A BRIEF PREVIEW

• A well-rested Sacramento State football team will return to play on Saturday, Sept. 17, when it travels to Cedar Falls, Iowa to take on UNI. The game will begin at 2 p.m. PT from the UNI-Dome.
• Sacramento State enters the week with a 1-0 overall record following a 56-33 win over Utah Tech in the season opener. The team is ranked eighth in the Stats Perform media poll and seventh in the AFCA coaches poll.
• Saturday's game will mark the program's first trip to the state of Iowa. Counting this week, Sacramento State football will have played games in 13 different states since the inception of the program in 1954.
• There will be multiple ways to follow this week's game. Hornet fans can tune in to ESPN 1320 AM to hear the radio call of Jason Ross, Steve McElroy and Danny Sullivan. Live audio streaming is also available via www.hornetsports.com.
• The game will also be streamed on ESPN+. Brad Wells will have the play-by-play alongside Adam Seidel (analyst) and Kelly Burke (sideline).

OPPONENT PREVIEW: UNI

• UNI is 0-2 following losses at Air Force (48-17) and North Dakota (29-27). The Panthers have had success moving the ball through the air in both games, throwing for 286 yards against the Falcons and 335 against the Fighting Hawks.
• Saturday will mark the first home game of the season for UNI. Last year, the team was 4-1 at the UNI-Dome.
• Theo Day, who came on in relief at quarterback last year at Hornet Stadium, continues to lead the offense. Day has completed 40-of-59 passes in 2022 with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Deion McShane and Sam Schnee has been his favorite targets, catching 12 and 11 passes, respectively. Dom Williams leads the team with 148 rushing yards and has scored twice.
• Safety Benny Sapp III was a preseason All-American and added to the Senior Bowl watch list. Sapp had four interceptions last season and has been credited with eight tackles in 2022. Korby Sander leads the team with 18 total stops while Spencer Cuvelier ranks second with 15, including a sack.
• Mark Farley is in his 22nd season leading the Panthers. His overall record of 168-95 gives him the most wins in UNI and Missouri Valley Football Conference history. During his tenure, the Panthers have won seven conference titles and have made the FCS playoffs 13 times, including a national championship appearance in 2005.

THE LATEST ACTION

• Sacramento State rushed for its most yards in over 20 years and scored touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams in a 56-33 season-opening victory over Utah Tech on Sept. 3 at Hornet Stadium.
• The team received three scores from Cameron Skattebo, two from Marshel Martin and single touchdowns from Asher O'Hara, Jared Gipson and Caleb Nelson in the rout of the Trailblazers.
• Sacramento State never trailed in the contest and amassed 589 yards of offense while also forcing three interceptions. The team's 378 rushing yards were the third most in school Div. I-era history.
• Skattebo and Asher O'Hara each went over 100 rushing yards to lead the team. Skattebo finished with 153 yards and a score on just 10 carries. He also caught two passes, including a touchdown, and returned an onside kick attempt 43 yards for a score.
• O'Hara gained 101 yards and scored on a 1-yard rush with a leap over the line. The senior also completed 5-of-7 pass attempts for 56 yards with two TDs.
• The two were not the only offensive highlights for the Hornets. Tight end Marshel Martin scored on touchdown grabs of 7 and 11 yards to give him four touchdowns against the Trailblazers in the last two years.
• The Hornet defense led to the first two scores of the game and put the team in front to stay. Marte Mapu picked off a pass near midfield which set up Martin's first TD reception. Utah Tech then drove down the field but saw a third-down pass intercepted at the 2-yard line by Caleb Nelson who traveled 98-yards up the left sideline to give the team a 14-0 lead.
• Utah Tech posted some impressive numbers of its own. The Trailblazers finished with 579 yards of offense, including 506 through the air. The team used three quarterbacks led by Kobe Tracy who came off the bench to complete 23-of-40 passes for 339 yards and two scores.

