2026 Football Schedule Thread

[HornetFootballFan]

Agree.. we should be competitive season 1 in MAC. If ZO is going to succeed he needs to use the collective experience of strong coaching staff to start & finish strong.
I like ZO passion. Pray for his team to thrive. But I hope they as a staff GEL quickly and prepare for the season. In my opinion 7-5 minimum in 2026 is a solid start first yr HC.
I’m very excited to be in the MAC.

 

[OldSchoolHornet]

I’m just not feeling another 7-5 season…and I don’t see that as a success.
What 5 teams do you see us losing to?

 

[SactoHornetAlum]

I’m just not feeling another 7-5 season…and I don’t see that as a success.
What 5 teams do you see us losing to?

7-5 in our first season in FBS would be an absolute success!
And if not enough teams are 6-6 or they have APR violations, we would get a bowl invite.

 

[Kadeezy]

Anything less than 2-2 in OOC play + 2-6 in MAC would be total disaster. 4-8 in first FBS season would be minimally acceptable record IMO.

It's hard to say not knowing our full OOC, and MAC schedule, but man 5-7 or 6-6 would be incredible.

Winning 4 or 5 FBS games in year one would be huge.

 

[StockonLB]

Above .500 first year FBS, when the jump was not planned, would be a surprise. Sure 8 MAC games is easier than 7 Pac-12 games. But the MAC still have dominated their FCS opponents. There are 4-10 FCS over FBS every year.

FCS wins vs. FBS teams: All-time victories, upsets, wins vs. ranked teams

FCS (and I-AA) programs have upset FBS (I-AA) teams time and again through the years. Here's a list of the FCS stunners against FBS teams.

www.ncaa.com

It’s an FCS roster, with momentum for improvement in the program, but there’s a reason there are only a handful of FCS over FBS every year. The lines between FBS and FCS are blurred with NIL and revenue sharing, but I don’t think there’s a huge shift in resources that would predict SAC to be above .500

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

Anything less than 2-2 in OOC play + 2-6 in MAC would be total disaster. 4-8 in first FBS season would be minimally acceptable record IMO.

It's hard to say not knowing our full OOC, and MAC schedule, but man 5-7 or 6-6 would be incredible.

Winning 4 or 5 FBS games in year one would be huge.

Really? Jacksonville State, Delaware, Missouri State, James Madison and Sam Houston all had stellar records first two years in moving up.
If we had a proven winner in TT, I bet we would have .750+.
This MC Hammer wannabe is going to be egg on Wood's head.

 

[Kadeezy]

Really? Jacksonville State, Delaware, Missouri State, James Madison and Sam Houston all had stellar records first two years in moving up.
If we had a proven winner in TT, I bet we would have .750+.
This MC Hammer wannabe is going to be egg on Wood's head.

We are not where any of those schools were competitively (except for MO. State), and most of them went to CUSA to beat up on fellow move-ups. The MAC will not offer that luxury.

 

[Hornet25]

Above .500 first year FBS, when the jump was not planned, would be a surprise. Sure 8 MAC games is easier than 7 Pac-12 games. But the MAC still have dominated their FCS opponents. There are 4-10 FCS over FBS every year.

FCS wins vs. FBS teams: All-time victories, upsets, wins vs. ranked teams

FCS (and I-AA) programs have upset FBS (I-AA) teams time and again through the years. Here's a list of the FCS stunners against FBS teams.

www.ncaa.com

It’s an FCS roster, with momentum for improvement in the program, but there’s a reason there are only a handful of FCS over FBS every year. The lines between FBS and FCS are blurred with NIL and revenue sharing, but I don’t think there’s a huge shift in resources that would predict SAC to be above .500

MAC teams were on that list quite a few times.

 

[StockonLB]

MAC teams were on that list quite a few times.

Sure, but every MAC team plays an FCS. So even in years that 2-3 MAC teams lost, they beat them 6-7 times, and that is the bad years.

And to follow up to Kadeezy’s point, those teams had a set plan in place and knew they were moving up for years ahead of time. Sac is really the first to just say we’re going to FBS without a serious run up to year one. You could count last year a bit, but not since the whole staff is new as well as most the impact players.

 

[idkk]

Really? Jacksonville State, Delaware, Missouri State, James Madison and Sam Houston all had stellar records first two years in moving up.
If we had a proven winner in TT, I bet we would have .750+.
This MC Hammer wannabe is going to be egg on Wood's head.

TT went 6-18 at the FBS (P4) level.