Sacramento State Hornets – VACAVILLE INSIDER

Big Sky makes preseason picks

Why wait until the 70th Causeway Classic in November for the Sacramento State-UC Davis rivalry to be rekindled. The Hornets and Aggies love to take advantage of every opportunity to attempt to prove which football team has the upper hand.

Sacramento State can boast about five players being named to the preseason All-Big Sky Conference team. UC Davis had four. The Aggies can counter after being picked to finish higher than the Hornets in the Big Sky coaches and media polls.

**Center** **Nathan Mejia (59) was one of five Sacramento State players named to the preseason All-Big Sky Conference team.**

UC Davis can claim it will again have the best offensive player in the Big Sky. Running back Lan Larison was the preseason pick to win the Offensive Player of the Year award for a second time. He ran for 1,101 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2023 despite missing three games with a knee injury.

Larison scored four touchdowns in the 69th Causeway Classic to lead the Aggies to a 31-21 win, their first victory against the Hornets since 2018. The 6-foot, 199-pound Larison finished his junior year with a bang, rushing for 521 yards and scoring 10 times in the final three games of the season.

The victory was not enough to qualify UC Davis for the FCS playoffs. Sacramento State made it for the fourth time in the past four seasons in which it played. The Hornets did not play in the spring of 2021 after the 2020 season was cancelled.

Sacramento State’s offensive talent was evident with wide receiver Jared Gipson, tight end Graham Kuntz, guard Jackson Slater and center Nathan Mejia being preseason All-Big Sky picks. Montana State also had four offensive players picked.

Linebacker Will Leota was the only Hornet selected on defense. The Aggies had two with defensive end Zach Kennedy and safety Rex Connors, who was the top vote-getter at defensive back. UC Davis also had a specialist in kicker Hunter Ridley.

Montana State had the most players selected with nine, including Brody Grebe as the preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Montana’s Junior Bergen scored a hat trick by being selected at wide receiver, punt returner and all-purpose player.

In the projected standings, UC Davis was picked to finish fourth and Sacramento fifth in the coaches and media polls. The Aggies received one first-place vote in both polls. Defending champion Montana was picked to finish first in both polls.

The Grizzlies received 26 of a possible 38 first-place votes in the media poll and 10 of 12 votes from the coaches. Montana State was picked to finish second and Idaho third in both polls. Montana State received first-place votes in both polls.

Four of Sacramento State’s first give games will be on the road. The Hornets open at San Jose State on Aug. 29 and then travel to Fresno State. After hosting Nicholls on Sept. 14, the Hornets will travel to Texas A&M-Commerce and Northern Arizona.

UC Davis will open at Cal on Aug. 31 in Tim Plough’s first game as the Aggies head coach. The former Aggies quarterback was the tight ends coach with the Golden Bears in 2023 and the offensive coordinator at UC Davis from 2017 to 2020.

UC Davis will host Texas A&M-Commerce on Sept. 7. The Lions will play both the Aggies and Hornets for the second consecutive season. Texas A&M-Commerce lost 48-10 at home to UC Davis and 34-6 at Sacramento State a year ago.

Hornets face tough call at QB

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Kaiden Bennett could be the only player attending the Big Sky Conference’s Media Day on July 20 who does know whether he will be a starter in 2024. Rarely do second-stringers appear at such events, but the Sacramento State quarterback could turn out to be the exception.

Bennett will be joined by Jackson Slater in Spokane, Wash. Slater was an easy choice because the senior guard is a three-year starter and a two-time selection to the All-Big Sky team. Bennett started for the first time as a junior in 2023 and did not merit All-Big Sky consideration.

Carson Camp started the 2023 opener at Nicholls after transferring to Sacramento State from South Dakota. Bennett started the next eight games, including the 30-23 victory at Stanford, but he split time with true freshman Carson Conklin in the 34-7 loss at Montana on Nov. 4.

**Carson Conklin (left) and Kaiden Bennett**

Conklin completed just seven of 22 passes for 67 yards, while Bennett was 8-of-17 for 52 yards. Conklin apparently did enough to sway the coaches to start him against Cal Poly on Nov. 11. There was little risk in starting Conklin because the Hornets have had their way with the Mustangs in recent seasons.

Three touchdown passes by Conklin in the first half were not enough to put Cal Poly away, however. The Mustangs lost 41-30 for their closest margin of defeat in finishing 1-7 in the Big Sky last season. Conklin averaged 18.4 yards per completion in going 17-of-26 for 313 yards.

