A BRIEF PREVIEW

• The Sacramento State football team will make its first trip to the state of Ohio when it plays at Bowling Green on Saturday, Oct. 10. The game will kickoff at 9:05 a.m. PT marking the earliest start for a game in program history.
• This week's game will be broadcast on ESPN+. Anthony Lima will be the play-by-play announcer with former Iowa State running back Jeff Woody serving as the analyst.
• Hornet fans can tune in to ESPN 1320 AM to hear the radio call of Jason Ross (play-by-play), Darren Arbet (analyst) and Danny Sullivan (sideline). Live audio streaming is also available via www.hornetsports.com and the Audacy app.

STORYLINES

• Sacramento State will be playing outside of California for the first time since the season-opener at Eastern Michigan on Aug. 29. Since the game against the Eagles, the team has had three home contests as well as a matchup at Fresno State.
• The Hornets remain in search of its first MAC victory. Sacramento State is 1-4 overall and 0-2 in conference games.
• The team is coming off the first of two bye weeks during the season. The other bye week will come on Nov. 21 between a Nov. 11 game at Central Michigan and the season finale at Hawaii on Nov. 28.
• In its most recent action, Sacramento State fell 35-6 to UMass. The Minutemen scored on their first drive of the game and never looked back to stay unbeaten.  The Hornets were held to six points which were the lowest in a home game for the team since falling 17-3 to Montana on Oct. 13, 2007.
• Saturday is the second of seven-straight MAC games for the Hornets.
• Bowling Green is 1-4 on the year and 1-0 in MAC action after a 24-20 win at Miami (OH) last Saturday. The Falcons moved ahead with a 2-yard touchdown from Leo Kemp with eight seconds remaining.
• BGSU is averaging just 84.8 rushing yards per game while giving up 231.4. Austyn Dendy leads the team with 185 rushing yards while averaging 37.0 ypg. Dendy and Kemp account for the team's two rushing touchdowns this season.
• Jay Kastantin has completed 64.8 percent of his passes and has thrown for 870 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. His favorite targets have been Brennan Ridley (19 rec., 167 yards) and Jeremiah Scoby (18 rec., 182 yards).
• Head coach Eddie George is in his second season leading the Falcons. George is the only active head coach who also won the Heisman Trophy. George owns a 29-34 record as a head coach, including his time at Tennessee State.
• This is the first meeting between the two programs.

BYE, BYE, BYE

• Sacramento State has won seven of its last nine 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 EWU 48-27 in 2019, blew out Southern Utah, 41-20, in 2021, won at UNI, 37-21, in 2023, posted a 21-13 win at UNC in 2024 and ran for 397 yards in a 55-27 win at Weber State last season,.
• The team's only losses during that stretch came in 2018 where the Hornets fell to Cal Poly, 41-27 and in 2024 at home against Eastern Washington (35-28).
• Prior to the recent success, Sacramento State had an unbelievable 10-game losing streak coming off a bye from 2006-15. The schedule makers did no favors to the Hornets in that skid as the team faced an FCS ranked opponent in six of those games. 

SHAPE SHIFTING

• Injuries in the Hornet secondary forced Sacramento State to abandon its normal 3-3-5 defense and change to a 3-4 look against UMass. The team was without the services of safeties Donovan Turner, Diesel Gordon and Naytel Mitchell — all three were listed as backups the week earlier — forcing the Hornets to play with a more traditional two safeties in the middle of the field instead of three.
• Against the Minutemen, Sacramento State started Tim Thomas at linebacker alongside the usual trio of Fata Puloka, Alex Rocha and Xavier Williams. The quartet finished with 14 combined tackles led by a career-high six from Williams. Freshman Leki Holani also played at the position and tallied six tackles to set his career best while Ivan Moore Jr. had three stops.

BLOCK PARTY

• Sacramento State added its third block punt of the season when Ivan Moore Jr. rejected an attempt in the second quarter and set the team up at the UMass 13-yard line. That effort led to one of two field goals in the game for the team.
• The three blocked punts tie the Hornets with Wisconsin for the national FBS lead. San Diego State, Virginia Tech, Michigan and Nebraska have each blocked two punts while 27 have one block. The remaining 105 teams in the FBS have not blocked a punt this year. 
• Prior to this season, Sacramento State had not blocked a punt since Andre Lindsey did it against Idaho State in 2016. That drought ended when Chakai Scott blocked one at Eastern Michigan to set up a field goal and get the team its first points of the season.
• While the previous gap was 10 years between blocks, the most recent span was just seven days as Scott rejected the first punt of the night for Mississippi Valley State, leading to a Hornet touchdown.
• The freshman from Ocoee, Fla., remains the only player in the FBS to block multiple kicks/punts through the first five weeks of the season.
• Over the last 20 years, Scott is only the third Hornet to block two punts in a season joining Zach Schrader in 2010 and Chase Deadder in 2011. During that span, Christian Clark was credited with three blocks but all three of his came on PATs.
• Garrett Steele and Jon Bade were the last pair of Hornets to block a punt in the same season (2014).

MIX IT UP

• Finding the right starting five on the Hornet offensive line has been a work in progress this season. The team was riddled with injuries and illnesses throughout training camp which kept the projected starting five from playing together until just two days before the first game of the year.
• Sacramento State stuck with that unit for the first three games of the year before changes at left and right guard against North Dakota State. Last week, the team made additional switches with Jaxon Moore (left guard) and Shaan Lathan (center) making their first career starts. Vae Soifua also returned at right guard after not starting against the Bison.
• In all, the Hornets have started nine different players across the front through five games with only tackles Shontrail Key and Jeremiah Stallworth earning the nod in each contest.

