As Sacramento State’s home opening football game approaches, the Hornets prepare to play a University of Incarnate Word team in a similar situation Saturday night at Hornet Stadium.

Both programs went winless in week one against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents, didn’t score a touchdown and were both chosen to finish near the bottom of their respective conferences by media and coaches’ preseason polls.

Incarnate Word, which begins its first season as a Division I football program after finishing 3-8 last year, was blown out 66-0 against Fresno State Sept. 2 at Bulldog Stadium.

The Hornets — who are coming off back-to-back 2-9 finishes in 2015 and 2016 — lost 28-6 against Idaho Aug. 31 at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho. The Vandals entered the matchup after finishing 9-4 last year and with Manning Award Watch List senior quarterback Matt Linehan.

“When you play a good football team like Idaho and a veteran quarterback, there’s going to be two or three plays that make a difference in the game and when the opportunity presented itself their quarterback made two plays and we didn’t,” said Jody Sears, the Hornets head coach.

Thomson — who took his first collegiate snap on Aug. 31 — completes a TD pass to junior WR Andre Lindsey to end @SacState's practice. pic.twitter.com/Rj8FYcNp2l

— Angel 👨🏽‍💻 (@angelguerrerooo) September 6, 2017

One such play happened after Linehan avoided a sack in the redzone to throw an eight yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Jacob Shannon to take a 7-3 lead over Sac State with 6:19 left in the second quarter. Despite giving up 21 points to the Vandals after this, the Hornets defense showed flashes of dominance by recovering a fumble, capturing two interceptions and sacking Linehan four times.

“Coming off of last year, we preached two big things coming into this season and that was stopping the run and creating turnovers,” said junior safety Dre Terrell after recording his first career interception and sack. “To see our defensive line, especially (junior defensive end) George Obinna, go after the quarterback like we did, that was great to see.”

This type of physical play will be needed come Saturday as Sac State expects to see Incarnate Word senior quarterback and Roseville native Taylor Laird “come out and take some shots” in the passing game, Terrell said after studying the Sept. 2 game film. Passing the ball will most likely be the Cardinals best chance at scoring points due to a rushing attack that carried the ball for -30 yards against Fresno State.

The question of who would be throwing the ball for Sac State was answered when junior transfer Kevin Thomson, who finished 10-of-21 with 95 passing yards, received the starting nod at the quarterback position against Idaho. However, the offense failed to earn more than 190 yards of total offense and had to settle for just two field goals by junior kicker Devon Medeiros.

“Defensively we played really, really good,” said senior receiver Isiah Hennie. “Offensively we have to help them out, so that has been a main focus is getting first downs. We went 1-for-15 on third down, so that is unacceptable, honestly.”

If the passing game stalls like it did when Sac State receivers dropped a total of six passes against the Vandals, expect the Hornets to rely on true freshman running back Elijah Dotson. Dotson carried the ball only five times, but did so with a 9.2 average per rush and looked strong doing so. Graduate transfer Joseph Ajeigbe provided 34 yards on 10 carries, but has been hampered by a foot injury.

Incarnate Word will travel to Sacramento with a 24-52 record dating back to 2010. However, it seems unlikely that the Hornets will take the Cardinals lightly as Terrell and Hennie still feel the sting from a 38-30 home opening loss against Division II opponent Western Oregon last year.

“That (loss) actually speaks to me more than any other loss that I’ve had since I’ve been here,” Hennie said. “That one speaks the most because first off we didn’t prepare — offense, defense, the whole team — like we should’ve. We overlooked them and that’s a mistake that we’ve all learned from, so we’re never going to make that mistake again.”

Sac State will host Incarnate Word in its home opener Saturday at 6:05 p.m. at Hornet Stadium.