FOOTBALL LOOKS TO UPSET No. 2 MONTANA AT HOME ON SATURDAY 10/20/2009 If a football season can be compared to a boxing bout, Sacramento State’s Big Sky title hopes took a standing eight count with a big blow delivered by Weber State (49-10) last week. Against the ropes, the Hornets will have the opportunity to deliver their own knockout punch when they welcome No. 2 Montana to Hornet Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 24, at 2:05 p.m. 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. Montana will also televise the game via KPAX in Missoula. Satelite coordinates can be found later in the week. Sacramento State (2-4, 2-2 Big Sky) had won back-to-back games before falling at Weber State on Saturday in Ogden. Against the Wildcats, Tim Toone scored four touchdowns and Cameron Higgins threw for five to lead WSU. The Hornets fell behind early and were never able to recover as the team entered halftime down 35-7. Jason Smith and McLeod Bethel-Thompson each saw time under center, combining for 205 yards. Terrance Dailey nearly recorded his third-straight 100-yard rushing game but ended with 96 yards. Montana stayed unbeaten (6-0, 3-0) with a 41-34 win against Eastern Washington. Chase Reynolds scored from 1-yard out on fourth down with 1:18 left in the game to give the Grizzlies their 13th-straight regular season victory dating back to last year. Montana has now won 16 of its last 17 games with the lone loss coming in the Football Championship Subdivision championship game against Richmond. The all-time series has been dominated by Montana, 14-0. The Grizzlies are the only Big Sky team that Sacramento State has  never defeated. A Look at the Hornets Numbers Game The loss to the 15th-ranked Wildcats on Saturday extended Sacramento State’s drought against ranked teams to 13 straight games. The Hornets last defeated a ranked team on Nov. 6, 2004 when they upset No. 17 Montana State, 38-28, at Hornet Stadium. Since moving to Div. I-AA/FCS in 1993, Sacramento State is 6-37 against teams ranked in The Sports Network top 25. Against teams in the top 10, the Hornets are 1-17. The highest ranked team Sacramento State has ever defeated was No. 8 Northern Arizona, 24-21, in Flagstaff on Oct. 12, 2002. Highlights for Heath One of the few players to have a career day at Weber State was senior tight end Brian Heath. A four-year member of the team, Heath set career marks for receptions and yardage. The Penryn, Calif., native caught three passes for 23 yards against the Wildcats. His most memorable reception was a 12-yard catch late in the second quarter for his first career touchdown. Prior to the game, Heath had never caught more than one pass in a game. This year, he now has six catches for 54 yards. In his three previous seasons combined, he had three receptions for 26 yards. Bucking the Trend Junior linebacker Peter Buck returned to the starting lineup against Weber State after being sidelined the previous game due to illness. Buck made up for his lost time with a solid performance against the Wildcats which included some career high numbers. The Vacaville, Calif., native tied for the team lead with a personal season high of nine stops. That mark included a career best 3.0 tackles-for-loss and his first career sack. As a sophomore, Buck started all 12 games at safety and finished second on the team with 84 tackles. He moved to linebacker during the spring and currently ranks fourth on the squad with 28 total stops. His 3.0 TFLs  at WSU place him fourth on the team this season. The Dailey Show Sophomore Terrance Dailey continued to climb that national rankings in rushing after tallying 96 yards on 22 carries at Weber State. Dailey moved into 21st place nationally with an average of 87.83 yards per game — a mark which also makes him the fourth most productive rusher in the Big Sky. Dailey’s numbers are slightly tainted by a pair of games aginast Cal Poly and Eastern Washington where he had a combined 11 attempts. In games where he has had at least 10 rushes, he is averaging 121.5 yards per game. In fact, the Weber State contest is only game this season that he has been held under 100 yards when getting 10 carries. The Vacaville, Calif., native’s biggest output came against Idaho State where he amassed 178 yards and scored a touchdown. His score came on a 42-yard run and he also added a team-high 69-yard dash which set up another TD. He also had 101 yards at UNLV and 111 against Portland State. Dailey leads the team with 527 yards this season and is averaging 5.3 yards per carry. 