MAKING THE STOP

• For the first time this season, Sacramento State did not face a fourth-down attempt but the Hornets remained the FBS leader. The team is one of three which have not allowed a fourth-down conversion this season.
• Sacramento State enters this week a perfect 5-for-5 in getting a stop on fourth down this year. The Hornets are tied with Tennessee for the most fourth-down stops and not allowing a conversion. Washington State also a perfect rate on four stops.  
• On the opposite side of the ball, the Hornets are 4-of-10 on fourth-down tries which ranks 105th in the FBS.

TIME FOR A TURNOVER TURNAROUND

• Sacramento State heads to Bowling Green ranked last in the FBS in turnover margin. The Hornets have two takeaways this season opposed to 11 giveaways. The minus-9 ratio averages to -1.80 turnovers per game.
• Sacramento State has made the most of its two takeaways, scoring touchdowns on both. The first came at Eastern Michigan where Fata Puloka had a strip sack which was gathered up by Xavier Williams and returned 29 yards for a score. The other was against Mississippi Valley where Diego Davis forced a fumble which was recovered by Collin Kallhoff. That turnover turned into a touchdown from Daniel Swinney.
• The team's 11 giveaways have resulted in the opposition scoring 42 points. That total includes a pair of defensive touchdowns with Darius Givance picking up a fumble for a 24-yard scoop-and-score for NDSU and Timmy Hinspeter rumbling 49 yards on a pick six for UMass.

MAKE ROOM FOR ONE MORE

• Matt Coleman and Onterrio Smith Jr. remain among the MAC leaders in receiving yards but it was Raiden Brown who led the team against UMass. Brown matched his career high with six receptions and had a season-high 61 receiving yards against the Minutemen. He also had a 24-yard rush — the longest of the game for the team.
• Coleman added four catches for 42 yards and Smith finished with three grabs for 31 yards. The pair rank second and 12th, respectively in the MAC in receiving yards per game. 
• Coleman leads the team with 26 receptions for 369 yards and three touchdowns. All three of those scores came against Mississippi Valley State where finished with 141 yards on six receptions. He scored on catches of 5, 19 and 63 yards in the game to become the first Hornet player with three receiving TDs in a game since Pierre Williams against Southern Oregon on Aug. 31, 2019.
• Coleman became the 59th Hornet to record a 100-yard receiving game. His 141 yards ranks are tied for the 68th best in school history and his three TDs are tied for fourth behind DeAndre Carter's five against Southern Oregon (2013) and Carter (vs. Southern Utah, 2014) and Chris Kelly (at Montana, 1999) who had four.
• Coleman began his collegiate career at San Jose State and played under current Hornet head coach Alonzo Carter and receivers coach Eric Scott with the Spartans. His biggest game for SJSU game in the 2024 Hawaii Bowl where he had 12 catches for 119 yards and scored two touchdowns against South Florida.
• Smith is not far off Coleman's pace with 22 receptions for 240 yards and a touchdown. Prior to this season, Smith had seven receptions for 45 yards in his first two seasons at Sacramento State. 
• Football runs in the family for both Coleman and Smith. Coleman's father, Herman, played quarterback at Southern from 1980-83 while Smith's dad, Onterrio Sr., was a running back at Tennessee (1999) and Oregon (200-023) before playing in the NFL and CFL.

LETS KICK IT

• Hamish Adams improved his season average with four punts for 169 yards (42.2 ypp) against UMass. Adams had a long of 45 yards and landed one of kicks inside the opponent 20.
• This season, Adams is averaging 40.5 yards per punt on 24 attempts. He has a long of 49 yards with 12 finishing inside the 20. He has forced a fair catch on 16 punts and has yet to have a touchback.
• Kicker Grant Meadors made a pair of field goal attempts and is now 6-of-8 on the season. Meadors has 18 career field goals and will move into the school career top 10 with his next make.

Career Field Goals

8. Chris Diniz (2009-10) 25
T9. Jim Crouch (1990-91) 19
T9. Roy Arreygue (1973-75) 19
--- Grant Meadors (2025-pres.) 18

Career PATs 
8. Tyson Becker (1992-95) 68
9. Jim Couch (1990-91) 61
10. Grant Meadors (2025-pres.) 60

SERIES NOTES

• This will be the first meeting between Sacramento State and Bowling Green.
• The game will also be the first for the Hornets in the state of Ohio.
• Sacramento State has faced the Falcons in four team sports. The Hornets are 1-0 in volleyball, men's soccer and gymnastics and 0-1 in softball. The loss in softball is a rare one as Sacramento State is 20-3 all-time against current MAC schools.

CONNECTIONS

• The Hornets have only one player on its roster from Ohio in safety Noah King (Hamilton). Tight end Cedric Anton played at Tiffin College in Tiffin, Ohio, last season.
• There are four Falcon players who hail from California made up of QB Hunter Najm (Aliso Viejo), LB Darian Hawkins (Culver City), FB Leo Kemp (Paso Robles) and WR Pierce St. Geme. 
• Both schools have ties to the Skattebo family with Leo Skattebo playing for the Falcons in 2016 and 2017 and Cam for the Hornets in 2020-22.