One of the more anticipated games of 2025 is this Friday, where the Griz hit the road to play Sacramento State. Sac started the season ranked but a few early losses knocked them out of the top 25, they’re now back to “receiving votes” and of course a possible Friday night win would put them back into the top 25 and on a pathway to make the post season.
All of the noise is already out there on Sac, their president Dr Luke Wood had a lot of things to say about Montana – no need to rehash that here – but it sounds like both teams and both staffs are ready for a tremendous matchup that will be physical and intense.
Sacramento this year took some time to find itself on offense, cycling through a few QBs early and then really cementing themselves as more of a run first team that uses their dynamic rushing attack to set up the passing game. If you pull their conference stats here’s the ones that stand out:
- #5 scoring offense / #4 scoring defense (Montana is the #1 scoring offense / #2 scoring defense)
- #4 total offense / #3 total defense (Montana #1 total offense / #4 total defense)
- #1 rushing offense at almost 250 yards per game (Montana’s the #3 rush defense at 150/game)
- #1 kick return unit with the only KR TD in the conference so far
- 25 sacks for the defense, most in the conference (3 players in the top 10 list)
- The most penalized team in the conference averaging over 70 yards/game
- 2nd highest APY player in the conference (Hammond, Jr) only behind Wortham
And while the Montana v Sacramento series is very lopsided (Montana is 21-4 all time against Sac), Sacramento has won 3 of the last 4 against the Griz. And if you look at the last 5 games Montana has played in Sacramento they went; 31-24 Sac OT win, 49-22 Sac win, 51-48 Griz OT win, 42-28 Sac win, 45-30 Griz win. The Griz have major issues playing there.
Sac, much like Montana, rebuilt it roster in the portal. 3 returning starters on offense, 2 on defense. On3 suggests Sac had 33 new transfers this off-season.
Sacramento State Hornets 4-3
3-20 loss @ South Dakota State: I watched a portion of this game, Sac at this point thought they were going to be more of a balanced / passing team and it didn’t go the way they planned. Sac had just 24 rushing yards on 24 attempts and had 112 passing yards on 11-27 passing with 1 INT. Sac had 3 turnovers on downs and also lost a fumble. SDSU just kind of did their thing, 240 rushing, 190 passing, 41:06 of TOP.
17-20 loss @ Nevada: This one had a real wild win, honestly Sac should’ve won. Almost all of the scoring happened in the first half. Sac goes up 10-0, Nevada ties it up, Sac then hit a 75 yard pass and retakes the lead 17-10, and then as the clock expired in the second quarter, Nevada hits a field goal to make it 17-13 Sac at the half. In the 2nd half neither offense could do much – Nevada tosses a pick, next possession a punt after 7 plays, Sac has two short drives end in punts. Then it got weird. Nevada puts together a little drive in the 4th that chews up 6:30 of clock but they have a turnover on downs as the QB misses a wide open WR going into the endzone, or else the lead would be theirs. Sac, with the ball, promptly throws a pick 6 and Nevada goes up 20-17. Sac with just 2 minutes to go gets down the field and on
two plays in a row has TD plays get wiped out for holding, their kicker then misses the game tying kick and Nevada kneels it out. Nevada ran for about 250 in this game, Sac didn’t have the best ground game, 146 rushing – but 225 passing (helps with a single 75 yard play).
49-28 win vs Mercyhurst: Mercyhurst was up 18-7 early, Sac would storm back and Mercyhurst would get to being within 3 late in the 3rd – just down 28-25. Sac would score 14 points to Mercyhurst’s 3 in the 4th and the game would get out of reach fast. Sac had 350 on the ground and another 176 passing – while Mercyhurst’s main yards were 280 passing. Mercyhurst lost two interceptions in the 4th quarter.
45-16 win vs Central Arkansas: UCA might’ve still be ranked when this game occurred, they’re now 3-4. Sac had 28 points on the board right away and this game was out of hand in a hurry. Sac had 602 total yards of offense (262 rushing / 340 passing) and had multiple big scoring plays.
24-32 loss vs Cal Poly: Sac’s turnovers killed them in this game, Poly was up 18-7, but Sac would grab the lead 21-18 with 5 minutes left in the first half, Poly responded and took a 25-21 lead into the half, they’d add another TD in the 3rd and all Sac could do in the 2nd half was kick a single field goal. Sac lost 3 interceptions in this game – all 3 on their side of the field. Sac out-gained poly by approx. 425 to 390.
55-27 win @ Weber State: In the rain Sac’s ground game was huge, they had 397 rushing yards while Weber had 301 TOTAL yards of offense. Weber kind of hung around – they were down just 2 scores in the 3rd, but really it was never that close. Sac had 3 individual rushers with over 100 yards.
40-35 win vs Northern Colorado: I know many of us followed this game. I count 9 lead changes total and it was strength on strength as UNC had 321 passing yards while Sac had 323 rushing yards. UNC was lucky to even be within 5 in this game due to the fact that they had 4 interceptions thrown in it too. Despite how ugly the showing was at times, UNC had a chance to win it at the end, getting to the Sac 3 – but they couldn’t connect in the endzone and turned the ball over on downs.