BYE, BYE, BYE

• Sacramento State had an early season bye as the team was off during week two of the college schedule. The last time the Hornets had a bye after their opening game came in 2007. However, this is the fifth time since 1996 that the team has had a bye in the second week of the year (1996, 1997, 2006, 2007).
• Sacramento State has won four of its last five games immediately following a bye. The Hornets defeated Portland State, 42-34, in 2016, topped Idaho State, 41-21, in 2017, knocked off then-No. 22 Eastern Washington 48-27 in 2019 and blew out Southern Utah, 41-20, last season.

SKATTEBO NAMED POTW

• Cameron Skattebo earned his first Big Sky Player of the Week award of his career on Sept. 5 and it came in unusual form as the running back was honored for his special teams performance.
• The Rio Linda, Calif., native did it all in the team's 56-33 win over Utah Tech at Hornet Stadium. Skattebo scored three touchdowns in the game with one each rushing, receiving and on a kickoff return. He rushed for a career high 153 yards on just 10 attempts and scored a career long 57-yard touchdown. Skattebo also caught two passes for 20 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown where he delivered a punishing blow at the goal line.
• His most electric play of the night came midway through the fourth quarter and has led to national attention. After Utah Tech scored to pull within 17, Skattebo went on to the field as part of the hands team to cover a possible onside kick. That kick came to him on a perfect hop which he caught and immediately turned up field. Skattebo was met by the kicker at the Utah Tech 29-yard and eventually carried three other players into the end zone from 10-yards out for a 43-yard kickoff return.
• The sophomore finished the game with 226 all-purpose yards and averaged 17.4 yards each time he touched the ball.

DOUBLING DOWN

• For the first 64 years of Sacramento State football there had never been a game where the team had a running back and a quarterback each rush for over 100 yards. That changed in 2019 when Elijah Dotson and Kevin Thomson rushed for 175 and 104 yards, respectively at Cal Poly.
• That game had marked the last time any two Hornets had gone over the century mark in rushing yards until Cameron Skattebo (153) and Asher O'Hara (101) acheived the feat against Utah Tech. Skattebo now has three career games with at least 100 yards while O'Hara has done it twice in the last two years.
• Going over 100 yards is nothing new for O'Hara. Prior to coming to Sacramento State, he had five games over the century mark while at Middle Tennessee. O'Hara has also figured out how to just make it over the mark as his two performances at Sacramento State have resulted in 102 and 101 yards. He now ranks third in school history for 100-yard rushing games by a quarterback behind Garrett Safron (4) and Kevin Thomson (3).

PICK PARTY

• Sacramento State ended 2021 with 15 interceptions over the final nine regular season games. That stretch included three interceptions against Portland State and UC Davis in the final two regular season contests.
• The 2022 Hornets picked up exactly where last year's team left off, grabbing three Utah Tech passes in the first quarter. Marte Mapu got it started with an interception in the middle of the field on the opening drive. That play marked his fifth INT in the last two seasons.
• On Utah Tech's next series, Caleb Nelson stepped in front of a pass at the 2-yard line and then returned the ball 98-yards for a touchdown down the left sideline. Nelson, who was playing in his first game with the Hornets, had one interception while at North Dakota.
• The final interception game two series later when JC transfer Dillon Juniel made a diving interception along the right sideline.

THE SHORT WAY BACK

• A year ago, Ariel Ngata was spending practices jogging up and down the sidelines while recovering from a torn Achilles tendon. Ngata shocked everyone, including his doctors, with a speedy recovery which allowed him to take the field against Montana on Oct. 16, just six months after his surgery. He finished the season with 12 tackles and an interception in seven games.
• Now a full year out, the defensive end showed his pass rushing prowess with two sacks against Utah Tech. He also had a third tackle and was credited with a quarterback hurry.
• Ngata starred at Folsom HS where he played for current Hornet Assistant Head Coach Kris Richardson. He began his collegiate career at Washington where he had 22 tackles, including two for loss over the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
• Ariel and younger brothers Joe (wide receiver, Clemson) and Daniyel (running back, Arizona State) are believed to be the only trio who are currently playing Div. I football.
• They are also cousins with current San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.

