Sacramento Bee: Cardinal left red-faced

UC Davis scores in the final seconds to shock Stanford of the Pacific-10

By Scott Howard-Cooper -- Bee Staff Writer

PALO ALTO - West 95 Ringo X Fade Stop. Jon Grant dropped back, saw Blaise Smith in the right side of the end zone, and delivered the pass. Touchdown. Just like that. An ordinary toss.   What it meant, however, was entirely incomprehensible, so staggering even those who lived it couldn't fathom the meaning, so unpredictable it sparked bedlam. UC Davis, a Division I-AA school that couldn't even beat teams on its own level the first two weeks, shocked Stanford, a Division I school that plays in the Pacific-10 Conference, 20-17 on a forever Saturday night for the Aggies when Grant hit Smith from three yards out with eight seconds remaining.  Facing its first 0-3 start since 1965, and its first three-game losing streak at any point of a season since 1995, UCD turned that prospect upside down.  Every other bit of reality went with it.

From a 17-0 second-quarter deficit to a monument victory for an entire program, not merely the current team. From two critical offensive turnovers to the same unit executing in the pressure moment of this season and maybe others past, with Grant connecting with wide receiver Tony Kays for 19 yards on third and four from the Stanford 25 to keep the drive alive and then Grant getting to Smith on third and goal from the three. West 95 Ringo X Fade Stop. A play the Aggies hadn't even practiced all week. "It's such a big deal," Smith said amid the celebration a few minutes later, "I don't even know how to express it yet. I can't believe it." "Tonight," Grant said, "we were playing not only for ourselves, but for every Aggie that ever put on the uniform."  There was that much joy to go around. UCD players and staff and cheerleaders mobbed each other in the end zone closest to the big block of Aggie fans. The rooting section was pandemonium, some backers jumping in the aisles, others screaming and pressing against the fence while grabbing it and feverishly shaking away. Soon, some players came and grabbed on to the same fence in shared celebration. The Stanford sideline stood in shock. Only after about 30 seconds did the Cardinal move to congratulate the victors and wander to the locker room.  "In your wildest, wildest dreams, would you ever have believed this?" UCD coach Bob Biggs said.

Well, would you have? "I wouldn't," he said. "Not the way it played out." Just being here was part of the moment for UCD. Never in the history of a program that began in 1915 had the Aggies played before more than the 20,993 at Sacramento State for the 1999 Causeway Classic, one of only six times they had ever broken 16,000 at any venue, and now here they were on the stage in front of 31,250 in a venerable Pacific-10 building.

It was not an intimate setting, though, with only about half the 85,000 seats occupied, so it's not like the visitors had reason to be overwhelmed in that regard. Facing the 6,720 fans last season indoors at North Dakota State may have been as much a test of UCD composure, what with the noise and passion there. Stanford had a home opener and the momentum of the 41-38 victory at Navy the week, but not much in the way of actual excitement early in a year in which the Cardinal was picked to finish ninth in conference.  Besides, about a quarter of the supporters belonged to the Aggies in the payoff to what school officials had been saying for weeks was a special game for more than the team. When the game came, and with Stanford supposedly ready to capitalize on superior depth and size, the Aggies still had reason to be encouraged at the outset. They also had reason to be frustrated, again.

After losing the opener by four points to the team that by this week had climbed to No. 3 in the I-AA rankings by The Sports Network and losing a Saturday later by two points, UCD had a first half against the Cardinal that was impressive in every way except the score. The Aggies had more first downs and more yards and a greater time of possession.

But the Aggies were also reliving the first two games, one self-inflicted moment at a time. The defense, left to carry the moment alone, couldn't. The turnovers, as before, were fatal: Stanford got one touchdown when linebacker Kevin Schimmelmann sacked Grant in the end zone and recovered, then got another when running back Nelson Doris fumbled and linebacker Michael Craven went 54 yards with the recovery for a 17-0 lead in the second quarter.