2019 Sacramento State Hornets football team

The 2019 Sacramento State Hornets football team represented California State University, Sacramento in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Troy Taylor and played their home games at Hornet Stadium. They were a member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 9–4, 7–1 in Big Sky play to finish in a two-way tie for the Big Sky championship with Weber State. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where, after a first round bye, they lost to Austin Peay in the second round.

2019 Sacramento State Hornets football
Big Sky co-champion
FCS Playoffs Second Round, L 28–42 vs. Austin Peay
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 9
FCS Coaches	No. 9
2019 record	9–4 (7–1 Big Sky)
Head coach	Troy Taylor (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Kris Richardson (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Andy Thompson (1st season)
Home stadium	Hornet Stadium (Capacity: 21,195)

2019 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 3 Weber State +^		7	–	1					11	–	4
No. 9 Sacramento State +^		7	–	1					9	–	4
No. 6 Montana ^		6	–	2					10	–	4
No. 4 Montana State ^		6	–	2					11	–	4
Eastern Washington		6	–	2					7	–	5
UC Davis		3	–	5					5	–	7
Idaho		3	–	5					5	–	7
Portland State		3	–	5					5	–	7
Cal Poly		2	–	6					3	–	8
Southern Utah		2	–	6					3	–	9
Northern Arizona		2	–	6					4	–	8
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					2	–	10
Idaho State		2	–	6					3	–	9
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Although North Dakota was classified as an independent, games against them still counted as Big Sky Conference games. Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Hornets finished the 2018 season 2–8, 0–7 in Big Sky play to finish in last place.

On November 26, head coach Jody Sears was fired.[1] He finished at Sacramento State with a five-year record of 20–35.

Preseason

Big Sky preseason poll

The Big Sky released their preseason media and coaches' polls on July 15, 2019. The Hornets were picked to finish in twelfth place by the media and in eleventh by the coaches.[2]

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	536 (25)
2	UC Davis	510 (13)
3	Weber State	472 (4)
4	Montana State	417
5	Montana	396 (1)
6	Northern Arizona	302
7	Idaho State	285
8	Idaho	248
9	Cal Poly	196
10	Portland State	178
11	Southern Utah	160
12	Sacramento State	125
13	Northern Colorado	90

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	140 (10)
2	UC Davis	127 (2)
3	Weber State	124
4	Montana	104 (1)
5	Montana State	100
6	Northern Arizona	88
7	Idaho State	72
8	Idaho	65
9	Cal Poly	56
10	Portland State	42
11	Sacramento State	40
12	Southern Utah	38
13	Northern Colorado	19

Preseason All–Big Sky team

The Hornets had one player selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.[3]

Offense Elijah Dotson – RB

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	6:00 p.m.	Southern Oregon*		Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	Pluto TV	W 77–19	8,843
September 6	7:00 p.m.	at Arizona State*		Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	P12N	L 7–19	42,286
September 14	6:00 p.m.	Northern Colorado*		Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	CW 31	W 50–0	6,753
September 21	7:00 p.m.	at Fresno State*		Bulldog Stadium Fresno, CA	Stadium Facebook	L 20–34	31,034
October 5	6:00 p.m.	No. 22 Eastern Washington		Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	CW 31/Eleven	W 48–27	9,640
October 12	1:00 p.m.	at No. 6 Montana State		Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	Pluto TV	W 34–21	19,437
October 19	6:00 p.m.	No. 5 Montana	No. 15	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	CW 31	W 49–22	15,140
October 26	5:05 p.m.	at Cal Poly	No. 7	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	Pluto TV	W 38–14	7,032
November 2	6:00 p.m.	No. 3 Weber State	No. 6	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	CW 31	L 17–36	11,253
November 9	1:00 p.m.	at Northern Arizona	No. 8	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	Pluto TV	W 38–34	4,257
November 16	2:00 p.m.	at Idaho	No. 6	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	Pluto TV	W 31–7	6,108
November 23	2:00 p.m.	UC Davis	No. 4	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA (Causeway Classic)	CW 31	W 27–17	19,882
December 7	5:00 p.m.	No. 18 Austin Peay*	No. 3	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	L 28–42	5,140
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

[4]

Despite also being a member of the Big Sky, the game vs. Northern Colorado will be a non-conference game and will have no effect on the Big Sky standings.

Game summaries

Southern Oregon

	1	2	3	4	Total
Raiders	10	3	6	0	19
Hornets	21	28	14	14	77

See also: Southern Oregon Raiders football

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–1	2013	SAC, 63–56

at Arizona State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	0	0	0	7	7
Sun Devils	0	3	6	10	19

See also: 2019 Arizona State Sun Devils football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	2013	ASU, 55–0

Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	0	0	0
Hornets	7	15	21	7	50

See also: 2019 Northern Colorado Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
11–2	2018	SAC, 28–25

at Fresno State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	6	6	0	8	20
Bulldogs	7	7	0	20	34

See also: 2019 Fresno State Bulldogs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	2013	FRES, 31–3

Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Eagles	7	7	6	7	27
Hornets	21	6	7	14	48

See also: 2019 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–19	2017	EWU, 52–21

at Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	7	14	13	0	34
No. 6 Bobcats	7	7	0	7	21

See also: 2019 Montana State Bobcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–17	2016	SAC, 41–38

Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Grizzlies	7	8	7	0	22
No. 15 Hornets	18	17	14	0	49

See also: 2019 Montana Grizzlies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–20	2018	MONT, 41–34

at Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Hornets	0	17	7	14	38
Mustangs	0	0	7	7	14

See also: 2019 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
17–21	2018	POLY, 41–27

Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Wildcats	9	14	6	7	36
No. 6 Hornets	3	7	0	7	17

See also: 2019 Weber State Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
8–15	2018	WEB, 26–14

at Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 8 Hornets	14	3	7	14	38
Lumberjacks	0	17	0	17	34

See also: 2019 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–13	2017	NAU, 37–17

at Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 6 Hornets	7	17	0	7	31
Vandals	0	0	7	0	7

See also: 2019 Idaho Vandals football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–2	2017	IDA, 28–6

UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	7	10	0	0	17
No. 4 Hornets	3	7	3	14	27

See also: 2019 UC Davis Aggies football team and Causeway Classic

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
20–46	2018	UCD, 56–13

FCS Playoffs

The Hornets entered the postseason tournament as the number four seed, with a first-round bye.[5]

Austin Peay–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 18 Governors	21	0	14	7	42
No. 3 Hornets	0	0	14	14	28

See also: 2019 Austin Peay Governors football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final
STATS FCS	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	15	7	6	8	6	4	3	9
Coaches	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	17	8	6	8	6	4	3	9

References

1. Frey, Thomas (November 26, 2018). "Sac State fires head football coach Jody Sears after 2–8 season". www.statehornet.com. The State Hornet. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
2. "Scoreboard: Big Sky Conference preseason football polls". 406 MT SPORTS. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
3. "Big Sky Conference announces preseason all-conference teams". MTSPX. 15 July 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
4. "Football". Sacramento State Athletics. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
5. "FCS bracket revealed for 2019 Division I football championship". ncaa.com. November 24, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2019.