Starting Conklin in the Causeway Classic at UC Davis was asking too much of a quarterback lacking the capacity to handle such immense pressure. Sacramento State managed just 23 yards on its first four possessions and did not cross into UC Davis territory until the fifth.

That possession ended with Conklin’s incomplete pass on fourth-and-goal at the UC Davis 4. Sacramento State reached the UC Davis 38 on its ensuring possession, but the Hornets’ last chance to avoid being shut out in the first half ended when Conklin threw an interception.

Bennett made the game interesting with three touchdown passes in the second half. The second left the Hornets trailing 24-14 with 5:45 to play. They got desperate on their next possession by going for it on fourth-and-12 at their 18 only to have Bennett’s pass fall incomplete.

Lan Larison then scored his fourth touchdown of the game on a 12-yard run to seal the Aggies’ 31-21 win, their first against the Hornets since 2018. Larison had 121 yards rushing and 54 receiving. The junior rushed for 1,101 yards in 2023 despite missing three games with a knee injury.

UC Davis will be sending Larison and safety Rex Connors to the Big Sky Media Day. Connors was a second-team selection in All-Big Sky voting last year. Most of the players going to Spokane will have won awards and been named to all-conference teams. And then there is Bennett.

All he would like is to be named the starter before the Hornets kick off the 2024 season at San Jose State on Aug. 29. Conklin has time on his side with four years of eligibility remaining because he played in just four games last season as a redshirt.

Three’s company at Sac State

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Carson Camp started the 2023 season at quarterback for Sacramento State and finished it Saturday in a stadium he once called home. The junior transfer from South Dakota returned to Grand Forks for a second-round FCS playoff game and did all he could to spark the Hornets, but his effort was not enough in a 34-24 loss to his former team.

Camp made just his fourth appearance of the season after Kaiden Bennett was injured and exited in the second quarter. Turnabout must be fair play because Bennett replaced Camp in the second quarter of the Aug. 31 opener at Nicholls State. Camp was pulled after struggling in his debut with the Hornets and Bennett came to the rescue.

**Carson Camp made a case to start in 2024 with a solid relief effort in Sacramento State’s loss to South Dakota** **on Saturday**.

Bennett made a case to become the starter by throwing for two touchdowns and running for a third in a 38-24 victory. His first start came a week later in a 34-6 win over Texas A&M-Commerce and Bennett again delivered, throwing for 176 yards and rushing for 101. His two touchdown runs propelled the Hornets to a 24-0 lead at halftime.

His second start was even better. Bennett threw for 279 yards and ran for 100 in a 30-23 victory at Stanford. His footwork went beyond his 13 carries. Bennett scrambled out of a sack and flipped a pass to running back Marcus Fulcher, who did the rest for a 49-yard touchdown with 1:32 to play.

The spotlight shifted to Carson Conklin, however, after the true freshman relieved Bennett in a 51-16 victory at Idaho State on Oct. 28. Conklin threw for 273 yards and three touchdowns to put himself in line for more playing time. Conklin made his first start Nov. 11 in a 41-30 win over Cal Poly and rewarded the coaches for putting their faith in him.

Some folks will say the Hornets were not risking that much by going with Conklin because the Mustangs were 1-5 in the Big Sky Conference. The game was much closer than expected, so Conklin made the difference by passing for 313 yards and three touchdowns.

Conklin did not come close to those numbers against UC Davis in the Causeway Classic on Nov. 18. He got the hook at halftime with the Aggies leading 17-0 after going 13-of-25 for 137 yards. Bennett completed 19 of 28 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns in the second half as the Hornets salvaged a smidgen of pride.

Bennett was incredible in a 42-35 win at North Dakota in the first round of the playoffs, accounting for three touchdowns with 333 yards of total offense. His injury Saturday might have had a silver lining because the offense was in need of a jump-start. The first four possessions ended in two punts, an interception and a fumble that South Dakota returned for a touchdown to take a 17-0 lead.

Camp provided it on the ensuing possession by throwing for 36 yards and running for 24 as the Hornets drove 75 yards to score their first touchdown with 9:31 to play in the second quarter. His effort did not rescue the Hornets, but it makes for quite a quarterback battle when the Hornets reconvene to prepare for the 2024 season.

The Hornets essentially had two starting quarterbacks the past two seasons with Jake Dunniway and Asher O’Hara. Now let’s see if they can juggle three.