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General Stats
Passing yards per game GRIZ (304 for GRIZ vs 175 for SAC)
Rushing yards per game SAC (186 for GRIZ vs 247 for SAC)
Total offense GRIZ (490 for GRIZ vs 422 for SAC)
Passing yards allowed per game SAC (240 for GRIZ vs 213 for SAC)
Rushing yards allowed per game GRIZ (149 or GRIZ vs 167 for SAC)
Total defense SAC (389 for GRIZ vs 380 for SAC)
Offense points scored GRIZ (40.4 for GRIZ vs 33.3 for SAC)
Defense points allowed GRIZ (22.6 for GRIZ vs 25.4 for SAC)
Turnover margin GRIZ (+3 for GRIZ / +2 for SAC)
Field goal % SAC (71% for GRIZ vs 89% for SAC)
Punt Returns GRIZ (11.8 yards for GRIZ vs 8.2 yards for SAC)
Kick Returns SAC (24 yards for GRIZ vs 24.3 yards for SAC)
T.O.P. GRIZ (31:37 for GRIZ vs 27:23 for SAC)
Red Zone defense (touchdowns) GRIZ (57% GRIZ / 64% SAC)
Red Zone offense (touchdowns) GRIZ (76% GRIZ / 61% SAC)
3rd down offense GRIZ – (46.7% for GRIZ / 39.8% for SAC)
3rd down defense GRIZ – (34.9% allowed for GRIZ vs 37.9% allowed for SAC)
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Surprising, I thought this would show more balance but Montana grabs 12 while Sac adds 5.
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Sac State Players to Watch:
#2 Rodney Hammond, Jr, RB: Hammond is their APY beast, a Pittsburgh transfer that’s listed at 5-9, 195 pounds. He by far leads the team with rush attempts and yards, he’s got 503 rushing and 5 rushing TDs. He’s thrown 1 TD pass, he’s got about 90 receiving yards. He averages over 31 yards per kick return and has 1 KR touchdown.
#7 Cardell Williams, QB: Williams, a Tulsa transfer, didn’t start the season as QB1 but has locked it down with some pretty dynamic play as he got going. He’s passing for about 130 per game but that’s pulled down a bit from a few games where he came in with minimal reps. He’s got 6 passing TDs and 4 INTs. He’s 3rd on the team with 283 rushing yards but is first with 7 rushing TDs – and yes he’s even caught a pass.
#4 Damian Henderson II, RB: A 6-2, 210 pound RB transfer from Colorado State, he’s 2nd on the team with 398 rushing yards and 4 rushing TDs. He’s got about 50 receiving yards as well.
#13 Ernest Campbell, WR: The leading WR on the team and a transfer from Texas A&M, he’s listed at 5-9 and 145 pounds. He runs a 10.02 100 yard… that’s incredible. He leads the team with 375 receiving yards and 4 TDs – he’s a home threat!
#3 Jordan Anderson, WR: The other main receiving threat at Sac, he’s a transfer from Oregon State and has 270 yards receiving so far.
#4 Koa Akui, DB: One of the few non-transfers I’m seeing on top of their stat sheets, Akui leads Sac in tackles with 38 but he already has 4 interceptions this season!
#58 Jayland McGlothen, DL: He’s got a team best 6 sacks and 7.5 TFLs with it, with 23 total tackles. He’s listed at 6-2, 282 pounds.
#56 Dylan Hempsten, DE: An SJSU transfer, he’s 2nd highest on the team for sacks with 4.5, he’s got 8 total TFLs and 23 total tackles this season.
#5 Oscar Moore, LB: A UTEP transfer at LB, he’s 2nd on the team in tackles with 36, he’s got 3.5 TFLs, 1 sack, and 1 INT this season so far.
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Keys to a Grizzly victory
- Keep Ah Yat as clean as possible – Sac’s defense is chaos by design and they tally up a ton of QB hits / pressures / sacks from it. Ah Yat is going to face pressure and heat like he’s probably not seen before and making sure the young QB isn’t too rattled Is super important.
- Special teams has to have a night – In all facets, the Grizzly return game needs to help with shorter fields, Morrison has to hit kicks, and the Grizzlies cannot let Sac’s dangerous returners burn them. Sac has a great kicker and one of the best punters in the conference, if Montana can disrupt that a little bit – and keep the Hornets further back on their side of the field with punts and kick coverage of our own, that will be huge.
- Slow the run, but don’t get beat deep – Our corners will probably be on an island here and our safeties cannot get fooled. You know the deep shot is on film, even SHU tried it a few times. This team is run first, but with their speed at WR I expect 5+ deep shot attempts and if the Grizzly corners or safeties get caught – good bye.
- Run the damn ball – We need Eli and Stevie + the Grizzly OL to put together their best game, slow the game down a bit, and finish drives strong. There will be a max capacity crowd (I’d assume) and grinding down Sac could really take out the energy from those who are there to watch a football game.
- A positive turnover margin – Sac thrives on turnovers and the momentum it creates, Montana can’t get sloppy in a hostile environment and hurt themselves. There should be opportunities for the Griz to snag a few turnovers on their own as well – they’ve got to capitalize.
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I’m worried.
This Sac team feels like one of Barney’s early PSU teams that was just loaded with transfers who are all damn good football players that just didn’t have the best organization to play together as a team. That was 2015 and that PSU team demolished the Griz (in a rainstorm) and had some tremendous highs and some tough lows. This Hornet team has loaded up with dudes that can play, guys that are physical, and guys that are fast. I’ve said it before, there’s a lot of chaos with this Hornet team, and in that sense I get a 2024 EWU type of vibe – tremendous athletes playing a lot of “me” ball and being a little challenged to play team ball. Of course that EWU game went down to the wire in an absolute shootout.
The stadium will be packed, it’ll be interesting to see how much of the 20,000+ will be into the game vs waiting for the concert after. Early forecasts right now are calling for rain, but the odds of rain are dropping.
This will be a totally different animal on the road for the Griz than the ISU game they had. That could be beneficial, as Sac will be running far more than passing. My confidence has been rattled a bit by the SHU game as well. I’m going to waffle on my pick as I really don’t know yet who I think wins this. I see either a close Montana win, like a 38-35 game or a total Sac blowout as they get all the momentum and win something big like 45-21. We all know Bobby is mad, I assume the team will be focused, and how they show early will tell me everything on Friday night.
Go Griz!
