Football 9/26/2023 12:38:00 PM

#8 FOOTBALL BACK AT HOME TO TAKE ON NORTHERN ARIZONA ON SATURDAY NIGHT

A BRIEF PREVIEW

The Sacramento State football team will play only its second home game of the season when it welcomes Northern Arizona to Hornet Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 30, at 6 p.m. The game will be the annual Pink Night — helping raise breast cancer awareness.
The Hornets are 3-1 overall and 0-1 in Big Sky action following a 36-27 loss at then-No. 7 Idaho last Saturday. Sacramento State rallied to tie the game, 27-27, late in the fourth quarter only to see the Vandals score nine points in the final two seconds to earn the win and snap a series of long winning streaks for Sacramento State.
The loss dropped the Hornets to eighth in the Stats Perform FCS media poll and ninth in the AFCA FCS coaches poll. Sacramento State has now been ranked in the top 10 of both polls for 18 consecutive weeks.
Hornet fans can tune in to ESPN 1320 AM to hear the radio call of Dave Lewis, Steve McElroy and Danny Sullivan. Live audio streaming is also available via www.hornetsports.com and the Audacy app.
The game will also be broadcast in the Sacramento area on KMAX-31 and streamed on ESPN+. Jason Ross will be on the play-by-play while Darren Arbet will serve as the analyst.

OPPONENT PREVIEW: NORTHERN ARIZONA

After starting the season winless in its first three games, Northern Arizona began Big Sky Conference play with an emphatic 28-14 win over Montana. The Lumberjacks outgained the Griz, 396-244, and held Montana to just 18 rushing yards. Freshman Adam Damante made his first start at quarterback where he completed 23-of-30 passes for 212 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. The NAU defense recorded seven sacks, intercepted a pass, recovered a fumble and blocked a punt during the game.
Northern Arizona has used various lineups through its first four games. The team has 17 players who have caught a pass led by Coleman Owen (20 receptions), Hendrix Johnson (12) and Draycen Hall (10). Both Damante and Kai Millner have seen time at quarterback. Damante has three touchdown passes with four interceptions while completing 71.6 percent of his passes. Millner has two TDs and one INT with a 59.4 completion rate. Devon Starling is the top running back with 252 yards (4.4 ypc) and two touchdowns.
Alex McLaughlin leads the Lumberjacks with 17 total tackles. Eloi Kwete is a disruptive player on the front line of the defense with 5.0 tackles-for-loss, including 4.5 sacks.
Chris Ball is in his fifth season as the head coach at NAU where he has a 16-27 overall record. Ball, who has over 30 years of collegiate experience, was the defensive coordinator at Memphis before heading to Flagstaff.

WHAT AN AMAZING RUN

Sacramento State had a series of impressive winning streaks come to a close on Saturday at Idaho. The Hornets had won 22 regular season games — the longest streak in school history. Sacramento State was 11-0 during the 2022 regular season and won its final eight games of 2021. The team's last loss in the regular season prior to Idaho came on Sept. 18, 2021 at Cal (42-30). The last regular-season loss against an FCS team was on Sept. 11, 2021 at home against UNI (36-14).
Last year's team became the first in school history to win 12 games. The previous school record of 10 came in 1988 where the Hornets were 8-2 in the regular season and then won a pair of NCAA Div. II playoff games.
The Hornets, Holy Cross and Jackson State were the only FCS teams to go undefeated in the 2022 regular season and all three have losses this year. The only undefeated FBS teams last season were Georgia and Michigan who are both undefeated in 2023.
The Hornets had won 19 consecutive Big Sky Conference games. The team's last loss prior to Idaho came against Weber State (36-17) at home on Nov. 2, 2019.
Only nine of the 110 players on Sacramento State's current roster appeared in that game against Weber State. To put it in perspective, that defeat happened before COVID-19 was diagnosed, gas was $3.59 per gallon in California and the top US movie was Ford vs. Ferrari.
Montana owns the longest win streak of conference games in Big Sky history with a 25-game streak between 1999-2002. The Griz won their final five Big Sky games in 1999, went 8-0 and 7-0 the next two years and started conference play 5-0 in 2002.
Sacramento State had won its last 15 road games against FCS teams and its last 12 road games against all opponents. The overall road win streak was the longest active in the FCS. The team's last road loss prior to Idaho came at Cal on Sept. 18, 2021. Its last road loss against an FCS team was against UC Davis on Nov. 17, 2018 in a game played in Reno, Nev., due to poor air quality.

RARE COMPANY

Head coach Andy Thompson became the sixth head football coach in Sacramento State history to start their career with a win when the team was victorious at Nicholls. Following the win over Texas A&M-Commerce, he was one of only three coaches to start 2-0. Thompson is now only tied with John Baker as Sacramento State head coaches to start 3-0.
Baker guided Sacramento State to wins over Cal State LA, Long Beach State and Moffitt Field in 1957 and is the only coach in school history to start his career 3-0. That team dropped its fourth game of the year, 27-19, at Humboldt State.
Thompson became the 12th head coach in program history when he was hired last December. He served as the team's defensive coordinator and linebackers coach since arriving in 2019.

