The scene at Hornet Stadium should be lively regardless of score. Saturday's game doubles as Union Workers Appreciation and Black Excellence Night, with a new north end zone grandstand and beer garden debuting and fireworks planned afterward. That kind of atmosphere, paired with a roster that already looked the part against an established FBS program a week ago, is a big part of why the number attached to this one has only grown since it first went up.
The matchup up front is the one to watch. Nicholls' defensive front lived in the Delta Devils' backfield from the opening snap, and there's little reason to think a first-year FBS roster with more speed and depth won't create similar problems. The real question isn't whether Sacramento State wins — it's whether the margin gets uncomfortable for the home side to cover, or whether Mississippi Valley State's fourth-quarter push a week ago says this team keeps playing when a game gets away from it.
Onterrio Smith, Jr. is the name to know on the Hornets' side after a 9-catch, 88-yard afternoon at Eastern Michigan on 14 targets — he was Sacramento State's clear top read in Week 1 and should see similar volume against a defense that already showed it can be had through the air. On the other sideline, Terrell Buckley is still building his program from the ground up, and nights like this one, in front of a hyped home crowd on the opposite coast from Itta Bena, tend to either expose a rebuild or reveal which pieces on the roster actually belong.
Whatever the final score says, this one is really about what Sacramento State's roster looks like now that the games count at the highest level of college football it's ever played — and whether Mississippi Valley State, fresh off a blowout of its own, can find any of that fourth-quarter fight a week earlier than expected.