Hornets try to stretch season

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Sacramento State has not reached the end of the road, but the Hornets are facing a familiar pothole. Saturday’s 42-35 victory at North Dakota earned the Hornets a second game in the FCS playoffs for the third time since 2019, but they have yet to play a third game.

The Hornets will return to the Midwest for that second game this week and face third-seeded South Dakota in Vermillion. The Coyotes are 9-2 and rallied at home to beat North Dakota 14-10 on Nov. 11. Sacramento State and South Dakota will meet for the first time.

This season has not been like the past two for the Hornets. They brought an eight-game winning streak in the 2021 playoffs to earn a first-round bye and then lost to South Dakota State. They were 12-0 last year after a first-round win over Richmond and then lost 66-63 to Incarnate Word. The Hornets and Cardinals combined for 57 points in the fourth quarter.

**Kaiden Bennett threw for 207 yards and rushed for 126 on Saturday to propel the Hornets** **to a 42-35 victory at North Dakot**a.

Sacramento State was lucky just to make the 24-team playoffs this season, much less receive a bye or a home game, after going 7-4 in the regular season and losing 31-21 to UC Davis in the Causeway Classic. That left the Hornets with a 1,743-mile trip to Grand Forks.

Finding their way to the Alterus Center was far easier than trying to figure out who would start at quarterback against the Fighting Hawks. Freshman Carson Conklin started the previous two games, but he was pulled at halftime against UC Davis with a 17-0 deficit.

Junior Kaiden Bennett threw three touchdown passes in the second half, the third making it 24-14 with 5:45 to play. The Hornets gambled on their next possession by going for it on fourth-and-12 at their 18-yard line, but Bennett’s pass intended for wide receiver Carlos Hill fell incomplete.

Lan Larison scored on a 12-yard run with 3:30 remaining for his fourth touchdown of the day to put the game away. The Aggies snapped a three-game losing streak against the Hornets.

Bennett’s start Saturday was his ninth of the season and he made the most of it. The Folsom High School graduate passed for 207 yards, ran for 126 and accounted for three touchdowns. The third was a 4-yard scamper for the go-ahead touchdown with 4:45 to go.

Tight end Marshel Martin IV wrapped his arms around Bennett at the 2-yard line and pulled him into the end zone. Bennett accounted for 63 of 75 yards during the seven-play drive by completing all of his three passes for 40 yards and gaining 23 on three carries.

Bennett has run for 100 or more yards in three games this season. He surpassed senior Marcus Fulcher on Saturday for the team lead in rushing yards with 578. Fulcher has 527.

Days numbered for ex-Viking

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This is not how Armon Bailey envisioned his football career at Sacramento State coming to an end. The 2018 Vanden High School graduate expected the Hornets to beat UC Davis in the Causeway Classic, win the Big Sky Conference and host an FCS playoff game.

Bailey had every reason to believe the Hornets could achieve all three. Sacramento State beat UC Davis and won or shared the Big Sky championship in each of the past three seasons. And the Hornets began each of their three playoff appearances with a home game.

**UC Davis running back Lan Larison could not get away from Sacramento State’s** **Armon Bailey on this play in the Causeway Classic.**

Two out of three would have been fine with Bailey. One out of three would have been acceptable – especially if that one was another victory over the Aggies. Going 0-3 left the linebacker to wonder how a season with so much promise fell short of his expectations.

At least the Hornets are in the playoffs. Sacramento will face North Dakota in Grand Forks on Saturday. The Hornets are 2-4 against the Fighting Hawks, but Sacramento State won in each of its past two visits, most recently in 2017. Bailey had seven tackles when the Hornets lost 41-15 at home to North Dakota in 2018.

UC Davis was left out of the playoffs despite a 31-21 win over Sacramento State last week to finish 5-3 in the Big Sky. The Hornets were 4-4 and would have also been snubbed if not for their 30-23 win against their former coach, Troy Taylor, at Stanford on Sept. 16.

Sacramento State also received credit for three of its four Big Sky losses coming against ranked FCS teams – Montana, Idaho and Montana State. UC Davis did not play Montana State or Idaho. The Aggies lost to Montana, Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington.

**Armon Bailey leads the Hornets in tackles with 82 as a senior.**

Falling to 0-11 against Eastern Washington cost UC Davis after the Eagles finished 3-5. The Aggies would not have merited any consideration if they had lost to Sacramento State. Bailey did all he could to prevent that by leading the Hornets in tackles with nine.

