A BRIEF PREVIEW

• Following a 38-24 season-opening victory at Nicholls last Thursday, the No. 9/8 Sacramento State football team will welcome Texas A&M-Commerce to Hornet Stadium for its first home game of the year. The contest will kickoff at 7:02  p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9.
• The Hornets extended their regular-season win streak to 20 games with the win at Nicholls. Kaiden Bennett accounted for three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing) and helped the offense to 441 yards. Running back Marcus Fulcher scored a pair of touchdowns and the defense accounted for three sacks in the win.
• Saturday's game will be the first against Texas A&M-Commerce in school history. Fans will also be treated to a fireworks show following the game.
• 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 on KMAX-31 and streamed on ESPN+. Jason Ross will handle the play-by-play and will be joined by Darren Arbet for analysis.

OPPONENT PREVIEW: TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE

• Texas A&M-Commerce started its season last Thursday with a 48-10 home loss to UC Davis. The Aggies scored the first 31 points of the game and outgained the TAMU-C, 529-285.
• The Lions used a pair of quarterbacks against UC Davis. Peter Parrish was 6-of-12 for 54 yards and was intercepted three times before giving way to Josh Magana. Magana compiled 89 passing yards on 5-of-7 throwing, including a 65-yard TD pass to Keith Miller. Ra'veion Hargrove and Shamenski Rucker led the team's rushing attack with 48 and 47 yards, respectively.
• A&M-Commerce transitioned to NCAA FCS football in 2022 where they went 5-6 overall and 3-3 in the Southland Conference. Prior to that season. the Lions were members of the Lone Star Conference (NCAA Div. II).The team reached the third round of the NCAA Div. II Playoffs in 2019 and were the Div. II national champions in 2017.
• Clint Dolezel is in his first season as the head coach at Texas A&M-Commerce. Dolezel starred for the school (then known as East Texas State) where he threw for over 3,000 yards and had 22 touchdown passes in his final season. He went on to become an Arena Football Hall of Fame quarterback and had a long coaching career in indoor football.

MAKING HISTORY

• Head coach Andy Thompson became the sixth head football coach in Sacramento State history to start their career with a win. Thompson is the third straight Hornet head coach to earn a victory in their first game following Jody Sears' 49-13 win at Incarnate Word in 2014 and Troy Taylor's 77-19 triumph over Southern Oregon in 2019.
• 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.
• The other head coaches in school history to win their first game at the helm of the Hornets were John Baker (19-14 vs. Cal State LA) in 1957; Ray Clemons (21-0 at Pepperdine) in 1961 and Mike Clemons (34-17 vs. Cal State Hayward) in 1993.

FINDING PAYDIRT

• Marcus Fulcher had touchdown runs of 5 and 1 yards in the first 17 minutes at Nicholls. He became the first Hornet to have two touchdowns in a season opener since 2019 when Fulcher and Elijah Dotson each scored twice against Southern Oregon.
• Anderson Grover, a transfer from Washington State, recorded the final touchdown for Sacramento State when he hauled in a 6-yard pass from Kaiden Bennett with 10:13 left to play. Grover is the first newcomer to catch a TD pass in his first game with Sacramento State since Pierre Williams against Saint Francis (Ill.) in 2018.

AIRING IT OUT

• Over half of Kaiden's Bennett's passing yards at Nicholls come on three completions of at least 40 yards. Prior to the game, Bennett's longest completion as a Hornet was an 11-yard pass against Northern Colorado last season.
• His first bomb against the Colonels came with Sacramento State facing 3rd-and-8 from their own 13. Bennett connected with Carlos Hill for a 41-yard gain down the middle of the field. The reception was the longest of Hill's career, surpassing his 33-yard effort last season against Montana.
• Just two plays later, Bennett stepped up into the pocket to avoid the rush and found Jared Gipson in the back center of the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown to give the team a 24-10 lead. Gipson also had a 40-yard TD last year at Cal Poly.
• On the team's first drive of the fourth quarter, Bennett had a 47-yard pass to Devin Gandy to take the ball to the Nicholl's 6-yard line and set up a Hornet touchdown.
• Sacramento State had nine pass plays of at least 40 yards all of last season. The most in one game was two  (at Portland State, vs. Richmond).
• Bennett finished the game completing 11-of-16 pass attempts for 221 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 38 yards and a touchdown.
• Carson Camp shared time at the position where he was 5-of-11 for 35 yards. Camp did account for the longest rush by a Hornet against Nicholls with a 26-yard gain on the opening drive.

