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FOOTBALL BEGINS TOUGH STRETCH AT #15 WEBER STATE ON SATURDAY 10/13/2009 With back-to-back wins, the Sacramento State football team begins a tough three-game stretch in its schedule when it travels to Ogden, Utah, to face 15th-ranked Weber State on Saturday, Oct. 17. The game against Wildcats will kick off at 12:35 p.m. from Stewart Stadium. There will be multiple ways to follow this week’s game. Hornet fans can tune in to KRJY 1240 AM to hear the radio call of Jason Ross, Steve McElroy and Danny Sullivan. Live audio streaming is also available via www.hornetsports.com. Sacramento State will also be featured on BigSkyTV. org. The free package is available for all Big Sky football games as well as any non-conference contest hosted by Sacramento State. The Hornets enter this weekend’s game with a 2-3 overall record and a 2-1 Big Sky mark. The only other time Sacramento State has been 2-1 through its first three Big Sky games came in 2004 where the team finished 4-4. After facing the Wildcats this Saturday, the Hornets will return home to meet No. 3 Montana and Northern Arizona in consecutive home games. If Montana stays in the top 25, Sacramento State will have faced four ranked opponents in its first six games this season against Football Championship Subdivision teams. The Hornets’ latest victory came against Idaho State in Homecoming. Terrance Dailey posted his second straight 100-yard rushing game with a season-high 178 yards and the defense returned two interceptions for touchdowns to lift the team to a 38-17 victory. Weber State, which advanced to the second round of the FBS playoffs last season, evened its record for the first time this season after downing then-No. 14 Eastern Washington, 31-13, on the road. The Wildcats are 3-3 on the season and 3-1 in Big Sky games. The all-time series against WSU has been dominated by the Wildcats. Weber State has won 9 of the 13 meetings and has never fallen to the Hornets at home in six tries. Last season, the Wildcats stopped the Hornets on a late fourth down try to secure a 32-27 win at Hornet Stadium. A LOOK AT THE HORNETS The Dailey Planet Sophomore Terrance Dailey made the best of a game in which he almost didn’t play. Dailey rushed for a career high 178 yards and also scored a touchdown but did not know if he would play until after warm-ups due to a strained hamstring which came on Thursday. Dailey’s performance continued a couple of trends for Hornet backs. On the positive, the Vacaville, Calif., native now produced back-to-back 100-yard games and has three games over the century mark through the first five contests. Dailey leads the team with 431 yards this season and is averaging 5.6 yards per carry. His per-game average of 86.2 yards places him fourth in the Big Sky and 30th nationally. His three 100-yard games this season already moves him into a tie for 12th for career 100-yard games at Sacramento State. Also, his 69-yard run was the longest by a Hornet since Ryan Mole travelled 87 yards against Montana State in 2004. The more disturbing trend is injuries to a running back corps which at the start of training camp was set up to be one of the deepest in the Big Sky. Sacramento State started the season with five running backs but have been down to just two for the past two games. If Dailey was not able to go against Idaho State, quarterback John Loeliger was going to be the probable backup to Sam McCowan. The news should be better against Weber State as Evander Wilkins is slated to return after missing the previous two games with a hamstring injury of his own. The other losses this season are comprised of Jake Croxdale (hand) and Kenslow Smith (shoulder) who are both out for the year. Bryan Hilliard, who earned second team all-Big Sky honors last season, is also out for the season after offseason surgery on both of his shoulders. Double Your Pleasure The Sacramento State defense has taken some shots this season for allowing a high number of points in the first three games of the year. Against Idaho State, the defense did some scoring of its own, finding the end zone on a pair of second quarter interceptions which put the game out of reach. The two scores marked the first multi-TD game by the defense since a record-setting night against Saint Mary’s on Sept. 6, 2003. The latest effort resulted in the first career touchdowns for both Durrell Oliver and Marquese Smith. Oliver jumped a Russel Hill pass on the right sideline and dashed 37 yards for the score. On the ensuing drive, Idaho State used 12 plays to take the ball to the Hornet 22-yard line. Hill’s pass was deflected by linebacker Avery White and pulled in by Smith who then broke a tackle and travelled the 87 yards up the sideline. The interception for Smith was the second in as many weeks. In the game against Saint Mary’s in 2003, the Hornets had a 39-yard fumble return from Harry Filo and an 88-yard interception return from Chris Meyer. The defense also scored a safety and Fred Amey returned a punt for a touchdown in a 69-19 victory which began SMC’s final year of football. Thirtysomething For just the fourth time since moving to Div. I-AA/FCS, Sacramento State has scored at least 30 points in three consecutive games. The Hornets started their current streak in a loss to Eastern Washington where they were handed a 56-30 