The Sacramento State football team comes out of the bye week and will take on the defending Football Championship Subdivision champion Eastern Washington University.

Last year the Eagles narrowly escaped with a win against the Hornets 28-24 despite blowing a 21-3 halftime lead.

“It was a tough loss for us,” said senior running back Bryan Hilliard. “We think about that and it’s still in the back of our heads, but they are coming here now and we will have the crowd on our side.”

The game came down to the final quarter where the Hornets rallied and took a 24-21 lead. The Eagles marched down the field and scored the game-winning touchdown with a pass from then-junior quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell to then-sophomore wide receiver Brandon Kaufman with 33 seconds remaining.

For the Hornets, the defense played a huge role in the close comeback loss thanks to interceptions by senior Evander Wilkins and sophomore Osagie Odiase and a blocked punt returned for a touchdown by then-freshman Henry Fernandez.

Coming into this game, the Eagles (3-4, 3-2) are heating up as of late after winning three games in a row. They started the season with a four-game losing streak, but thanks to Big Sky Conference-leading passer Mitchell, they have been on an offensive tear; Mitchell leads the Big Sky with 2,379 yards and 16 touchdowns and is the main focus of the Eagle offense. The running game has struggled since Jones graduated last year and freshman starting running back Jordan Talley is only averaging 43 rushing yards per game.

The Hornets (3-3, 2-2) come out of the bye week refreshed.

“The bye week was really helpful,” Hilliard said. “Everyone was able to rest, do a bunch of homework and get ready for the second half of the season.”

After winning 14-0 on Oct. 8 in a historic game in hurricane-like weather at the University of Northern Colorado, the Hornets will look to make it back-to-back wins.

Senior quarterback Jeff Fleming did not attempt a single pass in the game against the Bears because of the fierce winds and it was the first time in FCS history a team has won a game without one pass attempt.

“It was very frustrating not being able to pass in the tough conditions but we were able to get the win,” Fleming said.

This is the second game at Hornet Stadium this season and will also be the homecoming game.

The Eagles lead the overall matchup (15-4) and have beat the Hornets all 10 times at Hornet Stadium.

“This game is extremely important for our season,” Fleming said. “We have to take every game for the rest of the season like it’s our last.”

Kickoff will be at 6:05 p.m. and the game can be heard on Classic 93.1 FM or KAHI 950 AM.

Josh Stanley can be reached at [email protected].