Sept. 2, 2009

Complete UC Davis Game Notes in PDF Format
Complete Fresno State Game Notes in PDF Format
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GAME 1
UC Davis (0-0) at Fresno State (0-0)
Sept. 5, 2009 • 7 p.m. • Bulldog Stadium (41,031)
KHTK (1140 AM) • KDVS (90.3 FM) 

OPENING KICKOFF
• News, notes and headline items to get things started... Many will be expanded later on in these notes. • UC Davis begins its 91st season of football, playing a Fresno State program it last faced during its 34th season in 1952. • The Aggies are also beginning their third year at the NCAA Division I FCS level, sixth as a member of the Great West Conference, 17th under HEAD COACH Bob Biggs, and third with Aggie Stadium serving as their home field. • The Bulldogs are the fifth NCAA Division I FBS team that UC Davis has faced since 2005, joining Stanford (2005), TCU (2006) and San Jose State (2007, 2008). • They are also the first of two Western Athletic Conference teams on the `09 schedule along with Boise State, coached by Aggie alum CHRIS PETERSEN. • Besides the two FBS opponents - both which advanced to bowl games - UC Davis is also facing Montana and rival Cal Poly which advanced to the FCS Playoffs... The Grizzlies eventually finished as national runner-up while the Mustangs entered the postseason after nearly posting a stunning upset at Wisconsin in the final week of the regular season. • Bob Biggs is 8-8 in 16 previous season-openers, including a 3-4 mark on the road... His last victory on the road to start the year was 38-7 at Northern Colorado in 2006... He is 0-2 in two previous season-openers during the Aggies' brief Div. I era and 4-5 since the turn of the century. • UC Davis is also trying in 2009 for its first winning season since 2006, a year which was the last in a string of 37th consecutive winning campaigns that dated back to 1970. • The Aggies are picked by Phil Steele's College Football Preview to win the Great West Conference title this season and are the No. 2 pick by the league's coaches... UC Davis finished second in the GWC in 2008 and is looking for its first league title since capturing co-honors in 2005. • It'll look to do so with an offense that returns eight starters from last year's prolific unit that ranked 11th nationally (426.4 ypg) in total yards per game, and a defense that welcomes back seven starters after holding opponents to 107.5 rushing ypg. (21st in FCS). • Eleven players that earned All-Great West Conference honors last year are among the returnees, including first-teamers WR CHRIS CARTER, TE Dean Rogers and C Tommy Hernandez. • Hernandez, a co-captain this year with LB Mike Morales, is also a second-team preseason All-American from Phil Steele's. • Overall, UC Davis returns its top nine rushers in terms of overall yardage and six of its top seven receivers in regards to total catches... Leading the ground-gainers are RB Joe Trombetta (547 yds, 3 TD's) and RB Brandon Tucker (358 yds, 6 TD's) while the pass-catchers are paced by the dynamic duo of WR CHRIS CARTER (69 rec., 768 yds, 5 TD's) and WR Bakari Grant (61 rec., 720 yds, 8 TD's). • UC Davis will appear on television four times this season, believed to be the most in program history... The first is next weekend at home versus Montana. • Among the players sidelined by injuries for this week: DE Patrick Michelier (foot), RB Brandon Tucker (knee), FS Kymm Snowden (foot), FS Jeff Freeman (knee), QB Sean Maraz (hamstring) and QB Daniel Alfaro (knee)... Even Bob Biggs has been sidelined a bit, undergoing minor knee surgery on Aug. 25 and missing that day of practice.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. THE BULLDOGS
Fresno State holds an 11-5-1 lead in a series that was first contested in 1922, a 0-0 tie... The teams last met on Sept. 20, 1952 in Fresno, a 41-7 victory by the Bulldogs. • Fresno State has won seven consecutive games in the series with the Aggies last winning 3-0 in 1932 on the road. • UC Davis' best winning streak was three straight from 1927-29.