GOOD USE OF SPACE

• Sacramento State only called up its punters four times at Nicholls but the pair made the most of their chances, averaging 43.5 yards per punt and landing all four of their efforts inside the Colonel 15-yard without a return.
• Cal McGough had three of the attempts and pinned Nicholls inside their own 6-yard line on each punt. McGough's first punt was for 36 yards and was downed by Sacramento State at the Nicholls 6-yard line.
• On the team's next offensive series, McGough punted from the Nicholls 47 and had his punt caught by Sawyer Merrill at the 1-yard line. The defense then forced a 3-and-out and Anderson Grover returned the ensuing punt to the Nicholls 33 setting up Sacramento State's second touchdown of the game.
• McGough's final try came in the fourth quarter and traveled 44 yards to the Nichols 4. He finished the game averaging 42.0 yards punt while accounting 91.9 percent of the available yardage.
• Connor Stutz also had one punt for the Hornets in the game and boomed a 48-yard effort which was the longest for the team. His punt was fair caught at the Nicholls 14-yard line.

ISN'T THAT SPECIAL

• Along with the punting performance at Nicholls, Elijah Tau-Tolliver returned a kickoff 44 yards and Anderson Grover had a 36-yard punt return. The pair became the first for Sacramento State to have a 40-plus yard kickoff return and 30-plus yard punt return in the same game in over a decade. The last time it happened was at Idaho State on Sept. 29, 2012 when Sam McCowan returned a kick 45 yards and Morris Norrise had a 44-yard punt return.
• Tau-Tolliver had three returns of over 40 yards last season, including a 95-yard touchdown against Richmond in the second round of the FCS Playoffs. He averaged 26.6 yards per return in 2022 and owns an average of 32.0 yards through one game this season.
• Grover returned four punts against the Colonels for a total of 53 yards (13.3 ypr). He had one return for zero yards at Washington State last season.

BACKYARD TO THE BACKFIELD

• All three of Sacramento State's sacks at Nicholls came from players who hail from the Sacramento area. Redshirt sophomore DeShawn Lynch (Folsom HS) recorded the first two sacks of his career while junior Brandon Knott (Inderkum HS) had one sack.
• Both Lynch and Knott made the first starts of their collegiate careers in the game. Lynch was a highly-touted player out of high school earning three stars from Rivals, 247Sports and ESPN. As a senior, he had 12.5 TFLs, including 4.5 sacks. The previous season he played for  current Hornet associate head coach Kris Richardson and helped the Bulldogs to a California Div. I-AA title.
• Knott has seen action the two prior seasons, recording 52 total tackles while playing as a reserve on the interior of the line. All three of his career tackles-for-loss have been sacks, tallying one in 2021, 2022 and now 2023.  As a senior at Inderkum HS in 2019, Knott was named third team all-state medium schools by Cal-Hi Sports.
• The Hornet offense was also represented well by local players as 26 of the 38 points scored came from players who graduated from Sac-Joaquin Section schools.

THROWING A SHUTOUT

• While Sacramento State had three sacks on defense, the Hornet offensive line of Ivan Garza (LT), Jackson Slater (LG), Nathan Mejia (C), Kenndel Riley (RG) and Aidan Meek (RT) did not allow one on the other side of the ball.
• Senior Jordan Stanley also saw significant action against the Colonels in his first return to the field since 2019.
• Dating back to last season, the offensive line has not allowed a sack in five games. The Hornets allowed two sacks or less in 12 of the 13 games last season with only UIW tallying three in the FCS Quarterfinals.

LET'S GO STREAKING

• Sacramento State has won its last 20 regular season games — the longest streak in school history. The Hornets were 11-0 during the 2022 regular season and won its final eight games of 2021. The team's last loss in the regular season 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 regular season last year. The only undefeated FBS teams last season were Georgia and Michigan.
• The Hornets have won 19 consecutive Big Sky Conference games. The team's last loss came against Weber State (36-17) at home on Nov. 2, 2019.
• Sacramento State has won its last 15 road games against FCS teams and its last 11 road games against all opponents. The overall road win streak is the longest active in the FCS. The team's last road loss 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.

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 moved up one spot to ninth in the Stats Perform poll after its win at Nicholls.
• This week marks the 27th 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.

MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME

• Prior to meeting UIW in the quarterfinals of the NCAA FCS Playoffs last season, Sacramento State had only played five games against schools which were members of the Southland Conference at the time of the game. The Hornets played at Louisiana Tech in 1977 and then played a home-and-home with Texas State (then known as Southwest Texas) in 1995 and 1997. All three of those games resulted with Sacramento State on the short side of the scoreboard.
• Sacramento State earned its first wins over a Southland Conference team with a 49-13 victory at UIW to start the 2014 season. The Hornets then downed the Cardinals, 56-22, in 2017.
• Counting last year's final game as well as last week's matchup at Nicholls this week's game against Texas A&M-Commerce, Sacramento State will play three consecutive games against Southland Conference teams.
• Going forward, the team has one additional game against both of this year's opponents and has also signed to play a home-and-home series with Lamar in future seasons.

