Sacramento State (1-2) looks to continue their momentum Saturday as they face off against Southern Utah (2-1) at Hornet Stadium.

Although Southern Utah is a member of the Big Sky Conference, the game will not be an official conference game.

The Thunderbirds are no stranger to Sac State. The two schools have met 13 times including each of the last two years.

Last season, the Hornets beat the T-Birds in Cedar City, Utah, 27-22. This will be their first game at Sac State since 2004.

Although having a familiarity with Southern Utah, head coach Marshall Sperbeck isn’t focused on what has happened in the past.

“Whatever success we’ve had in the past I don’t think really apply to (Southern Utah),” Sperbeck said. “The last two years we split with Southern Utah and they are a very solid football team from every phase of the game.”

The Thunderbirds are led by junior quarterback Aaron Cantu who replaced second team all Big Sky quarterback Brad Sorenson. Cantu has thrown for five touchdowns and completed 71 percent of his passes. He completed 15-16 pass attempts for four touchdowns in a 49-0 win over Fort Lewis in week two.

Southern Utah also relies on the leg of preseason All-American kicker, Colton Cook.

Cook hit the game winning field goal against FBS school South Alabama back in week one and has hit on 4-5 field goals with a long of 40-yards.

The Hornets got over their offensive woes last week but the defense has still struggled.

The defense gave up 599-yards of total offense resulting in 56 points for Southern Oregon. This season they have given up 135 points in only three games.

Senior linebacker Todd Davis leads the team with 24 tackles and is credited with one sack. Davis had 12 tackles, one sack and a forced fumble against Southern Oregon.

Sperbeck sees ball control as something the team needs to work on both offensively and defensively.

“We need to get turnovers on defense and on offense we need to do a better job of securing the ball,” Sperbeck said.  

Sperbeck sees the game against Big Sky opponent Southern Utah as a chance to see how they compare with the rest of the conference.

“I think this game, being a Big Sky conference school, I think it will certainly give us a barometer of where we are,” Sperbeck said.

Kickoff is at 6 p.m.

You can reach Curtis Manlapig on Twitter at @CTMstatehornet