HEAD COACHES
Bob Biggs (UC Davis `73) is in his 17th season at the helm of the Aggies and his 32nd with the program overall. • He owns a 124-61-1 (.669) overall record and is 55-40-0 (.579) on the road... Biggs is also 36-24-1 (.598) in the month of September... He has not faced Fresno State. • Biggs is the second-winningest coach in the history of the UC Davis program, trailing only Jim Sochor whose 156-41-5 record between 1970-88 led to his enshrinement into the College Football Hall of Fame. • Four of his QB's have gone on to play professional football, including current Cincinnati QB J.T. O'SULLIVAN (1998-2001) and former San Jose SaberCats (AFL) starter MARK GRIEB (1994-96)... Others include KHARI JONES (1991-93) who had a standout career in the Canadian Football League and Kevin Daft (1995-98) who was a reserve on the Tennessee Titans when they went to the Super Bowl XXXIV. • PAT HILL (UC Riverside `73) is 92-61 and entering his 14th year with the Bulldogs. • Hill has led Fresno State to nine bowl games including last year's New Mexico Bowl. • His impressive coaching resumè includes NFL (Baltimore, Cleveland), Canadian (Calgary) and collegiate (Arizona, UNLV, Utah) and a previous stop (1984-89) at Fresno State.

BRIEF FRESNO STATE SCOUTING REPORT
The Bulldogs are coming off a 7-6 season which included a 4-4 mark in the Western Athletic Conference. • Fresno State returns 18 starters and 56 letterwinners from that team including nine starters from the defense. • Among the returnees are three rushers who have each gained more than 1,400 yards in their careers: Lonyae MILLER (1,706), Ryan Mathews (1,489) and Anthony HARDING (1,412). • Fresno State averaged 182.3 ypg rushing in 2008, a mark that ranked it 32nd among FBS teams... Its total offense of 387.3 ypg ranked 43rd while its scoring output of 29.6 ppg. was 37th. • QB RYAN COLBURN, a junior born in Sacramento, will make his first career start in Saturday's game... He's played sparingly during his Bulldog career. • He'll have a prime target in receiver SEYI AJIROTUTU who had 47 catches for 795 yards and 5 TD's a year ago and has 1,206 yards on 74 catches for his career.... MARLON MOORE has 72 career snags and 1,032 yards. • The Bulldogs' defense was paced by LB BEN JACOBS who averaged 8.7 stops per game, tying for 43rd nationally... He totalled 143 tackles overall. • DE CHRIS CARTER had 3.5 sacks as part of his 88 tackles while DB MOSES HARRIS finished with 75 stops. • Fresno State allowed 210.0 rushing ypg along with 31.1 ppg... Overall, the defense allowed 410.9 ypg, ranking 97th overall. • The offensive line did a nice job in 2008, allowing just 1.3 sacks per game, 21st-best in the country. • Returner A.J. JEFFERSON was among the nation's best, averaging 29.2 yards per kickoff return... That mark put him No. 4 among FBS returners. • Punter ROBERT MALONE is ninth among returning kickers in the country with a 42.8 average after finishing last year ranked No. 21. • Fresno State has blocked 44 kicks since 2002.

ELEVEN FROM ALL-GREAT WEST TEAMS RETURN
UC Davis welcomes back nearly a dozen players who earned recognition from the Great West Conference last year. • The total is broken down by three All-GWC first team offensive honorees in WR CHRIS CARTER, TE Dean Rogers and Tommy Hernandez; second-team offensive winners WR Bakari Grant, QB Greg Denham, OL Mark Tos, and RB Joe Trombetta; and second-team defensive honorees DE Patrick Michelier, LB Mike Morales and CB Jeremy Scott... The remaining awardee was PK Sean Kelley, who was selected to the second-team.

