The UC Davis football team plays Stanford University tomorrow in a sign of the times as the Aggies reach the midway point of a four-year transition to Division I.

Facing increasingly difficult opponents like Stanford — a Division I-A football powerhouse — is just one element in the re-engineering of the Aggie athletics program, which aims to receive full Division I status in 2007.

As Athletics Director Greg Warzecka puts it, UC Davis is in for a "big paper push year" and the "high hurdles" of NCAA rules and requirements. To become Division I, schools typically upgrade their facilities, expand their athletic scholarships, increase their staffing, and toughen their schedules against harder foes.

Four years sounds like a long time, but the NCAA well understands from history how long it takes a university to move up the food chain and become competitive. Before they earn NCAA's Division I status, schools must prove their meddle through a rigorous certification process.

UC Davis is not alone in its ambitions. The prospect of competing at the top level of the NCAA has prompted about 50 other schools nationwide to leave Division II since the mid-1980s for Division I. For UC Davis, its 26-sport athletic program will compete in the Big West Conference of NCAA Division I. And its football program will play in Division I-AA.

In many ways, the bigger NCAA weight class seems like a better fit. In its last eight years in D-II, UC Davis captured six Directors' Cups as the most outstanding overall athletic program in the country.

Still, winning at the D-I level will be harder than in D-II — at least for awhile. In football, the Stanford game is symbolic of a grinding schedule that puts the Aggies' run of 35 consecutive winning seasons in jeopardy. They lost their first two games — very close ones — to a strong Portland State team and New Hampshire, which is ranked seventh in Division I-AA.

"This year is clearly the toughest schedule we've ever had," said Aggie head football coach Bob Biggs, who began the 2005-06 season as the second-winningest football coach in UC Davis history.

The irony for the football program is that as it improves its talent in the absolute sense — by recruiting players with D-I level abilities — the team's won-loss record may worsen.

The last time UC Davis grappled with Stanford on the gridiron was 1932 when the Aggies were trounced, 59-0. And the last time UC Davis played a Division I-A opponent was in 1997 when the University of Idaho Vandals prevailed, 44-14.

For Biggs, the D-I transition is an education itself. He often speaks of using "measuring sticks," or learning what it takes to compete successfully at a higher level. "We learn how to make adjustments," he added.

It all comes down to his belief in the student-athlete. Sports is a means to an end, not an end.

"They can be competitive and play to win and earn a degree with meaning that provides opportunity over and above playing athletics," Biggs said.

However, some faculty members have criticized the move to D-I, concerned that it will lower academic standards for athletes and shift resources away from teaching and research.

Professor Kim Elsbach of the Graduate School of Management is the faculty athletics representative at UC Davis. Her job is to protect the university's academic mission in athletics decision-making.

"The student athletes at UC Davis will be held to higher academic standards than the rest of the student population," she said.

Elsbach, who is a master's swimmer, marathon runner and triathlete, says that athletics teaches organizational skills, dedication, leadership, teamwork and humility.

"Students are monitored on a quarterly basis, and if adequate progress toward graduation in a degree program is not being made, they are immediately ineligible for practice or competition."

What lies ahead

During the remainder of the transition, UC Davis must adhere to all Division I rules. In the year ahead, as Warzecka explains, UC Davis athletic representatives will attend the NCAA convention and exchange reports, visits and feedback with the NCAA. To help with the process, Stan Nosek, vice chancellor for the Office of Administration, is chairing UC Davis' Division I certification committee.

Spending will increase in the D-I era. In the last two years, UC Davis' athletic budget has grown by nearly $3 million to about $10.7 million. New facilities are rising up — last June, the campus broke ground on a new $29 million, multi-use stadium, and the Aggies expect to play in it next fall. When it opens, it will be the latest state-of-the-art sports facility on campus, joining the Activities and Recreation Center, the Marya Welch Tennis Center, the Schaal Aquatics Center, and the Dobbins Baseball Complex.

UC Davis has instituted a three-year staffing plan to increase the rolls of assistant coaches and to increase their salaries. In a sign of the times, the athletic department hired former Olympian Andy Bloom as the school's first full-time strength and conditioning coach.

Elsbach, a former member of the varsity swim team at the University of Iowa, says her experience as an NCAA Division I athlete taught her a great deal.

"I'm interested in improving governance so that all sports teams and all student athletes have equal access to resources and have the greatest chance of a positive experience while at UC Davis," said Elsbach, wShe added, "I also have a personal interest in ensuring that gender equity is not just a goal but a reality in athletics at UC Davis."