“For me personally, it really sucked. I didn’t want to go out on that kind of note,” said Bailey, who had eight or more tackles in seven games this season. Bailey leads the Hornets in tackles for the second consecutive year with 82. He had 88 as a junior in 2022.

Marte Mapu finished second to Bailey in tackles last season with 76. Mapu was named the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year and the New England Patriots selected him in the third round of the 2023 NFL draft. He now starts at linebacker for the Patriots.

The 23-year-old Bailey believes Mapu has paved a path for other Hornets to have an opportunity to play in the NFL. One such player for the 2024 draft is Bailey, who is a two-time All-Big Sky selection after missing a total of 13 games in 2019 and 2021 with injuries.

As a “humble kid,” Bailey will not come out and say he believes he deserves a shot. As a “resilient guy,” he would welcome the challenge of proving he can compete against the elite.

“I feel like it’s right around the corner,” said Bailey, who has earned a degree in criminal justice and is thinking of applying for law school. “Everything is starting to fall into place.”

Insider information for Hornets

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Sacramento State has not played North Dakota since 2019, but the Hornets will know all about the Fighting Hawks before the teams tangle in the FCS playoffs Saturday in Grand Forks. Sacramento State happens to have an inside source with an updated scouting report.

And the Hornets need all the help they can get after losing 31-21 to UC Davis in the Causeway Classic on Saturday. Sacramento State was among the last four teams to get into the playoffs when the 24-team bracket was announced Sunday despite being ranked 10th in the latest FCS poll. UC Davis was among the final four teams to be snubbed.

Quarterback Carson Camp may be of assistance for Sacramento State because he faced North Dakota in 2021 when he was starting for South Dakota. And he led the Coyotes to a 20-13 victory by throwing for 179 yards and two touchdowns. Camp lost the starting job in 2022, however, and jumped into the transfer portal.

**UC Davis linebacker Nick Eaton only has eyes for Sacramento State’s Carson Conklin.**

Sacramento State was the ideal place for a quarterback trying to resurrect his college career. The Hornets were in need of a starter after the tag team of Jake Dunniway and Asher O’Hara guided Sacramento State to consecutive Big Sky Conference championships.

Kaiden Bennett was the heir apparent after paying his dues for two years. Camp won the job, however, and started the season opener at Nicholls State. His 26-yard run was the big play during the Hornets’ first possession as they drove 75 yards to take a 7-0 lead.

Bennett split time with Camp and made his case to become the starter. Bennett completed 11 of 16 passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns. Camp was 5-of-11 for 35 yards and threw an interception in the third quarter that Nicholls State turned into a touchdown.

That score cut Sacramento State’s lead to 17-10. Bennett regained momentum for the Hornets with a 40-yard touchdown pass to Jared Gipson with 58 seconds to go in the quarter. Bennett started the following week against Texas A&M-Commerce, led Sacramento State to a 30-23 win at Stanford on Sept. 16 and held the job for the next six games.

Camp dropped to third on the depth chart when freshman Carson Conklin started over Bennett against Cal Poly on Nov. 11. Conklin earned the start by throwing for 235 yards and three touchdowns after relieving Bennett in the Hornets’ 51-16 win over Idaho State.

Conklin passed for 313 yards and three touchdowns in the 41-30 victory over Cal Poly. The Hornets had more trouble putting the Mustangs away than UC Davis did in beating Cal Poly 31-13 on Sept. 30. The Aggies were in cruise control after leading 24-7 at halftime.

UC Davis also had a 17-point halftime lead against Sacramento State. Conklin’s day ended at the half with a 17-0 deficit. He was 13-of-25 for 129 yards and his last pass was intercepted by UC Davis linebacker Teddye Buchanan with 52 seconds to go in the half.

Bennett gave Sacramento State a bit of hope in the second half by throwing for 232 yards and three touchdowns. His performance leaves the Hornets with having to decide who will start against North Dakota. The safe bet is it will not be Camp.

Playing it safe can be risky

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Hunter Ridley kicked a 33-yard field goal as time expired in the first half Nov. 4 to give UC Davis a 17-7 lead against Portland State. The Aggies launched the 13-play, 75-yard drive with 5:26 to go and had three timeouts, so a touchdown was hardly out of question.

