‘He’s a difficult tackle’: Skattebo helps power Sacramento State to 5-0 Big Sky record
Two games into his college career, and Cameron Skattebo is kicking it into a new gear.
The redshirt freshman running back from Rio Linda High School and The Bee’s 2019 Offensive Player of the Year rushed for 111 yards and the game-sealing touchdown on Saturday afternoon to help power No. 15 Sacramento State to a 27-24 victory at Northern Colorado in Big Sky Conference action.
Skattebo set a bevy of regional rushing records at Rio Linda and waited his turn at Sac State after being slowed in fall camp by illness. He got his shot last week at home against Northern Arizona and rushed for 117 yards on 10 carries and a score in a 44-0 rout.
The bearded, 5-foot-10, 195-pound bruiser provided more hard runs and physicality against the Bears as Sac State moved to 6-2 overall and 5-0 in the Big Sky. The Hornets have won five consecutive games and moved to 13-1 in the Big Sky since 2019, the best mark in that stretch in the best conference in the land of FCS football.
Skattebo’s 11-yard touchdown run pushed Sac State ahead 27-17 with 6:05 left to play.
“He brings a lot of passion and a lot of ability,” Sac State coach Troy Taylor said after the game. “He’s a difficult tackle, very physical. He expects to run through tackles. He’s been a workhorse.”
Asher O’Hara had a 2-yard touchdown toss to Marcel Martin for a 10-0 Hornets lead, and BJ Perkinson’s 1-yard scoring plunge made it 17-7, and the Hornets held off the gritty Bears as coach Taylor and his staff moved to 7-0 at FCS schools since 2019, when the Hornets won their first Big Sky crown.
This wasn’t Sac State’s best effort by any stretch, but in this conference and in this sport, you appreciate every victory. There were penalties, dropped passes, breakdowns on special teams, offense and defense, but Sac State left Nottingham Field as one of just two teams in the deep Big Sky that remained unbeaten in conference play. Montana State is also 5-0 in the Big Sky.
“It took everything we had to win the game,” Taylor said, crediting the effort of Northern Colorado, which dropped to 3-6 and 2-4. “The positive thing is our guys are resilient. It wasn’t our cleanest performance, but glad to get a Big Sky victory.”
Sac State had 388 yards of offense and 23 first down. Northern Colorado had 11 first downs. Jake Dunniway, last week’s Big Sky Player of the Week, passed for 138 yards for the Hornets. O’Hara completed three of his four attempts and also rushed for 59 yards on 15 carries. Perkinson carried 13 times for 50 yards as the Hornets rushed for 217 yards.
Josiah Erickson had a sack late to help stall Northern Colorado, which burned time out to stop the clock as the Hornets burned the clock.
“We knew we needed a big play,” Erickson said. “We didn’t play the best game, but we were able to stick together and finish the game and that’s all that matters.”
Sac State hosts Cal Poly next Saturday at 6 p.m., followed by a home game against Portland State on Nov. 13 and then the Causeway Classic showdown at rival UC Davis on Nov. 20 that very well could have Big Sky championship and playoff implications.