AGGIE PRESEASON HONORS
UC Davis received significant mention in Phil Steele's College Football Preview Magazine, landing team and individual honors. • On the team side, the Aggies are the publication's pick to win the Great West title with Cal Poly, South Dakota, Southern Utah and North Dakota following. • UC Davis is also No. 3 on the magazine's "Top 16 Most Improved FCS Teams" for programs that had losing records last year but are expected to have winning ledgers in 2009... For the record, Hofstra (4-8) and Gardner-Webb (5-6) are Nos. 1 and 2. • C Tommy Hernandez was selected a preseason honorable mention All-America and one of 13 Aggies picked for preseason All-GWC honors. • First team (7): QB Greg Denham, W CHRIS CARTER, OL Mark Tos, TE Dean Rogers, DE Patrick Michelier, LB Mike Morales, PK Sean Kelley and Hernandez. • Second team (6): RB Joe Trombetta, WR Bakari Grant, DE Steven Wulff, LB Michael Healey, CB Jeremy Scott.

DENHAM ENJOYS RECORD-SETTING YEAR IN `08
QB Greg Denham didn't take long to place his name in the Aggie record book, enjoying a standout sophomore season in which he led set school records for completions (296), regular-season attempts (451) and regular-season yards (3,478). • Denham, from nearby Auburn, ranked third nationally in completions per game (26.9) and ranked 5th in Div. I FCS in total yards. • He posted a half-dozen 300-yard games including five in a row to end the season, capped by 434 yards at San Diego in the season finale... That was the program's first 400-yard game since former QB Matt Engle torched the Toreros for 409 yards in 2007. • Denham became the fifth Aggie QB to surpass 3,000 yards in a season while throwing the program's eighth 3,000-yard campaign overall. • His yards ranked fourth for a season overall.

FIVE OF TOP SIX TACKLERS ARE BACK
The Aggies were stingy against the rushing attack last year, allowing just 107.5 ypg, to rank 21st nationally. • Five of the top six tacklers from that squad, including the top two, return to the squad in 2009. • LB Mike Morales led the team with 72 overall stops which also included a team-best 48 solo... DE Patrick Michelier, currently out with injury, had 51 tackles and a team-best 10.0 TFL's for second-best.... LB Dozie Amajoyi and LB Mike Healey each picked up 44 tackles to rank fourth and fifth, respectively, while CB Jeremy Scott rounds out the group after garnering 42 tackles. • The only player lost among the top six was graduated senior LB Tyler Pringle.

PRESSURE FROM THE DEFENSIVE ENDS
UC Davis had 24 sacks last year and two of the top Aggies in that area will be back at it again this year. • DE Steven Wulff, who made his debut with the Aggies by being named as the Great West Defensive Player of the Week after his performance in the opener at San Jose State, had 7.0 sacks for 47 yards. • DE Patrick Michelier was third with 5.0 sacks for 31 yards in losses. • In all, six of seven players that had sacks last year are back this year... The only exception is All-American John Faletoese who had 5.5 sacks from his defensive tackle position... Faletoese signed a free-agent contract with the Buffalo Bills in the spring before being released later. TROMBETTA IS 1,000-YARD RUSHER • RB Joe Trombetta has been a victim of the injury bug during his first two seasons on the field with the Aggies, missing one game in 2007 and four games in 2008. • Despite that, he has been an effective runner when in the game, amassing 1,223 career yards in his 18 contests... He is the second UC Davis player to reach 1,000 career yards as a sophomore, joining SHOLA ADEYEMO who did it in 1987. • He's tallied 11 touchdowns in his career and has added 771 receiving yards with five more scores as he approaches 2,000 all-purpose career yards (currently at 1,994). • Trombetta announced his presence at UC Davis in dramatic fashion, running for a career-long 90 yards against Western Washington (he had 189 for the game) in his first-ever UC Davis game and the inaugural game at Aggie Stadium. • His 90-yarder was the second-longest in school history, trailing only JIM SPECK's 94-yard score in 1953.

NOTABLE STREAKS ON THE LINE
C Tommy Hernandez and OT Mark Tos have each strung together impressive streaks on the offensive line during their careers. • Both have been in the trenches at the start of the last 23 Aggie games. • Longevity on the line is not a stranger at UC Davis... OG Jonathan Compas, currently with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, started all 40 of his career games before graduating last season, while OG Mario Gonzalez ended his career last year with 34 straight starts.