UC Davis coach Dan Hawkins answered that question, however, after running back Lan Larison was stopped for a 3-yard loss on first down at the Aggies’ 33-yard line. Hawkins let 27 seconds tick away by not calling a timeout as soon as Larison hit the synthetic turf.

**Junior** **Trent Tompkins leads UC Davis in receiving yards and is second in rushing.**

By the time Hawkins called his first timeout with 2 seconds remaining, UC Davis had wasted nearly 3 minutes by not stopping the clock. Portland State tied the score with 10 points in the third quarter when UC Davis could have entered the fourth with a lead.

All of that was easy to dismiss after UC Davis won 37-23. Hawkins got away with playing it safe in a game the Aggies had to win to stand any chance of making the FCS playoffs. UC Davis kept its postseason hopes alive last Saturday with a 21-14 victory at Idaho State.

Sacramento State, Montana, Montana State and Idaho are assured of representing the Big Sky Conference in the playoffs by having seven victories and being ranked in the FCS Top 25. UC Davis is 6-4 and unranked, so the Aggies have one objective Saturday afternoon.

**Sacramento State’s Josh Cashiola sacks Portland State’s Sam Huard.**

UC Davis will have to snap a three-game losing streak against Sacramento State in the Causeway Classic to have any shot of making the 24-team playoffs. With so much on the line for the Aggies, Hawkins cannot afford to play it safe as he did with Portland State.

Doing so against the Hornets last season did not work. One example was in the second quarter after a punt pinned the Aggies as their 14-yard line. A 1-yard run, a 2-yard pass and an incompletion forced a punt that gave the ball to the Hornets at the 50. Two passes for 31 yards led to a 19-yard touchdown run by Asher O’Hara to give the Hornets a 17-3 lead. Sacramento State never trailed in a 27-21 win.

In 2021, UC Davis was shut out in the first three quarters of a 27-7 loss. The Aggies scored first in 2019 on Jake Maier’s 76-yard touchdown pass to Kris Vaughn and took a 17-13 lead into the fourth quarter. Kevin Thomson rallied the Hornets with a 51-yard touchdown pass to freshman Marshel Martin IV and a 33-yard scoring run with 3:04 to play.

UC Davis will face Martin, who hails from St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School in Vallejo, for the last time on Saturday. The senior had a 39-yard touchdown reception last Saturday in a 41-30 victory over Cal Poly. The score was his second of the season. Martin had 12 in 2022.

Hornets can slow Aggies’ roll

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Troy Taylor certainly had a hand in Sacramento State flipping the script against UC Davis in the Causeway Classic. The Hornets are 3-0 against the Aggies since 2019, when Taylor returned home to resurrect a program that had been 4-15 in the rivalry since 2000.

Credit should also go to Andy Thompson, who was hired by Taylor as the defensive coordinator and continues to direct the defense in his first season as head coach. He knows what it takes to stop the Aggies and will likely stick with that strategy on Saturday.

**Ulonzo Gilliam averaged 42 rushing yards in his last three games against Sacramento State.**

Forcing UC Davis to abandon its running game will again be the key for Sacramento State. The Aggies must win to stand any chance of making the FCS playoffs and a one-dimensional offense is not going to bolster their chances of doing so.

UC Davis rushed for more than 80 yards just once in its past three meetings with Sacramento State. That one time was last Nov. 19, when the Aggies had 113 yards on the ground in a 27-21 loss. They averaged 203 yards in their other 10 games.

Sacramento State limited UC Davis to 73 rushing yards in 2021 and 63 in 2019. The Hornets opted not to play in the spring of 2021 after COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 season. UC Davis managed just one rushing touchdown in losing the past three meetings.

Ulonzo Gilliam left UC Davis after last season as the program’s all-time leader in rushing yards (4,617), touchdowns (51) and 100-yard games (22). He reached the century mark just once against Sacramento State, gaining 138 in the Aggies’ 56-13 victory in 2018.

That was the year when UC Davis shared the Big Sky Conference championship and advanced to the FCS playoffs for the first time. That was also a year before Taylor and Thompson were hired at Sacramento State to breathe new life into a morbid program.

Gilliam’s 138 yards in 2018 were 10 more than his total in his last three shots at Sacramento State. He managed just 61 yards in a 27-17 loss four years ago, 17 in a 27-7 loss in 2021 and 50 in a 27-21 loss in 2022. At least he reached the end zone in last year’s game.

