The Sacramento State football team heads back on the road to face the No. 4-ranked Montana State Bobcats in a rematch of last year’s high-scoring loss.

In the shootout last year, the Bobcats pulled out the 64-61 overtime win after blowing a 27-point lead at halftime. Montana State quarterback Denarius McGhee threw for 385 yards and four touchdowns while Hornets quarterback Jeff Fleming threw for 348 yards and five touchdowns.

After a season opening loss to the University of Utah, the Bobcats (3-1 overall, 1-0 Big Sky) come in riding a three game winning streak after beating UC Davis, Minot State University and Eastern Washington University.

The Hornets (2-2 overall, 1-1 Big Sky) got back in the win column on Saturday after taking down the No. 10-ranked University of Montana for the first time in school history.

With the win, the Hornets made it back in The Sports Network FCS College Football Top-25 poll at No. 25 and the Big Sky Conference named Fleming the co-offensive player of the week.

Fleming threw for 224 yards and two touchdowns and added two rushing touchdowns. The defense and special teams came up with five total turnovers in the game thanks to two interceptions from Joe Larche and Evander Wilkins. They also returned a block punt for a touchdown and recovered a fumble off of a punt.

Head coach Marshall Sperbeck said his team had an all around great game and played well off of each other.

“It was a great team effort. We created a lot of our own fortune by playing hard and playing together,” Sperbeck said.

Starting safety Ryan McMahon felt the roar of the crowd in his first career home game and was excited to get the first win in front of 12,751 screaming fans.

“It was really good to come out there and get the win especially being at home in front of the rockin’ crowd,” McMahon said. “It was my first game at Hornet Stadium, I didn’t know that the crowd gets like that at home games. It was a great help to look up there and see the fans rockin’ out and helping us on the field.”

The game against Montana State this weekend can be heard on the radio at Classic 93.1 FM. You can tune into the game on your smartphone by downloading the iheartradio app and selecting Classic 93.1 or KAHI 950 AM.

Sperbeck said his team is ready for this weekend’s match up with the Bobcats.

“Montana State has a good blend of run and pass. Their quarterback is very good and they have a couple of good running backs as well that we will have to be ready for,” Sperbeck said. “We will go up there and let them know what we are about. We are excited about the challenge and I know our team will be ready for it.”

Kickoff is at 12:35 p.m. at Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman, Mont.

Josh Stanley can be reached at [email protected].