The Sacramento State Hornets are seeking to join the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as an independent, according to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Sacramento State is currently a member of the Big Sky Conference in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). If its waiver is approved by the NCAA, the Hornets would begin play in the FBS in the fall of 2026.
Additionally, Sacramento State would be ineligible for post-season play this fall and in 2026, which would span its two-year reclassification process under NCAA rules.
Sources: Sacramento State plans to file an application with the NCAA this week to transition from FCS to FBS in football. They plan to do so as an independent. The school has already filed a waiver to transition as an independent in football, which requires NCAA approval. pic.twitter.com/DanhpQALEO
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) April 2, 2025
By transitioning as an independent, Sacramento State is positioning itself for FBS conferences. The reason for a waiver is because they aren't transitioning with a conference invite. The school sits in a Top 20 media market and has been aggressive in hiring coaches and in NIL.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) April 2, 2025
Here’s more on Sacramento State from the ESPN report:
The school sits in a top-20 media market and has been aggressive in hiring coaches and in NIL. The Hornets hired former UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion as head coach in December, and the basketball program hired former Sacramento Kings star Mike Bibby as head coach.
Sacramento State is planning to play football in the Big Sky for the 2025 season, which is expected to be the program’s last in the FCS conference. The Hornets had a 3-9 record last season, finishing in a tie for last in the 12-team conference with a 1-7 mark.
Sacramento State is scheduled to open the 2025 season with consecutive games on the road against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits on Aug. 30 and the Nevada Wolf Pack on Sept. 6. The Hornets will then open their home slate with back-to-back games against the Mercyhurst Lakers on Sept. 13 and the Central Arkansas Bears on Sept. 20 before playing their eight-game Big Sky Conference slate.
I expected Sac State to join rival UC Davis in becoming a non-football member of the MW, with both likely upgrading football together after the MW gets raided in the next realignment cycle.
It would be nice however I do get into to this like you do pardon me Z-Man.
I fully support Sacramento State to be Independent when they make transition from FCS to FBS & will see where they go from here.
WHY keep them out of PlayOffs??? IF they’re that good, let them in!
Buzz I fully support your comments.
Here is My top four Offensive Guard prospects that I like in upcoming 2025 NFL Draft.
1. Jackson Slater, Sacramento State
2. Grey Zabel, North Dakota State
3. Tate Ratledge, Georgia
4. Dylan Fairchild, Georgia
Ooh interesting. I’m assuming Sac State will be kicked out of the Big Sky as a result. Will they join the Big West?
The Big Sky should be willing to have non-football members to offset the football-only status of Cal Poly and (for now) UC Davis. The D2 Alaska schools could work, since Alaska is currently the only of the 50 states without any full-time D1 members – Alaska is only D1 in hockey, rifle and skiing at the moment.
Incidentally, I previously wanted Sac State to downgrade to FB-only status in the Big Sky to join UC Davis in the Big West for other sports. That was before the MW added UC Davis, who will be the first full MW member never to spend time in the WAC.
I think there’s some sort of deal that Sac State has with the Big Sky that prohibits them from leaving for the Big West. But since their football team will be leaving the Big Sky, I don’t know if that conference will be interested in keeping them around as a non-football member. I know for a few years Idaho was in FBS while all their other sports were in the Big Sky, but then they eventually dropped down for football as well.
Evan, when Idaho was FBS they were in the WAC in all sports. At the end they were in the Sun Belt for football only and the rest of their sports were in the WAC. When they moved to FCS they put all sports in the Big Sky.
Idaho was a non-football member of the Big Sky from 2014-18 while their football team was in the Sun Belt.
Idaho moved up in football to FBS in 1996 and joined the Big West. They joined the Sun Belt for football only for the first time when the Big West went away from 2001-2004. They didn’t go to the WAC until 2005. When the WAC dropped football after 2012, Idaho became an independent in 2013 and then with another WAC refugee, New Mexico State, they went to the Sun Belt. The Sun Belt would not extend this affiliation beyond 2017, and Idaho and New Mexico State were both looking at a move back to the FCS (New Mexico State was in the old Missouri Valley Conference in 1982-83). Idaho didn’t want to move back to FCS, but the NCAA forced them to make the move to rejoin the Big Sky in 2018, while New Mexico State was able to stay at FBS.
