DAVIS, Calif. — The Sacramento State football team put a ribbon around its perfect Big Sky Conference season with a 27-7 win at No. 10 UC Davis in the 67th Causeway Classic on Saturday at UC Davis Health Stadium.

The 11th-ranked Hornets, finished the regular season with a 9-2 overall record and an undefeated 8-0 mark in the Big Sky to win the conference title outright and the league's automatic berth to the NCAA FCS Playoffs. The team's eight game winning streak is the longest since the 1966 team closed its year by also winning eight in a row to set the school record.

Sacramento State will now await its playoff fate with the NCAA FCS selections coming on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. on ESPNU. The top eight seeds in the tournament will have a first round bye and will host games on the following weekend. The remaining 16 teams in the 24-school field will play games on the weekend following Thanksgiving with the winners advancing to play at the seeded teams.

The Hornets wasted little time taking the lead, scoring on an 11-play, 75-yard drive on the first series of the game. The drive was capped by an 11-yard end around from wide receiver Isaiah Gable for his first touchdown of the year. Sacramento State amassed 150 yards in the opening quarter while limiting the Aggies to three yards on six plays in the quarter. The Hornets controlled the ball, holding time of possession for 12:55 of the 15 minutes.

Sacramento State put the game out of reach in the second quarter with 17 points. The scoring began with a 21-yard field goal from Kyle Sentkowski on the opening play of the quarter. UC Davis then put together its best offensive series of the game, driving to the Hornet 33 before linebacker Marcus Hawkins made a diving interception to give the ball back to the offense.

From there, Marshel Martin caught a 40-yard pass from Jake Dunniway and Cameron Skattebo followed with a punishing 37-yard touchdown run to help the team travel 77 yards on just two plays in 26 seconds. The final score of the period came on the team's next drive when Asher O'Hara jumped in from a yard out for his ninth rushing touchdown of the year to five the Hornets a 24-0 halftime advantage

Sacramento State backed off the gas in the second half with the only scoring coming on a 49-yard field goal from Sentkowski to give him 19 on the season.

The Hornet defense kept UC Davis off the board until Hunter Rodrigues found C.J. Hutton for a 16-yard strike with 1:41 remaining.

The final numbers were not indicative of the dominating effort from Sacramento State for most of the game. The Hornets finished with 436 yards while UC Davis tallied 337. Sacramento State had 192 yards and three scores on the ground led by Skattebo who had six carries for 69 yards and O'Hara who rushed 18 times for 62 yards. Dunniway completed 13-of-19 points for 194 yards while O'Hara connected on 7-of-10 passes for 50 yards. Martin recorded his second 100-yard receiving game of his career with 112 yards on just six receptions.

UC Davis had four players attempt passes in the game and the quartet finished 28-of-50 for 265 yards and touchdown with three interceptions. Along with the pick from Hawkins, Sacramento State also had defensive end Ariel Ngata and linebacker Tali Finefeuiaki also record their first career interceptions.

The Aggies were limited to 73 yards on the ground with no player running for more than 17 yards.

Jeremy Harris had a game-high 10 tackles from his linebacker position. Josiah Erickson, Jett Stanley, Dominick Sanders and Finefeuiaki each had a tackle for loss.

NOTES

• Sacramento State is the first Big Sky school to finish conference play 8-0 since both Eastern Washington and North Dakota were perfect in 2016.
• The Hornets shut out UC Davis in three quarters giving the team 22 quarters this season without allowing a point.
• Sacramento State is now 3-3 all-time in the current UC Davis stadium.
• The Hornets have won consecutive conference titles for the first time in program history.
• The team is now 14-0 under Troy Taylor when scoring first.
• Sacramento State is 8-0 in Big Sky road games under Taylor and 16-1 overall against Big Sky opponents since 2019.
• The nine regular season wins are tied for the most in school history (2019, 9-4). The 1988 team holds the record for most wins in a season (10-3) with two of the wins coming in the NCAA Div. II playoffs.