The Sacramento State football team started off the season slow, but the Hornets look to finish out the season on a positive note as they head into their final game, the Causeway Classic.

Sac State head coach Marshall Sperbeck looks forward to the final game against UC Davis.

“(Davis) is a good program and has a good team,” Sperbeck said. “This is a big rivalry game that the players are excited about going into.”

The Hornets plan to keep the same strategies they’ve used for this season and hope to execute effectively.

“At this point in the season you just have to go with what you have. We may have a few tricks up our sleeves, but we have to see how that goes this week in practice,” Sperbeck said.

Sperbeck believes the team’s camaraderie has been a factor to the last few games and will help in the final game.

“We have done well recently,” Sperbeck said. “We have played with better emotion and with better passion, which I believe has showed with these past three games.”

Defensive back Deionte Gordon also finds that the team’s bonding has aided in ending their slow-started season.

“Overall, I’ve felt that it has been a good season – though we started off slow, it was because we were playing ranked teams and our chemistry wasn’t very strong,” Gordon said. “But now, we’ve come together and are playing a lot better.”

The Hornets tried for their third victory in a row Saturday against Montana State, but came up short, losing 27-17.

Despite the loss against the Bobcats, Sac State still has another chance. The team turns its attention to Saturday’s 56th Annual Causeway Classic, which serves as its biggest rivalry game against Davis.

Sac State defensive lineman Christian Clark said the Hornets build off their fast pace.

“We are looking definitely into maintaining our momentum – as long as we come out aggressive and strong we will be able to match up well against a good team,” Clark said.

Unfortunately, however, aggressiveness just wasn’t enough to win the game.

Regardless of the handful standout defensive performances, Sac State’s defense has recently lacked in playing for the whole game.

In the Northern Colorado game, Sac State was up 31-0 by halftime. However, the defense let the Bears back in the game during the second half, which Sac State won, 38-35.

Clark acknowledged the team got too comfortable with the lead and briefly lost focus.

“Without a doubt we got a little complacent. I mean. when you’re up 31-0 it’s easy for any team to fall into the trap of being lackadaisical,” Clark said. “We have to learn to play for the whole game.”

The same scenario happened against Northern Arizona when the Hornets fought back for the victory, but the defense struggled.

They pulled out a win when quarterback Jason Smith scored a touchdown and the defense picked up momentum with two interceptions. Sperbeck said the defense has improved, but still has room to get better.

“I think we need to start all games like we did Northern Colorado – fast pace. The major problem we are having defensively is playing the full 40 minutes,” Sperbeck said. “If we can do that, we will be successful the rest of the way.”

With one game left in the season, the consistency of some standout Hornet players may be enough for a Causeway Classic win.

Running back Terrance Dailey leads the team in rushing, with 617 yards on 118 attempts, thanks to his 182-yard performance against Idaho State.

Smith has thrown 12 touchdown passes, along with 1,656 yards and a 58.2 completion percentage.

Freshman defensive back Zach Schrader leads Sac State, ranks third in the Big Sky and is tied for 16th nationally with a total of 95 tackles.

Clark leads the conference with 10 sacks, including a school-record four sacks against Northern Arizona.

Last season, the Hornets pulled out a respectable win against the Aggies as they fought for the program’s first Causeway Classic win since 1999.

So far, the Aggies have an overall record of 6-4, essentially beating the Hornets by one game due to Sac State’s overall record of 4-6.

UC Davis has averaged 24 points per game and has successfully scored 26 touchdowns so far this season.

Leading in rushing yardage for the Aggies is junior running back Joe Trombetta with 104 yards. Junior quarterback Greg Denham has completed 219 passing yards out of 366.

Unlike the Hornets, the Aggies will head into the rivalry game with a huge win from their game Saturday, as they claimed their first Great West Conference championship since 2005 with a 28-20 victory over North Dakota.

The win also brought UC Davis its first winning season since 2006, improving to a conference record of 3-1.

The Causeway Classic is well on its way and both teams are geared up to play.

Clark summarized the team’s feeling about the big game.

“The Davis game is definitely the one game everyone circles on their calendars,” Clark said. “We’re all very excited for the atmosphere, the crowd and just everything about it.”

Britney Rossman can be reached at brossman@statehornet