DYNAMIC 1-2 RECEIVING PUNCH
UC Davis has a notable receiving corps headlined by senior WR CHRIS CARTER and junior WR Bakari Grant. • Carter ranks T-9th for career catches (128) and is closing in on the top-10 in yards (currently at 1,545), needing just 339 more to do so. • Grant, whose "Hail Mary" catch from QB Greg Denham beat Northern Colorado on the game's final play last year, has 109 catches for 1,353 yards. • Carter is a two-time All-GWC honoree while Grant has earned honors from the league in both of his seasons.

COACHES PICK UC DAVIS SECOND IN PRESEASON
Great West coaches selected the Aggies to finish second to defending champion Cal Poly during a preseason poll conducted in August. • Cal Poly (24 pts) received four first-place votes, and UC Davis (20) picked up the other... They were followed by South Dakota (12), North Dakota (10) and Southern Utah (9).

MAKING MENTION ON A NATIONAL BASIS
Despite a 5-7 record last season, UC Davis received votes in both of the major FCS preseason polls. • The Aggies picked up 63 points in the Sports Network's (media/SID) poll for an overall ranking of No. 40. • The FCS Coaches poll awarded UC Davis 19 points to rank it No. 42. • The Sports Network votes are the first since Nov. 10 (T-46th) of last year and the Aggies' highest ranking since peaking at No. 28 after nearly beating San Jose State in last year's season-opener. • The FCS Coaches poll mentioned UC Davis for the first time since its Nov. 3. 2009 poll (T-39th)... It has its highest position since a 2008 season-best No. 29, also after the opener last year. • UC Davis' last Top-25 appearance in either poll came Oct. 23, 2006 when it was No. 16 by the Sports Network and No. 17 by the FCS Coaches... It was 4-3 at the time. HOME-GROWN ROSTER IN 2009 • UC Davis has always been dominated by players from the Golden State and 2009 is no different. • The only out-of-state Aggie is QB Sean Maraz who hails from Phoenix, Ariz.

FRESNO AREA IS HOMECOMING FOR AGGIES
Who says you can't go home again? Six UC Davis players hail from either Fresno or nearby areas, making Saturday's game an early-season homecoming for them. • Players who call Fresno home (or were born there): FS Nick Aprile, WR Anthony Soto. • Players who hail from nearby Clovis: PK Sean Kelley and freshman DE Brent Bettencourt. • From Visalia: TE Dean Rogers, DT Jacob Maxson. • Hailing from Hanford: OL Mark Tos. UC DAVIS GRABS LOCAL TALENT • Eight players on this year's roster are a short drive for some home cooking, coming from within 45 miles of UC Davis. • Players close to home: QB Greg Denham (Auburn), FS Kevyn Lewis (Sacramento), LB Hunter Pahl (Loomis), LB Marshall Congdon (Elk Grove), DT Andrew Benjamin (Orangevale); WR Dwight Smith (Davis), RB Josh Reese (Davis), DE Patrick Michelier (Davis).

JOHNSON RETURNS TO COACHING STAFF
UC Davis welcomed back defensive coach Mark Johnson who returned this past spring to assume coordinating duties. • Johnson, who played for the Aggies in 1985 and 1987-89, has coached with the program three other times including 1990-94 and two other brief stints in 1997 and 2002-04. • He was most recently the defensive coordinator at Utah State (2005-08) and has also coached at WAC members Nevada (2000-01), Boise State (1998-99), San Jose State (1996) and Oregon (1995). • Johnson assumed coordinating duties at UC Davis for longtime coach LOU BRONZAN who has assumed Assistant Director duties in the Physical Education Department after 25 years.

