Sacramento State football will be bowl game-eligible in 2026 with NCAA rule change
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- NCAA eliminated the FBS transition bowl ineligibility period.
- Sacramento State will play its first season in the MAC and can be bowl eligible at 6-6.
- The school’s MAC move will cost Sacramento State about $24 million over five years.
Sacramento State football could play in its first Division I bowl game as soon as this season.
The NCAA Division I Cabinet on Wednesday voted to eliminate a transition period in which teams transitioning to the Football Bowl Subdivision from the lower-level Football Conference Subdivision were not eligible for bowl games for two seasons, Sac State’s football program confirmed in posts on social media. Multiple news reports confirmed the NCAA news as well.
That means the Hornets, who will play their first season in the Mid-American Conference as a football-only member this season, could make their bowl debut if they perform well in their first season. To be eligible for a bowl, an FBS teams must go at least .500 (generally 6-6, overall).
“Sacramento State did not make the move to FBS simply to participate—we made it to compete,” Sacramento State President Luke Wood said in a post on social media. “#varsitymindset.”
The rule change also applies to North Dakota State, an FCS powerhouse that is joining the Mountain West conference this coming season. The Hornets will host North Dakota State on Sept. 19 at Hornet Stadium, and the rule change means that game could have significant postseason implications for each team. The Sac State-North Dakota State matchup will be televised on ESPN.
Sac State had been a member of the Big Sky Conference from 1996 through last season, finishing with winning records 11 times. The program is coming to the MAC after one of the most successful stretches in team history, in which it won three Big Sky championships over four seasons from 2019 to 2022, including a dominant 12-1 campaign in 2022 that included an 8-0 record in Big Sky play.
The move to the MAC will cost the school about $24 million over the next five years, according to previous Bee reporting, including a $5 million fee to NCAA and about $x in entrance fees to the MAC.
The school’s non-football sports will move to the Big West Conference this season.
Before the rule change, 2022 Sun Belt East Division champion James Madison University was the most recent team kept from a bowl game due to the transition period rules, sparking controversy around the rule. Others, like Missouri State and Delaware in 2025 and James Madison in 2023, received waivers to compete because there weren’t enough qualified teams to fill the bowl games.
The Hornets kick off their season and MAC play with an Aug. 29 game against Eastern Michigan, with the Hornets seeing their first action under new head coach Alonzo Carter.
