From Gauchodan's Big West Substack column:

2:00 PM: UC Davis at UC Riverside — The Aggies (16-11, 9-7) missed a chance to move into a top 4 spot in the Big West, blowing a 16-point halftime lead in a heartbreaking loss at Cal State Fullerton. Nils Cooper ended a 5-game single-digit scoring streak with 26 points. UC Davis finishes its final Big West season with 3 out of 4 on the road, but 2 of those away tilts are at teams currently out of the Big West Tournament field (UCR, Long Beach State). The Highlanders (9-19, 4-12) have been a tough out lately, having lost 5 games since Jan. 24 by 8 points or less. UC Riverside took out its frustration on CSU Bakersfield Thursday night in a dominant 93-65 victory. Andrew Henderson is averaging 17.8 points per game for Riverside.

All other games here:

https://bigwesthoops.substack.com/p/unguarded?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2973109&post_id=188695011&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=31ratq&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

I missed the post-game interview with Les but, based on his past interviews with disappointing loses like this, he would probably be quite upset with our second half defense. Allowing Fullerton to shoot 71.4% and score 57 points in the 2nd half and 93 total would not make for a pleasant post-game locker room with Les...

The Ags led the whole game until the last 19 seconds. Gotta give Fullerton credit. They shot 71.4% in the second half while scoring 57 points. That's was truly a "lights out" second half for them.

How about Poly knocking off Irvine, Santa Barbara and Hawai'i in their last 3 games!

I don't think the refs cost us the game either. I just hate how often the offensive player initiates the contact into the defensive player and, 8 times out of 10, the defensive player gets called for a block. It seems to me that there is an unequal "bias" by the officials in favor of offensive play that often makes it really difficult for teams to play great defense.

This officiating crew has no idea what an offensive foul is. How many times did a Fullerton player charge into an Aggie, throw a shoulder or an elbow and the officials would call a blocking foul on the Ags again and again. That and Les having the team start milking the clock way too early had a lot to do with this loss. We gave up 57 points in the second half so our defense did not travel to this game.

On the brighter side Cooper had a great game and was back in the starting lineup and Suljanovic is improving with every game.

From public broadcast CapRadio Sacramento:

The State Hornet initially published this story. The State Hornet is Sacramento State's independent student-run news publication.

By: Jack Dann

Two days ago, it was announced that Sacramento State would join the Mid-American Conference beginning in the 2026 season, becoming the first West Coast university to join college football’s highest division since 1969.

Today, the deal becomes official, and for President Luke Wood, it’s a major step in his ambitious goals for the university.

“We made a different offer to the MAC than we did to other conferences, because of the media value that they represented,” Wood said. “It’s the media exposure, MACtion is on ESPN, and it allows us to go from local broadcasts to national broadcasts on a regular basis.”

The MAC, known for their mid-week “MACtion” football games, presented a lucrative FBS option and significant exposure that goes beyond just athletics. The deal extends five years, per the official release from the MAC.

“It’s a $675 million media valuation, so over the five-year agreement we have, we go from where we’re at right now to that $675 million media valuation,” Wood said. “The exposure of the university on a national stage has a significant increase on the value of a Sac State degree. You have students who will graduate from Sacramento State, and their degree will be worth more in the marketplace.”

As is typical for schools that move conferences, Sac State will forgo media revenue for five years, a shorter period than seen for North Dakota State’s recent move to the Mountain West.

Sac State will also cover the air travel of visiting teams and pay $6 million of the $18 million dollar fee in the first year, per Ross Dellenger at Yahoo Sports. During the five years, Sac State aims to pay off their $18 million buy-in, plus the standard $5 million FBS entry fee.

“None of this is being paid by student fees, tuition or by the general fund,” Wood said. “All of this is being primarily paid for by game guarantees. As an FBS school, we can get $1 million to $1.5 million per game. Sam Houston was paid $1.5 million to go play Oregon State and beat them at home.”

With game guarantees and major increases to game revenue, Wood put it simply: “Football is paying for football.”

With the move, the campus expects major upgrades to Hornet Stadium as a new stadium is planned and built at Cal Expo.

“It’ll be an updated Hornet Stadium for the next two years,” Wood said. “As a part of our agreement with the MAC, we are making [Hornet Stadium] FBS-ready. We’re adding a new locker room for the visiting team and end zone seating that makes the stadium more wraparound.”

The Hornets had games scheduled in the event that they played the upcoming season as an FCS independent, but will abandon those games in favor of the new conference schedule, with one exception.

“In all of our agreements that we had, it was noted that if we became FBS, we would be released from that contract,” Wood said. “In all those cases, that was done with the exception of Fresno State, which is a preseason game and one we absolutely plan to keep.”

Sac State won’t be eligible for postseason football right away, although a waiver to avoid that isn’t off the table. When that ineligibility is lifted, the goal is clear.

“By 2028, I absolutely expect us to be competing for a conference championship and playing in our first bowl game,” Wood said.

https://www.capradio.org/articles/2026/02/17/sacramento-state-officially-joins-the-mid-american-conference/

Jen and her staff do a great job of developing post players over their years as an Aggie.

UNR came into the 1977 game undefeated and ranked #1 and having just beaten Sac 75-0. It looked like David vs Goliath when you looked at the size of the Nevada linemen but we absolutely shocked the Wolfpack in perhaps the best football atmosphere there ever was at The Toom. Simply electric!

I like that you're starting threads about baseball. I think we have opportunity to be a good baseball program that's popular with the Davis community as well.

I'd love to have them back on our out of conference schedule and paying up $300,000 or more to bus across the Causeway, "play up" and beat another "varsity football team." Who doesn't like easy money!

The local Sacramento TV news stations have been covering Sac's move to the FBS extensively. They often lead the story with something like "Sac State is moving up to the big time in college football" and they talk about how they will be "playing at the highest level now," but they also comment about the $23+ million price tag often with some comments from people who are skeptical about the move.

:rofl:

He's just continuing his spin in order to save face on all of his messed up FBS or Bust promises. What he has actually done is place the students and academics second to his obsession with FBS football and made an incredibly bad deal financially. Unbelievable!

Wow, it looks like Wood sold out the student body and made a bad deal in order to save face on his messed up FBS or Bust promises. What a stinker of a deal!

Sounds like he might have a groin injury. Those are painful and often slow to heal. I've had one before and it was painful to just walk at times. I hope he heals up quickly. He may not put up the biggest numbers but I feel like he's a solidly grounded, team oriented player who contributes a lot when he's on the floor.

I thought the game yesterday was a typical, fairly small crowd with pretty good energy that we often have. The game against Sac was the biggest and most vocal crowd and the crowds at the games against Irvine and Santa Barbara were smaller but quite energetic also. I expect we'll have a good crowd for our final home against Hawaii. We have a pretty good rivalry with the Bows and it will be senior night also.

He's appears to be struggling with something and his body language has looked "discouraged" lately. I like what he brings to the team when he is playing solid minutes.

I'm assuming that they will have to buy out many of the games they have already scheduled. So, as you said, the cost of joining the MAC will go even higher than the predicted $20-$23 million. They must have some big donor or donors behind them that they are keeping under largely wraps because, if they don't, I think Wood may have created a fire storm of criticism from the Sac State students who feel like academics and the welfare of the students takes the back seat to his obsession with moving football to the FBS at any cost.