The Sacramento State Hornets may be 1-6, but have played much better than the current record portrays.

“We just didn’t get it done,” Coach Marshall Sperbeck said. “We just keep coming up a little bit short – it’s a process we’re going through to turn the program around. We have great success, then we take a step back.”

The Hornets had that great success for three quarters last week against Montana State, leading 9-0 going into the final 16 minutes of the game until Montana State pulled off a comeback at home and eventually won the game 20-9.

“The kids are still working hard,” Sperbeck said. “The attitude and effort is there. If we can just string together a couple victories we’ll be on the right track. We gotta go get it. Once we get it, it’s contagious.”

Quarterback Jason Smith bounced back and had a better game than his stats show. He went 14-31 for 157 yards and one interception. To his credit, five of his pass attempts were dropped late in the game. Running back Travon Jones led the offense for the Hornets, rushing 26 times for 141 yards to add to his team leading 395 rushing yards.

“He had a tremendous game,” Sperbeck said. “He got it going from the gate. We forgot he is 160 pounds, because he was playing like he was 220. We originally wanted to give him 10-15 carries, but you have to go with the hot hand. We tried to get Bryan (Hilliard) in but it was cold and it was hard for him to get in the flow of the game. That was probably my fault.”

Defensively, Brett Shelton led the Hornets with 11 tackles before leaving the game with a hamstring injury. Cyrus Mulitalo and Kevin Davis each contributed eight tackles. Mulitalo is currently fourth in the Big Sky in tackles with 66 and fifth in sackswith four. Shelton is eighth in tackles with 54.

The Hornets take on the Eastern Washington Eagles Saturday. The Eagles lost last week at BYU, 42-7, but have been successful this season in the Big Sky at 2-2. Both of those losses came by seven points or less.

It will be a tough match-up between the Eagle’s Big Sky leading 455 yards of offense per game against Sacramento State’s stingy defense – which is currently fourth in the conference overall and third in run defense, giving up only 139 yards per game.

“We’re real close to being there,” sophomore nose tackle Bill Sherman said. “The sky is the limit for us; it’s a huge difference from last year.”

The Hornets will have to contend with the Eagles’ main offensive weapons in sophomores quarterback Matt Nichols and wide receiver Aaron Boyce. Nichols leads the Big Sky in total offense, passer rating and passing touchdowns, with 17. Boyce leads the conference in receptions with 55 and receiving yards with 854.

“EWU is very good offensively,” Sperbeck said. “They like to mix things up with the run and pass. Defensively, they might not be at Montana’s level, but it will be a challenge for our offense.”

Sperbeck emphasized that at 1-6 the players aren’t necessarily used to a winning tradition at Sac State, but that the team is learning how to do that.

“We haven’t had a lot of winning around here, but it takes time to learn how to win. You can’t fault these kids, they are doing everything they can to compete and win. Sometimes we play out of assignments because we’re trying to do so much, but they never lack effort in anything they do,” he said.

The Hornets take on the Eagles at 2:05 pm on Saturday at Hornet Stadium.

Galen Kusic can be reached at [email protected]