Week 12: UC Davis (6-4) at Sac State (10-0) It's time for the Causeway Classic folks! The Aggies are headed across the causeway to take on the #2 ranked 10-0 Hornets and it could not be a bigger game for us in terms of getting into the post season. Sac State will absolutely foaming at the mouth to complete the perfect regular season and to keep the concrete slab in Sacramento for the 3rd straight year.
On offense, Sac State is scoring 43 points per game while averaging 256.7 rushing yards per game with 29 TDs on the ground and 229.9 passing yards per game with 23 TDs through the air. Any team nearing 500 yards of offense per game is going to be tough to slow down and they can punch you in so many different ways it just makes them incredibly difficult to play against.
The Hornets have returned to their 2 QB system featuring Sr QB Jake Dunniway and Sr QB Asher O'Hara. Dunniway is their more pass heavy QB and has completed 134/222 (60.36%) passing attempts for 1698 yardswith 16 TDs and 9 INTs. O'Hara is their true dual threat QB who has completed 55/72 (76.39%) passing attempts for 575 yards with 7 TDs and 0 INTs. As mentioned, O'Hara is their 2nd best rusher with 159 rushing attempts for 781 yards (4.7 avg) with 17 TDs.
The Sac State running attack features maybe the best running back in the conference in So RB Cameron Skattebo. He currently has 150 attempts for 1161 yards (7.7 avg) with 5 TDs. He runs like a tank and is incredibly difficult to bring down. He's been held under 100 yards only 3 times this season. Jr RB Marcus Fulcher has also gotten some touches with 55 attempts for 344 yards (6.1 avg) and 6 TDs.
The Hornets have 2 main receiving threats that we will have to keep an eye on. Jr TE Marshel Martin leads the team in receiving with 40 receptions for 538 yards with 8 TDs. Sr WR Pierre Williams has 34 receptions for 500 yards with 6 TDs. There's a sharp dip in yards production after that, but they do have a total of 7 guys with double digit receptions this season so they can still spread the ball around if it's required.
On defense, Sac State is only allowing 21.90 points per game and limit their opponents to 128.1 rushing yards per game and 239.9 passing yards per game. Strangely enough, the team that dropped the most points on Sac this season was... Utah Tech with 33. The only other team to drop 30 on them was Weber. So while our offense has been a juggernaut lately, they will absolutely be tested in this one.
The Hornets are led on defense by Sr LB Armon Bailey who has 71 total tackles with 12.5 TFLs, 6 sacks, 4 PBUs, and 2 forced fumbles. They have also gotten significant production from Sr DB Marte Mapu who is 2nd on the team in tackles with 57 total with 4.5 TFLs, 1 sack, 2 INTs, and 1 forced fumble. They have decent depth and can rotate a lot of guys in and out so they rarely slow down on defense.
The Aggies and Hornets have 4 common opponents over this season in Cal Poly, Northern Colorado, Idaho, and Weber State. The Hornets obviously went 4-0 against those opponents where they beat the snot out of Cal Poly and Northern Colorado as expected and had very narrow wins over Idaho and Weber, beat both of them by a FG. We had the close loss to Weber and just had the fairly convincing win over Idaho.
All-in-all, do I think that the Aggies can head over to Sacramento and play spoiler to the Hornets perfect season while simultaneously locking themselves into a playoff spot? My heart says "HELL YES THEY CAN" while my brain says "sure, it's definitely a possibility". Massey is giving the Aggies a 32% chance of pulling out the win which feels about right to me honestly. Weird things happen in rivalry games, so I don't see why we can't get the W!
GO AGS!