Saturday, September 14
Davis, Calif.
10:00 PM (ET)
Lehigh University
0-3
13
at
41
UC Davis
2-1
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Lehigh
0
0
0
13
13
UC Davis
14
7
13
7
41
Mountain Hawks fall at No. 4/5 UC Davis, 41-13
9/15/2019 3:09:00 AM | Football
DAVIS, Calif. – No. 4/5 UC Davis showed why it is one of the top teams in the FCS, as the Aggies scored the first 41 points of the game on the way to a 41-13 win over Lehigh Saturday at UC Davis Health Stadium. Lehigh's defense held the Aggies under 100 rushing yards, but the UC Davis passing game, led by preseason All-America quarterback Jake Maier, produced 419 yards and four touchdowns.
Lehigh senior wide receiver Devon Bibbens caught a 67-yard touchdown pass from classmate Tyler Monaco and then a three-yard scoring pass from junior Addison Shoup on the final play of the game to account for the Mountain Hawks' scoring. The Mountain Hawks were held to 260 yards of offense and surrendered seven sacks as they fall to 0-3 on the season.
"We obviously weren't ready for this level of play at this point in time," Lehigh head coach Tom Gilmore said. "Hopefully we learned a lot from it. We'll watch the film and look for ways we can improve. We obviously need to improve a lot. We'll keep working at it.
"We're a young team right now," Gilmore continued. "We haven't found a rhythm on offense and we need to do that. The disappointing things were the things we gave up on defense. They're a really good football team, but we needed to stay disciplined and we didn't. We gave up some big plays because of that."
UC Davis (2-1) received the opening kickoff and moved down the field, 60 yards in 10 plays, capped by a two-yard pass from Maier to Khris Vaughn. The Lehigh defense came up with a stop on the Aggies' second drive, but Maier hit Wes Preece on a four-yard score, capping a 94-yard drive to give UC Davis a 14-0 lead after one quarter.
Maier finished the game 38-for-49 for 389 yards and four touchdowns. UC Davis converted 7-of-21 third downs, but kept several key drives alive by converting fourth downs, where the Aggies finished the night converting 6-of-9.
"Defensively, we gave up a lot of third down situations in the first half," Gilmore said. "We let one of the best offenses in the country stay on the field. We can't do that. We need to do a better job as coaches figuring out how our guys can better understand zones when we're in zone coverage. In those third down situations we gave up too many big plays."
A three-yard touchdown run by Ulonzo Gilliam put the Aggies up 21-0 at halftime. UC Davis added a Tehran Thomas touchdown run and two more touchdown passes from Maier to Carson Crawford and Vaughn to go up 41-0 with 12:39 to play.
Monaco finished 15-of-35 for 171 yards and a touchdown, but was sacked seven times. Shoup was 6-of-7 in late game action, for 31 yards and his first career touchdown pass, and also rushed four times for six yards.
Bibbens finished with 101 yards on seven receptions and his first career two-touchdown game. Junior Jorge Portorreal had nine receptions for 75 yards.
"Offensively, we need to move the ball more consistently," Gilmore said. "It starts with our run game, which we got going a little bit more in the second half. I'm optimistic that we can keep improving in that area."
Senior Keith Woetzel led the defensive effort with 16 tackles, including 1.5 for loss, while junior Jaylen Floyd added a career-high 15.
The Mountain Hawks finished with 11 tackles for loss, led by junior Erik Slater with three.
"This team is not going to give up," Gilmore said. "They're going to fight until the end. We just have to execute a lot better when the game is on the line.
Lehigh will have its first of two byes next week and will return to action on Sept. 28 when the Mountain Hawks host Merrimack on Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Tackle Cancer Day presented by Red Robin. The Warriors are currently reclassifying from Division II to Division I and will become full members of the Northeast Conference in 2023-24 after the four-year reclassification period. Game time on Sept. 28 is set for 12:30 p.m. from Goodman Stadium.
EXTRA POINTS… Lehigh lost its first football game played in the state of California… the Mountain Hawks previously owned wins at UC Davis in the 1977 Knute Rockne Bowl and at St. Mary's in 1998… Lehigh finished minus-1 in turnover margin with two fumbles lost and a muffed UC Davis punt recovered by junior Zac Troxell… Lehigh's quartet of tailbacks rushed for 92 yards, led by freshman Zaythan Hill, who had six for 43… fifth-year senior Juwan Morrow had Lehigh's lone sack… the Mountain Hawks wore their white helmets for the first time this season, paired with white jerseys and pants… Lehigh fell to 3-2 since the start of the 2010 season when traveling to a game by airplane.
Like Lehigh Football on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
Lehigh senior wide receiver Devon Bibbens caught a 67-yard touchdown pass from classmate Tyler Monaco and then a three-yard scoring pass from junior Addison Shoup on the final play of the game to account for the Mountain Hawks' scoring. The Mountain Hawks were held to 260 yards of offense and surrendered seven sacks as they fall to 0-3 on the season.
"We obviously weren't ready for this level of play at this point in time," Lehigh head coach Tom Gilmore said. "Hopefully we learned a lot from it. We'll watch the film and look for ways we can improve. We obviously need to improve a lot. We'll keep working at it.
"We're a young team right now," Gilmore continued. "We haven't found a rhythm on offense and we need to do that. The disappointing things were the things we gave up on defense. They're a really good football team, but we needed to stay disciplined and we didn't. We gave up some big plays because of that."
