure yet beyond sewer pipes. Unfortunately it's only scheduled to have 10-12k permanent seats in this phase. With endzone bleachers and standing room only it'll top out around 16k. Maybe the win will spur some last minute donations and get the perm seats up to 18k. 18k would help establish UCD in IAA and prepare for IA.

I was a little disappointed in Aggie fans for only having 1200 in attendance at the Nevada basketball game last year (and about 400 of those were wolfpack fans). Hopefully once the students and younger fans see Nevada more often they'll realize how much fun battles between the wolfpack and aggiepack can be.

I also think it's going to be a few years before UCD can help the WAC with its stability issues. There's a lot of work left to do here on campus and we might hurt the conference more than help in the beginning. For the meantime I look forward to the OOC competition we're starting to enjoy with WAC schools in other sports.

A lot of Aggie fans also follow Boise because of Hawkins (and Oregon because of Bellotti). For the past few years we kina lived vicariously thru the broncos seeing 'one of our own' make it to the bigtime.

OrneryAggie Wrote:Unfortunately it's only scheduled to have 10-12k permanent seats in this phase. With endzone bleachers and standing room only it'll top out around 16k. Maybe the win will spur some last minute donations and get the perm seats up to 18k. 18k would help establish UCD in IAA and prepare for IA.
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I also think it's going to be a few years before UCD can help the WAC with its stability issues. There's a lot of work left to do here on campus and we might hurt the conference more than help in the beginning.

This is just a guess, but from the statement, "Initial concept designs call for seating of 10 to 15 thousand spectators, with an eventual build-out to as many as 30,000," I was wondering whether it was being designed so a second deck could be added, in which case they may not want too many permanent seats.



I agree that UCD joining the WAC is not going to happen anytime soon. Hopefully, the WAC will have a few years of stability, giving UCD some time. Conference realignment has proven to be an unpredictable thing, so who knows what will happen.

OrneryAggie Wrote:I know the Ags have SJSU in '06 and '08 (or '09).

In the SJSU FB Media guide, it showed UC Davis playing at SJSU in 2006 and 2007. After your showing vs. the Cardinal (impressive), we had better be ready. I hope lots of Aggies make it to Spartan Stadium for both games (even though its old, it's a great place to watch a game.).

OrneryAggie Wrote:There's acutally a giant dirt hole at the stadium site now. No infrastructure yet beyond sewer pipes. Unfortunately it's only scheduled to have 10-12k permanent seats in this phase. With endzone bleachers and standing room only it'll top out around 16k. Maybe the win will spur some last minute donations and get the perm seats up to 18k. 18k would help establish UCD in IAA and prepare for IA.

I was a little disappointed in Aggie fans for only having 1200 in attendance at the Nevada basketball game last year (and about 400 of those were wolfpack fans). Hopefully once the students and younger fans see Nevada more often they'll realize how much fun battles between the wolfpack and aggiepack can be.

I also think it's going to be a few years before UCD can help the WAC with its stability issues. There's a lot of work left to do here on campus and we might hurt the conference more than help in the beginning. For the meantime I look forward to the OOC competition we're starting to enjoy with WAC schools in other sports.

A lot of Aggie fans also follow Boise because of Hawkins (and Oregon because of Bellotti). For the past few years we kina lived vicariously thru the broncos seeing 'one of our own' make it to the bigtime.

Cal Poly and Cal Davis both used to play the Broncos in the 70's when we were all d2 schools.
I have kind of lost track of the Aggies lately, I know they are in the Big West for bb, but where do you play football....part of that Great Western conference or independent???

Just not a lot of media hype for non-d1a schools out there............

broncobob Wrote:Cal Poly and Cal Davis both used to play the Broncos in the 70's when we were all d2 schools.
I have kind of lost&nbsp; track of the Aggies lately, I know they are in the Big West for bb, but where do you play football....part of that Great Western conference or independent???

UC-Davis and Cal Poly are both in the Great Western Football Conference, along with Southern Utah, Northern Colorado, North Dakota St., and South Dakota St. They have some solid teams (Cal-Poly and North Dakota St. are both ranked), but it sure seems like they have some serious obstacles to overcome. They currently only have 6 teams, and Northern Colorado is moving to the Big Sky. And travel has to be a serious issue.

I'm sure OrneryAggie has a better feeling for where the GWFC is at and going than I do.
EDIT: And as soon as I posted that, I saw he was online...shoulda waited before posting...oh well.

