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FBS Independent bound

Here’s an idea, Causeway Classic is the first ever home game as an FBS school 8/29/26. It’s open on the FUCD schedule. Already tons of excitement starting the season (we assume), and also bring the whole region to have interest in it. Guaranteed sell out and an atmosphere unlike any other opening day game the Hornets have ever had.

Maximum 4FCS , but the Hornets should also look at bringing in Tarleton State. They would still be a competitive home match up active in their FBS pursuit. There schedule looks like it still needs help for 2026.

I don’t think the Hornets should go after a complete PAC schedule (even knowing they’re all currently short a game). There are a few MW and CUSA schools still short in 2026 since they’re both 8 game conference schedules.

Here’s a schedule we can compete in and keeps us traveling regionally… dates are for someone else to figure out. I think Davis week 1 could be really cool though.

1. UC Davis - Home
2. Tarleton State - Home
3. Cal Poly - Home
4. Lamar - Home
5. Missouri State - Home
6. Sam Houston - Home
7. New Mexico - Away
8. NMSU - Away
9. Fresno State - Away
10. SDSU - Away
11. Colorado State - Away
12. Utah State - Away


Others available UNLV, Kennesaw State, Missouri State, UTEP, LA Tech. Lastly, go visit a big one, USC needs games still!
 
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FootballAlum84 said:
Here’s an idea, Causeway Classic is the first ever home game as an FBS school 8/29/26. It’s open on the FUCD schedule. Already tons of excitement starting the season (we assume), and also bring the whole region to have interest in it. Guaranteed sell out and an atmosphere unlike any other opening day game the Hornets have ever had.

Maximum 4FCS , but the Hornets should also look at bringing in Tarleton State. They would still be a competitive home match up active in their FBS pursuit. There schedule looks like it still needs help for 2026.

I don’t think the Hornets should go after a complete PAC schedule (even knowing they’re all currently short a game). There are a few MW and CUSA schools still short in 2026 since they’re both 8 game conference schedules.

Here’s a schedule we can compete in and keeps us traveling regionally… dates are for someone else to figure out. I think Davis week 1 could be really cool though.

1. UC Davis - Home
2. Tarleton State - Home
3. Cal Poly - Home
4. Lamar - Home
5. Missouri State - Home
6. Sam Houston - Home
7. New Mexico - Away
8. NMSU - Away
9. Fresno State - Away
10. SDSU - Away
11. Colorado State - Away
12. Utah State - Away


Others available UNLV, Kennesaw State, Missouri State, UTEP, LA Tech. Lastly, go visit a big one, USC needs games still!
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This is pretty much what I was hoping for. These schools make a lot of sense.

Thank you for starting a legit discussion vice just bashing away with a 2x4. This is the historical basis of this board.
 
Green Cookie Monster said:
I read somewhere that davis has a clause with their MWC membership that they would be the first FCS full member, if and when they move up.

By being an FBS member, Sac State has found a loophole in that davis directive to be added. Keeps the options open.
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Yes.. found the loop hole. As well extending an invitation is one thing. Timing is another. I doubt FUCD could get all approvals from UC, budget for FBS, raise NIL, and generate enough cash to get FB stadium to min threshold of 25K seats.

Extending them an offer FUCD would have to refuse today because they aren’t prepared yet.

Luckily we began the prep work shortly after Dr Wood arrived.

We are smart & strategic to avoid the 0% revenue share BS. Get FBS Indy. Put our bye game in week 8-11 where needed. 12 still causway.

Get some big payday’s lined up. If we get big name teams visit SAC we will get nice Gate Revenue. LOCAL TV DEAL $$ etc as well.

Thus far things are going great. Only wish FB Stadium was in construction now. But getting time to build the fund before breaking ground good finance plan.

Mark Orr - Awesome already setting up scheduling!!! Live That being proactive!!!
 
Super Hornet 2.0 said:
As most of you know, I'm not happy about this at all. However, it now seems to be inevitable. Going the conference route would have been much easier, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards right now.

So now it's time to start thinking about potential schedules. This puts us in FCS, ineligible for the playoffs this year and technically in FBS, ineligible for bowls, in 2026. That sort of leaves us with the option of slowly starting to wean ourselves off of FCS and D-II games on the schedule. With an indy schedule, it's much harder to fill the schedule. That's sort of why Penn State joined up with the Big Ten after decades as an independent.

