Entering the season with five quarterbacks who had never started a game at Sacramento State, head coach Steve Mooshagian targeted this week’s Big Sky opener at Portland State as the date his team needed to gel by.

“I think we matchup well with the things Portland does,” Mooshagian said after his team’s 37-13 loss at Cal Poly on Saturday.. “We have more similarities with Portland more than we did Cal Poly . We need to bounce back from this performance and show how we are really capable of playing.”

Sac State will play seven of its final nine games against conference opponents, with the only exceptions being the Causeway Classic on Sept. 24 against UC Davis and a Oct. 8 home game against Azusa Pacific.

After finishing last season 2-5 in Big Sky play, the Hornets were picked this preseason to finish tied for seventh with Weber State in both the Big Sky coaches and media polls. Last year’s 2-5 mark was good enough for a tie for fifth with Idaho State; Weber State finished last at 1-6.

The measuring stick for all Big Sky teams has always been the Montana Grizzlies. From 1998 to 2004, Montana has either won or shared the conference’s regular season title; the Grizzlies have made the Division I-AA playoffs each of the past 12 seasons. Last season Montana made it to the Division I-AA championship game before losing to James Madison.

Montana isn’t predicted to win the Big Sky this year. Eastern Washington, which also finished 6-1 in league games last year, is the favorite for 2005. EWU returns the dynamic tandem of quarterback Erik Meyer and wide receiver Eric Kimble, who should be able to help the Eagles light up scoreboards once again. Montana lost their top quarterback and running back to graduation.

The next four teams in the preseason polls are Montana State (6-5 overall, 4-3 Big Sky in 2004), Portland State (7-4, 4-3), Northern Arizona (4-7, 3-4), and Idaho State (3-8, 2-5).

Sacramento State will try to improve on its five Big Sky wins over the last two seasons under Mooshagian. The Hornets will also be looking for their first road win in a league game since 2002.

Sac State hasn’t beaten Portland State since 1999.

Sad endings

The Hornets were outscored 27-6 in the second half against Cal Poly on Saturday. Couple that with finishing up the season-opening game against Cal on the wrong side of a 31-0 second-half pounding, Sacramento has been outscored 58-6 in the two second halves.

“The poor third quarter did us in again,” said head coach Steve Mooshagian following the Cal Poly loss.

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Mitch McLaughlin can be reached at [email protected]