I would hope they continue to play Cal Poly & UC Davis to build up college football in California after losing so many teams the past 3-4 decades.
My guess is that UC Davis will be an FBS school in the Mountain West by the early 2030s. They’ll just have to expand their stadium and other facilities I’m sure.
Assuming Sac State’s FBS application is approved, that would leave our alma mater Cal Poly has the only scholarship FBS team in California. With the way our current athletic department has been handling things, I don’t think that’s a good sign. I wouldn’t be shocked if we have to drop to the PFL or drop football altogether. Now, I hope that doesn’t happen, but based on trends of college football teams in California over recent decades, that might be where things are headed.
Ugh, meant to say only f-C-s scholarship team in California. You know what I meant.
What do we think of this move–can Sac State pull this off? As we just saw with Saint Francis, it’s going to cost a lot of money to play D1 sports. A lot.
We know that Sac State has plenty of students–don’t all California public schools—but is that enough? They’ll eventually play in the Pac 12 is my thinking. They bring enough–big (enough) market, and with the Kings and A’s (for now) garnering attention, there could be room for football.
They’re waiting for the MWC/Pac 12 smoke to clear. Once that happens, they’ll go to the strongest, which I THINK will be the Pac 12
I really enjoy reading your comments John as always.
If I were living in Sacramento/Stockton region I would be a 49ers Fan.
Did you know in classic Comedy-Drama TV series Eight Is Enough show was pretending they were living in Sacramento & Susan Richardson was favorite on that show plus I enjoy when Susan made many Game Show appearances especially Match Game.
That’s right. Eight is Enough. Sacramento. I’ll admit it. I watched
My favorite Eight Is Enough episode was Horror Story when Torrential downpour cause power failure throughout Sacramento.
The move was rushed by Sac St but cannot necessarily blame them for trying to make the jump now that the FBS window is closing and the school is desperate to boost its donor base and brand at large. The cal st education system’s financials do not look promising for the rest of the decade including the projected enrollment cliff heading into the 2030s. For all intents and purposes it appears this move was almost required after not being able to secure a conference invite.
However, the school’s efforts in the basketball arena funding campaign is alarming and all too
recent of a reminder that the proposed FB stadium renos are not realistic for any immediate timeframe.
And with a much better funded Cal Davis soon to make the jump its hard to see where SAC St is going to come into a windfall of unfounded money unless their famous alumni all of a sudden become major downers, but their current endowment says otherwise.
Depending how the house settlement and its aftermath as well as the 2030 realignment wave SAC st could be in a conference or no better off than now. Cal Davis could easily take that spot from the PAC but the PAC could look completely different in that same time as well.
Sacramento State will become a member of the PAC-8
This seems like a hopeful statement with no foundation.
I wish Sac State the best on this, but I don’t see where the move itself makes any more sense than them moving to the Pac whatever they’ll be-will-be.
Have they made more than a CIT appearance in men’s basketball? I think one NCAA appearance in women’s hoops if memory serves. Football has only been good for a handful of years or so.
They are in a better location than Moscow, ID, but this seems like a trip toward the same kind of failure at the next level. Even if they are competitive at the level of say, San Jose State, what’s the reward in that?
They just hired Mike Bibby. That’s at the very least a big splash hire. They seem committed. Maybe the Kings owners can contribute $$$.
I see upside here.
I would agree John, that would tend to show the schools desire, and it just took them applying that effort for football without the name and just the persistence. What I have seen in the Big Sky in particular is that the big names don’t do so well, however. The three that I can think of right off were Jerry Glanville at Portland State in football, Larry Farmer for Weber State basketball and arguably worst of all Pat Kennedy for Montana basketball. There are more on that list, but the point is hiring a name coach in the Big Sky has never led to a lot of success. In basketball particularly, Weber State and Montana have been starting points for a lot of very successful coaches like Dick Motta, Judd Heathcoat and Mike Montgomery to name a few.
