‘We will respond’: Sacramento State forced to regroup after home loss to Northern Iowa
.jpg "Sac State head coach Troy Taylor greets his team as they come off the field Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019, during the game against Weber State at Hornet Stadium.")
The two offensive leaders wore expressions of defeat Saturday night, their sweat-soaked white jerseys and long expressions speaking volumes.
Sacramento State’s home football opener started with promise and a two-point halftime lead, but the wheels fell off under an avalanche of turnovers and the might of an FCS powerhouse in Northern Iowa that generally feeds on miscues. Six turnovers and a 27-0 third-quarter run doomed the Hornets, and No. 15 Northern Iowa pounced for a 34-16 triumph in front of 8,067 at Hornet Stadium.
Sac State quarterback Asher O’Hara and running back Elijah Dotson sounded like determined leaders afterward, insisting better days are ahead, starting with Monday’s practice as the Hornets prepare for Saturday’s date at Pac-12 member Cal.
O’Hara passed for 338 yards and led three first-half scoring drives that resulted in Kyle Sentkowski field goals, but he could not find the end zone against a stout defense. O’Hara was intercepted three times and fumbled twice. He owned every bit of all of it.
“Me alone, I had five turnovers,” O’Hara said. “One is unacceptable and five is laughable if we think we’re going to win a game that way. I was putting the defense in a tough spot with two fumbles alone, and it just started bad. Our mind set was right, but it always starts with the quarterback.”
Dotson, the program’s All-America running back, managed just 39 yard rushing but he did scoot in for an 11-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to account for the final score.
“I love our team and I love how we compete,” Dotson said. “We’re a better team than that. We all make mistakes, and we’ll get back to it and figure it out. All we can do is get better.”
The senior from Antelope High School added, “It’s very disappointing. No one takes losses great. We’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and we have to do better.”
This was Sac State’s first home game since an FCS playoff loss to Austin Peay to cap the 2019 season, the best for a program that started in 1954.
Sac State coach Troy Taylor agreed with his quarterback and running back that the Hornets can do better. And this: They have to do better as a unit, to a man. Taylor was impressed with his team’s opening 19-7 effort at Dixie State and liked what he saw in the first half against Northern Iowa before things started to buckle in the third. Taylor’s main theme was that he likes his team’s makeup and resolve.
“Really good football team,” he said of facing a program that has won 16 conference championships, reached the FCS playoffs 21 times, has a handful of national top 5 finishes and was coming off an inspired 10-6 loss at FBS No. 7 Iowa State. “We will respond, as coaches and players. We’ll be ready to go against Cal, I promise you. We talk about being mindful and having to move on to the next game, and we will play better. It’s absolutely disappointing and it’s a learning experience for us. We can’t blow opportunities like that against a team that good.”
Missed tackles, turnovers and a short field for the Panthers of the Missouri Valley Football Conference turned a 9-7 game into a 34-9 game in an instant. Theo Day had two touchdown passes to make it 34-9, and Northern Iowa rushed 42 times for 219 yards. On defense, the Panthers had 11 tackles for loss.
Sac State outgained Northern Iowa 455-346 and had 29 first downs to the Panthers’ 20, but one team had six turnovers and the visitors one, and field goals are not enough when defenses are stretched.
Taylor said he likes the attitude and ability of O’Hara and backup Jake Dunniway. They were neck-and-neck in practice for the starting job. Dunniway passed for 11 yards in just a handful of downs. There is no quarterback issue here, Taylor said.
“I believe in both of those guys,” Taylor said. “They both can lead us to victory. It was a full team deal tonight, not just the quarterback, or the offense, or the defense. We just got beat.”