Sacramento State Hornets get new shoes for FCS playoff showdown with South Dakota Coyotes

On the flight to North Dakota last week for an NCAA FCS playoff opener, Sacramento State coaches pored over game plans and scouting reports. Players were settled into their seats for the 1,381-mile trek to the Great Plains, peeking out the windows at all the snow down below, looking ahead to a showdown with the Fighting Hawks.

The young son of head coach Andy Thompson, Austin, was also on board, a kid on Cloud 9. He had a football firmly in his grasp on his lap, the very definition of ball security, because, let’s face it, it’s never a good idea for a loose ball in the aisle in mid flight and someone barking: “Fumble!”

The Hornets took care of business in Grand Forks, beating North Dakota 42-35 to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal round back in the Upper Midwest, another tidy trip of 1,314 miles. On Saturday, Sacramento State visits No. 3-seeded South Dakota at 11 a.m. for a shot to extend a season players and coaches fully expect to last well into December.

The night before the North Dakota game, Thompson declined an invitation to attend a hockey game with other Hornets staffers, electing instead to hang out at the hotel.

“There was an indoor pool, and my boys (Mac, Austin and Teague) wanted to jump in, and there was an arcade, so it didn’t get better than that for them,” Thompson said with a laugh after Tuesday’s practice. “So we jumped in.”

If diving into heated pools while temperatures drop to the single digits outside is a bit of feel-good tonic for the coach, he may repeat the tactic this week. This game, like last week, will be indoors. It’ll be in the famed DakotaDome in Vermillion, South Dakota.

This is Sacramento State’s fourth consecutive trip to the FCS quarterfinals. The Hornets will face an opponent from the Missouri Valley Football Conference for the second week in a row.

South Dakota (9-2) defeated North Dakota 14-10 late in the regular season, and the score is telling because it is a reminder of how strong the Coyotes are on defense. South Dakota allows just 14.6 points per game, and only FBS-ranked No. 9 Missouri of the SEC and FCS powerhouse South Dakota State scored more than 20 on the Coyotes this season.

In South Dakota’s nine victories, the Coyotes allowed just under 10 points per game.

Cleaning up

Meanwhile, the Hornets (8-4) come in having produced a stellar effort at North Dakota. Sacramento State never trailed, had no turnovers, allowed no sacks and committed no penalties. The Hornets recorded three sacks on their final two defensive stands, led by senior linebacker star Armon Bailey, to end North Dakota’s season. It was just the 30th loss for North Dakota in the 21-year history of the Alerus Center, and the Hornets now own three of those victories.

Sacramento State, battling injuries and good competition, moved to 8-1 following a loss since the start of the 2019 season, the start of the program’s rise. The team has proven to be as resilient as it is determined.

Kaiden Bennett sparkled in leading the offensive charge under coordinator Bobby Fresques, throwing for 207 yards and one touchdown on 17-of-22 passing while rushing 13 times for a career-high 126 yards and two scores.

Sacramento State coaches and team leaders stressed the need to play a cleaner game as pre-snap penalties and turnovers stalled too many drives down the stretch of the season.

“Oh, man, it felt so good to see us play that well,” Bennett said. “You have ups and downs in football and you have to hang in there. Resilient is the word. It was really exciting to see us play like that, and if we can do that again, with just a little bit more, we can keep winning.”

Scouting the Coyotes

South Dakota moved up to the Division I FCS level in 2008 after years of good living in Division II. The Coyotes are in the FCS playoffs for the third time. The team is coached by Bob Nielson, the Missouri Valley Football Conference Coach of the Year this season and a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award. South Dakota was projected to finish ninth in conference play but wound up with an FCS program-best nine victories. South Dakota’s No. 3 national ranking is the highest since joining the FCS.

South Dakota is led by a strong running game that includes Travis Theis, who has 2,394 career yards, and steady quarterback Aidan Bouman. South Dakota has committed just seven turnovers in 2023, the third fewest in all of the FCS. The team is 5-1 at home this season and 165-85 all-time in the DakotaDome.

Turf shoes

This will be the eighth road game for the Hornets this season, tied for the most in program history with the 1988 team. The 1988 group was Sacramento State’s first playoff team. The Hornets did not return to the postseason until 2019.

And the Hornets are pulling out all the stops. The program ordered boxes of turf shoes for the DakotaDome turf, just to be surefooted. Now, it’s up to the Hornets to deliver.

“We want to be hungry,” Thompson said. “We want to be a team that is at its best at the end of the season, and we played really well last week. I think we gained some confidence that we could win a big road game again. We’re the only team in the country to play eight road games, but we’ll be ready. Winning the field position, winning the takeaways and winning the explosive plays, that’s when we’ve been at our best. That’s the recipe.”