HISTORIC NIGHT

• Sacramento State's 378 team rushing yards against Utah Tech ranks third in the program's Div. I history (1993-pres.). The total only trails the 470 yards against Idaho State in 1999 where Charles Roberts set the then-NCAA FCS record with 409 individual yards and 392 against Cal Poly in 2000.
• Along with the performances from Skattebo and Asher O'Hara, Sacramento State also received a career best 71 yards from redshirt freshman Elijah Tau-Tolliver, 46 yards from Marcus Fulcher and 23 from Elijah Gable.
• That group combined to have 404 rushing yards but the team total was lowered by a 7-yard sack to Jake Dunniway, a 7-yard loss to wide receiver Carlos Hill on a reverse and a 2-yard loss from quarterback Kaiden Bennett. With those numbers removed, the Hornet running backs and O'Hara averaged 10.4 yards per carry.
• Much of the credit goes to an offensive line which played 10 players during the course of the game and allowed just one sack along with the gaudy rushing numbers.

RANKINGS REHASH

• Saturday will mark the 15th time since the start of the 2019 season that Sacramento State will play as a team ranked in the top 25.
• Prior to Troy Taylor's arrival as head coach in 2019, the Hornets had only played seven games while ranked in the Div. I-era (1993-2018).
• Sacramento State opened the year in the FCS top 25 for just the second time in school history. The Hornets were picked seventh in both the Stats Perform media poll and the AFCA Coaches poll.
• The only other time the Hornets started the season in the top 25 came in 2011 when the team was 24th in the Stats poll and defeated Oregon State on Sept. 3.
• The team was picked second by the Big Sky head coaches in the preseason poll. The Hornets totaled 110 points which left them one behind Montana for the top spot and one ahead of Montana State for second place. MSU earned five first-place votes, Sacramento State received four and Montana three.
• The media picked Montana to finish first while being followed by Montana State and Sacramento State in the top three.
• Preseason polls have not been an accurate prediction of how the team will finish. In 2019, Sacramento State was unranked until the seventh week of the season and ended up cresting at No. 3 in both the coaches and media poll. That same year, the team was selected to finish  11th in the Big Sky Coaches poll and 12th by the media.
• In 2021, the Hornets were picked fifth by both the coaches and the media. That year the team went undefeated to win the league title and entered the playoffs as the No. 4 national seed.

THE OTHER HALF

• Jake Dunniway completed 17-of-25 pass attempts for 141 yards and two touchdowns against Utah Tech to continue his climb up the record board. The senior now ranks among the top 15 in school history in career completions, attempts and passing yards.
• One notable target ahead of him on the list is his position coach Bobby Fresques. Dunniway needs 18 completions and 458 yards to pass Fresques.
• Dunniway was named third team all-Big Sky as a quarterback in 2021. He played in all 12 games, earning the start in nine where he threw for 2,576 yards and 12 touchdowns. The senior's .632 completion percentage and 8.94 yards per pass placed him third in school single-season history while his pass efficiency of 148.6 ranked fourth in the Hornet record book. Dunniway had four 300-yard passing performances, including a career best 370 at Cal and 331 in the FCS Playoffs against South Dakota State. He was named the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week after a 328 yard, two touchdown effort against NAU.

Career Passing Yards    Total    Needs
10. Bobby Fresques (1990-92)    3,757    458
11. Lyle James (1966-68)    3,397    98
12. Nate Ketteringham (2015-16)    3,391    92
13. Jake Dunniway (2019-pres.)    3,299    ---

Career Pass Attempts    Total    Needs
14. Jeff Fleming (2010-11)    441    56
15. Jake Dunniway (2019-pres.)    385    ---

Career Completions    Total    Needs
10. Greg Knapp (1982-85)    279    37
11. Bobby Fresques (1990-92)    260    18
12. Lyle James (1966-68)    257    15
13. Mike Lippi (1969-70)    249    6
14. Jeff Fleming (2010-11)    243    1
15. Jake Dunniway (2019-pres.)    242    ---

