Hornets Look to Surprise Spartans in 2024 Season Opener

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Founded in 1857, the California State University system consists of 23 campuses. It has an enrollment of nearly half a million students. It is the largest public university system in the United States. Two of the universities in the school system are San Jose State and Sacramento State. Their football teams are the Spartans and the Hornets. They open the 2024 season with a meeting at 10 p.m. EST on Aug. 29 in San Jose, Calif.

Sacramento State Hornets

Sac State plays in the Big Sky Conference and is coming off an 8-5 record in 2023, highlighted by a victory over the Stanford Cardinal and a run to the second round of the FCS playoffs. Since 2019, the Hornets have won three Big Sky championships, and they are one of only four FCS teams ever to make four consecutive FCS playoff appearances.

Excited about the upcoming season, Sac State coach Andy Thompson exclaimed in a recent interview, "It's definitely go time. It's like a farmer with a good crop coming. It's exciting, our passion. This is what we do. It’s time to go to work."

As reported by the Sacramento Bee, the Big Sky Conference recently released its preseason coaches poll, and the Hornets are projected to finish fifth in the league this season.

Sac State's biggest rival is UC Davis. The distance between the campuses of the Hornets and UC Davis Aggies is approximately 20 miles. The two schools in the greater Sacramento, Calif. metropolitan area play annually in a rivalry game called the "Causeway Classic."

San Jose State Spartans

The Silicon Valley's Spartans play in the Mountain West Conference. They are coming off a 7-6 record in 2023, in which they struggled at the beginning of the season but finished by reeling off six straight regular-season victories, earning an invitation to the Hawai'i Bowl, in which they fell to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.

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As the Spartans prepare for the upcoming season, they replace their standout quarterback of the last two years, Chevan Cordeiro. Selecting the next starting quarterback is a critical step for the team. New coach Ken Niumatalolo's philosophy regarding building and shaping the team's roster is simple: "Everything starts with the quarterback."

Niumatalolo's history is an interesting one. He was the starting quarterback for the Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors back in the 1980s, and he coached the Navy Midshipmen for 16 years. He is expected to name Washington State transfer Emmett Brown as the team's starting signal caller.

The Spartans are favored by 7.5 points over the Hornets.