The nationally ranked Sacramento State football team defeated Northern Colorado 21-13 Saturday afternoon, handing the Bears their second one-score loss in their past two Big Sky Conference games.
UNC mistakes were a factor in the game, which ended as the Bears’ sixth loss in six games this season and came in front of a good crowd of 4,783 at Nottingham Field during homecoming and family and friends weekend in Greeley.
UNC dropped to 0-3 in the Big Sky with another tough and close loss, coming two weeks after the Bears led conference foe and nationally ranked Weber State by two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter at home on Sept. 30.
Weber State, which then was also ranked in Football Championship Subdivision polls like Sacramento State, rallied to score 21 points in the fourth quarter in a 28-21 win.
Bears coach Ed Lamb, who is still searching for his first win with the program since taking over from Ed McCaffrey in December, paused for several seconds before speaking at the opening of his post-game news conference.
“Completely a broken record in terms of my overall feeling, and I think it’s a reflection of the team,” Lamb said. “We’ve got a disappointing overall record and, to me, a clear record of improvement.
“In the end, the losses start to stack up,” Lamb continued. “For a coach, my credibility, my ability to keep these guys buying in and loving what they do, has a lot to do with the overall record.”
UNC’s only touchdown against the Hornets came on a 41-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jacob Sirmon to freshman receiver Brayden Munroe. The touchdown came with 7:47 left in the second quarter to cut Sacramento State’s lead to 14-10. The score was set up on the preceding play on a 48-yard reception by Jamarii Robinson from Sirmon.
In UNC’s Big Sky opener at Idaho State on Sept. 23, the Bears tied the game with back-to-back scoring drives in the third quarter before fading late in a 35-21 loss.
Against Sacramento State, which came into the game ranked in the top 5 in two different FCS polls, a few mistakes in particular were the Bears’ undoing — including a substitution error with 1 minute, 34 seconds to play and UNC at the Hornets’ 24-yard line while aiming for a potential game-tying score.
“I’ll sit here as the coach of an 0-6 team and tell you, ‘Today, that was the most critical error,’” Lamb said. “We could’ve been right in the game if not for that error.”
Of UNC’s four penalties against the Hornets — for a total of 40 yards — two directly or indirectly led to Sacramento State touchdowns.
In the first quarter, an unsportsmanlike penalty on offensive lineman Karson Oliver after an incomplete pass on fourth down at the Sacrament State 32-yard line then set up the Hornets with field position near midfield.
Nine plays later, Sacramento State quarterback Kaiden Bennett found Ezra Moleni for an 8-yard touchdown pass and a 14-3 lead.
Bears defensive lineman Ryan Capasso was called for a targeting penalty during a Sacramento State drive that led to the Hornets then going ahead 21-10 late in the third quarter.
Capasso’s penalty was reviewed and enforced on a Bennett 5-yard run for a first down to the UNC 32 with 1:29 to play in the third quarter.
Capasso was disqualified from the game. The ball was moved to the Bears’ 17, and three plays later Bennett found Carlos Hill on third-down and 13 for a 20-yard touchdown for the quarterback’s third touchdown pass of the game.
Bennett, who came into the game as one of the top passers in the conference and in total offense, finished 25 of 31 passing for 183 yards and the three touchdown passes. He ran 13 times for 15 net yards.
Lamb said the biggest UNC mistake of the day came late in the fourth quarter on the substitution error with the Bears at the Sacramento State 24-yard line.
Trailing 21-13 with 1:34 to play, UNC put in back-up quarterback Hank Gibbs for a short-yardage play on fourth-down and 2 yards to go.
There was some confusion on the field, and the Bears broke the huddle with 12 men. UNC was forced to burn a time-out to get things straightened out.
After the time out, Bears running back David Afari came up a yard shy from converting the first down on a stop by Sacramento State’s Jett Stanley and Cameron Broussard.
“That’s 100% on the coaches,” Lamb said of UNC having 12 players on the field. “We’ve got to own that. It wasn’t the only mistake in the game. It wasn’t the only mistake by the coaches in the game.”
Sacramento State took over on downs and ran out the clock.
“Great job by him,” Hornets coach Andy Thompson said of the stop by Broussard, one of the team’s top tacklers who had a game-high 12 tackles including eight assisted tackles. “Multiple guys today. Thirteen points. We did bend in certain situations, but guys were resilient and made some plays on fourth down. It was good to see.”
UNC is on the road for its next two games. The Bears play at Cal Poly next week. Kick-off is at 6 p.m. Oct. 21. UNC then goes to Montana Oct. 28.
UNC returns home for two of its final three games — Saturday, Nov. 4 against Idaho and Saturday, Nov. 18 against Portland State. The game against Idaho starts at 1 p.m. Kick-off for the Portland State game is at noon.
Sacramento State 21, Northern Colorado 13
Sacramento State — 14 – 0 – 7 – 0 — 21
Northern Colorado — 3 – 7 – 0 – 3 — 13
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter, UNC — Hunter Green 39 FG, 12:19. 4 plays, 1 yard, 50 seconds.
1st Quarter, Sacramento State — Devin Gandy 15 pass from Kaiden Bennett (Zach Schreiner kick), 8:44. 9 plays, 75 yards, 3 minutes, 35 seconds.
1st Quarter, Sacramento State — Ezra Moleni 8 pass from Bennett (Schreiner kick), :34. 9 plays, 53 yards, 3:56.
2nd Quarter, UNC — Brayden Munroe 41 pass from Jacob Sirmon (Green kick), 7:47. 5 plays, 92 yards, 2:29.
3rd Quarter, Sacramento State — Carlos Hill 20 pass from Bennett (Schreiner kick), 0:00. 11 plays, 70 yards, 4:41.
4th Quarter, UNC — Green 19 FG, 4:56. 14 plays, 73, 3:50.