@Bobby still a big if at this stage and a better question is when they’d be able to join and the state of CFB. Based on their current circumstances, ikely won’t be anytime before 2030, and by then will the CFB realignment completely change the non power conference dynamics to where the PAC is not the same as what it appears to be projected for 2026?
This news basically confirmed that´s not going to happen.
Seems like they’re doing this to join the Pac-12, who still needs an 8th member to be recognized as an FBS conference next year. But I really wonder how long Cal & Stanford will stick with the ACC. Is the revenue really enough to offset the travel costs of all their conference sports?
Average revenue of a Power-4 athletic department is $143.7 million, while the average revenue of a Group of Five athletic department is $41.7 million. You make the call, Pop W.
Right now Cal and Stanford are only receiving 1/3 of a share of ACC payouts. They’d get about $14m based on 2023-4 numbers. It’s about twice what than they would be getting had they stayed in the Pac 12.
I get for football reasons why they want to be in the ACC but for all other sports eventually I hope they go back to the Pac 12. The travel is pretty brutal for non-football players and coaches
Drew I fully support your comment.
I wonder if they used this to lure Brennan Marion to be their head coach. He was a hot commodity in the offseason coaching carousel, so perhaps this is why he didn’t choose an FBS team.
Dang:
Sac St gets 21 comments on this post. Is that a record? Do recognize a few responders with multiple posts.
Well–this is a good group of people. People that enjoy looking deeper into the intricacies of CFB. Sac State is intriguing for many reasons, one being the sheer size of the school. They have 31,000 students. That alone makes them different. Being the capital of the country’s largest state doesn’t hurt either. Sacramento is a big city, much bigger than Buffalo, which has two pro franchises (counting the NHL Sabres and their 14-year playoff drought yes, is questionable). Bigger than Cincinnati, which has two as well.
@JM—I don’t disagree with big names being mediocre, but Bibby is different in the sense that he hasn’t coached before. And, he has ties to Sacramento. He should be hungry and motivated to do well. If tings go well for him, he could leave for a power conference job, OR he could stay and make Sac a Pac 12 power, perhaps the next Gonzaga or at the very least the next Saint Mary’s.
Intriguing indeed.
Michigan Wolverines Fan would welcome to play Sacramento State Hornets at Big House with 2028 as earliest.
I don´t think anyone´s talking about Sacramento State´s chances of going to C-USA, They could be a replacement for UTEP and could get the league a valuable West Coast presence.
Either new PAC 12 or Mountain West would be excellent for Sacramento State.
My educated guess that Sacramento State will be Independent when they leap Frog to FBS.
I know that C-USA’s media money will be more than the Big Sky’s, but would it really be enough to cover their travel costs all around the country? They already have budget issues having to fly to Montana 1-2 times per year in every sport.
I don´t see why Sacramento State can´t make it work if New Mexico State can, and like I said, Their West Coast presence and location in the Sacramento market could increase media payouts for the league.
It might make more sense to form a new conference because, as I said in an earlier post reference to Idaho moving up, you just don’t move in and set up shop in the Mountain West or PAC right out of the gate. They are looking for the right teams, not just anyone. If they aren’t calling up North Dakota State or South Dakota State, they can’t be desperate enough to just dust off a chair for anyone.
To me, it might make more sense to take up with some of the teams in C-USA that are traveling a lot. This will take a little bit because the bulk of this new league would come from the UAC, where most of those schools have expressed interest in moving up and will need a home. Southern Utah, Tarleton State and Abilene Christian at the top of the list, and possibly Utah Tech.
All the new NIL stuff may have changed some of this, but if you could also work out Sam Houston State, New Mexico State and UC Davis, you could pair some things up kind of like the road travel to Montana where you can travel there to play both in one trip and only one of them per year in football (it’s rare that teams got there twice a year and that’s not that big a trip).
Then, will the NCAA even be around that much longer? That is what the power conferences always wanted was to get rid of them it and it looks like it may happen for better or worse.