One of the best stories in the FCS this season is Sacramento State. The Hornets have gone from 1-10 overall with an 0-7 mark in the Big Sky Conference to 4-2 overall this season, including a 3-0 record against FCS opponents and a 2-0 start in the conference. They have beaten back-to-back ranked opponents against No. 22 Eastern Washington and at No. 6 Montana State.
It's been quite the turnaround, and there are a lot of cool storylines within the story here.
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Troy Taylor, who went from a high school co-head coach in 2015 to calling plays at Eastern Washington in 2016 before doing the same at Utah the next two seasons, is in his first season as a head coach at the collegiate level. He filled his staff with assistant coaches with Big Sky experience and they have coached up the talent on the roster into being a winning team.
That talent includes quarterback Kevin Thomson. Thomson is just a junior despite starting his college career way back in 2014 at UNLV. He redshirted that first year then needed Tommy John surgery on his throwing arm in 2015. He ended up transferring to Sacramento State and won the starting job in 2017 and has since gained some years of eligibility.
Thomson was solid in 2017 and 2018 but did miss some games due to injury. He's taken his game to another level this season.
| Year | Games | Comp-Att | Yards | TD | INT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 8 | 97-175 | 1,828 | 17 | 3 |
| 2018 | 7 | 79-145 | 1,380 | 8 | 1 |
| 2019 | 6 | 148-226 | 1,735 | 19 | 4 |
But it's the play of the defense that really stands out in Sac State's turnaround. In past seasons, the Hornets fit the stereotype of a Big Sky team that could score a lot of points but struggled to get stops.
This year, the Hornets are No. 8 in the FCS with 39.3 points scored per game. The defense ranks 14th with 20.0 points allowed per game.
The defense has improved in most areas on the stat sheet.
Keep in mind that this year's slate of games hasn't been a cakewalk to skew these numbers. It features FBS Arizona State and Fresno State along with FCS opponents Northern Colorado, Eastern Washington and Montana State plus a non-counter game against Southern Oregon.
| Statistic | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Points Allowed | 35.4 | 20.0 |
| Yards Allowed | 489.0 | 381.3 |
| Rush Allowed | 266.3 | 104.2 |
| Pass Allowed | 222.7 | 277.2 |
Sac State, now ranked No. 15 in the STATS Media Poll, has always been explosive on offense and had talent. Keep in mind that in 2017, this team was 7-4 overall and 6-2 in the Big Sky, but was left out of the playoffs. After a tough season last year, some changes took place.
While the offense has taken a step forward in its play, the defense has taken a giant leap.
That'll get put to the test Saturday for homecoming as No. 5 Montana brings its No. 4 offense (41 PPG) to town.
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