CLOSING IN ON 1K

• With a team-high 71 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the season opener, Marcus Fulcher now has 930 career rushing yards and 13 career rushing touchdowns.
• Fulcher needs 377 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 three 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 59 passes for 514 yards and four touchdowns and also has 347 total return yards for 1,417 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.

THE SECOND LAYER OF DEFENSE

• The linebacking trio of Brock Mather, Jeremy Harris and Armon Bailey accounted for three of the top four tacklers for Sacramento State at Nicholls. Mather led the team with eighth tackles while Harris, Bailey and cornerback Dillon Juniel were tied for second with six.
• Mather started all 13 games last season at middle linebacker where he was credited with 67 total tackles. He had at least two tackles in each game and had five or more stops in seven games. Mather's Sacramento State career high came in the nationally televised game against Montana where he had 13 tackles.
• Harris entered 2023 with the most career tackles among active players on the team with 148. The Simi Valley, Calif., native has had at least 34 tackles in the three previous seasons, including 64 as a freshman in 2019.
• Bailey  led the team in tackles, tackles-for-loss and sacks a year ago en route to being named first team all-Big Sky. That effort led to Bailey earning a spot on the 2023 Buck Buchanan Watch List as well as being named a preseason All-American by Stats Perform and Phil Steele. He had 88 total tackles, including 12.5 for loss and six sacks.

A RELIABLE TARGET

• All-American tight end Marshel Martin had just one reception for five yards before leaving the game at Nicholls with an injury. The catch gives Martin at least one reception in 37 of 38 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.
• Martin had never caught more than seven passes in a game and his previous yardage high was 117 at NAU in 2021. His 12 receptions against UIW are the most by a tight end in school history and tied for the fifth most in the Hornet record book regardless of position.
• The Vallejo, Calif., native had at least 75 receiving yards in six games last season. His second touchdown at Weber State broke his own school record for receiving touchdowns by a tight end. Martin ranks first with 12 scores last season, second with seven in 2019 and is third with six in 2021.
• The junior has now accumulated more receptions (158), receiving yards (2,083) 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.

Career Receiving Yards    Total    Needs
3.    DeAndre Carter (2011-14)    2,760    677
4.    Morris Norrise (2010-13)    2,650    567
5.    Marshel Martin (2019-pres.)    2,083    ---

Career Receiving Touchdowns    Total    Needs
2.     Fred Amey (2001-04)    27    2
3.     Marshel Martin (2019-pres.)    25    ---

Career Receptions    Total    Needs
3.    DeAndre Carter (2011-14)    207    49
4.    Pierre Williams (2018-22)    182    24
5.    Marshel Martin (2019-pres.)    158    ---

LONE STAR LOWDOWN

• Texas A&M-Commerce will become the sixth school from Texas that Sacramento State has played in football joining Abilene Christian, UIW, UTEP, Texas State and West Texas A&M.
• All but UTEP has played a game at Hornet Stadium.
• UIW is the only team to make two appearances in Sacramento playing the Hornets in 2017 and 2022. Prior to those games, Sacramento State had not hosted a team from Texas since welcoming Texas State (then known as Southwest Texas State) in 1995.

PUT ANOTHER RING ON IT

• Sacramento State clinched a share of the 2022 Big Sky Conference title with its win over UC Davis in the 68th Causeway Classic on Nov. 19. The championship is the third in as many seasons for the Hornets dating back to the fall of 2019 (Sacramento State opted out of the 2021 spring season).
• The Hornets became the eighth school to win at least a share of three consecutive Big Sky titles. Weber State was the most recent winning in 2017, 2018, 2019 and in the spring of 2021. The longest consecutive streak belong to Montana which finished in at least a tie for first place from 1998-2009 (12 seasons).
• Sacramento State is the first Big Sky program to produce back-to-back 8-0 league seasons since Montana in 2006 and 2007. Since 1963, only 12 teams have gone 8-0 in a year comprised of Idaho (1989), Nevada (1991), Montana (1996, '00, '06, '07, '09), EWU (2013, '16), North Dakota (2016) and Sacramento State (2021, '22).
• The Hornets and Montana State became just the second pair of schools to each go 8-0 in Big Sky action in the same season. The previous instance came in 2016 where Eastern Washington and North Dakota both finished unbeaten in league action.

60 IS JUST A NUMBER

• Sacramento State held another opponent to under a 60 percent completion percentage as it limited Nicholls to 15-of-29 through the air. The Hornets have now held the opposition to under 60 percent in 16 of the last 17 games. The only team to surpass 60 percent was UIW which connected on 20-of-32 passes (.625) in the FCS  Playoffs.
• The Hornets were 15-1 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.