A BRIEF PREVIEW

• Sacramento State will play its first home game of the 2026 season when it welcomes Mississippi Valley State to Hornet Stadium for the first time on Saturday, Sept. 5. The game will kick off at 7:05 p.m.
• This week's game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Will Iger on play-by-play and former collegiate quarterback Mo Hasan as the analyst.
• Hornet fans can tune in to ESPN 1320 AM to hear the radio call of Jason Ross (play-by-play), Steve McElroy (analyst) and Danny Sullivan (sideline). Live audio streaming is also available via www.hornetsports.com and the Audacy app.

STORYLINES

• Saturday's game will be Union Workers Appreciation and Black Excellence Night. Following the contest there will be a fireworks show.
• Hornet Stadium will also debut a new grandstand in the north end zone which features a beer garden and suites in the south end zone. The Sacramento State student section will also move to the east grandstand.
• The Hornets have won their last four home openers and seven of the previous eight. The team has averaged 43.3 points per game in the last four years, including 49 points against Mercyhurst last season.
• Sacramento State enters the game with an 0-1 record  after falling at Eastern Michigan, 28-17, last Saturday. The Hornet defense led the way, scoring on a fumble return and limited the Eagles to 69 rushing yards.
• Sacramento State's offense started slow in the game but finished with 270 yards of total offense, including 222 through the air. The breakout performance belonged to wide receiver Onterrio Smith, Jr., who caught a career high nine passes for 88 yards.
• Mississippi Valley State is also 0-1 on the young season with a 44-10 loss at Nicholls last Thursday. The Delta Devils trailed 37-0 at the half and scored their lone touchdown on a 95-yard pick six.
• MVSU is the fourth HBCU that Sacramento State has played. The Hornets previously faced Grambling State in the 1968 Pasadena Bowl, downed North Carolina Central, 56-7, in the second round of the 1988 NCAA Div. II Playoffs at Hornet Stadium. The team also topped Morris Brown, 37-12, in a 1990 home game.
• With the Hornets now a member of the FBS and Mississippi Valley competing in the FCS, Saturday's game will be the first in which Sacramento State has played a team from a lower division since starting the 2019 season at home against Southern Oregon (W, 77-19).
• The Delta Devils are coached by Terrell Buckley who is in his second year. Buckley starred at Florida State from 1989-91 and left the school as the all-time NCAA leader with 501 interception return yards. His 21 career interceptions were also the most in Florida State history when he departed for the NFL.

COMPLETING THE COMBO

• Sacramento State's first touchdown of the season came from an unexpected source as defensive lineman Xavier Williams returned a fumble 29 yards in the second quarter at Eastern Michigan.
• The touchdown was the first for Williams during his collegiate career and his first since his senior year of high school in the fall of 2019. The score was setup by Fata Puloka who sacked quarterback Noah Kim and jarred the ball free. Williams then caught the ball out of the air and skipped over a would-be tackler for the score.
• The score, however, did snap a streak in which the Hornets had won their last 10 games when getting a defensive or special teams touchdown dating back to 2019.
• Williams is not the first member of his family to score a touchdown for Sacramento State. His older brother, Pierre, was an FCS All-American wide receiver who caught 24 touchdowns between 2018-2022.
• The only other brothers to score touchdowns for the Hornets in the last 20 years are Isaiah and Elijah Gable who both found the end zone in the 2021 season.
• Xavier Williams' touchdown was the first fumble return for a TD by a Sacramento State players since George Obinna traveled 66 against Eastern Washington on Oct. 6, 2019.

WAITING FOR HIS TURN

• Onterrio Smith, Jr., came to Sacramento State as a highly-touted three-star recruit from powerhouse Folsom HS. While with the Bulldogs, he caught 47 passes for 666 yards and six touchdowns during his senior season and helped the team to a section title and berth in the NorCal championship game.
• Once with the Hornets, Smith redshirted in 2023 and made his debut on the field the following season where he caught five passes for 29 yards. His biggest game came against Nicholls where he had two receptions for 11 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown catch. Last year, Smith played in all 12 games and ended the year with two receptions for 16 yards.
• Heading into 2026, Smith earned a spot in the starting lineup at receiver and established himself as the top target for the team in the game at EMU. The fourth-year player was targeted 14 times in the game and finished with a game-high nine receptions for 88 yards. Those numbers more than doubled his career totals and he became the first Hornet to catch nine passes in a game since Ernest Campbell against Montana last season.
• Football runs in the Smith family as his father, Onterrio, Sr., was a high school All-American at Grant HS in Sacramento, played collegiately at Tennessee and Oregon and in the NFL for the Minnesota VIkings.

