Causeway Classic: School presidents fired up for Sacramento State-UC Davis rivalry game

It’s a rivalry game and anything goes, including well before kickoff.

FCS No. 8-ranked Sacramento State visits UC Davis on Saturday at noon in the 70th Causeway Classic in a Big Sky Conference finale with a lot at stake for both clubs, and the rivalry rumble resonates enough that even the high brass from each campus got into the spirit of things.

UCD chancellor Gary S. May and Hornets president Luke Wood squared off in a videotaped competition of sorts, including wearing jerseys, visiting both stadiums, hanging out with mascots, engaging in running exercises and comparing scowling game faces. And this: No pulled hamstrings or stomach cramps for the administrators who managed to get back to their desks without keeling over.

Hornets Public Information Officer Lanaya Lewis told The Bee: “No presidents were harmed in the making of this video.”

“We’re having fun with it,” Wood said with a laugh. “I was ready to go!”

Causeway history, streaks, moniker

This game is billed as the 69th Causeway Classic by some, though this is the 70th football meeting between the schools. The programs met in the playoffs 35 years ago, billed as “Causeway Classic II,” so by that measure, this is the 70th Causeway Classic.

The series started in 1954, the first year Sacramento State fielded a football team. It was a 14-0 UCD victory when the campus was known as the College of Agriculture at Davis. There was no rivalry name back then and the series wasn’t known as the Causeway Classic until 1983 when then-Hornets sports information director Mike Duncan came up with the catchy moniker. It was in reference to the Yolo Causeway that goes over the Yolo Bypass on Interstate 80, connecting Davis and Sacramento State.

For years, the winning team took home the Causeway Carriage, a 19th century carriage that had to be handled gently. Now, the winning team is presented with a trophy made of concrete taken from the Yolo Causeway. That’s a lot easier to transport back and forth and cannot break apart if tipped over.

UCD leads the series 46-23. Contests have been played early in the season in searing heat or late in the fall in wind, rain and mud, before synthetic field turf took hold. The oddest game, or certainly the most unusual setting, was in 2018, when wildfire smoke from the Camp Fire made for poor air quality, thus moving the game out of Davis and into Reno’s Mackey Stadium, the 510th victory in UCD history.

The series included an 18-game winning streak under College Football Hall of Fame coach Jim Sochor, whom the UCD field is named after. That’s when UCD was in the midst of winning 20 consecutive league championships, an era when the Hornets had some good teams but were often mired in mediocrity or misery. Sochor famously said before the 1988 showdown that it wasn’t a rivalry until the other team won. The other team finally won.

The streak ended in 1988 when Sacramento State and star players such as flanker Mark Young finally rejoiced, hoisting coach Bob Mattos on their shoulders for a celebration ride, an image blown up in black and white and displayed prominently in the Hornets football hallways. For good measure, the Hornets beat the Aggies that season in the NCAA Division II playoffs, 35-14. The Hornets peeled off five consecutive victories at that point, which was concerning enough at UCD that there was discussion of suspending the series. UCD coaches, players and alums resisted any of that talk. The series continued.

As Division I programs, UCD leads the series 8-7. The Hornets have won the last three meetings, punctuated by three consecutive Big Sky championships, including last season in front of a Causeway record crowd of 23,073 as No. 2-ranked Sacramento State moved to 11-0 and finished 12-1 to cap its finest season. Hornets fans spilled onto the field, the first time that has happened in the history of the series.

UCD seats 10,743, but that may well exceed 13,000 with overflow. Who knows, fans might even see Chancellor May and President Wood running the stadium seats to loosen up, or to pursue opposing mascots.

Coaches appreciate a good rivalry

UCD won the Big Sky in 2018 with the Causeway win in Reno and the Aggies returned to the FCS playoffs in 2021. Now, the 6-4 Aggies need a victory Saturday over the 7-3 Hornets for a shot to secure one of the 14 at-large FCS bids to join the 10 automatic conference champion qualifiers. A Sacramento State triumph could well land the Hornets a top-eight seed and an opening-round bye.

The programs have only been in the playoffs in the same season twice — in 1988 and 2021. Both coaches, Dan Hawkins of UCD and Andy Thompson of Sacramento State, agree that when both football teams are in up cycles, it’s good for all of regional football, right on down to administrators with rivalry game faces.

Hawkins played fullback for the Aggies in the early 1980s and got his coaching start at UCD. He’s in his seventh season as head coach, an Aggie to the core. Hawkins has experienced the rivalry in every which way, though he will contend that it’s not a rivalry against others that inspires his troops. It’s competing against one’s self that makes a player and team better, he said.

Thompson played linebacker for the Montana Grizzlies and heard of the Causeway Classic over his 20-plus years coaching in the Big Sky. He joined the Hornets staff before the 2019 season as defensive coordinator and was named head coach after last season, when Troy Taylor accepted the Stanford post.

“I knew the Causeway was a big deal,” Thompson said. “I had friends that coached in it, and they said it was a great rivalry, and that’s what I’ve experienced: Two good teams every year with fun fan bases that have pride and want to see their teams win. It’s great for Northern California, and these are two good universities that have played football for a long time against each other.”

As for President Wood getting into the flow of things, Thompson said: “Dr. Wood is an athlete, still training, still boxing. I thought that was great.”

What to expect Saturday

Thompson’s defense defended the Aggies run game with success in each of the previous three Hornets victories in the Causeway Classic, and that will again be the focus.

In recent years, it was the hard-charging efforts of UCD’s all-time career rushing leader, Ulonzo Gilliam Jr., that the Hornets had to deal with. Now, it’s the speed and burst of the Big Sky’s leading rusher in Lan Larison that is a concern. Despite missing three games with a sprained knee, Larison has 980 yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging 140 yards per game.

Larison went for 255 yards against Eastern Washington in a loss before hurting his knee, and he went for 264 and three scores in a 21-14 Aggies win at Idaho State last week, a game that tormented Hawkins. He was going against his son, Cody, the first-year Idaho State coach and former UCD assistant. Hawkins called it the “hardest 60 minutes of football in my life. He’s my best friend, a great coach. ... It was weird.”

Sacramento State has been led by quarterbacks Kaiden Bennett and Carson Conklin, with Conklin starting last week against Cal Poly. The true freshman from Orange County completed 17 of 26 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns in a 41-30 victory, one to preseason All-American tight end Marshel Martin, who has accumulated more receptions (184), receiving yards (2,336) and receiving touchdowns (27) than any other non-receiver in program history. Bennett will likely get some snaps at UCD as he is a dynamic runner and dangerous passer.

Against Cal Poly, the Hornets received 121 yards rushing from Marcus Fulcher. Elijah Tau-Tolliver had 99 yards and two touchdowns as the Hornets rushed for 225 yards.

Back to the rivalry theme. UCD’s Hawkins said the Causeway Classic has meaning, but a rivalry should not have to inspire a team.

“If it’s all about the angst for the other team, I don’t know,” he said. “We’re too philosophical over here. Your rival better be yourself. Look in the mirror and say: ‘Hey bud. What do you have?’”