2021 Schedule Lookahead: Sacramento State

This is a part of a continuing series, taking a look ahead to Cal's opponents during the 2021 season.

Previous Installments: Nevada | TCU

The Bears will wrap up their non-conference schedule in 2021 with an FCS opponent, the Sacramento State Hornets. Sac State was one of a handful of FCS schools to opt-out of playing games during the fall of 2020 or spring of 2021 seasons, looking to resume play this fall.

Led by former Cal quarterback in Troy Taylor, Sacramento State will have had a long layoff prior to starting the 2021 season. Their last game was a game in the 2019 FCS playoffs against Austin Peay, back on December 7th of that year. Their next will be a Septemeber 4th game against FCS newcomer Dixie State.

A lot has changed for Taylor and his Hornets squad since their Big Sky co-championship and playoff trip in 2019. Their record-setting quarterback, Kevin Thomson, transferred to Washington for the 2020 season, and has since signed with the Carolina Panthers to have a minicamp invite. Every senior for the 2020 season retained eligibility, and the Hornets added 14 more players in the 2021 class (including De La Salle standout Dorian Hale and Washington WR transfer Jordan Chin).

The Hornets did have a spring practice session, 15 practices as they prepare to get back to playing games that count in the record books.

Head Coach: Troy Taylor (9-4 all-time), second season

2019 Record: 9-4 Overall, 7-1 in conference

Last Time These Teams Played: A 55-14 Cal win in 2014

The Hornets will come in with a new quarterback, but a handful of returning players from the 2019 season who excelled.

Who's Returning

RB Elijah Dotson - the leading rusher for Sac State in 2019, with 742 yards on 151 carries for 7 touchdowns. Sac State also returns BJ Perkinson (439 yards, 6 TDs) and Marcus Fulcher (154 yards, 3 TDs), the third and fourth leading rushers respectively. Dotson also led Sac State in receptions, with 70 for 704 yards and 4 touchdowns.

WR Pierre Williams - the leader in receiving yards from the 2019 season (54 receptions for 931 yards and 7 touchdowns). Also returning are TE Marshel Martin (39 receptions for 550 yards and 7 TDs), Isaiah Gable (36 receptions for 442 yards and 3 TDs as an RB in 2019, listed as a WR in 2021), Parker Clayton (29 receptions for 426 yards and 2 TDs), and Dewey Cotton (18 receptions for 160 yards and a touchdown). Williams (6'1"), Marshel (6'2" and 210, more of a receiving tight end) and Clayton (6') are the relatively taller receivers, while both Gable and Cotton are listed at 5'4". Taylor, who was the offensive coordinator for Beau Baldwin at Eastern Washington, likes to get the ball in space to his running backs, who had 143 receptions (out of 309 total) in 2019. TE Jarrell Anderson (8 receptions for 89 yards) also returns, a bigger 6'4", 240 lb TE who started multiple games in 2019.

LT Troy Stiefel, RG Thomas Parker, RT Brandon Weldon

Three returning starters from 2019 who started every game for the Hornets. Sac State will be looking to fill the left guard and center positions.

LB Marcus Hawkins and LB Jeremy Harris

Two of the top three tacklers return from 2019 with 64 tackles (3rd on the team), 5.5 TFLs, and 2.5 sacks from Harris and 81 tackles, 9.5 TFLs and 5 sacks for Hawkins. Playing in the 4-2-5 scheme the Hornets run, a lot is asked of the two linebackers, and they've been sideline to sideline players who can tackle in open space.

Defensive Linemen Josiah Erickson, Wyatt Hjelm

Both starting defensive ends return for the Hornets, Erickson had more tackles than any other defensive lineman, with 56 tackles, 11.5 TFLs and 2 sacks. Hjelm had 17 tackles, 2 TFLs and 1.5 sacks, with both players starting 13 games. At 225 and 245 lbs respectively, they're similarly sized to what Cal has at their outside linebacker positions, setting edges for the Hornets.

DBs Malik Jeter, Marte Mapu, Prince Washington

The three returning defensive backs who have started a game, as the most productive defensive backs in Marcus Bruce, Allen Perryman, and Caelan Barnes all graduated after the 2019 season.

Mapu is the biggest of the group at 6'3" (playing safety), while Washington, a Wyoming transfer, had three starts at corner (at 5'9"). Jeter was the most productive, with 26 tackles, 3 PBUs and an interception in 2019.

Other Notables: FBS Transfers

In Washington, QB Kaiden Bennett (who is competing for the starting QB job and had stops at Boise State and Nevada), WR Jordan Chin (Washington), DB Robert Lewis (Boise State), and DL Ariel Ngata (Washington), there are a handful of former FBS players likely to make an impact.

Taylor's Offense

The former Cal QB was the offensive coordinator at Utah, but his offense is closer to what he showed in his year with Eastern Washington. At 76.5 plays per game on average in 2019, Sac State will use some tempo (for a comparison, Cal ran 71.5 plays per game in 2020), and will utilize some of the shorter passing game to the running backs. That said, during the seven games of Sacramento State in 2019 that Pro Football Focus tracked, there was a relatively even distribution of which level of the field was thrown to. (20+ yards - 17%, 10-19 - 25 %, 0-9 - 31.2%, Behind LOS 23.2%, note that these numbers don't add up to 100% due to throwaways and batted passes).

With a new starter, either Bennett or Jake Duniaway (who is the only QB on the roster with game experience, there will likely be some growing pains for Taylor's offensive unit. The defense also has to replace a number of contributors from 2019, though the Hornets should be one of the better teams in the Big Sky in 2021 on paper. The question will be how the two year layoff from playing games will affect them, as they look to continue their ascent.

How Cal Matches Up

Taylor's scheme is similar to the one Cal's defense faced in practice while Beau Baldwin was the offensive coordinator, so there will be some familiarity with how to deal with their productivity, and there's an obvious roster size and physical size advantage in Cal's favor on both sides of the ball. Stopping Dotson, a fantastic sprinter on the track team, will be the top priority for the defense, while the Bears' offense will look to grind on offense against a relatively smaller defense than they're used to seeing. By week three, after games against Nevada and TCU, the strengths of this Cal team should be more apparent, as there's so many unknowns for both squads heading into 2021.