2021 Sacramento State Hornets football team

The 2021 Sacramento State Hornets football team represented California State University, Sacramento in the 2021 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Troy Taylor and played their home games at Hornet Stadium. They competed as a member of the Big Sky Conference.

2021 Sacramento State Hornets football
Big Sky champion
NCAA Division I Second Round, L 19–24 vs. South Dakota State
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 10
FCS Coaches	No. 11
Record	9–3 (8–0 Big Sky)
Head coach	Troy Taylor (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Kris Richardson (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	West Coast
Defensive coordinator	Andy Thompson (2nd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Hornet Stadium
Seasons ← 2019 2022 →

2021 Big Sky Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 10 Sacramento State $^		8	–	0					9	–	3
No. 2 Montana State ^		7	–	1					11	–	3
No. 7 Eastern Washington ^		6	–	2					10	–	3
No. 6 Montana ^		6	–	2					10	–	3
No. 17 UC Davis ^		5	–	3					8	–	4
Weber State		5	–	3					6	–	5
Northern Arizona		4	–	4					5	–	6
Portland State		4	–	4					5	–	6
Idaho		3	–	5					4	–	7
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					3	–	8
Cal Poly		1	–	7					2	–	9
Idaho State		1	–	7					1	–	10
Southern Utah		0	–	8					1	–	10
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Preseason

Big Sky preseason poll

On July 26, 2021, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Hornets were predicted to finish fifth in the Big Sky by both the coaches and media.^[1]

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	(7)
2	Montana	(3)
3	Eastern Washington	(2)
4	Montana State	(1)
5	Sacramento State	(1)
6	UC Davis
7	Northern Arizona
8	Idaho
9	Idaho State
10	Portland State
11	Southern Utah
12	Cal Poly
13	Northern Colorado

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	(14)
2	Montana	(4)
3	Eastern Washington	(3)
4	Montana State	(3)
5	Sacramento State
6	UC Davis
7	Northern Arizona
8	Idaho
9	Idaho State
10	Portland State
11	Southern Utah
12	Northern Colorado
13	Cal Poly

Preseason All–Big Sky team

The Hornets had two players selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.^[2]

Offense Elijah Dotson – RB Marshel Martin – TE

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 4	6:00 p.m.	at Dixie State*		Greater Zion Stadium St. George, UT	ESPN+	W 19–7	6,656
September 11	6:00 p.m.	No. 21 Northern Iowa*		Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	KMAX-TV	L 16–34	8,067
September 18	1:00 p.m.	at California*		California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	P12N	L 30–42	31,982
September 25	12:00 p.m.	at Idaho State		Holt Arena Pocatello, ID	ESPN+	W 23–21	5,997
October 9	6:00 p.m.	Southern Utah		Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	KMAX-TV	W 41–20	6,244
October 16	12:00 p.m.	at No. 5 Montana		Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	ESPN+	W 28–21	24,305
October 23	6:00 p.m.	Northern Arizona	No. 19	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	KMAX-TV	W 44–0	8,210
October 30	12:00 p.m.	at Northern Colorado	No. 15	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ESPN+	W 27–24	4,068
November 6	6:00 p.m.	Cal Poly	No. 16	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	KMAX-TV	W 41–9	7,287
November 13	6:00 p.m.	Portland State	No. 12	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	KMAX-TV	W 49–20	5,848
November 20	1:00 p.m.	at No. 10 UC Davis	No. 11	UC Davis Health Stadium Davis, CA (Causeway Classic)	ESPN+	W 27–7	12,315
December 4	6:00 p.m.	No. 11 South Dakota State*	No. 8	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN+	L 19–24	10,031
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

^[3]

