You may have heard, but Saturday nights have not been very kind to the Hornet football team in recent years. What you might not know is that for many on the team, playing a rival over the weekend usually meant another win.

But when you’ve been known as a winner, how do you cope with playing for a team labeled ‘loser?’ And how do you get your fans excited again?

Quarterback Marcel Marquez transferred from Valencia’s College of the Canyons, playing for two seasons that produced a 26-game winning streak, a 26-1 overall record and a junior college national title. In three seasons playing for Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, his teams finished 37-2 with a CIF Division 3 championship.

Five seasons, three losses. The consecutive losses against Cal Poly and Montana marked his first two-game losing streak.

“It’s more of a challenge, in a way, because everyone doesn’t want us to lose, but they think we are, no matter what,” Marquez said. “I kind of like that, because I’ve never really been an underdog.I like challenges like that. I like to prove people wrong.”

Freshman left tackle Jordan Hunter is fresh off a 12-2 season at Fresno’s Clovis West High that culminated in a Central Section Division 1 championship. So how does he react if a car rolls by practice and someone yells ‘you guys suck!’ from a safe distance?

“There’s the mass majority that just don’t give us support. It’s frustrating, but it just makes you want to work even harder to win,” Hunter said. “I don’t let it get into my head. It makes me want to bust my ass every day.”

Coach Steve Mooshagian can relate. He started his coaching career with 11 straight winning seasons, including stints with Fresno State, Nevada and Pittsburgh.

“People do judge you by your record, and I’m okay with that. It’s not what I want it to be either,” Mooshagian said. “I take it very hard, and it eats at me.”

Keeping the team’s collective chin up remains vital to any program, a complicated task in light of a losing stigma and little home support.

“It’s always a challenge, but I think if the coaches portray enthusiasm and energy that it’s contagious,” Mooshagian said. “And right now, they have to be able to overcome adversity and treat all setbacks as temporary.”

Mooshagian cites the small number of on-campus dormitory residents, few Friday classes providing for longer weekends, a general lack of interest in most Big Sky opponents and a rejuvenated Sacramento nightlife as obstacles that coincide with a losing record’s effect on attendance.

“Sacramento State is still not somebody’s No. 1 choice for their entertainment dollar at this point. We have to make this a bigger choice,” Mooshagian said.

“We understand where it is now, but we know where it can be. Everybody wants to be associated with a winner. I do too.”

Saturday’s comeback victory at Eastern Washington may not constitute a winning streak, but it showed that the team does have some Saturday night life left in it.

“I’m looking at it as a new season. I don’t know what happened in the past. I knew they hadn’t won a lot of games,” Marquez said. “We can show people that we’re not that team anymore.”

Josh Terrell can be reached at [email protected]