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. Kickin’ It Junior Chris Diniz stayed perfect on the season with a 26-yard field goal in the closing seconds at Weber State. This season, Diniz is now 7-for-7 and set Sacramento State’s Div. I-AA/FCS era record for most consecutive made field goals. The previous mark of six in a row was held by Scott Brown since 1998. That year, Brown finished 13-for-21. Diniz came to the Hornets last season after two years at Delta JC in Stockton, Calif. He redshirted last season while yielding to all-Big Sky selection Juan Gamboa. This year, he is tied for 30th in the FCS rankings at 1.17 field goals per games. However, he is the lone kicker in the FCS with at least five attempts to make all of his attempts. 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. Two weeks ago, he made a 30-yard attempt against Idaho State. Diniz needs two more field goals to crack the school’s single-season top 10. The 10th spot is currently occupied by Gamboa who made nine in 2006. The single-season school record of 14 is shared by Bret LeVier (2002) and Brown (1999). Jim Crouch is the most accurate Hornet kicker in a season, making 13-of-16 attempts (81.2 percent) in 1991. 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 14-of-16 this season. Very Little Laundry Sacramento State heads into this weekend’s game as the least penalized team in the Big Sky. The Hornets have been flagged 35 times this season for 296 yards (49.3 yards per game). The next closest team in terms of yards per game is Montana State at 56.5. One challenge the team will face is the fact that Montana ranks second in the Big Sky in opponent penalties at 77.7 yards per game. Doesn’t Get Any Easier A week after watching Weber State’s Tim Toone earn national Special Teams Player of the Week honors, Sacramento State will have to defend another tough receiver/returner in Montana’s Marc Mariani. Toone scored four touchdowns, including a Big Sky record 95-yard punt return in the second quarter. Over the last three meetings against Sacramento State, he has scored nine touchdowns. Mariani also found the end zone last week with an 82-yard punt return against Eastern Washington which gave the Griz a 31-24 lead. Prior to the Weber State game, the Hornets had done a great job in kick coverage. The team had not allowed a kick return of 40 yards or more or a 30-yard punt return through the first five games before allowing both against the Wildcats. Streaking • Jason Smith has now thrown at least one touchdown in five straight games — the longest streak of his career. • The Hornets are 0-8 when allowing a defensive or special teams touchdown in Sperbeck’s tenure. • Sacramento State is 11-2 when leading after three quarters and 0-16 when trailing with 15 minutes to play since 2007. • Prior to this year, Sperbeck was 0-7 in games played in October. After winning the first two games of this month, he is now 2-8. • Dylan Lane and John Hendershott are the only two receivers to catch at least one pass in all six games this year. • Clint Lessard did not start against Weber State (but did play) due to an ankle injury suffered against Idaho State. The game snapped Lessard’s streak of 17 consecutive starts on the Hornet line and marked the first time in his career that he did not start dating back to high school. A Look at the Grizzlies • Montana has won three of its six games by seven points, including last weekend’s 41-34 win over Eastern Washington. The Griz have now won 26 of their last 27 Big Sky games. • UM uses a two QB system with returner Andrew Selle and Oregon transfer Justin Roper. The pair have combined for 16 touchdowns and three interceptions. Running back Chase Reynolds has eight rushing scores, including five in the last two games. • Shawn Lebsock leads Montana with 45 tackles. Tyler Hobbs has 4.0 TFLs with 2.0 sacks. Trumaine Johnson paces the team with two interceptions. Big Sky Notes Weber State’s Cameron Higgins and Tim Toone were the Big Sky offensive and special teams players of the week, respectively. Toone also claimed the national special teams honor for his 95-yard punt return. Montana State’s Dane Fletcher earned the Defensive Player of the Week award with 11 tackles, including three for loss in the win over South Dakota.