Man his statement is so stupid.

They're as prepared as any team in the country to move from FCS to FBS? What because of a little money and a good (FCS) recruiting class? That's crazy. You're not James Madison. You're not Sam Houston St.

They've performed extremely well in FCS in recent years? You had 3 good seasons with a coach who is no longer there. Prior to Taylor, the most wins Sac State had in an FCS football season was 7. If Taylor was still there you could make an argument that this success would continue. Maybe the new guy is legit. But he hasn't coached a game there yet. Oh, and they couldn't even make an FCS semifinal with Taylor. They went 1-3 in the playoffs, all at home, and made one QF.

Best recruiting class in the country? Sure in FCS. Not to mention that recruiting rankings are far from perfect and get more imprecise the further down you go.

Mike Bibby is their head coach. Cool. I know Deion Sanders is a success story but lets not act like a successful former player automatically makes a great coach and that it's anywhere close to a sure thing he's going to have success there. "We have an NBA star as our head basketball coach" is not a good justification for your football team to go to FBS. I can say the same thing about Shaq as the GM.

as to the Mike Bibby statement, obviously you’ve forgotten the college coaching careers of Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin!

Oh wait….I see your point

I forgot Mullin coached St. Johns. But as I was typing the Bibby thing, Ewing was definitely on my mind.

There have been some success stories out there, many of them were guys (like Bibby) who point guards. Some have had success at one place, but failed in others -> like Reggie Theus. Obviously, institutional support is big....and with the portal, that name recognition seems like it can be useful especially in building up a program.

It's ridiculous for UCD to worry about what Sac State is doing in athletics. I would ten times rather see it eliminate athletics altogether (phasing them out gradually)than try to copy Sac State.

One major difference between the two is that if UCD got rid of all sports it would still have a top-notch university to attract community interest. On Picnic Day, of the thousands who attend, how many are there to see a sporting event ? Maybe a couple hundred if the baseball team is home that day, but they're just players' family members. The fact that a mere open house can attract that many visitors without sports shows UCD can bring in the community with creativity if it throws a quality party.. I do not care if Davis remains a sleepy city forever. Quiet can be good. Not every city needs to be like a Tik Tok hot pink vomit dance video.

I am not advocating for the elimination of sports, merely restraint in spending. Football doesn't pay for itself, and neither does basketball. How many billions of hypothetical donations and miracles will it take for the sports to be raised to insane level of national interest where UCD athletics is actually profitable ? Spend billions of other people's money to make millions (maybe). Consider that the alumni and greater community are already asked for so much just to keep the university in good shape. Do you think there is just an endless supply of deep-pocketed donors out there to support anything and everything UCD wants to do ? UCD doesn't exist in a vaccuum; it's not the only entity with its hand out. How many of us on this board are even in a position to give the type of huge donations it will need ? It's easy to talk about huge goals when it's other people's money. Some of you folks talk about improvements like you're CA politicians. Yeah, let's do that. Let someone else figure out how to pay for it.

On the other hand, Sac State desperately needs this huge risk to work out for them. It's a cookie-cutter CSU in a state with plenty of colleges. If they crash and burn with sports they have no other real way to bring in community support. Let them try to host their own Picnic Day equivalent and see if they draw more than a few people out walking their dogs.

For sure. Didn't mean to make it seem like their football and basketball teams will fail. They certainly could be successful. It was more saying that they're better set up to make the transition than any other team is ridiculous.

James Madison made the playoffs 8 straight years from 14-21, won a national title and made two other title games (they were the only team from 2011-2019 to knock off NDST in the playoffs). Sam Houston St made the playoffs each year from 11-17, losing in the title game twice and making the semis three other times. They won the title in the 2021 spring season. Those two teams were set up to transition. Sac St is not those teams.

Seems like a bad time to be making a big push. CSU budget issues worse than anticipated even with tuition and state aid increases.

https://edsource.org/updates/csu-budget-gap-up-to-2-3-billion-trustees-told

KCRA 3 did a small piece on Sac football on the evening news. Quote from Brennan Marion: "We're starvin' and we're huntin' everybody."

Excerpts from Sac Bee article on Sac football and Brennan Marion:

Marion’s fast-paced, up-tempo and prolific offense called the “Go-Go” is designed to gas teams with waves of players and misdirection.

Had Sac State been approved, the Hornets would have been ineligible to compete in the FCS postseason. They are now eligible, and a Big Sky crown is the first of two championship goals for the program. This will be Sac State’s final season in the Big Sky after joining nearly 30 years ago. The program will play as an independent next season, meaning no conference affiliation.

“We’re going to try to be at the top of any list,” Marion said of expectations. “Wherever we play, whatever league we’re in, whatever we’re trying to get accomplished, it’s to be great, to be the absolute best, to be No. 1.”

He added of the team’s hunger to compete, “We’re starving, and we’re hunting everybody.”

https://www.sacbee.com/sports/college/article311554033.html?taid=688d3ff016fac00001993719&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Recent Dr. Wood non-sports comments / interview over in the OT Board.

Looks likely no Causeway game in 2026.
Davis has a full slate of out of conference games.
https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/uc-davis-sac-state-causeway-classic-football-in-jeopardy/

Oh no, not the Causeway Classic !!!: :rofl:

Maybe Sac can fill the date with a game against Notre Dame.

I thought we could have 12 games starting in 2026? That is, 4 out of conference games.

Looks like you're right:
FCS playing seasons
At the recommendation of the Football Championship Subdivision Oversight Committee, the council adopted expedited legislation to change the first contest date for FCS football, starting in the 2026 season. Moving forward, FCS programs will be able to compete in 12 regular-season games every year, with the regular season starting 13 weeks before the FCS championship selections date. The move provides programs greater scheduling flexibility and eliminates the first contest date exceptions.
https://www.ncaa.org/news/2025/6/25/media-center-di-council-introduces-proposals-to-add-2-womens-championships.aspx

Nine conference games starting in 2026.

https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/townnews/game/big-sky-conference-moving-toward-9-game-league-schedule-for-football-in-2026/article_c13d60fa-3a07-514a-8e31-94d6ac564b94.html

Maybe add Sac as the 13th game if neither team make the playoffs.

Don't think the NCAA allows a 13th game unless it is a bowl game or a playoff game. I suppose you could create a special "bowl" game to be played in West Sacramento.

I forgot about the 9th conference game.

Not sure a lot of big sky teams are going to make much effort to get sac on their schedule unless there is a payout (they are going to the 100+ Scholarship model, while the big sky is limited).

The final home game this year against Sac has the potential to draw the biggest crowd ever in Aggie history regardless of the records of the two teams. Emotions are going to be running high given all of the "in your face hype" that has been steadily coming out of Sac ever since they hired Brennan Marion and announced that it's "FBS or Bust" for them while saying that FCS programs, like the Aggies, are just playing "JV football."

Especially since Sac is going to want home games, and FCS rule [limits travel squad for fcs games to 58. If they play an FBS team they can bring 70.

Every Hornet home game this year will exceed the largest crowd in aggie history. Maybe they can move the game to Hughes Stadium?

Disappointing if the Causeway goes for at least 2026 but this is what they signed up for going independent. They're going to be struggling to get home games and this will make it even harder.

Why would UCD want to move a home game, potentially with playoff implications to a neutral site game more conveniently located for opposing teams fans? It would be inconvenient for students, Davis fans, vendors, and community businesses.

Partially trolling, partially wondering why you wouldn't move the game to a venue where all the people that wanted to attend could actually fit.

Uhh...something called home field advantage.

Why would UCD, in essence, want to give that away to the "visiting team", just so more of the opponents' fans could attend the game?