defeat. Things improved with a 31-14 win at Portland State before defeating Idaho State, 38-17. The 1998 and 2001 teams also ran off a three-game streak of at least 30 points. The 2001 team went 0-3 in that span and the 1998 team was 2-1. The longest streak came at the start of the 1999 season where Sacramento State averaged 43.2 points per game over the first six contests. In that stretch, the Hornets scored 41, 39, 48, 41, 49 and 41 while going 4-2. Consider Coleman Sophomore linebacker David Coleman easily had his most productive statistical day as a Hornet with 13 tackles against Idaho State. Coleman used five solos and eight assists to tie Zach Schrader for the team lead against ISU. The Palmdale, Calif., native tripled his previous career high of four which came two weeks ago against Eastern Washington. Coleman’s path as a Hornet is interesting. He came to camp in the summer of 2007 as a quarterback but was shifted to the defensive side of the ball before the year began. After a brief stint in the secondary, he moved to linebacker where he played significantly last season. This year, Coleman is tied for fourth on the team with 20 total tackles. He also had one sack, two pass breakups and a quarterback hurry. Clark Keeps It Going One week after tallying three sacks in the win at Portland State, Christian Clark added another quarterback takedown and two tackles-for-loss against Idaho State. As has been the case for most of the year, Clark makes about half of his plays in the backfield. This year, he leads all Hornet defensive linemen with 16 total tackles. More impressive is that half of those tackles (8.0) have been for loss. His average of 1.60 TFLs per game is second in the Big Sky behind Montana State’s Dane Fletcher (1.80) and tied for 12th nationally. The Los Angeles native moved into the Sacramento State career top 10 over the weekend with 18.0 tackles-for-loss. He is also just on the outside of the career top 10 sacks list needing an additional 1.5 to his career total of 10 to tie Matt Logue. This summer, Clark was a preseason all-Big Sky selection and also earned preseason All-America honors from The Sports Network. Kickin’ It Junior Chris Diniz stayed perfect on the season with a 30-yard field goal in the first quarter. This season, Diniz is now 6-for-6. He opened his collegiate career with a 44-yarder at UNLV. Against Cal Poly, the Escalon, Calif., native also made field goals from 29 and 41 yards out. The following week, he made a 30-yarder against Eastern Washington and added a 27-yarder at Portland State. Diniz has now tied Sacramento State’s Div. I-AA/FCS era record for consecutive made field goals in a season by Scott Brown in 1998. That year, Brown finished 13-for-21. While he has been great on field goals, extra points caused him some problems early on. He missed an attempt at Cal Poly and had another blocked against EWU and is now 13-of-15 this season. October Road In one of those strange twists, October and Marshall Sperbeck are finally getting along. In his first two seasons, Sperbeck was 0-7 in games played within the month. That streak was snapped at Portland State on Oct. 3 and then Sperbeck added a second straight win against Idaho State on Oct. 10. A couple of streaks do remain, however. The Hornets have yet to defeat a ranked FCS team under Sperbeck, going 0-6. The team has also never overcome a deficit entering the fourth quarter, going 0-15 in his two-plus years. Conversely, Sacramento State is 11-2 when leading with 15 minutes to play. Schrader Reclaims His Spot It didn’t take long for Zach Schrader to return to the top of the stat sheet. Schrader had led the Hornets in tackles during the first three games before being held to six stops at Portland State. He bounced back with 13 tackles to tie David Coleman for the top honor and has now led or tied for the team lead in four of the five games. Schrader began his collegiate career at Western Washington but was forced to find a new home after the program was discontinued last winter. He immediately adjusted to moving up a level of play (from Div. II to the FCS) by recording 13 tackles at UNLV. The next week, he tallied nine stops at Cal Poly and then posted 14 tackles against EWU. Schrader’s average of 11.00 per game ties him for 12th nationally in the FCS and places him second in the Big Sky. The national leader is George Howard of Morgan State who is averaging 14.40 stops per game. EWU’s J.C. Sherritt leads the Big Sky and is third nationally at 14.00. A Look at the Wildcats • Weber State used 143 rushing yards from Trevyn Smith and Cameron Higgins passed for 235 and two touchdowns to defeat #14 Eastern Washington, 31-13, in Cheney, Wash. • Smith and Higgins were both named to the Payton Award watch list. Smith has rushed for 668 yards and five touchdowns this season. Higgins is averaging 303.2 passing yards per game and has 16 touchdowns but 11 interceptions. • Defensively, Jordan Brown (52) and Taylor Sedillo (50) both have over 50 tackles to lead the defense. Brown is also tied for the team lead with two interceptions. Big Sky Notes Northern Arizona QB Michael Herrick and Montana receiver Marc Mariani were named co-Big Sky Offensive Players of the Week. The defensive honor was given to Weber State defensive end Ryan Eastman. Zach Brown of Portland State was the Special Teams Player of the Week.