RANKINGS REHASH

For just the third time in school history, Sacramento State began the season ranked among the top 25 in the FCS preseason polls. The only other times the Hornets started the season in the top 25 came in 2011 when the team was 24th in the Stats poll and last season where the team debuted at seventh.
Sacramento State dropped to eighth in the Stats Perform media poll and ninth in the AFCA FCS Coaches poll after its loss at Idaho.
This week marks the 30th time since the start of the 2019 season that the team has been ranked in the top 25. Prior to that season, the team only played seven games as a ranked squad between 1993-2018.
The Hornets were picked third by the Big Sky head coaches in the preseason poll and fourth by the media. Montana State was selected to finish first in both the coaches and media polls.
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.
Last season, Sacramento State was picked second by the coaches and third by the media before finishing the year undefeated in Big Sky play.

FULCHER LEAVING HIS MARK

Marcus Fulcher has established himself as the do-everything back for the Hornets this season, leading the team with 240 rushing yards and also being the only Sacramento State player with multiple receiving touchdowns.
Fulcher scored twice at Idaho, rushing for a 2-yard score midway through the third quarter and then tying the game with an 11-yard reception late in the fourth quarter. His six touchdowns this season lead the team, rank second in the Big Sky Conference and tied for sixth in the FCS. The national list is topped by Holy Cross' Jordan Fuller who had 10 touchdowns. Dylan Laube of New Hampshire ranks second with nine TDs.
Fulcher finds himself in elite company in school history as he is just the third player to score six touchdowns in the first four games of the season in the school's Div. I era (1993-pres.). All-American Charles Roberts had eight TDs in the first four games in 1998 and had six the following year. Current Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver DeAndre Carter accounted for six touchdowns in the first four games of 2013. Carter's total was aided by a school-record five TD receptions against Southern Oregon.
Fulcher surpassed 1,000 career yards on the ground earlier this season and now has 1,099 career rushing yards. His average of 5.04 yards per carry places him just outside the top 10 in school history where Jordan Robinson ranks 10th (5.19 ypc).
Fulcher needs 148 rushing yards to crack the school top 20 for career rushing yards. The last spot on the list is currently held by former quarterback Kevin Thomson. He is just one rushing touchdowns away from tying Garrett Safron (2001-14), Tyronne Gross (2002-04) and Garrett White (1998-02) for 10th place on the career rushing TD list.
The senior has done a little of everything for Sacramento State during his career. Along with the rushing yards, he has caught 62 passes for 579 yards and six touchdowns and also has 347 total return yards for 2,025 career all-purpose yards.
Last season, Fulcher rushed for 465 yards and ranked second on the team with eight rushing scores. He was also third on the team with 36 receptions and finished the season with 252 yards and two scores. His biggest performance came in the FCS quarterfinals where he rushed for 108 yards on just nine attempts.

RETURN OF SACK STATE

Sacramento State followed its six-sack effort at Stanford with three sacks of Idaho last Saturday and now has 13 sacks on the season which is tied for 10th in the FCS at 3.25 sacks per game.
In the most recent action, Jeremy Harris, DeShawn Lynch and Mason Brosseau were each credited with solo sacks.
Lynch leads the team with four sacks. His average of 1.0 sacks per game tied him for 11th in the FCS and leads the Big Sky Conference. The redshirt sophomore had not recorded a sack in 10 career games prior to this season.
Jett Stanley is second among the Hornets with three sacks — all of which came at Stanford and helped Stanley earn Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week. The team's six sacks against the Cardinal were the most for the team since tallying six at Cal Poly in 2019. Stanley had only one sack in three previous years.
Harris (1.5), Armon Bailey (1.0), Brandon Knott (1.0), Brosseau, Brock Mather (0.5), Leke Fashola (0.5) and Ben Ahio (0.5) account for the other sacks this year.
Over the last 10 years, Sacramento State has had varied results in terms of sacks. The low came in 2018 where the team had only 13 sacks. The highs were in 2019 (44) and 2017 (43). Those two totals rank second and third in school single season history. The team has averaged 24.7 sacks per year in that span.

