Aggies rally late to claim Causeway crown with 42-39 win over Sacramento State
UC Davis will learn its FCS playoff seeding and bracket Sunday morning
SACRAMENTO - Sacramento State came ready for a fight, but in the end UC Davis held on to complete a magical regular season with a tense 42-39 Big Sky Conference football win over the Hornets Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 16,239 at Hornet Stadium.
The Aggies' 10-2 mark is the school's best in the FCS era and guarantees UCD a high seed and first-round bye in the FCS playoffs. UCD finished second in the Big Sky with a 7-1 mark behind Montana State at 8-0.
Pairings for the 24-team national championship playoff will be announced at 9:30 a.m. Sunday on ESPNU.
The hard-luck Hornets, who were ranked in the Top 10 in the early season, finished 3-9 overall and 1-7 in league.
But CSUS did not go quietly in this one, rallying from a 21-7 first-half deficit to take a 24-21 lead into the fourth quarter.
But, as they have all season when trailing, the Aggies rallied with a three-touchdown explosion in the fourth quarter, then Lan Larison recovered an onside kick at the end to preserve the victory.
Larison added significantly to his resume for the Walter Payton Award that goes to the top offensive player in the FCS with 148 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, plus five receptions for another 69 yards.
He now has 1,321 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns for the season along with 59 catches for 727 yards and six scores.