I'm not sure how big 2026 is supposed to be in terms of schedule length for FBS, but I took a stab at this with the provisos that we would have some FCS (and perhaps a D-II) game on the schedule, that we would keep Causeway alive (albeit no longer the last game on the schedule because FCS stops before FBS does due to the playoffs), and starting to filter in some FBS teams. I've tried to keep it at least semi-western to keep travel costs down, but I do have one East coast FBS team coming to Sac. I also have no idea what the other teams' schedules are like; I'm just riffing here. And I'm not messing with days other than Saturday; we might have to shift to an occasional Thursday for a TV game, particularly for teams I don't have here. (Technically speaking, I'm presuming an 11-game schedule; teams are usually authorized an extra game if they take a roadie at Hawai'i, but I'm not messing with that for now.) Tell me what you think. Too ambitious? Too lazy? (Particularly taking the D-II for what would likely be the last year of that?)

Week 0: 29 AUG Portland State at Sac State
Week 1: 05 SEP S. Oregon at Sac State
Week 2: 12 SEP Sac State at San Jose State
Week 3: 19 SEP BYE
Week 4: 26 SEP Sac State at Fresno State
Week 5: 03 OCT Sac State at Hawai'i
Week 6: 10 OCT BYE
Week 7: 17 OCT Cal Poly at Sac State (Homecoming)
Week 8: 24 OCT Liberty at Sac State
Week 9: 31 OCT Sac State at NV-Las Vegas
Week 10: 07 NOV UC Davis at Sac State
Week 11: 14 NOV Sac State at Incarnate Word
Week 12: 21 NOV AZ State at Sac State
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Entertaining… but I wouldn’t waste a payday to play Sou Oregon, Port St,

I’d move the BYE toward end of season whoever we couldn’t fill a date.

I like the B12 game w ASU sundevils

I’d try UCLA / Stanford / CAL / Utah St / Colorado St / UTEP / RICE / and maybe a big name who’s had a rough season that might not never normally play us. Florida St / Nebraska / Maryland / Rutgers / East coast big conference type of big name that wants themselves a Tuneup game late season w FBS W. Ambush for the $$ and Win if they take us lightly. Shock the world.

I don’t want our schedule to look like it’s FCS + with adding 2 extra FBS or low hanging FBS fruit.
We need a schedule against teams that proves our program is FBS ready and can play a full FBS schedule.

Play a FCS+ schedule won’t impress the CFB world.

We need to have some Credibility.

New HC GoGo needs to win again FBS schedule w 2 -3 FCS games in my opinion. FUCD / Cal Poly. They are semi local won’t require big payday from us!

Remember we will need to pay FCS games now!
 
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Super Hornet 2.0 said:
This is pretty much what I was hoping for. These schools make a lot of sense.

Thank you for starting a legit discussion vice just bashing away with a 2x4. This is the historical basis of this board.
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Maybe start a conversation with an opinion based in any form of reality and we can have a discussion.

Your schedule had ASU - a team that was the CFP last year, going on the road to face us.

Figure out some form of reality first, then maybe we can have discussions on this board.

But you constantly ruin threads with your nonsense opinions and lies.

GO AWAY
 
stingthemgood said:
Maybe start a conversation with an opinion based in any form of reality and we can have a discussion.

Your schedule had ASU - a team that was the CFP last year, going on the road to face us.

Figure out some form of reality first, then maybe we can have discussions on this board.

But you constantly ruin threads with your nonsense opinions and lies.

GO AWAY
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Let me make this clear.... NO ONE WANTS YOU HERE
 
Those Colorado and Utah games in late November will be potentially brutal. Nice thing about Davis as last game is warm weather at either place. As FBS, do we still travel to Davis or SLO?
 
Super Hornet 2.0, Stingthemgood does not speak for me. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, no matter how misguided or uninformed. I am often in that camp. It's just a message board. For all his "ya'll can go fuck yourself," you sure do effectively get under his skin. That is entertaining enough. I thought bullying went away after second grade, but I see it is still alive.
 
the Rat said:
Super Hornet 2.0, Stingthemgood does not speak for me. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, no matter how misguided or uninformed. I am often in that camp. It's just a message board. For all his "ya'll can go fuck yourself," you sure do effectively get under his skin. That is entertaining enough. I thought bullying went away after second grade, but I see it is still alive.
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Glad you've come out of the basement -- will see you again in 10 years.

