UC Davis Defense Smothers Northern Colorado in 33-6 Big Sky Rout

A week after getting run over at Southern Utah, UC Davis needed a response. It got one from the side of the ball that had been the bigger worry.

The Aggies kept Northern Colorado off the scoreboard for more than 46 minutes, got two first-quarter touchdowns from Jordan Fisher and cruised to a 33-6 Big Sky win on Saturday, Oct. 24, at UC Davis Health Stadium. The six points were the fewest UC Davis has allowed since a 43-3 win over Idaho State on Nov. 5, 2022.

No. 20/21 UC Davis moved to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the Big Sky, and 3-1 at home. Northern Colorado fell to 3-6 and 2-4.

Two drives, two Fisher touchdowns

Northern Colorado went three-and-out on the opening possession, and UC Davis leaned on Fisher right away. Fisher piled up 35 yards on his first four touches, including a 9-yard touchdown run at 11:29 of the first quarter.

The second score came before the quarter was out. Fisher plunged in for his second rushing touchdown of the period, Robert Meyer added the extra point, and the Aggies led 14-0 less than 12 minutes into the game.

Northern Colorado head coach Ed Lamb did not sugarcoat what happened in that stretch.

"We were used to being a lot better team on third down than we were tonight," Lamb said. "UC Davis created some third and shorts that really helped them out, but even some critical third and longs where we could have gotten off the field, we didn't. It was just an awful start to the game. We had to take a gut punch and fight back."

The turning point that wasn't

After Hayden John picked off Keegan Patterson at 11:25 of the second quarter, his first interception as an Aggie, the Northern Colorado defense forced a quick UC Davis three-and-out, and the offense finally found some footing.

The Bears moved all the way to the UC Davis 29 near the two-minute warning. That was the moment. A field goal would have made it 14-3 and given Northern Colorado something to build on at halftime. Instead, Landon Richardson's 46-yard try sailed wide left with 2:07 to play in the half.

UC Davis made the Bears pay almost immediately. Redshirt freshman quarterback Treynor Cleeland found Samuel Gbatu Jr. for a 52-yard gain to flip the field, and Meyer drilled a 32-yard field goal with 51 seconds left. Patterson and the Bears made one more push before the break, but the Aggies turned it away and went to the locker room up 17-0.

Putting it away

The Aggies came out of halftime and did what good teams do with a lead. They went 75 yards in 11 plays, and Cleeland finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Edward Khutsishvili at 9:41 of the third quarter for a 24-0 lead.

After another defensive stop, Meyer hit from 25 yards at 2:06 of the third, making it 27-0. It was the first time Meyer had made two field goals in a game as an Aggie.

Northern Colorado finally broke through early in the fourth quarter. Brayten Silbor capped an eight-play, 78-yard drive with a 23-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Mozer at 13:24. The two-point try failed, leaving it 27-6. It was Mozer's fourth receiving touchdown of the season, which leads the team, and his first since the Northeastern State game on Sept. 19. It was Silbor's third touchdown pass of the year.

UC Davis answered the only way that mattered. Facing fourth down midway through the quarter, Cleeland hit tight end Winston Williams for a 23-yard touchdown that made it 33-6 with 7:22 left. The Bears had the ball twice more and came up empty both times.

The players who decided it

Jordan Fisher. The numbers were steady rather than spectacular, 97 yards on 20 carries with two touchdowns, but the context matters. Those were Fisher's ninth and 10th rushing touchdowns of the season. It was his fifth straight game with a rushing touchdown, which ties his career high, and his third straight game with 20 or more carries. Fisher now sits seventh in UC Davis history with 2,265 career rushing yards.

Samuel Gbatu Jr. The most explosive player on the field. Gbatu caught seven passes for 117 yards and also ripped off a 59-yard run, the longest rush of his career. His 176 all-purpose yards set a career high, and it was his fifth 100-yard receiving game this season.

Treynor Cleeland. The redshirt freshman, who was named to the Jerry Rice Award watch list on Oct. 20, was efficient from start to finish. Cleeland completed 25 of 33 passes for 266 yards and two touchdowns, a career-best completion rate. Zach Jones chipped in a career-high four catches for 31 yards.

The UC Davis defense. Linebacker Jackson Sievers tied his career high with seven tackles, six of them solo, and added two tackles for loss and the first sack of his career. Linebacker Nick Afato set career highs with nine tackles and seven solo stops. Defensive back Kameron Totton had a career-high seven tackles and two quarterback hurries.

Dominic Butts. On a rough night for Northern Colorado, Butts kept stacking numbers. Butts recorded a sack and a tackle for loss, bringing the career total to 21.5 tackles for loss, tied for seventh in Northern Colorado's Division I history. The 10.5 tackles for loss this season are a career high and tied for the eighth-most in a single season in the program's Division I era.

The stats that matter

0. Points allowed by UC Davis in the first half. It was the second time this season the Aggies kept an opponent scoreless before halftime, joining the Stetson game on Sept. 19.

4. UC Davis scoring drives of 75 yards or more.

176. Gbatu's all-purpose yards, 117 receiving and 59 rushing, a career high.

2,265. Fisher's career rushing yards, seventh most in program history.

What it means

For UC Davis, this was a needed reset. The Aggies were ranked 14th and 12th in the polls before losing 38-17 at Southern Utah on Oct. 17. Earlier in the season they lost 62-22 to Montana. This time the defense held a Big Sky opponent to one score and never let the game get tight.

The schedule did not get easier. Next was a Halloween trip to Ogden, Utah, to face Weber State at Stewart Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 31. Weber State was 5-4 and 4-2 in the Big Sky at the time.

For Northern Colorado, the trip ended a nice run. The Bears had won three straight at home, beating Northeastern State in overtime, Utah Tech 37-13 and Cal Poly 28-18. Away from Greeley, it has been harder. Now comes a week off before a trip to Southern Utah on Saturday, Nov. 7, with a 1 p.m. Mountain kickoff.

Lamb pointed to some younger players as a bright spot. Joshua Gallien recorded a tackle for loss, and Collin Fasse made the first catch of his career.

"We're still playing, still coaching, still having a good time," Lamb said. "That's critical as we're trying to build this thing. We got to keep enjoying football. It's great to win, that's the objective, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't enjoy the great efforts that are going on."

Both schools posted full recaps, from UC Davis (opens in a new tab) and from Northern Colorado (opens in a new tab), and the numbers are in the official box score (opens in a new tab).

The last word

UC Davis has looked like two different teams this fall. One scored 49 on Eastern Washington and piled up 629 yards. The other gave up 62 to Montana and 38 to Southern Utah.

Saturday was the best version yet, because the defense finally matched the offense. If the Aggies can keep defending like that, the Big Sky race gets a lot more interesting.

Sources: UC Davis Athletics and Northern Colorado Athletics recaps, releases and schedules. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: UC Davis Athletics.