DOUBLE DOUBLE DIGITS

Linebacker Armon Bailey recorded 11 tackles against Stanford and Idaho for his first two career games with double digit stops. Bailey is the first Hornet with 10-plus tackles in consecutive games since Marcus Hawkins had 10 tackles against Fresno State and Eastern Washington in 2019.
Bailey also recovered a fumble against the Vandals for his first of the season and second of his career.
Bailey tallied a team-leading 88 tackles last season and had a consistent presence. He had at least four tackles in all 13 games and had five or more in 10 games. That stretch included three consecutive games with nine tackles.
The Vallejo, Calif., native was named first team all-Big Sky in 2022 and was a preseason all-conference choice prior to this year.
Along with Bailey, the current Hornet rosters boasts four other players who have had games with at least 10 tackles in their career comprised of: Jeremy Harris (2), Cameron Broussard (2), Jett Stanley and Brock Mather.

WHAT A WEAPON

Sacramento State featured arguably the top kicker in the FCS in Kyle Sentkowski over the last two season. Sentkowski made 38 field goals during that span, including a school record 21 in 2021. His 229 career points rank fifth in program history.
With Sentkowski's graduation, the job to fill his role was wide open throughout fall camp before Zach Schreiner earned the honor. The transfer from American River JC made a 23-yarder at Nicholls State on his first attempt before missing a 45-yard attempt against the Colonels.
Since that game, Schreiner has made his last seven field goals. He was 3-of-3 at Stanford to earn Big Sky Special Teams Player of the Week. That performance also led to head coach Andy Thompson announcing at the end of a practice that Schreiner would be placed on scholarship.
The Rocklin, Calif., native has made 44-yard field goals in the last two games. His eight field goals this season already has him just four shy of cracking the school single-season top 10.

IT COULDN'T LAST FOREVER

The Hornet offensive line featured the same starting five in consecutive games for the first time this season but the unit saw its streak of not allowing a sack come to an end at Idaho. The Vandals became the first team to get to a Hornet quarterback as they sacked Kaiden Bennett twice in the game.
The Hornets are now tied for fourth in the FCS and lead the Big Sky by allowing only 0.50 sacks per game, Central Connecticut State and Drake are the only two remaining teams to not allow sack in 2023.
The Hornets opened the year with a lineup of Garza (LT), Jackson Slater (LG), Nathan Mejia (C), Kenndel Riley (RG) and Aidan Meek (RT). However, that combo did not last long as Riley and Meek were both ruled out for the Texas A&M-Commerce game due to injuries.
Senior Jordan Stanley stepped in at right tackle and junior Kaden Richardson took over at right guard for the game against Texas A&M-Commerce. To complicate matters, Richardson was sidelined for part of the game against the Lions forcing Stanley to right guard and redshirt sophomore Sawyer Hays to right tackle.
Against Stanford, Troy Stiefel returned at left tackle moving Garza to right tackle. Stiefel became the eighth Hornet to start on the line this year.
Stiefel is currently in his seventh year at Sacramento State. He redshirted in 2017 before playing in five games the following year. He started all 13 games in 2019 and then sat out the 2020 campaign as the Hornets did not participate in the spring season. He opened 2021 by starting the first two games but missed the remainder of the season with an injury. Last year, he was named second team all-Big Sky after starting the 11 regular season games. He was injured in the regular season finale, missed the playoffs and delayed his return this fall.

ADD YET ANOTHER TO THE LIST

Tight end Austin Jarrard came to Sacramento State last season and established himself as one of the key contributors on special teams. Jarrard had not caught a pass as a Hornet until last Saturday when he had a 5-yard touchdown reception in the final seconds of first half. The TD, which came on Jarrard's birthday, made him the seventh Hornet to score a touchdown this year.
The team's six passing touchdowns this season have gone to five different players as running back Marcus Fulcher is the only player with multiple receiving scores. The other touchdown receptions have come from Jared Gipson and Anderson Grover at Nicholls, Christian Miller against Texas A&M-Commerce at Jarrard.
Sacramento State has rushed for nine touchdowns with Kaiden Bennett and Fulcher each scoring four and Elijah Tau-Tolliver adding one a Stanford.
Last season, 12 Hornets scored at least one touchdown. Quarterback Asher O'Hara who rushed for 20 TDs. Marshel Martin IV (13), Cameron Skattebo (11) and Fulcher (10) all cracked double digits in touchdowns.

TOTAL PACKAGE

Quarterback Kaiden Bennett has shown the ability to hurt defenses with both his arms and legs this season. Bennett leads the Big Sky and ranks 10th in the FCS with 267.0 yards of total offense per game. Bennett has thrown six touchdowns and rushed for four which places him seventh in the FCS with 60 points responsible for.
Against the Vandals, Bennett threw for 236 yards but was held to minus-3 rushing yards after being sacked twice for the first time this season.
Bennett set his career best with 279 passing yards and rushed for 100 at Stanford to finish the game with 379 yards of total offense.
He had 101 rushing yards — aided by a 40-yard TD run — against Texas A&M-Commerce and followed with 100 at Stanford. That combo made him on the second QB in school history to rush for 100 yards or more in consecutive games as Kevin Thomson had 149 against Southern Utah and 121 at Eastern Washington in 2017.
The Reno, Nev., native has taken advantage of the big play, completing 13 passes of 25 yards or longer through the first four games. That total includes five passes of at least 40 yards. Last season, Sacramento State had nine pass plays of 40+ yards and 31 of 25+ yards in 13 games.
Bennett's path to Sacramento State was a winding one. After playing at Folsom High School where he threw for 8,500 yards and rushed for over 2,000, he graduated midyear and enrolled at Boise State. Bennett then moved to Nevada in the fall of 2020 before transferring to Sacramento State.
He appeared in five games for the Hornets in 2021 and six in 2022 all in a limited roll. Bennett did not throw or rush for a touchdown in either season.