I guess that is one thing you and Casey have in common. A love for parents' basements.
 
HFF: You make some good points. My main point in including FCS and the NAIA/NCAA D-II is to prevent the schedule from killing us. Having "bodybag" games is one thing. Having an entire schedule (or an entire OOC schedule when one is in a conference) is a recipe for disaster, both in terms of record and in terms of injuries.

That said, as one completes the transition process, those NAIA/D-II games should gradually leave the schedule. And, to some degree, we should gradually ratchet down the FCS games, too. I don't recommend losing Causeway, but at some point, we'll have to have a schedule that's rated high enough to get us into a bowl game. I'm not sure at what point that would be, but 2028 or 2029 would probably be it if we don't find a conference first. If conference status comes before that, so much the better, because there should be bowl tie-ins we could bank on once we reach six D-I wins....
 
FootballAlum84 said:
Absolutely will not travel to FCS
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Agreed. Under no circumstances should we, as an FBS program, travel to an FCS program.


It will be interesting to see how the immediate scheduling shakes out. I expect the '26 schedule to be a mostly FCS+ schedule given the limited availability of FBS opponents. I think the '27 season is where we see what a true FBS Indy schedule will look like for us.

As far as concerns of getting tickets sold in '25 and '26, the powers that be just need to dangle priority seating/purchasing for the first full FBS season, '27, as an incentive to anyone sitting on the fence about buying tickets to '25 & '26. The hardcore fans like myself will be there no matter what, but those casual fans will be the ones that need to be won over. Dr. Wood indicated that there are already tentative agreements in place for future games, if those are some noteworthy games then that can be leveraged/marketed for ticket sales now with the guarantee of priority seating/purchasing for those future seasons.
 
I think our status in the FCS has already eliminated us doing D2 and NAIA and why we’ve seen these 2 FBS games some years and FCS games against Southland and Missouri Valley teams which I hope we all prefer.
 
SDHornet said:
Agreed. Under no circumstances should we, as an FBS program, travel to an FCS program.


It will be interesting to see how the immediate scheduling shakes out. I expect the '26 schedule to be a mostly FCS+ schedule given the limited availability of FBS opponents. I think the '27 season is where we see what a true FBS Indy schedule will look like for us.

As far as concerns of getting tickets sold in '25 and '26, the powers that be just need to dangle priority seating/purchasing for the first full FBS season, '27, as an incentive to anyone sitting on the fence about buying tickets to '25 & '26. The hardcore fans like myself will be there no matter what, but those casual fans will be the ones that need to be won over. Dr. Wood indicated that there are already tentative agreements in place for future games, if those are some noteworthy games then that can be leveraged/marketed for ticket sales now with the guarantee of priority seating/purchasing for those future seasons.
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Based on just purely looking at what fbschedules.com, which is very reliable, shows for teams in 2026, we have an opportunity to have a solid schedule majority FBS and regionally based, we will need to have FCS games but I think we should be more than capable of having 4 or less and that is perfectly okay.
 
FootballAlum84 said:
Based on just purely looking at what fbschedules.com, which is very reliable, shows for teams in 2026, we have an opportunity to have a solid schedule majority FBS and regionally based, we will need to have FCS games but I think we should be more than capable of having 4 or less and that is perfectly okay.
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That's good to hear. The faster we get FCS programs off the schedule, the better.
 
Times have improved for FBS Indy right now.

While both PAC / MWC are not full sized conferences yet we have plenty of good programs to try and schedule with,

CUSA / AAC are also conf that we could get 1-2 games per season with in home / away schedule.

Like I suggested having home game ticket sales / SAC region TV deal will be good for us!

UCD stays on schedule. Cal Poly should be our other FCS. Rest FBS and get few good names on schedule. Stanford / UCLA / UNLV / UTEP / Wash St. etc.

Until we play tough and win some they will not take us seriously and or worthy, need to use that nil money and make sure Coach Marion has the players to compete.

I can’t wait!!!!
 
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