College football: No. 8 Sacramento State faces team that crushed them in 2021
Troy Taylor didn’t need a reminder, but the flashback wasn’t buried too deep.
Sacramento State’s football coach recalled the turning point of the 2021 season. It was rooted in what quarterback Jake Dunniway said this week was “humbling” — a 36-14 setback to University of Northern Iowa at Hornet Stadium.
Taylor and team leaders said Sacramento State would respond, and they did. They fought Cal to the finish in a 12-point loss in Berkeley and then tied a school record with an eight-game winning streak that was capped with a Sky Conference championship. Even title teams have clunker outings, and for the Hornets, it was the third-quarter against UNI when the Panthers piled up 27 unanswered points.
Ranked eighth in FCS, Sacramento State plays at No. 25 UNI on Saturday in the UNI-Dome, rested and ready after a bye week.
“Turned it over a ton in that game, and they’re a really good team, well coached, physical,” Taylor said Wednesday. “We figured out our pace and what we needed to do to win and took off from there.”
That clunker moment to turn the season, coach?
“It was a really bad quarter,” Taylor said with a laugh. “It’s starting to come back now.”
UNI is a staple in the FCS ranks, having won 16 conference championships and reaching the FCS playoffs 22 times. Though the Panthers are 0-2, this is forever a dangerous lot. UNI has 25 all-time wins over ranked FCS teams. UNI lost at Air Force 48-17 in an opener and dropped a 29-27 contest at North Dakota last week.
Sacramento State players owned the UNI loss last season. There was no finger-pointing. Both quarterbacks are back for another go in Jake Dunniway and Asher O’Hara, and Cameron Skattebo gets to face UNI for the first time as a starter. The sophomore running back is coming off his first Big Sky Player of the Week honor from the Sept. 5 opener against Utah Tech in which he delivered a performance to remember.
In a 56-33 win over Utah Tech, the Rio Linda High School graduate rushed for a career-best 153 yards on 10 carries, caught a 19-yard pass and delivered a shoulder lean on the goal line and scooped up the ball on Utah Tech’s onside attempt and charged 29 yards into the end zone, carrying three defenders the final 10 yards.
Dunniway said the UNI setback last season, “was humbling,” but agreed that it was the team’s turning point. Hornets players watched UNI’s game against North Dakota on ESPN+ on Saturday.
“We’re a completely different team from last year, and we’re only getting better,” Dunniway said while also complimenting the Panthers. “They’re going to have to prepare for a lot. With all our talent, it’s hard to picture how teams are going to stop it.”
Taylor isn’t rah-rah type and won’t rally the troops with revenge in mind.
“Everyone that was here remembers they got after us, but I don’t think those things win games,” he said. “It’s about executing and being prepared. ... We did some good things (against Utah Tech) but we’ve got to trend up. We have to play better than we did two weeks ago to beat (the Panthers). We have to. If we play the same, we will not win the game.”
No. 8 Sacramento State (1-0) at No. 25 UNI (0-2)
When: Saturday, 2 p.m.
Where: UNI-Dome, Cedar Falls, Iowa
On air: ESPN1320, ESPN+
Quick hits: UNI coach Mark Farley is in his 22nd season with a 168-95 record. ... Sacramento State is ranked in the top 25 for the 15th time since the start of the 2019 season (there was no 2020 campaign due to COVID). ... Prior to Taylor’s arrival in 2019, the Hornets had only played seven games while ranked in the school’s Division I era (1993-2018). ... Ariel Ngata at this time a year ago was recovering from a torn Achilles tendon and he surprised everyone including his own doctors by returning six months after surgery last season. The defensive end from Folsom High School had two sacks in the season opener. ... UNI duel-threat quarterback Theo Day is averaging 310 yards. of offense. ... The 2021 UNI team included New Orleans Saints first-round pick Trevor Penning, a tackle.
This story was originally published September 16, 2022 at 5:00 AM.