Roster

2021 Sacramento State Hornets football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 0 Marqui Johnson Fr QB 1 Kaiden Bennett Fr QB 2 Dorian Hale Fr WR 3 Chris Miller Fr WR 4 Isaiah Gable Sr WR 5 Devin Gandy Fr WR 6 Jordan Chin Sr WR 8 Jared Gipson Fr RB 9 Marcus Fulcher So QB 10 Asher O'Hara Jr WR 11 Parker Clayton So QB 12 Jake Dunniway Jr TE 16 Marshel Martin IV So WR 17 Dewey Cotton Jr WR 18 Xavier Mason Fr RB 21 BJ Perkinson Sr RB 23 Michael Johnson Fr RB 25 Elijah Tau-Tolliver Fr WR 26 Hunter Hall Fr RB 31 Elijah Gable Fr RB 32 Cameron Skattebo Fr RB 33 Elijah Dotson Sr RB 37 Nick Wyatt Fr OL 51 Don Long Jr OL 52 Ivan Garza Fr OL 59 Nathan Mejia Fr OL 61 Paula Hafoka Fr OL 62 Kenndel Riley Fr OL 64 Aidan Meek Fr OL 65 Josh Reba Jr OL 67 Parker Kernek So OL 68 Sawyer Hays Fr OL 70 Daniel Bradbury So OL 71 Troy Stiefel Jr OL 72 Jackson Slater Fr OL 73 Ray Matelau So OL 74 Kaden Richardson Fr OL 75 Joe Wagner Fr OL 76 Tyler Perez Fr OL 77 Kooper Richardson Sr OL 78 Brandon Weldon Jr OL 79 Thomas Parker Sr WR 80 Lucas Triplett Sr TE 81 Tao McClinton Jr WR 82 Joey Lewis Sr TE 83 Jarrell Anderson Jr WR 84 Pierre Williams Jr TE 85 Cobe Weeks Fr WR 86 Ty Smith Fr TE 87 Will Schalde Fr TE 88 Charlie McBride So TE 89 Gary Morrison Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class CB 1 Munchie Filer III Sr CB 2 Patrick Dean Fr CB 3 Prince Washington Sr LB 4 Taylor Powell Sr LB 5 Marcus Hawkins Sr S 7 Cameron Broussard Fr CB 9 Elijah King Fr S 10 Malik Jeter Sr NB 13 Isaiah Capoocia Jr S 14 Marcus Aponte So NB 15 Marte Mapu Jr CB 19 Tykee Woods So S 20 Abel Ordaz Jr S 22 Eian Moore Jr S 23 Kainalu Martin Jr S 24 Davion Ross So S 27 Gavin Davis-Smith Fr S 28 Kameron Rocha Fr NB 29 Javion Macias Jr LB 30 Armon Bailey Jr NB 31 Josiah Jacobs Fr CB 32 Donovan Roebuck Fr DL 34 Ariel Ngata Jr CB 35 Dominick Sanders Jr CB 36 Jalin Speed Fr CB 38 DJ Houston Fr LB 39 Jeremy Harris So DL 40 Killian Rosko Jr DL 41 DeShawn Lynch Fr DL 42 Marshaun Hunter So DL 44 Josiah Erickson Sr DL 45 Xavier Williams Fr NB 46 Jace O'Hara So NB 47 Darian Pollard Fr LB 48 Dylan Jorge Fr LB 49 Kurt Landers, Jr. Fr LB 50 Oge Feo Fr LB 53 Justin Houlihan So LB 54 Tali Finefeuiaki Jr DL 55 Jett Stanley So DL 56 Brandon Knott Fr LB 57 Zach Corbitt Fr LB 58 Mitchell Wolfe Fr DL 66 Billy Lutui Fr DL 90 Josh Cooper So DL 92 Jayce Gamble Fr DL 93 Tyler Hardeman So DL 94 Wyatt Hjelm Sr DL 95 Mason Brosseau Fr DL 96 John Carey III Fr DL 97 Carter Sullivan Fr DL 99 Leke Fashola Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 18 Josh Baron Fr LS 60 Robert Fiene So LS 63 Dustin Cognetti Jr P 69 Eric Fellenzer So P 91 Sam Clark Jr P 96 Connor Stutz Fr K 98 Kyle Sentkowski Jr	Head coach Troy Taylor Coordinators/assistant coaches Kris Richardson (Assistant head coach / offensive coordinator) Andy Thompson (Defensive coordinator / linebackers) Malcolm Agnew (Running backs) Sam Cole (Safeties) Bobby Fresques (Quarterbacks) Jeremy LaPan (Special teams coordinator / tight ends) Tyler Osborne (Wide receivers) Kraig Paulson (Defensive line) Cherokee Valeria (Defensive passing game coordinator / cornerbacks / pro liaison) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

Game summaries

At Dixie State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	5	7	7	0	19
Trailblazers	0	7	0	0	7

See also: 2021 Dixie State Trailblazers football team

No. 21 Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 21 Panthers	7	0	27	0	34
Hornets	3	6	0	7	16

See also: 2021 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

At California

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	6	0	14	10	30
Golden Bears	14	7	14	7	42

See also: 2021 California Golden Bears football team

At Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	7	7	6	3	23
Bengals	7	14	0	0	21

See also: 2021 Idaho State Bengals football team

Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	7	6	7	20
Hornets	17	7	7	10	41

See also: 2021 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team

At Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	7	7	14	0	28
No. 5 Grizzlies	0	6	15	0	21

See also: 2021 Montana Grizzlies football team

Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	0	0	0	0	0
No. 19 Hornets	3	34	0	7	44

See also: 2021 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

At Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 15 Hornets	10	7	3	7	27
Bears	0	7	10	7	24

See also: 2021 Northern Colorado Bears football team

Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	0	9	0	0	9
No. 16 Hornets	14	10	10	7	41

See also: 2021 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings	0	7	7	6	20
No. 12 Hornets	3	18	14	14	49

See also: 2021 Portland State Vikings football team

At No. 10 UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Hornets	7	17	3	0	27
No. 10 Aggies	0	0	0	7	7

See also: 2021 UC Davis Aggies football team and Causeway Classic

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: RV = Received votes

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