Stingers down: Sac State football trying to end season on high note after losing 5 of 6
A football season of great promise and possibilities for the Sacramento State Hornets has been reduced to more modest goals: Finish strong.
Preseason ranked in the FCS and rated as high as 10th after a 2-2 start to the season, the Hornets have been stalled by a leaky defense; by an offense that has 21 turnovers, among the most in the FCS; and battered by a rash of injuries. Projected Hornets starters have missed a total of 69 games this season, including five key linemen, none more important than All-American offensive lineman Jackson Slater, one of the program’s all-time best who is on the NFL draft radar.
Sacramento State is 3-7 overall and 1-5 in a Big Sky Conference that the Hornets won or shared championships in for the 2019, 2021 and 2023 seasons. The Hornets have lost three consecutive games — by 3, 20 and 42 points, respecitvely — and five of their last six.
The Hornets play at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo on Saturday afternoon and will host rival and FCS No. 4 UC Davis on Nov. 23 in the 70th Causeway Classic. For the first time since 2018, the Hornets will not have a playoff season to prepare for.
Sac State is coming off a 49-7 loss at No. 2 Montana State, which visits UCD on Saturday night to decide the Big Sky championship. The Hornets yielded 511 yards rushing to the Bobcats, who at 10-0 are the only unbeaten team in the FCS.
Cal Poly can relate to a bummer season. The Mustangs are 2-7 overall and 1-5 in the Big Sky.
The programs first met in 1967 and have played annually since 2012. The all-time series is tied 21-21. The series is 10-10 in games played in Sacramento and 11-11 when the teams meet on the Central Coast. The 42 games played between Sac State and Cal Poly are the second most for any Hornets opponent behind UC Davis, who have played annually since 1954.
Sacramento State has won the last four meetings against Cal Poly and five of six, which followed a run in which Cal Poly won nine of 10 meetings.
“For us as a team, we just got to stay together,” Sacramento State senior defensive back Eian Moore said after Saturday’s loss in Bozeman. “Make sure we stay sound in our gaps. Do our job. You can’t do anybody else’s job. We’ve got to do our part first.”
No one has burdened the load of the Hornets more than head coach Andy Thompson, who doubles as the program’s defensive coordinator. He has spoken about how pained he is for the players who have been injured and those stung by stunning losses.
Thompson hasn’t lost his will to lead, however.
“We got to get ready for Cal Poly and try to play a better football game and coach a better game,” Thompson said after the Montana State game. “That’s the only thing you can do. Just got to get right.”
Sacramento State (3-7) at Cal Poly (2-7)
When: Saturday, 2 p.m.
On air: ESPN 1320, ESPN+
Of note: Cal Poly is coached by Paul Wulff, the one-time assistant at Sacramento State and a former lineman star at Davis High School, where he earned Bee All-Metro honors in 1983. Cal Poly’s coaching staff also includes former Hornets assistant coaches Will Plemons and Joey Muscarella. This will be Sac State’s seventh road game of the season. Cal Poly has played four quarterbacks this campaign, including former Rocklin High and Bee All-Metro pick Richie Watts, who has a team-high four rushing touchdowns. All-American defensive end Elijah Ponder is Cal Poly’s top stopper, averaging 8.5 a game. He is an NFL prospect. Sacramento State has forced 18 turnovers, recovering nine fumbles and intercepting nine passes, and are tied for 18th in the 126-team FCS in turnovers created.