Last week’s home game against Idaho was supposed to be the Montana Grizzlies’ last safe port of call before the schedule got *really* difficult. Instead, the Vandals came into Missoula and left with a 30-23 win and the Little Brown Stein. Now, instead of cementing a top-two place in the national polls, the Griz are trying not to founder and the waves are coming hard and heavy.
This week? A trip to sunny California to face the Sacramento State Hornets, now sitting in the No. 2 spot in the national media poll that could have belonged to the Grizzlies. Troy Taylor’s still lost just — count along with me — one Big Sky Conference game since taking over the Hornets in 2019, crashing the program into national prominence.
That’s included dubs over Montana in 2019 in Sacramento and last year in Missoula. Bobby Hauck and the Griz suddenly need this game a lot more than they did a week ago. But taking success away from someone who’s only just grasped it is not easy.
QUICK HITS
Location: Sacramento, California
Mascot: Hornets
Founded: 1947
Enrollment: 31,451
Stadium: Hornet Stadium, opened in 1969, seats 21,195. It’s hosted multiple US Olympic Track & Field Trials and NCAA Track & Field championships, as well as the 2014 US outdoor track championships.
Famous alumni: Tom Hanks, actor; Ryan Coogler, director; Raymond Carver, writer.
Last matchup: Three passing touchdowns by Jake Dunniway and a crucial late interception by Marcus Hawkins after Montana recovered a muffed punt gave the Hornets a 28-20 win over the Griz on October 16, 2021 at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
THE COACH
Troy Taylor (third year at Sac State, 24-7)
The outsider. The trendsetter. The boogeyman. In two and a half years at the head of the Hornets, Taylor’s gone 18-1 against Big Sky teams. He doesn’t just win conference championships, he wins doubles, like a great soccer team — in each of his two full seasons, the Hornets have won the Big Sky crown and he’s been named the conference’s coach of the year.
Hell, he’s even got a treble, in 2019, when he added the national coach of the year award to those two trophies.
The one thing he doesn’t win is playoff games — at least, not yet. Sac State is 0-2 in the postseason under his leadership. As a player, Taylor set passing records at Cal and was drafted by the Jets. As a coach, he’s delightfully unorthodox. He’s certainly the most successful coach in the league who didn’t coach in college for 15 straight years in the middle of his career (he won a bunch of games at Folsom High School) and didn’t coach at all for half of that time (he was the analyst on Cal’s radio broadcasts from 2005 to 2011). He returned to the college game in 2016 for one year as Eastern Washington’s offensive coordinator, then two years in the same position at Utah, then replaced Jody Sears in the big chair at Sac State.
PLAYERS TO WATCH – OFFENSE
QB Asher O’Hara (6-0, 196, Sr.)/QB Jake Dunniway (6-1, 211, Sr.)
You know the deal by now. O’Hara runs, Dunniway throws. Somehow, it works.
RB Cameron Skattebo (5-10, 212, So.)
Two years into his Hornets career, Skattebo is the best offensive player in the Big Sky Conference, a bowling ball with size, speed and shake who’s averaging 7.7 yards on 96 carries.
TE Marshel Martin (6-2, 210, Jr.)
Sac State has four players with over 200 yards receiving already. Martin’s leading them all — 28 catches, 362 yards, five touchdowns.
PLAYERS TO WATCH – DEFENSE
LB Armon Bailey (6-1, 228, Sr.)
Bailey leads Sac State with 38 tackles and 5 1/2 TFLs and won back-to-back Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week awards a few weeks ago.
DB Marte Mapu (6-3, 216, Sr.)
Mapu is the Hornets’ nickelback, so he’s always around the box and is second on the team with 31 tackles and 4 1/2 tackles for loss, and has two interceptions.
Photos by Brooks Nuanez and attributed. All Rights Reserved.