LINK: <a href='http://greatwestfootball.collegesports.com/' target='_blank'>Great West Football Conference</a>

clpack Wrote:UC-Davis and Cal Poly are both in the Great Western Football Conference, along with Southern Utah, Northern Colorado, North Dakota St., and South Dakota St. They have some solid teams (Cal-Poly and North Dakota St. are both ranked), but it sure seems like they have some serious obstacles to overcome. They currently only have 6 teams, and Northern Colorado is moving to the Big Sky. And travel has to be a serious issue.

I'm sure OrneryAggie has a better feeling for where the GWFC is at and going than I do.
EDIT: And as soon as I posted that, I saw he was online...shoulda waited before posting...oh well.

LINK: <a href='http://greatwestfootball.collegesports.com/' target='_blank'>Great West Football Conference</a>

The GWFC is dead as soon as NDSU and SDSU find an all sports conf to join. Both want into the Big Sky. Both are indy in everything but football and wrestling, which just formed a league that includes Fresno St.

Last season the GWFC was the 2nd ranked IAA conf in just it's first year. Cal Poly was conf champs and 9-2 overall but was snubbed by the NCAA for the playoffs. (the NCAA is just as bad as the BCS) With only 5 teams starting next year the conf won't be in the running to get an auto-bid. But I think the teams are starting to get enough respect that at least one of the teams will get an at-large every year.

Travel costs are a big problem for the athletic dept and for fans as it is for any western conf. But the competition is worth it as all teams are competitive and could win on any given saturday. The product on the field is always a good one.

One of the reasons the WAC would make sense for UCD is the close games in Reno, San Jo, and Fresno could end up making IA cheaper than IAA because of reduced travel costs and more revenue from travelling fans. I think it would also be fiscally beneficial to those 3 universities. Of course if you start doing everything based on finances you'll end up like the Big West.

clpack Wrote:This is just a guess, but from the statement, "Initial concept designs call for seating of 10 to 15 thousand spectators, with an eventual build-out to as many as 30,000," I was wondering whether it was being designed so a second deck could be added, in which case they may not want too many permanent seats.

That makes sense. There was a previous drawing for an 18k all above-ground stadium that was 2 tiered on the home side. That design was scratched as the price of steel skyrocketed and now we're going to have a 10k below-ground bowl. Just what you'd expect from the California public education system.

clpack Wrote:

broncobob Wrote:Cal Poly and Cal Davis both used to play the Broncos in the 70's when we were all d2 schools.
I have kind of lost  track of the Aggies lately, I know they are in the Big West for bb, but where do you play football....part of that Great Western conference or independent???

UC-Davis and Cal Poly are both in the Great Western Football Conference, along with Southern Utah, Northern Colorado, North Dakota St., and South Dakota St. They have some solid teams (Cal-Poly and North Dakota St. are both ranked), but it sure seems like they have some serious obstacles to overcome. They currently only have 6 teams, and Northern Colorado is moving to the Big Sky. And travel has to be a serious issue.

I'm sure OrneryAggie has a better feeling for where the GWFC is at and going than I do.
EDIT: And as soon as I posted that, I saw he was online...shoulda waited before posting...oh well.

LINK: <a href='http://greatwestfootball.collegesports.com/' target='_blank'>Great West Football Conference</a>

Anybody in the WAC shouldn't talk about travel. Six Great West schools from California to Utah to Colorado to the Dakotas. You can't say those trips are harder than going to La. Tech or to Hawaii.

It would be nice to see Davis in the WAC but we need to make sure they are ready to make the jump to D-1.

Well unless Nevada changes its policy they don't want to play I-AA teams anymore for football.

SJSpartans&amp;Sharks Wrote:Anybody in the WAC shouldn't talk about travel. Six Great West schools from California to Utah to Colorado to the Dakotas. You can't say those trips are harder than going to La. Tech or to Hawaii.

The difference is night and day. The WAC is an established, all-sports conference. The GWFC is a start-up, football-only conference. The WAC has much higher revenues and is thus better able to afford travel like that. The GWFC, as a 2nd year 1AA conference, doesn't have the same resources.

Even as spread out as the WAC is, about half the trips are very reasonable for most teams. Almost half of the WAC schools are very close to major airports (Honolulu, San Jose, Reno, Boise), and most of the rest are reasonable drives from major hubs. In the GWFC, NO schools are close to major hubs, and only Davis and Greeley are short drives from one.

As bad as things are for your school, I guess you could always be a Stanford fan right now. (Does SJSU play Stanford this year?!?!??!?)

UC Davis sounds like they have great potential, but they are probably a decade away from being able to join the WAC. We really should not let anyone join the conference unless they've demonstrated a commitment to building Division I facilities--especially a 30k football stadium. (Makes obligatory glare towards Idaho)

If Montana stays at the 1AA level, hopefully Davis, Sacramento State, Portland State or even Northern Arizona decides to make the commitment and jump up sometime within the next 10 years.