UC Davis (2-1) received the opening kickoff and moved down the field, 60 yards in 10 plays, capped by a two-yard pass from Maier to Khris Vaughn. The Lehigh defense came up with a stop on the Aggies' second drive, but Maier hit Wes Preece on a four-yard score, capping a 94-yard drive to give UC Davis a 14-0 lead after one quarter.
Maier finished the game 38-for-49 for 389 yards and four touchdowns. UC Davis converted 7-of-21 third downs, but kept several key drives alive by converting fourth downs, where the Aggies finished the night converting 6-of-9.
"Defensively, we gave up a lot of third down situations in the first half," Gilmore said. "We let one of the best offenses in the country stay on the field. We can't do that. We need to do a better job as coaches figuring out how our guys can better understand zones when we're in zone coverage. In those third down situations we gave up too many big plays."
A three-yard touchdown run by Ulonzo Gilliam put the Aggies up 21-0 at halftime. UC Davis added a Tehran Thomas touchdown run and two more touchdown passes from Maier to Carson Crawford and Vaughn to go up 41-0 with 12:39 to play.
Monaco finished 15-of-35 for 171 yards and a touchdown, but was sacked seven times. Shoup was 6-of-7 in late game action, for 31 yards and his first career touchdown pass, and also rushed four times for six yards.
Bibbens finished with 101 yards on seven receptions and his first career two-touchdown game. Junior Jorge Portorreal had nine receptions for 75 yards.
"Offensively, we need to move the ball more consistently," Gilmore said. "It starts with our run game, which we got going a little bit more in the second half. I'm optimistic that we can keep improving in that area."
Senior Keith Woetzel led the defensive effort with 16 tackles, including 1.5 for loss, while junior Jaylen Floyd added a career-high 15.
The Mountain Hawks finished with 11 tackles for loss, led by junior Erik Slater with three.
"This team is not going to give up," Gilmore said. "They're going to fight until the end. We just have to execute a lot better when the game is on the line.
Lehigh will have its first of two byes next week and will return to action on Sept. 28 when the Mountain Hawks host Merrimack on Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Tackle Cancer Day presented by Red Robin. The Warriors are currently reclassifying from Division II to Division I and will become full members of the Northeast Conference in 2023-24 after the four-year reclassification period. Game time on Sept. 28 is set for 12:30 p.m. from Goodman Stadium.
EXTRA POINTS… Lehigh lost its first football game played in the state of California… the Mountain Hawks previously owned wins at UC Davis in the 1977 Knute Rockne Bowl and at St. Mary's in 1998… Lehigh finished minus-1 in turnover margin with two fumbles lost and a muffed UC Davis punt recovered by junior Zac Troxell… Lehigh's quartet of tailbacks rushed for 92 yards, led by freshman Zaythan Hill, who had six for 43… fifth-year senior Juwan Morrow had Lehigh's lone sack… the Mountain Hawks wore their white helmets for the first time this season, paired with white jerseys and pants… Lehigh fell to 3-2 since the start of the 2010 season when traveling to a game by airplane.
Like Lehigh Football on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
Team Stats
LEHIGH
UCD
Total Yards
260
510
Pass Yards
202
419
Rushing Yards
58
91
Penalty Yards
10
60
1st Downs
14
21
3rd Downs
8
7
4th Downs
0
6
TOP
29:14
30:46
1st Quarter
LEHIGH 0, UCD 7
UCD - VAUGHN, Khris 2 yd pass from MAIER, Jake (O'ROURKE, Max kick) 10 plays, 60 yards, TOP 3:23
LEHIGH 0, UCD 14
UCD - PREECE, Wes 4 yd pass from MAIER, Jake (O'ROURKE, Max kick) 11 plays, 94 yards, TOP 3:41
2nd Quarter
LEHIGH 0, UCD 21
UCD - GILLIAM, Jr. 3 yd run (O'ROURKE, Max kick), 2 plays, 30 yards, TOP 0:25
3rd Quarter
LEHIGH 0, UCD 28
UCD - THOMAS, Tehran 1 yd run (O'ROURKE, Max kick), 7 plays, 23 yards, TOP 1:55
LEHIGH 0, UCD 34
UCD - CRAWFORD, C. 24 yd pass from MAIER, Jake (O'ROURKE, Max kickfailed) 6 plays, 57 yards, TOP 1:42
4th Quarter
LEHIGH 0, UCD 41
UCD - VAUGHN, Khris 23 yd pass from MAIER, Jake (O'ROURKE, Max kick) 7 plays, 70 yards, TOP 2:11
LEHIGH 7, UCD 41
LEHIGH - Bibbens, Devon 67 yd pass from Monaco, Tyler (Henning, Austin kick) 1 plays, 67 yards, TOP 0:10
LEHIGH 13, UCD 41
LEHIGH - Bibbens, Devon 3 yd pass from Shoup, Addison () 12 plays, 51 yards, TOP 3:58
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
15
TD
1
YDS
171
INT
0
CMP
6
TD
1
YDS
31
INT
0
Players Mentioned
WR
/ Football
DB
/ Football
RB
/ FootballQB
/ Football
DL
/ Football
WR
/ FootballQB
/ Football
DL
/ Football
DL
/ Football
LB
/ FootballLehigh Sports Central: Football
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