Local colleges: A classic Sacramento State-UC Davis game looms, if they avoid traps
The Big Sky Conference in football isn’t just a big league scattered over eight states.
It’s big-time fun, chock full of twists, turns, upsets and entertainment.
Cue the chainsaws.
When Northern Arizona scores a touchdown in its home venue, the Skydome, a guy scurries over to cut up a stump with his gas-powered blade. They are the Lumberjacks.
Northern Arizona on Saturday hopes to make some noise and muddy up the Big Sky race when it hosts No. 8 UC Davis, which comes in at 7-1 and seeking its first win in chainsaw country since 2012. NAU is 4-4, coming off a 38-31 victory over Idaho, which followed a 44-0 loss at Sacramento State, which is an example of how up and down the best conference in the FCS can be.
No. 16 Sac State hosts Cal Poly, which comes in having lost its last seven games, but beware the upsets. Cal Poly gave UCD a game on Oct. 23 and lost 24-13. The Hornets have to win this game, certainly, to avoid any bit of a trap game as the regular season-ending Causeway Classic at UCD could be for a great deal more than regional bragging rights. Sac State is coming off a 27-24 win at Northern Colorado, needing every bit of effort to hold off the Bears.
Sac State is 12-1 in the Big Sky since 2019, when it won a share of the Big Sky, and it enters this weekend having won five straight, the biggest of which was at then-No. 5 Montana, 28-21, on Oct. 16. Sac State has won eight consecutive Big Sky games. Over all, it is in the midst of its longest winning streak since moving up from Division II in 1993. This is Sac State’s longest winning streak since the 1985 team won six in a row.
The longest winning streak in program history, dating to 1954, is eight, set in 1966. Sac State has assured itself of posting a winning overall record in successive seasons for just the second time since going D-I, last doing so under coach John Volek in 1999 (6-5) and 2000 (7-4).
The Hornets (6-2) are tied in the Big Sky standings with No. 4 Montana State at 5-0. No. 5 Eastern Washington is 4-1 in the Big Sky, the same as UCD, which hosts the Eagles on Nov. 13. UCD returned all 21 starters from a 3-2 spring team and has set aim to win or share the program’s second Big Sky crown since 2018 under coach Dan Hawkins.
The FCS will advance 11 conference champions and 13 at-large teams to the playoffs. How many will the Big Sky send? Three? Four? Five?
“It’s the best FCS conference,” Sac State coach Troy Taylor said recently, a theme backed by Hawkins, who recently said, “The Big Sky has great players, great coaches. You never know what’s going to happen each week.”
To that end, UCD has used three quarterbacks this season, each backing the other and each producing: Miles Hastings, Hunter Rodrigues and Trent Tompkins. Sac State has used two quarterbacks in Asher O’Hara and Jake Dunniway. Whatever works.
No. 8 UC Davis (7-1) at Northern Arizona (4-4)
When: Saturday, 1 p.m.
On air: Sports 1140 KHTK, ESPN+
Of note: UCD is 4-0 coming off bye weeks dating back to 2016. ... UCD is averaging 195.3 yard rushing a game, thanks in part to the program’s No. 3 career rusher in Ulonzo Gilliam Jr., the highest in the program’s D-I era and the most since 2002 when it averaged 178.6. ... Gilliam Jr. has 3,056 career rushing yards, 269 shy of Preston Jackson. G.P. Muhammad rushed for 3,589 yards from 1995-98. ... UCD has outscored teams 93-6 in the fourth quarter.
Cal Poly (1-7) at No. 16 Sacramento State (6-2)
When: Saturday, 6 p.m.
On air: ESPN 1320 AM, CW 31 TV, ESPN+
Of note: The Hornets are 8-0 at FCS programs since 2019. ... Sac State have not trailed at any point in the last three games, a span of 193 minutes and 28 seconds. ... Sac State is 11-0 under coach Taylor when scoring first and 13-0 under Taylor when taking a lead in the fourth quarter. ... The odd stat of the week: Sac State is 10-0 when losing the coin toss over the last two seasons. ... The Sac State-Cal Poly series started in 1967, and Poly has won 10 of the last 13 meetings and leads the series 21-18.
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 7:40 AM.