COACHING STAFF ROSTER RECEIVES UPDATE
Besides Mark Johnson, UC Davis has two other coaches new to the staff. • Jeff Copp, who coached the safeties at Utah State while on staff with Johnson, joined the Aggies at the start of camp in August to coach the safeties... He replaced former ASSISTANT COACH Keith Buckley who was named the head coach at Pacific (Ore.) in July... Pacific (Div. III) is bringing back football in 2010. • Tim Plough, former quarterback at UC Davis, moved from an administrative role into a coaching position directing the quarterbacks... He replaced Rich Scangarello who is now on staff with the Oakland Raiders.

AGGIE STADIUM HEADS INTO THIRD YEAR
UC Davis will play its third season at Aggie Stadium, which opened in 2007, starting Sept. 12. • Last season saw the addition of lights which were installed in May 2008... The lights were broken in with five night games. • Aggie Stadium is a $31 million facility whose primary funding (approx. $19 million) is coming from undergraduate students who approved the Facilities And Campus Enhancement (F.A.C.E) Inititiative in 1999. • The stadium, also the home for Aggie women's lacrosse and field hockey, saw its first action in April 2007 when UC Davis hosted Saint Mary's in lacrosse action. • Aggie Stadium features nearly 9,000 permanent seats and almost 2,000 grass berm seats for a total capacity of 10,849, a slight total increase from its inaugural. • Also featured is a Daktronics scoreboard with 19'2" by 24' video display. • The field is a Sportexe Synthetic Field... Wall-to-wall 104,000 square feet. • The team building features three locker rooms and 160 total lockers, a team meeting room and large equipment/training room. • Thirty-two points of sale for concession and the Aggie Pride Outlet for souvenir merchandise are also available. • The pressbox features two radio booths, a TV booth and seating for nearly 20 writers, in addition to coaches booths and two more booths for operations. • 5,000 parking spaces within a 10-minute walk highlight transportation accomodations.

OTHER STREAKS OF NOTE
UC Davis has scored in 212 consecutive games... The last shutout was a 19-0 defeat to Cal Poly in 1990. • The Aggies are believed to have not had less than 200 yards in total offense since a 30-12 loss to Nevada in 1969, a span that now stands at 432 games... UC Davis had 130 in that game. TEAM CAPTAINS • UC Davis has two team captains this season in C Tommy Hernandez and LB Mike Morales. • Both are in their first year as team captains.

AGGIES IN THE PROS
QB J.T. O'SULLIVAN (1998-2001), the all-time passing leader at UC Davis, is a backup signal-caller for the Cincinnati Bengals... He has played with several NFL teams as well as in the former NFL Europe after being drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the sixth round in 2002... O'Sullivan is the last NFL draftee for UC Davis. • Former MARK GRIEB (1994-96) was a two-time Arena Bowl MVP for the San Jose Sabercats before the league ended operations this year. • OL Jonathan Compas signed a free-agent contract with the Oakland Raiders this year, was waived on Monday but signed on Tuesday with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. • OT Cory Lekkerkerker (2003-04) is currently on the roster of the Tennessee Titans. • TE Daniel Fells (2002-05) is currently on roster with the St. Louis Rams. • OT Elliot Vallejo (2003-06) was a backup lineman with the Arizona Cardinals last year but was waived this preseason.

AGGIE COACHING TREE INCLUDES BIG NAMES
Besides becoming the all-time winningest coach at UC Davis, former mentor JIM SOCHOR has several former players and assistants who have gone to notable college or pro coaching careers, including: • MIKE BELLOTTI (Oregon, former head coach), who played for Sochor in 1969-72 and was a subsequent assistant coach... He is currently the athletics director at Oregon. • DAN HAWKINS (Colorado, head coach) played for UC Davis in 1981-82, was later an assistant with the Aggies and subsequently was head coach at Boise State before moving onto Colorado. • CHRIS PETERSEN (Boise State, head coach), who played for UC Davis in 1985-86 and was also an assistant... He led Boise State to an unbeaten season and a 2007 Fiesta Bowl. • PAUL HACKETT, who played from 1966-68, was an assistant at UC Davis as well a head coach at USC, Pittsburgh and an assistant with the New York Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.