UC Davis and Sac State face Big Sky Conference blue bloods in Montana and Montana State
They are fierce rivals coached by close friends, Sacramento State and UC Davis, and they are three weeks away from meeting in the 70th Causeway Classic to cap a regular season that still has a lot of twists and turns left on the horizon.
The college football programs share the same quest this Saturday in this pursuit: Taking down a blue-blood Big Sky Conference heavyweight.
Ranked No. 4 in the FCS at 8-1, UC Davis is in the midst of its finest season at this level of play, moving up after decades of good living in Division II some 20 years ago. The Aggies play at No. 7 Montana in Missoula in the Big Sky Game of the Week on ESPN2 at a storied venue in which the Grizzlies have stacked 19 conference championships. Montana is 7-2 overall this fall and 4-1 in the Big Sky.
UCD seeks its second Big Sky crown since 2018 and can secure it with a strong finish.
Sacramento State rose to power in 2019, winning the Big Sky crown that season and again in 2021 and 2022. The Hornets reached the playoffs last season. None of those goals remain for the hard-luck Hornets, mired in an injury-ravaged season that includes 55 missed games by projected starters. They have dipped to 3-6 overall and 1-4 in conference, tied for last in the 12-team scramble, but the Hornets can jolt the FCS with an inspired effort on Saturday.
The Hornets still boast of a lot of talent under coach Andy Thompson, including redshirt freshman record-setting quarterback Carson Conklin and All-American offensive lineman Jackson Slater, and they are fired-up to play a spoiler role. Sacramento State visits No. 2-ranked Montana State, where an upset would resonate across the FCS.
The Bobcats of Bozeman are 9-0 for the first time, the only unbeaten left standing in the FCS. Winners of 16 Big Sky crowns over the decades, Montana State visits UCD on Nov. 16 in an ESPN showcase game that will be the FCS Game of the Week with all sorts of championship implications on the line. Entering this weekend, UCD and Montana State are the only teams with perfect Big Sky records, each at 5-0.
UCD is coming off a 59-7 rout of Northern Colorado, the program’s eighth consecutive victory, its longest since joining the FCS ranks. All-American senior Lan Larison rushed 14 times for 143 yards and three touchdowns, senior quarterback Miles Hastings passed for 285 yards and three scores, and junior linebacker David Meyer had 12 tackles to earn Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week honors for the second time this campaign to move UCD to 5-0 at UC Davis Health Stadium.
“This is setting us up for the home stretch that everyone is talking about too early, but here we are,” UCD coach Tim Plough said at his Monday media session. “We know how difficult the task is. We’re excited.”
The first year coach and former Aggies quarterback and assistant coach added: “There are great teams in this conference. We’d like to be considered one of them. There are certain teams we have to be able to compete with, both teams from Montana, and we to play well in those types of games. Our guys are excited for the challenge.”
Of the 13 first-year coaches in the FCS this season, Plough’s 8-1 record is the best of the lot. A team-first guy if there ever was one, he accepts no credit for the team’s success, pointing to players and staff.
Montana teams are tough to tame
UCD is 1-9 all-time against Montana, including 5-1 in Big Sky games. The first meeting was in 1926 in Davis, a 21-0 Grizzlies victory (imagine that train ride back home).
The next meeting was in 1995, a 41-20 victory for Montana, and the programs have met more regularly since 2009. UCD’s lone win against the Grizzlies was 49-21 in Missoula in 2018, when Plough was an assistant coach under Dan Hawkins, helping lift the Aggies to a share of their first Big Sky crown.
Montana defeated UCD 31-23 in Davis last season as the Grizzlies reached the FCS championship game and finished No. 2 in the country.
▪ Montana State is 18-8 all-time against Sacramento State, winning twice in Bozeman. The first time was in 1991 when Bobby Fresques was the Hornets’ starting quarterback. He is now the Hornets’ sixth-year assistant coach, this campaign his second as offensive coordinator.
▪ Montana State is 27-2 in the Big Sky since 2021 with both losses to rival Montana.
Sacramento State is coming off a demoralizing 58-38 home loss to Portland State despite 314 yards passing and four touchdowns by Carson Conklin.
Behind dual-threat quarterback Tommy Mellott, Montana State leads the FCS in scoring offense, scoring 41.7 points a game and piling up 510.4 yards of offense. The Bobcats are second in the FCS in rushing, averaging 312.2 yards, and they have the Big Sky’s top-rated defense, allowing 17.6 points.
▪ Sacramento State first met Montana State in the 1964 Camellia Bowl at Hughes Stadium on the campus of Sacramento City College. The Bobcats won 28-7.
▪ Sac State safety Carter Kraft is a native of the state of Montana, and his father, Shawn Kraft, played for Montana State. And more: Montana State Director of Football Administration, Jerry Anderson, is a Sacramento State graduate.