Pac-12 fallout: Could UC Davis or Sac State jump conferences? It's not that easy
Joe Davison
July 7, 2022
Realignment talk is everywhere in college sports after UCLA and USC’s stunning announcements that they will leave the Pac-12 in 2024 for the Big Ten, where a massive television package will reap tens of millions for each program.
The move had a downstream ripple effect: questions about Sacramento State and UC Davis. Will the Hornets and Aggies stay put in the Big Sky Conference? Do they have options? Are the programs itching to move?
Football talks and resonates at all levels. At the highest classification in NCAA football, the FBS, money doesn’t just talk, it screams from the highest mountain tops. In football, Sacramento State and UCD play a notch down from the FBS level, in FCS play. They’ve been there since the early 1990s, when they bumped up after decades at the Division II ranks, only with a fraction of the revenue.
The quick and short answer is clear: UCD and Sacramento State aren’t going anywhere right now. Athletic directors Rocko DeLuca of the Aggies and Mark Orr of the Hornets both said in recent interviews they aren’t on the move.
The schools are football members of the Big Sky Conference, the best FCS conference in the country. It’s been good living of late for the rival programs, with both teams relevant in the national rankings. UCD won a share of the Big Sky Conference title in 2018; Sacramento State claimed the last two conference championships outright. Both are in the preseason national rankings this summer.
Both programs in the coming seasons have schedules dotted with FBS programs, including UCD opening this season at Cal and Sacramento State opening at Stanford in 2023. Those games serve a double purpose for UCD and Sacramento State: An opportunity to size yourself up against an FBS program while also taking home a hefty check for the efforts, sometimes in excess of $500,000.
But UCD and Sacramento State have more than competed against FBS programs over the years, including UCD beating Stanford in 2005, San Jose State in 2018 and Tulsa last season. Sacramento State in 2011 beat Oregon State and Colorado and gave Cal a game last season despite being 24-point underdogs. This doesn’t mean the local colleges are fit for the FBS. Those are sample-size outings.
DeLuca and Orr said they are pleased playing in the Big Sky and having some of their games televised on ESPN. There is no talk of either football program jumping ship. And no, just because one UC school — UCLA — is leaving the Pac-12, it does not mean another in UCD will jump right in. It doesn’t work that way. It takes years to even move up a level, from FCS to FBS, the land of USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Alabama and Ohio State.
Joe Davison
July 7, 2022
Realignment talk is everywhere in college sports after UCLA and USC’s stunning announcements that they will leave the Pac-12 in 2024 for the Big Ten, where a massive television package will reap tens of millions for each program.
The move had a downstream ripple effect: questions about Sacramento State and UC Davis. Will the Hornets and Aggies stay put in the Big Sky Conference? Do they have options? Are the programs itching to move?
Football talks and resonates at all levels. At the highest classification in NCAA football, the FBS, money doesn’t just talk, it screams from the highest mountain tops. In football, Sacramento State and UCD play a notch down from the FBS level, in FCS play. They’ve been there since the early 1990s, when they bumped up after decades at the Division II ranks, only with a fraction of the revenue.
The quick and short answer is clear: UCD and Sacramento State aren’t going anywhere right now. Athletic directors Rocko DeLuca of the Aggies and Mark Orr of the Hornets both said in recent interviews they aren’t on the move.
The schools are football members of the Big Sky Conference, the best FCS conference in the country. It’s been good living of late for the rival programs, with both teams relevant in the national rankings. UCD won a share of the Big Sky Conference title in 2018; Sacramento State claimed the last two conference championships outright. Both are in the preseason national rankings this summer.
Both programs in the coming seasons have schedules dotted with FBS programs, including UCD opening this season at Cal and Sacramento State opening at Stanford in 2023. Those games serve a double purpose for UCD and Sacramento State: An opportunity to size yourself up against an FBS program while also taking home a hefty check for the efforts, sometimes in excess of $500,000.
But UCD and Sacramento State have more than competed against FBS programs over the years, including UCD beating Stanford in 2005, San Jose State in 2018 and Tulsa last season. Sacramento State in 2011 beat Oregon State and Colorado and gave Cal a game last season despite being 24-point underdogs. This doesn’t mean the local colleges are fit for the FBS. Those are sample-size outings.
DeLuca and Orr said they are pleased playing in the Big Sky and having some of their games televised on ESPN. There is no talk of either football program jumping ship. And no, just because one UC school — UCLA — is leaving the Pac-12, it does not mean another in UCD will jump right in. It doesn’t work that way. It takes years to even move up a level, from FCS to FBS, the land of USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Alabama and Ohio State.
