2021 UC Davis Aggies football team

2021 UC Davis Aggies football
FCS Playoffs First Round, L 24–56 vs. South Dakota State
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 17
FCS Coaches	No. 16
2021 record	8–4 (5–3 Big Sky)
Head coach	Dan Hawkins (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Cody Hawkins (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Matt Coombs (2nd season)
Home stadium	UC Davis Health Stadium (capacity: 10,743)
Seasons ← 2020 2022 →

2021 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 10 Sacramento State $^		8	–	0					9	–	3
No. 2 Montana State ^		7	–	1					11	–	3
No. 7 Eastern Washington ^		6	–	2					10	–	3
No. 6 Montana ^		6	–	2					10	–	3
No. 17 UC Davis ^		5	–	3					8	–	4
Weber State		5	–	3					6	–	5
Northern Arizona		4	–	4					5	–	6
Portland State		4	–	4					5	–	6
Idaho		3	–	5					4	–	7
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					3	–	8
Cal Poly		1	–	7					2	–	9
Idaho State		1	–	7					1	–	10
Southern Utah		0	–	8					1	–	10
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2021 UC Davis Aggies football team represented the University of California, Davis during the 2021 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Aggies were led by fourth–year head coach Dan Hawkins and played their home games at UC Davis Health Stadium as members of the Big Sky Conference.

Previous season[]

The Aggies finished the 2020–21 season 3–2 in a tie for third place.

Preseason[]

Polls[]

On July 26, 2021, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Aggies were predicted to finish sixth in the Big Sky by both the coaches and media.^[1]

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	(7)
2	Montana	(3)
3	Eastern Washington	(2)
4	Montana State	(1)
5	Sacramento State	(1)
6	UC Davis
7	Northern Arizona
8	Idaho
9	Idaho State
10	Portland State
11	Southern Utah
12	Cal Poly
13	Northern Colorado

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	(14)
2	Montana	(4)
3	Eastern Washington'	(3)
4	Montana State	(3)
5	Sacramento State
6	UC Davis
7	Northern Arizona
8	Idaho
9	Idaho State
10	Portland State
11	Southern Utah
12	Northern Colorado
13	Cal Poly

Preseason All–Big Sky team[]

The Aggies had three players selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.^[2]

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	4:30 p.m.	at Tulsa (FBS)*	No. 23	H. A. Champman Stadium Tulsa, OK	ESPN+	W 19–17	15,085
September 11	1:00 p.m.	at San Diego*	No. 14	Torero Stadium San Diego, CA		W 53–7	1,712
September 18	7:00 p.m.	Dixie State*	No. 14	UC Davis Health Stadium Davis, CA	ESPN+	W 60–27	9,865
September 25	5:00 p.m.	at No. 14 Weber State	No. 12	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT	ESPN+	W 17–14	6,802
October 2	7:00 p.m.	Idaho	No. 8	UC Davis Health Stadium Davis, CA	ESPN+	W 27–20	11,622
October 9	12:00 p.m.	at Idaho State	No. 7	Holt Arena Pocatello, ID	ESPN+	L 17–27	5,206
October 16	5:00 p.m.	Northern Colorado	No. 13	UC Davis Health Stadium Davis, CA	ESPN+	W 32–3	10,963
October 23	5:00 p.m.	at Cal Poly	No. 10	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA (Battle for the Golden Horseshoe)	ESPN+	W 24–13	9,573
November 6	12:00 p.m.	at Northern Arizona	No. 8	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	ESPN+	W 40–24	6,088
November 13	5:00 p.m.	No. 7 Eastern Washington	No. 6	UC Davis Health Stadium Davis, CA	ESPN+	L 20–38	7,344
November 20	6:00 p.m.	No. 11 Sacramento State	No. 10	UC Davis Health Stadium Davis, CA (Causeway Classic)	ESPN+	L 7–27	12,315
November 27	12:00 p.m.	at No. 11 South Dakota State*	No. 14	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD (FCS Playoffs – First Round)	ESPN+	L 24–56	3,681
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

^[3]

Game summaries[]

at Tulsa[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Aggies	7	3	3	6	19
Golden Hurricane	3	7	7	0	17

at San Diego[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 14 Aggies	16	6	14	17	53
Toreros	0	0	7	0	7

Dixie State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Trailblazers	7	6	14	0	27
No. 14 Aggies	15	21	3	21	60

at No. 14 Weber State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 12 Aggies	0	7	3	7	17
No. 14 Wildcats	0	7	7	0	14

Idaho[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	6	7	7	0	20
No. 8 Aggies	3	10	0	14	27

at Idaho State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Aggies	0	3	0	14	17
Bengals	14	10	0	3	27

Northern Colorado[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	0	3	3
No. 13 Aggies	0	11	7	14	32

at Cal Poly[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Aggies	0	10	14	0	24
Mustangs	0	7	6	0	13

at Northern Arizona[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 8 Aggies	8	12	17	3	40
Lumberjacks	14	3	0	7	24

No. 7 Eastern Washington[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Eagles					0
No. 6 Aggies					0

No. 11 Sacramento State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Hornets					0
No. 10 Aggies					0

Ranking movements[]

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS	23	14	14	12	8	7	13	10	9	8	6	10	14	17
Coaches	21	12	12	10	8	8	12	10	9	7	4	11	16	16

References[]