UC Davis football coach Dan Hawkins points to the future during chat with media at July’s Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Wash. Bruce Gallaudet/Enterprise photo

As the next round of Big Sky Conference football games approaches on Saturday, UC Davis is now ranked No. 19 by FCS STATS and No. 22 in the American Football Coaches Association poll — while finding itself among a massive seven-team logjam atop the league standings.

There’s a similar logjam at the bottom of the league standings. That’s what happens when teams have played only one league game.

The Aggies, unfortunately, will no longer be in first place when Saturday’s action concludes, given that they have a bye this weekend after roaring off to a 3-1 start, including 1-0 in the Big Sky. UCD is coming off a 44-21 pasting of Idaho last Saturday at Aggie Stadium.

“We’re undefeated at home and undefeated in conference play, and those are always good things,” Aggie head coach Dan Hawkins noted.

Six other teams match UCD’s 1-0 mark, but of those, two are guaranteed to win this weekend and two are guaranteed to lose.

No. 5 Eastern Washington takes on Montana State while Northern Arizona travels to Idaho State.

Other STATS-ranked Big Sky teams include Weber State at No. 6 and Montana at No. 17.

UC Davis doesn’t return to action until an Oct. 6 date in Greeley against winless Northern Colorado (0-4, 0-1) then returns home Oct. 13 against Idaho State.

Although a bye week is dictated by league headquarters in Ogden, Utah, Hawkins says it’s coming at the perfect time for his optimistic squad.

“With school just starting, this is a good thing for us,” Hawkins said.

“It’s really important that our guys have a chance to focus on school and get a really good start in the classroom. They’ll also get a chance to take a break, rest up and get healthy for the rest of the season.”

Hawkins limited the practice schedule to just Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, then plans to give his players Friday, Saturday and Sunday off to recharge.

“This will give them time to go home and get some of mom’s home cooking,” he said with a smile.

To a man, Aggie players seem relieved to have a week off, given that they’ve been going full-steam since the opening day of camp on the first day of August.

Said All-American wide receiver Keelan Doss, “I always want to play, but it’s going to be really good to rest for a week. It’s coming at a great time. We’ve been playing really hard the last four weeks.”

Added defensive back Isiah Olave, who had nine tackles against Idaho: “It’s perfect timing coming off a tough game. There’s been a lot of ground-and-pound so far, so this gives us a chance to make sure our bodies are healthy and sound and let’s us keep our momentum going into Northern Colorado.”

While the Aggies are likely to be favored in each of the next three games against Northern Colorado, Idaho State and Cal Poly — all of which are unranked — the schedule is backloaded with a murderer’s row over the last four weeks.

The Aggies head to perennial power Montana on Oct. 27, come home against 2017 playoff participant Northern Arizona on Nov. 3, head up to league favorite Eastern Washington Nov. 10 and finish the regular season Nov. 17 at home against resurgent Sacramento State, a team that denied them a winning season in last year’s finale.

Coaches and players are, of course, required by law to take things “one game at a time,” but sportswriters have free rein to look as far into the future as their hearts desire.

So let’s just suppose the Aggies continue to play at a high level and get past their next three opponents. That would give UCD a 6-1 overall mark, including 4-0 in league play, and set up a battle of the ages — or at least a battle of October — in Missoula.

It’s never good to get too far ahead of the schedule, but Aggie fans who like to travel might just want to circle Oct. 27 on their calendars and see if they can get a ticket to the game.

The dramatic separation between rich and poor in the Big Sky was evident last weekend when Eastern Washington pummeled hapless Cal Poly, 70-17.

Bobby Hauck has returned to coach at Montana, where he won seven championships in seven seasons before taking the head job at UNLV.

Already it seems as if Hauck has found a quarterback in Dalton Sneed, who rushed for 206 yards and three scores and passed for 234 yards and the winning touchdown as the Grizzlies came back from an 11-point deficit to down Sacramento State, 41-34.

“It was just a fabulous football game, a great, great exciting game,” Hauck said with a tip of his hat to the talented Hornets, who got a 234-yard rushing game from speedster Elijah Dotson.

The game was witnessed by a near-capacity crowd of 24,060 in Washington-Grizzly Stadium, one of the toughest venues in the Big Sky for visiting teams.

In other Big Sky action, Weber State drubbed Northern Colorado, 45-28, Northern Arizona snuck past Southern Utah, 31-23, Idaho State beat North Dakota, 25-21, and Montana State routed Portland State, 43-23.

“Our guys are in a really good place,” Hawkins added.

“They’re very happy with where we are, but at the same time they think we can play a lot better. That’s a blissful place to be as a coach.”

— Reach Bob Dunning at [email protected]