MOVING TO THE TOP

Punter Cal McGough enjoyed the confines of the Kibbie Dome as he averaged 50.7 yards per punt on three attempts. McGough landed one of those three inside the 20 and had a long of 56 yards.
The team's net punting average of 46.36 yards per attempt leads the FCS. Stanford is the only team to attempt a return but that effort finished with zero yards.
Cal McGough has taken 10 of the 11 kicks and is averaging 46.2 yards per attempt. Against Nicholls, he placed all three of punts inside the 6-yard line. The next weekend, he placed punts at the 18, 5 and 15 yard line. He also had a long of 52 yards. This year, he has three punts over 50 yards and has landed seven inside the 20.
Connor Stutz had one punt for the Hornets at Nicholls and boomed a 48-yard effort which was the longest for the team. His punt was fair caught at the Nicholls 14-yard line.

A RELIABLE TARGET

All-American tight end Marshel Martin IV continues to work his way back from an injury which forced him to miss nearly all of the first two games of the year. Martin had two catches for 14 yards at Idaho and now has seven grabs for 36 yards on the year.
The senior has at least one reception in 39 of 40 career games in which he has appeared. His lone exception was last season's contest against Idaho where he played one snap.
Martin landed on every preseason FCS All-America team this offseason after being named to the second team by The Associated Press, Stats Perform and the AFCA in 2022. Martin led the team with 879 receiving yards, 65 receptions and 12 receiving touchdowns.
Martin ended the 2022 season with two dynamic performances in the FCS Playoffs. He caught 10 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns in the victory over Richmond and then hauled in 12 catches for 144 yards and two scores and also rushed for a touchdown against UIW.
The senior has now accumulated more receptions (165), receiving yards (2,114) and receiving touchdowns (25) than any other non-wide receiver in school history.
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.

60 IS JUST A NUMBER

Idaho became just the second opponent in the last 20 Sacramento State games to complete 60 percent of its passes as the Vandals completed 15-of-21 attempts (.714). The only team to surpass 60 percent was UIW which connected on 20-of-32 passes (.625) in the 2022 FCS Playoffs.
The Hornets are 17-1 when holding the opposition under 60 percent with the only loss coming against South Dakota State in the second round of the FCS Playoffs in 2021.

QUICK HITTERS

Sacramento State's victory at Stanford was the team's fourth over an FBS opponent since 2011. The Hornets now have wins over Oregon State (2011), Colorado (2012), Colorado State (2022) and Stanford. Only North Dakota State has more FBS victories in that span as the Bison have won five. Eastern Washington is tied with Sacramento State with four wins.
The Hornets swept the Big Sky Players of the Week after win for the first time in school history with Kaiden Bennett (offense), Armon Bailey (defense) and Zach Schreiner (special teams) earning the awards.

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Players Mentioned

#10 Asher O'Hara: QB; 6' 0"; Senior

#98 Kyle Sentkowski: K; 6' 0"; Senior

#4 Cameron Skattebo: RB; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#94 Ben Ahio: DL; 6' 4"; Junior

#4 Armon Bailey: LB; 6' 1"; Senior

#1 Kaiden Bennett: QB; 6' 0"; Junior

#95 Mason Brosseau: DL; 6' 3"; Sophomore

#7 Cameron Broussard: S; 6' 3"; Junior

#99 Leke Fashola: DL; 6' 4"; Junior

#9 Marcus Fulcher: RB; 5' 9"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#10 Asher O'Hara
: 6' 0"; Senior
: QB

#98 Kyle Sentkowski
: 6' 0"; Senior
: K

#4 Cameron Skattebo
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: RB

#94 Ben Ahio
: 6' 4"; Junior
: DL

#4 Armon Bailey
: 6' 1"; Senior
: LB

#1 Kaiden Bennett
: 6' 0"; Junior
: QB

#95 Mason Brosseau
: 6' 3"; Sophomore
: DL

#7 Cameron Broussard
: 6' 3"; Junior
: S

#99 Leke Fashola
: 6' 4"; Junior
: DL

#9 Marcus Fulcher
: 5' 9"; Senior
: RB

Players Mentioned

Players Mentioned

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