Lan Larison has been a frequent visitor to the end zone for UC Davis in 2023. And the junior could be just what the Aggies need to turn the Causeway Classic tide in their favor after being named Monday as the Big Sky Co-Offensive Player of the Week.

Larison rushed for 264 yards and three touchdowns in a 21-14 win at Idaho State. The Idaho native dashed 23 yards for the go-ahead score with 2:05 to play in a do-or-die game. Larison rushed for 255 yards against Eastern Washington on Sept. 23, but he sustained a knee injury in the second half and missed three games.

UC Davis faces another must-win game on Saturday against Sacramento State, which climbed to No. 10 in the FCS rankings this week. The Aggies and Hornets are both 4-3 in the Big Sky, but Sacramento State has the magic playoff number with seven victories.

Sacramento State will be joined by Montana (9-1), Montana State (8-2) and Idaho (7-3) in the 24-team playoffs. UC Davis could qualify with six wins, but a seventh would be nice.

The latest playoff projections by the College Sports Journal have UC Davis at No. 17 against No. 16 Central Arkansas and Sacramento State at No. 14 against No. 19 Holy Cross. That would give the Hornets a home playoff game for the third time in the past three full seasons.

Thankful for tankful of talent

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Depth has been paying dividends for Sacramento State’s offense this season with 15 players scoring touchdowns – seven did so last Saturday in a 51-16 victory over Idaho State – and eight linemen starting at least one game. Center Nathan Mejia and left guard Jackson Slater are the only linemen to start at the same position in each game.

Slater has started 30 consecutive games dating to 2019. The only lineman with a longer streak is fellow junior Ivan Garza, who has started each game this season and 32 in a row. He has split his eight starts evenly between left and right tackle this season.

**Ivan Garza has split his eight starts this season between left and right tackle.**

Aidan Meek started at right tackle in the season opener at Nicholls State, but the sophomore broke his clavicle in that game. He returned to start at right guard Oct. 14 at Northern Colorado and moved back to right tackle the following week against Montana State.

Right guard Kendall Riley also started and was injured in the opener. He returned in the 40-32 loss to Montana State. Kaden Richardson filled in for Riley at right guard for four games. The junior is the son of Hornets offensive line coach Kris Richardson and the little brother of Kooper, the former Hornets tackle who now assists his father.

Trey Stiefel and Jordan Stanley have also come to the rescue on the line. Stiefel started three games at left tackle when Garza switched to the right side. Stanley has made two starts at right tackle. He left Sacramento State after playing with the Hornets in 2019 and returned as a senior this season to be reunited with his twin brother Jett.

Jett Stanley is a defensive lineman who has started 33 consecutive games, the longest streak of any current Hornet. He was the Defensive Player of the Week in the Big Sky Conference after collecting three sacks Sept. 16 in the 30-23 victory over Stanford.

**Center Nathan Mejia finds his helmet to be a tight squeeze during practice.**

Kris Richardson enjoyed the luxury of having the same starting five on the line throughout the regular season in 2022 with Slater, Mejia, Garza, Stiefel and Brandon Weldon. Stiefel sustained a knee injury in the Causeway Classic, so Weldon moved to left tackle and was replaced at right guard by Riley in the two playoff games.

Sacramento State is No. 7 in the FCS rankings despite playing musical chairs on the offensive line. There have been five different starting combinations this season. The starting five in the past two games has been Slater, Mejia, Garza, Riley and Meek. Whatever continuity those five have developed will be put to the test Saturday in Missoula when Sacramento State tangles with No. 3 Montana.

Montana and Idaho are tied atop the Big Sky at 4-1 with the Vandals’ loss coming against the Grizzlies on Oct. 14. Montana lost to Northern Arizona in the Big Sky opener for both teams on Sept. 23.

Push will come to shove Saturday when the Hornets try to run the ball against the Grizzlies. Montana leads all FCS teams in fewest rushing yards allowed at 76.8 per game. The Grizzlies have yielded four rushing touchdowns. Sacramento State is averaging 189.9 rushing yards per game after gouging Idaho State for 273 and three touchdowns.

Sacramento State should go to the FCS playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. The Hornets are 6-2 with three weeks to go in the regular season and teams with seven wins are virtually guaranteed of going. UC Davis and Portland State are both 4-4, so the loser of Saturday’s game in Davis will have no chance of reaching seven victories.

