How it Happened
A dominant second half lifted No. 8 UC Davis over No. 9 Rhode Island 47-26 in the second round of the FCS playoffs Saturday night.

Rhode Island (11-3) led 20-11 following a 75-yard touchdown pass from Devin Farrell to Marquis Buchanan in the second quarter. However, from there, UC Davis (9-3) scored 36 unanswered points to take full control of the game.

Aggies quarterback Caden Pinnick beat the Rams with his arm and his legs. The redshirt freshman accounted for 365 yards of total offense. He passed for 266 yards and five touchdowns while also rushing for 99 yards, consistently moving the chains with plays throughout the night.

The first half was a back-and-forth thriller filled with big play by both sides. UC Davis got a field goal on its opening drive. After allowing three first downs, the Rhody defense buckled down and forced the drive to stall at the URI 20-yard line. Hunter Ridley made a 37-yard field goal for an early 3-0 lead for the Aggies.

After Rhody went three-and-out on its first drive, Trey Lubin made a big play for the defense. With UC Davis threatening, Lubin picked off Caden Pinnick in the end zone to thwart a scoring chance. The defense was able to bend and not break again on UC Davis' third possession. Though the Aggies got into the red zone for the third time in a row, but Ridley missed a 33-yard field goal attempt, keeping the score 3-0.

Rhode Island responded with a nine-play, 80-yard touchdown drive. Greg Gaines III made a tough 23-yard catch to breathe life into the offense on the second play of the drive. From there, the Rams methodically marched down the field until Antwain Littleton, Jr. punched it in from 2 yards out to give URI a 7-3 lead.

The response was immediate from UC Davis, as Caden Pinnick hit Samuel Gbatu, Jr. for a 67-yard strike on the first snap of the ensuing drive. That set up a 3-yard touchdown pass from Pinnick to Scott Nixon. A successful two-point conversion made the score 11-7 in favor of the Aggies.

As quick as the UC Davis response was, Rhode Island came back even faster. On second-and-5, Antwain Littleton, Jr. ran through a massive hole created by the blocks of tight ends Kevin Schaeffer and Matt Smith and broke down the right sideline for a 67-yard touchdown run, helping the Rams to a 14-11 lead. Another big strike extended the Rhody lead when Devin Farrell hit Marquis Buchanan for a 75-yard touchdown pass that made the score 20-11 with 2:20 left in the half.

The manic back-and-forth continued. Caden Pinnick led a nine-play, 82-yard drive in just 1:56. He found Zach Jones crossing over the middle for a 15-yard touchdown with 16 seconds left in the half, helping the Aggies pull within 20-18 at the half.

The Aggies struck first in the second half as Jordan Fisher broke off a 50-yard touchdown run, giving UC Davis a 25-20 lead. Later in the period, a Rhody turnover gave UC Davis a short field, and Caden Pinnick, capitalized, hitting Ian Simpson for a 9-yard touchdown pass. A URI penalty on the extra point allowed the Aggies to try a two-point conversion instead. Jordan Fisher ran it in, creating a 33-20 lead for the hosts midway through the third quarter.

The second half was all UC Davis. The Aggies blanked the high-powered Rhody offense while putting 29 points after halftime.

Inside the Box Score

• The game featured Five lead changes.
• Rhode Island was penalized 10 times, compared to three for UC Davis.
• Antwain Littleton, Jr. rushed for 123 yards and two touchdowns.
• With his second rushing touchdown of the game, Littleton, Jr. set the single-season program record with 14 on the year.
• Littleton, Jr. topped 100 yards for the sixth time this season, and the fourth time in the last five games.
• With 1,243 yards o the ground, Littleton had the third-most rushing yards in a season by a Ram, trailing only Malik Grant (1,426 in 2024) and David Jamison (1,320 in 2001).
• Marquis Buchanan had four catches for 109 yards and one touchdown.
• With his 75-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter, Buchanan joined Brian Forster (284) and Aaron Parker (216) as the only players in program history with 200 or more career catches.
• The touchdown by Buchanan was the team's longest pass play of the season.
• Greg Gaines III caught five passes for 83 yards.
• With his final catch, Gaines went over 1,000 receiving yards for the season. He and Buchanan are the second pair of URI receivers to top 1,000 in the same season, joining Brian Forster and Dameon Reilly in 1985.
• Devin Farrell was 22-of-40 for 294 yards and two touchdowns without any turnovers.
• Trey Lubin's interception was his first of the season.
• A.J. Pena had five tackles, two tackles for loss and one sack.
• He finished his career with a program-record 38.0 career sacks.
• Moses Meus led the Rams with seven tackles, ending the year with 109.
• The Big Sky has three teams in the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs. Montana State, Montana and UC Davis all remain alive in the playoffs.
• Safety Andre DePina-Gray was the game captain for URI, and running back Brendon Barrow served as the anchor bearer.