Mountain Hawks can’t turn back the clock
Lehigh stumbles to 0-3 as Aggies thoroughly dominate from beginning
The last time the Lehigh University football team visited UC Davis, it was very different.
It was December, it was a morning game, it was a Division II playoff game and it produced one of the greatest wins in school history, 39-30, to send the Engineers on to the 1977 NCAA Division II national championship game.
Not even Lehigh’s nickname was the same Saturday night when the teams met for the first time in nearly 42 years.
UC Davis (2-1) scored the first 41 points in a 41-13 nonconference win that dropped Lehigh’s record to 0-3. It is the second time in three years the Mountain Hawks have started a season 0-3.
The 2017 team began 0-5 before winning five of its next six games to win a share of the Patriot League title. Lehigh started last year 1-7 and finished 3-8.
UC Davis, ranked No. 4 in one FCS poll and fifth in another, got a big passing night from preseason All-America quarterback Jake Maier. He completed 38 of 49 passes for 389 yards and four touchdowns.
Carson Crawford led the Aggies with nine catches for 148 yards and a touchdown and Khris Vaughn added eight catches for 48 yards and two scores.
The temperature at the start of the game, which started at 7 p.m. Pacific Coast time, was 95 degrees.
The UC Davis offense was as hot as the weather in building a 21-0 lead and tacked on three more scores in the second half before Lehigh stirred for two late two touchdowns.
Devon Bibbens caught a 69yard touchdown from Tyler Monaco with 6:29 left and added a 3-yard scoring reception from Addison Shoup on the last play of the game. Bibbens had seven catches for 101 yards and Jorge Portorreal had nine grabs for 75 yards.
Lehigh was outgained 510260 overall and managed just 58 yards rushing, a stat affected by seven quarterback sacks by UC Davis. The Mountain Hawks fumbled three times and lost possession twice.
“We obviously weren’t ready for this level of play at this point in time,” first-year Lehigh coach Tom Gilmore told lehighsports.com after the game. “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.”
Lehigh, which hadn’t played a game in California since 1998, will get time to work on things. It won’t play again until Sept. 28 against Merrimack at Goodman Stadium. The Patriot League schedule opens the following week, Oct. 5, at Colgate.
The good news for Lehigh is that almost the entire Patriot League is struggling. The seven members are a combined 4-16 with only Georgetown (2-1) owning a winning record. Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell and Colgate are 0-3.
Keith Groller can be reached at 610-820-6740 or at kgroller@mcall.com