The Hornets and Aggies will meet in the 70th edition of the Causeway Classic on Nov. 18 in Davis. Sacramento State has won three in a row against UC Davis after losing seven of the previous nine meetings. The Aggies lead the series 46-23.

Big Sky race off to fast start

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Vanden is the only MEL team to come within 20 points of Vacaville in three of the past four years. The Vikings lost 35-17 to the Bulldogs two years ago, their last loss on their way to the state 3-AA championship.

Will C. Wood lost 34-31 to Vacaville in 2018, three years after the Wildcats humbled the Bulldogs in a 49-26 victory. The Bulldogs’ last MEL loss was 28-21 to Napa in 2016. Vacaville has won 27 in a row since then.

One week was all it took for the Big Sky Conference football season to be blown wide open. Three of the top four teams in the coaches’ preseason poll lost Saturday, proving again that predicting the order of finish before the first conference games are played is nothing more than premature propaganda.

Those three losses shuffled the FCS rankings. Idaho climbed from No. 10 to No. 6 by knocking off No. 4 Sacramento State 36-27. The Hornets dropped to No. 9 with their first regular-season loss since 2021.

**UC Davis tight end Josh Gale (81) keeps a grip on the ball as he celebrates with Ian Simpson (82) and Jordan Ford after his 6-yard touchdown reception last Saturday.**

The Vandals enjoyed a 17-minute advantage in time of possession and contained Kaiden Bennett. The Hornets quarterback was held to 17 yards on 10 carries after running for 100 in each of Sacramento State’s past two games.

Idaho was predicted to finish fifth by the coaches and second in the media poll, so Big Sky coaches apparently do not know it all.

Sacramento State was predicted to finish third. UC Davis was second, but the Aggies lost 27-24 to Eastern Washington to fall to 0-11 against the Eagles. UC Davis dropped from No. 15 to No. 20 in the rankings.

UC Davis maintained a 24-20 lead when the defense stopped Eastern Washington on fourth-and-goal at the 3-yard line with 3:08 to play in the third quarter. That forced the offense to take possession with bad field position.

Having to punt from the 3 when three plays produced nothing proved costly for UC Davis. Eastern Washington took possession at its 42 and marched 58 yards in nine plays to score the go-ahead touchdown.

Lan Larison rushed for 201 yards in the first half, including a 78-yard touchdown dash. The junior carried the Aggies to a touchdown on their first possession of the second half with nine carries for 54 yards. Miles Hastings capped the 12-play 75-yard drive with a 4-yard scoring pass to Trent Tompkins.

That was the last series of the night for Larison, however. He sustained an undisclosed injury and could be out for “some time,” said Skip Powers, assistant director of athletics communications at UC Davis.

Larison’s departure allowed Vacaville High School graduate Darian Leon-Guerrero to get one carry and catch a 14-yard pass.

Hastings completed a season-high 75 percent (24 of 32) of his passes, but the junior averaged a 6.8 yards per completion – his lowest average in a game this season when he has completed 20 or more passes. Hastings had just one game last season in which he averaged fewer than 7 yards per completion.

UC Davis had a chance to tie it with 3:20 to play, but Hunter Ridley’s field-goal attempt from 31 yards was blocked. The sophomore had been 6-for-6 this season after a 41-yard field goal in the first quarter.

Saturday’s game at Cal Poly will be an opportunity for UC Davis to regain momentum. The Aggies have a six-game winning streak against the Mustangs and scored more than 40 points in three of those victories.

Eastern Washington cracked into the rankings at No. 25 with the victory. The Eagles will host Idaho on Saturday.

Weber State was predicted to finish fourth by the coaches, but the Wildcats were whipped 40-0 at home by Montana State. The third-ranked Bobcats were predicted to finish first in the coaches and media polls. Weber State fell from No. 8 to No. 14 in the rankings.

Montana dropped from No. 11 to No. 16 in the rankings with a 28-14 loss at Northern Arizona. The Grizzlies were predicted to finish third in the media poll and sixth by the coaches. The victory was the first of the season for the Lumberjacks and their first in 15 games against a ranked opponent since 2018.

The Grizzlies managed just 18 rushing yards in their first loss of the season. That was their lowest total since being held to 17 yards on the ground in a 17-10 loss to Weber State in 2019.

Northern Arizona was predicted to finish eighth in the media poll and ninth by the coaches. The Lumberjacks will face another ranked team on Saturday when they travel to Sacramento State for a 6 p.m. game.