College football: No. 2 Sacramento State beats Montana in OT for first 7-0 start
Sporting the best national ranking in program history, No. 2 Sacramento State’s first nationally televised contest ended with the scene of a flood of fans rushing the field Saturday night. They got their moment, and so did the Hornets.
The Hornets rallied from 10 down in the fourth quarter against one of the most storied and defensive-minded programs in the country to squeeze out a 31-24 overtime victory over No. 7 Montana by scoring the game’s final 17 points. The win keeps their Big Sky Conference championship threepeat hopes alive and well.
The regular-season winning streak dating back to last season also has a racing pulse. The streak is now 15. And this: Of all the Division I college football programs across the West, FBC or FCS, Sacramento State is the last unbeaten.
A season-best crowd of 15,927 at Hornet Stadium saw Asher O’Hara score Sacramento State’s final two touchdowns, a 4-yard scamper with 3:39 left in regulation and then the winning 7-yard effort to give the Hornets their first 7-0 start in program history, dating back to 1954.
Saturday marked Sacramento State’s first overtime game since 2013, a 51-48 loss at home to Montana. The Grizzlies’ attempt to answer O’Hara’s score fell incomplete in the end zone. Montana coaches and fans saw it as a pass interference, but it was not. The receiver tripped on a pass that was short.
Said Montana coach Bobby Hauck to Montana Grizzlies media afterward, “We had a lot of things go against us, and not all our doing. I thought the last play in particular was pretty questionable, but we’ll look at that on film and see.”
Then the fans came pouring onto Fred Anderson Field to celebrate the program’s third consecutive victory over the Grizzlies, who entered this season ranked second, with 18 returning starters. Before the 2019 season, when the current Hornets coaching staff took over, Montana owned an 18-1 mark against Sacramento State.
“We were stumbling over ourselves early,” Sacramento State coach Troy Taylor said. “I told our guys it’d take a four quarters. I was wrong. It was overtime, too. It was one of those games where the last 45 minutes was a blur. A lot of things happened.”
When the game ended, Taylor immediately embraced defensive coordinator Andy Thompson. Any Montana game is big for that coach because he played for the Grizz.
Jake Dunniway passed for 284 yards and overcame two interceptions by making some of the best throws of his Hornets career. He never got rattled, and coach Taylor said of his team in general, “no one on the sideline blinked; they never flinched.”
One of Dunniway’s best passes was a 38-yard dart to Marshel Martin late in the half to pull Sacramento State to within 10-7. The senior also hit Pierre Williams for a 45-yard scoring strike to pull to within 17-14 early in the fourth quarter. Trailing 24-17, he found Jared Gipson on a fourth-and-4 play for 26-yard beauty to put the ball on the 4-yard line and set up O’Hara’s run that led to overtime.
This was the first game this season in which Sacramento State trailed, the last FBS or FCS program to do so. The Hornets trailed 7-0 after the first quarter, making it the only quarter the Hornets didn’t score this season. That’s all a credit to Montana, winner of 18 Big Sky championships, but the Hornets showed resolve and looked the part of an experienced, confident bunch.
“Proud of our guys,” Taylor said. “We talk about resiliency, continuing to compete. It was cool that ESPN was here. That was great. It’s good to get that seventh win and it was good to see Sacramento excited about it.”
Cameron Skattebo rushed for 112 yards, the most Montana has allowed a runner this season. Sacramento State blocked two field goals and also recovered a line-drive onside kick attempt amid the fourth-quarter rally.
“We kept fighting,” Skattebo said. “We had some mistakes here and there, but the defense kept fighting and kept us in it.”
As for the 7-0 start, Skattebo said, “It feels awesome. We can’t stop now. We can’t be happy. We have to keep playing.”
The Hornets are 5-0 in the Big Sky and host Idaho on Saturday for homecoming in another meeting of Big Sky unbeatens. No. 3 Montana State is the only other Big Sky team that is unbeaten in league play at 5-0. Montana dropped to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in conference.
This story was originally published October 23, 2022 at 5:15 AM.