THE TOP TARGET

• Pierre Williams caught two passes for 16 yards against Utah Tech and has now caught a pass in 32 games during his career. The two-time first team all-Big Sky selection enters this week ranked fourth in career receiving yards, fifth in career receptions and tied for sixth in career touchdowns.
• In 2021, Williams led the team with 764 yards and ranked second with 50 receptions. His average of 73.8 yards per game was easily the best among Hornets. If you remove the Northern Colorado game (where he was limited to the first series and didn't catch a pass), Williams averaged 83.0 yards per game.
• The UNC game snapped a stream in which Williams had caught a pass in 29 consecutive games in which he appeared. He returned to the field against Cal Poly the next week and had four catches for 62 yards.
• During the year he had a three-game stretch where he went over the century mark with 122 yards against UNI, 121 at Cal and 130 at Idaho State. Those performances made him the first Hornet to have three-consecutive 100-yard receiving games since Shane Harrison had 159 against Idaho State, 128 at Cal Poly and 152 at Northern Arizona in November of 2015.
• Williams is one of three players in program history to have at least eight 100-yard receiving games in his career. The other two are Fred Amey (14 games) and DeAndre Carter (10)  who both were named FCS All-Americans during their career and played in the NFL.
• The Gustine, Calif., native has also moved onto the Sacramento State top 10 list for career receptions, receiving yards and  receiving touchdowns.

Career Receiving Yards    Total    Needs
3. Morris Norrise (2010-13)    2,650    386
4. Pierre Williams (2018-pres.)    2,264    ---

Career Receiving Touchdowns    Total    Needs
4. Mike Carter (1968-69)    17    2
5. Lamont Webb (1997-2000)    16    1
T6. Tony Washington (2007-08)    15    ---
T6. Eric Harrington (1992-93)    15    ---
T6. Pierre Williams (2018-pres.)    15    ---
T6. Marshel Martin (2019-pres.)    15    ---

Career Receptions    Total    Needs
3. DeAndre Carter (2011-14)    207    70
4. Isiah Hennie (2014-17)    139    2
5. Pierre Williams (2018-pres.)    137    ---

WHAT MORE CAN HE DO

• There's no player who enjoys playing Utah Tech more than Marshel Martin. Over the last two seasons, Martin has caught four touchdown passes against the Trailblazers. In the most recent game, Martin opened the scoring with a 7-yard pass from Jake Dunniway. He gave the team a 35-10 lead at halftime with an 11-yard TD pass from Asher O'Hara.That score moved Martin into a four-way tie for fourth place in school history with 15 career touchdown grabs.
• Martin was named first team all-Big Sky in 2021 and was a second team All-American by the AFCA. He was recognized by HERO Sports as a Freshman All-American in 2019 and a Sophomore All-American in 2021. Martin was also a preseason all-Big Sky choice and preseason All-American heading into 2022.
• Martin set the school single-season record for touchdowns by a tight end in 2019 with seven. He added six TD grabs in 2021 and also rushed for a score.
• The Vallejo, Calilf., native has caught at least one pass in each game he has appeared in during his career (25) and has 10 games with five or more receptions.

Career Receiving Yards    Total    Needs
17. Brandyn Reed (2009-11)    1,299    45
18. Chase Deadder (2008-11)    1,298    44
19. Marshel Martin (2019-pres.)    1,254    ---

Career Receiving Touchdowns    Total    Needs
4. Mike Carter (1968-69)    17    2
5. Lamont Webb (1997-2000)    16    1
T6. Tony Washington (2007-08)    15    ---
T6. Eric Harrington (1992-93)    15    ---
T6. Pierre Williams (2018-pres.)    15    ---
T6. Marshel Martin (2019-pres.)    15    ---

Career Receptions    Total    Needs
T13. Jordan Robinson (2013-16)    103    6
T13. Gary Austin, Jr. (1999-2002)    103    6
15. Michael Johnson (1999-2002)      99    2
16. Marshel Martin (2019-pres.)    97    ---

PICK A POSITION

• Senior Marte Mapu has found his name on a couple preseason All-America teams albeit at two different positions. Mapu was selected to the HERO Sports third team as a linebacker and also earned third team honors from Phil Steele as a defensive back.
• The confusion on the position is understandable as Mapu plays the team's rover position which is a cross between linebacker and safety. Last year, the Hawthorne, Calif., native ranked second on the team with 65 tackles. He also paced the Hornets with 10 pass breakups and tied for the team lead with four interceptions.
• Mapu also showed the ability to come up big in the clutch. His interception in the final minutes sealed the teams victory at Idaho State. He also had a season high 11 tackles in the victory at Montana.
• Following the year, Mapu was selected to the all-Big Sky second team as a linebacker.

