Causeway Classic good for some laughs and football as 66th rivalry game arrives
Troy Taylor took the microphone Thursday afternoon with the backdrop of the glistening Sacramento River. He sized up the Causeway Classic crowd of boosters, alums and administrators and then spilled it.
“Let’s talk about why we’re here – the impeachment hearings,” the Sacramento State coach said to a roar of laughter.
Fortunately, there was no discussion of the president nor testimony at Joe’s Crab Shack. Just football, fun and food. And of rivalries, opportunity, appreciation and mutual respect, and pass the chips and salsa, please.
The 66th Causeway Classic between Sac State and UC Davis is Saturday at Hornet Stadium, a 2 p.m. kickoff that figures to be a prolific show in front of a crowd up up to 20,000, and a great deal to play for (TV: CW31 and radio on ESPN1320 and Sports 1140).
This is not a bad-blood feud but it is certainly a needed rivalry to enhance the sports image of schools big on graduation rates. The series had some heated in-game moments over six-plus decades of head-to-head competition, including in the 1970s and ‘80s when the Causeway was more of a ritual sacrifice for the guys in Yolo County.
UCD once peeled off 18 consecutive victories over Sac State, prompting late-great UCD coach Jim Sochor to say in 1988, “It’s not a rivalry until they beat us.” Sac State won the 1988 Causeway 31-28 and then downed the Aggies months later in the Division II playoffs to cap Sochor’s Hall of Fame career.
For years, Hornets players, coaches and followers seethed as some Aggies gloated in their good fortune. Then there was a stretch from 1988-92 where Sac State won five Causeway games in succession, including 50-18. There was talk of dropping the rivalry because of a competitive inequity. Fortunately, it was more of a whisper.
UCD then won the next four in a row in the series and 14 of 17 through 2007. UCD leads the series 46-20.
The last three Causeway Classics offered more than just regional bragging rights. In 2017, Sac State beat UCD 52-47 to move to 7-4, the Hornets believing they had a legitimate shot at one of the 24 FCS Division I playoff berths. It didn’t happen. Jody Sears had his coaching contract extended after that season by athletic director Mark Orr, rightfully so.
A year ago, the Aggies steamed Sac State 56-13 in Reno of all places, away from the Camp Fire smoke that clogged much of Northern California. That crowned UCD as first-time Big Sky Conference champions and sent the Aggies to the FCS playoffs for the first time. It was a crowning moment and season for UCD, in its 100th year of football in 2018.
Sac State flamed out at 2-8 and Sears was let go, leading Orr and Sac State president Robert S. Nelsen to hire Taylor.
Just as Dan Hawkins was the right hire for UCD before the 2017 season, Taylor was the boom-time hire the Hornets needed for a program reboot. Hawkins earned national Coach of the Year honors last season just as Taylor could this season with his remarkable body of work that includes the program’s highest national ranking at No. 4.
The Hornets don’t need Lou Holtz to remind them of what’s at stake. Sac State recognizes it can seize its own slice of history. A win Saturday would give Sac State (8-3) at least a share of the Big Sky crown and vault the program into the playoffs for just the third time in program history and first as an FCS member.
UCD (5-6) is in full spoiler mode, perfectly capable of jamming up Sac State’s party plans.
COACHING COUNTS
Back to mutual respect. It starts with the coaches, two Northern California born-and-raised football lifers: Hawkins, the one-time gritty Aggies fullback, and Taylor, the one-time driven Cal quarterback.
“I’ve known Troy for a lot of years,” Hawkins said at the Causeway event. “I remember when he was a player at Cordova High School (in 1985). What a fine gentleman and a fine coach.”
Hawkins said a moment later that he is an Aggie to the core, “but I got my teaching credential at Sac State and my brother played at Sac State.”
Taylor said he has long followed Hawkins’ career. The mentors are similar in that they do not brow-beat players into submission. They inspire and lead with positive reinforcement, with an emphasis that a team that cares for one another plays better as a unit.
“Dan was a grand-slam hire for Davis,” Taylor said. “Eight years ago, I visited Dan when he was coaching at Boise State and we really hit it off. I told him I was a horrible loser. He got me a book about that. Thanks, coach! I’ve gotten better with losing.”
Taylor will experience his first Causeway up close Saturday, though this series has special meaning to him in another way.
“I met my future wife Tracey after a Causeway,” Taylor said in reference to when longtime coaching pal Bobby Fresques introduced the two many years ago. “I naturally had to hire Bobby when I got the job here.”
QB DUEL
Jake Maier of UCD and Kevin Thomson of Sac State are each starting their third consecutive Causeway, each winning once.
Thomson in the 2017 Sac State victory passed for 276 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 84 and a score. Last season in rolling Sac State, Maier passed for a career-best 478 yards and four touchdowns and ran for two scores.
The quarterbacks haven’t met outside postgame handshakes, but the respect is there.
Said Maier of Thomson “I always appreciate a quarterback who cares about this and prepares and works hard, and he’s good.”
Maier will depart UCD as the program’s most prolific passer. He has 10,930 yards. Thomson was granted an extra year of eligibility and may well return for another season next fall, having endured a roller coaster already.
This story was originally published November 22, 2019 at 5:00 AM.