The Sacramento State football team heads home to take on the Idaho State University Bengals in a rematch of last year’s 45-17 blowout win.

In last years’ game, then-junior quarterback Jeff Fleming threw for 207 yards and three touchdowns and then-junior wide receiver Chase Deadder caught six passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns.

The Bengals were held out of the end zone through the first three quarters, but then-senior quarterback Russel Hill connected on two touchdown passes to then-sophomore tight end Josh Hill and then-junior running back Tavoy Moore.

However, for this year’s matchup, head coach Marshall Sperbeck decided to shut down Deadder and senior running back Curtis Shaw for the season last week because of injuries and senior wide receiver Brandyn Reed missed last week’s game and may be out as well.

The Hornets were able to get Fleming and sophomore wide receiver Morris Norrise back from injuries last week. Norrise was originally thought to be out for season, but was cleared.

“I was told that I had to get surgery but when the trainers gave me a week to rehab, I did everything I could to come back,” Norrise said. “I was very excited to get back in the lineup.”

On the season, the Hornets (3-6, 2-5) have lost three straight games.

The Hornets have lost four of their games by 10 points or less and junior offensive lineman Clay DePauw said the Hornets are better than that.

“It’s been really hard,” DePauw said. “We know we are better than that and we could have very easily won all those games.”

Last week in the 29-20 loss to Portland State University, Fleming threw for 129 yards with one interception and scrambled for 78 yards and two touchdowns in his return.

“I was very happy to get back on the field with my team,” Fleming said. “It meant a lot to me to get out there and get back into the swing of things. I was rusty, but I worked through it as the game slowed down for me again.”

The Bengals come out of their bye (2-7, 1-5) and losers of six straight games. Junior quarterback Kevin Yost is second in the Big Sky Conference in passing with 2,515 yards, 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Junior wide receiver Rodrick Rumble has been the go-to guy for Yost, as he leads the Big Sky in catches (98) and yards (1,224).

Through nine games, the run game for the Bengals is almost non-existent and is only averaging 22.7 yards per game.

The Bengals have only rushed for a total of 204 yards this season and Portland State University running back Cory McCaffrey and Northern Arizona University running back Zach Bauman have rushed for more yards than that in a single game.

The Bengals’ Jekyll and Hyde defense has been the problem all year as they hold opponents to a Big Sky leading 190.1 passing yards per game, but a Big Sky worst 268.7 rushing yards per game.

“We do want to get the run game going as always and if they allow us to do that, we will,” Fleming said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t get the pass game going as well. We would like to have both aspects of our offense going well this week.”

The Hornets lead the overall matchup against the Bengals 9-6 and have won the last two meetings. The Hornets are 6-1 in Hornet Stadium against the Bengals and are 1-2 at home this season.

With only two games remaining on the season and both at home, junior offensive lineman Vince Weaver said it’s nice to end the season at home.

“It’s great to end the year at home,” Weaver said. “We get to play in front of our fans and have the home field advantage.”

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].