NEW FACES SHINE ON DEFENSE

• The top three tacklers for the Hornets at Eastern Michigan were making their first appearance in a Sacramento State uniform. Safeties Boogsie Silvera and Amari Wallace had 13 and seven tackles, respectively, while linebacker Tim Thomas provided six stops.
• Silvera, who has had previous stops at Charleston Southern, McNeese and USF, was credited with two solo stops and 11 assists. His 13 total tackles were a career best and marked the seventh game of his career with double-digit stops.
• Wallace came to the Hornets after redshirting at Miami and was part of a Hurricanes team which appeared in the CFP National Championship game. Last Saturday, he had two solos and five assists and also ranked second on the team with 1.5 TFLs.
• Thomas also set his career high with two solos and four assists. The fifth-year previously played at Fresno State where he was credited with 16 total tackles between 2023-25. HIs single-game high was four at Oregon State last season.
• The trio were not the only newcomers to make their presence felt on defense in the opening game. Cornerback Dionte Thornton had five tackles and a PBU. True freshman safety Chakai Scott had four stops and also blocked a punt which turned into a field goal. Donovan Turner, Leki Holani and Jamed Howard each had three tackles, Isiah Chala had two and Malikai Nichols, Austin Chamberts and Ivan Moore contributed one. In all, newcomers to the team combined for 49 of the team's 76 total tackles.

ONE FOR THE RECORD BOOK

• Along with Saturday being the first FBS game in program history, the contest also provided several marks which rank in the school's top three game performances against an FBS program.
• The 69 rushing yards allowed to EMU are the second-fewest by a Hornet defense against an FBS foe. The record of 63 came against San Jose State in 2024. As expected, the 2.30 yards allowed per rush in that game are also the second lowest.
• Eastern Michigan's 27 completions are tied for the most by an FBS team against the Hornets, matching the mark from Arizona State in 2013. The team's 38 total pass attempts are the third most and the highest since Fresno State had 40 in 2019.
• The 348 total yards by the Eagles were the third-fewest surrendered by Sacramento State to an FBS opponent. The only games with fewer yards allowed were 253 at Colorado State in 2022 and 341 at Colorado in 2012 — both Hornet victories.
• The seven punts by EMU are tied for the second-most by an FBS team against Sacramento State and just one shy of the school record.
• For the Hornet offense, the 17 rushing attempts are tied for the fewest in an FBS game while the 25 completions are tie for the third most.

SPECIAL DAY

• The Hornet special teams (aka Wefense) had a big day at Eastern Michigan. The unit converted a 40-yard field and both its extra points, blocked a punt and averaged 38.7 net punting yards.
• Grant Meadors accounted for five of the team's 17 points as he started the scoring with a 40-yard field goal and added two extra points. Meadors is now 13-of-16 field goals during his career and is 53-of-55 on extra points. His 40-yard make was the second-longest of his Hornet career and was only two yards short of his best.
• Meadors also handled the kickoff duties for the first time as a Hornet. He averaged 61.5 yards per kick on his four attempts.
• With Sacramento State joining the MAC, Meadors is now playing in his fourth conference in as many years despite being at just two schools. He redshirted at Oregon in 2023 while the Ducks were members of the Pac-12 Conference. In 2024, he played for Oregon in the Big Ten and then transferred to the Hornets where he competed in the Big Sky Conference in 2025.
• Hamish Adams served as the team's punter for the first time. The Australian averaged 38.7 yards on seven punts with a long of 46 yards. Adams also landed five of his punts inside the 20-yard line.
• The first big play of the game for Sacramento State came from first-year safety Chakai Scott who blocked a punt which was recovered by Caleb Reese at the EMU 28-yard line. That play set up Meadors' field goal.