UTAH TECH TIDBITS

• Gavin Davis-Smith led the team with nine tackles, including seven solos. Davis-Smith finished 2021 with six total tackles with a high of three against UNI.
• Caleb Nelson's 98-yard pick six was the first touchdown off an interception for the Hornets since Munchie Filer III travelled 47 yards against Cal Poly on Nov. 16, 2021.
• Cameron Skattebo's kickoff return for a touchdown was the first for Sacramento State since Devin Gandy went 94 yards against Portland State on Nov. 13, 2021.  Prior to Gandy's score, the team had not had a kickoff returned for a touchdown since 2014.
• The team also had a long punt return for an apparent touchdown from Marcus Fulcher called back due to a penalty.
• After making 12-of-14 field goal attempts from 40-yards or further last season, Kyle Sentkowksi missed from 40 and 41 against Utah Tech.
• The preseason All-American and all-Big Sky selection is now 21-of-28 during his career on field goals and 52-of-53 on extra points.

Career Field Goals    Total    Needs
T4. Brad Cornish, 2012-15    26    5
T4. Tyson Becker, 1992-95     26    5
6. Chris Diniz, 2009-10    25    4
7. Kyle Sentkowski, 2019-pres.    21    ---

REFRESHER COURSE

• Dating back to 2019, the Hornets have now defeated 16 of the last 17 Big Sky teams it has faced. The team had a non-conference win over Northern Colorado and then finished the season 7-1.
• Sacramento State has also built an impressive road record under Taylor. The team is 9-0 away from home against FCS teams and 9-3 overall with the only losses coming at Arizona State, Fresno State and Cal.
• Sacramento State's eight-game winning streak last year was the longest in the school's NCAA Div. I era and tied for the longest in school history. The last time the Hornets won eight straight games came in 1966 when the team won its final eight games after starting the year 0-2.
• The nine total wins last season matched the mark from 2019 when the team ended the year with a 9-4 overall record. The only team to win more than nine games in school history was the 1988 squad which finished 10-3 and advanced to the NCAA Div. II semifinals.
• Sacramento State has posted back-to-back winning seasons for just the second time since moving to Div. I in 1993. The previous time came in 1999 (6-5) and 2000 (7-4).
• The team has recorded consecutive winning Big Sky records for the first time since joining in the league in 1995.
• Sacramento State is now 15-0 overall under Taylor when scoring first.
• The Hornets are 17-0 under Taylor when taking a lead into the fourth quarter.
• Strangely, Sacramento State is 11-0 when losing the coin toss over its last two seasons.
• The two lowest points allowed averages in the school's Div. I history have come in the last two seasons. The Hornets have allowed 19.5 points per game in the last 25 games played.
• The defense did not allow a point in 24 quarters last year, including six halves. The only team which has posted points in all four quarters of a game against Sacramento State in 2021 is Cal.
• Sacramento State's shutout over Northern Arizona was just the fourth since the school moved to NCAA FCS in 1993. It was also the second in a Big Sky Conference game  in school history following the 14-0 win at a rain-soaked Northern Colorado on Oct. 8, 2011.

SERIES HISTORY

• The only meeting between Sacramento State and UNI came last season where the Panthers took advantage of six Hornet turnovers to win, 36-14.
• That game was the most unbalanced of the season for the Hornets at the QB position. Asher O'Hara finished the gane 32-of-53 for 338 yards while Jake Dunniway was just 2-of-4 for 11 yards.

CONNECTIONS

• There are no players on the Sacramento State roster from the state of Iowa.
• There are no players on the UNI roster who hail from California.