Sacramento State Hornets at Central Michigan Chippewas

Sacramento State steps into life as an FBS program this fall, and its first taste of a Tuesday night road trip comes against a Central Michigan team that already knows what a rebuild under a new staff feels like.

Bush’s Picks

SACCMU

SACCMU

OverUnder

Best BetCentral Michigan

Central Michigan gets the nod here mostly on program continuity — Drinkall keeps his staff and system intact into year two, while Sacramento State is adjusting to a new head coach for the second consecutive offseason on top of jumping levels of competition. That kind of instability on the road, against a team playing its home finale, is the kind of spot that tends to favor the host.

Sacramento State

• +Went 7-5 in Big Sky under Marion in 2025
• +New coach Alonzo Carter brings a fresh system
• +Debut FBS season carries underdog energy
• −Second straight offseason with a new head coach
• −Untested against a full slate of FBS competition
• −Stretch of three straight midweek games late season

Central Michigan

• +Drinkall enters year two with staff continuity
• +Went 7-6 and bowl-eligible in his debut 2025 season
• +Home finale typically favors a motivated senior class
• −No history against Sacramento State to scout
• −Own coaching staff still relatively new, unproven long-term
• −Weeknight letdown risk vs a lower-profile opponent

This one carries more history than the record books will ever show. Sacramento State went 7-5 in the Big Sky last season under first-year coach Brennan Marion, then turned around and hired Alonzo Carter to lead the program into its debut FBS campaign as a MAC football-only member. That's a lot of transition packed into one offseason, and it lands the Hornets in Mount Pleasant with almost zero data points on how they hold up physically against a full FBS schedule.

Central Michigan, meanwhile, isn't hiding from its own version of a reset. Matt Drinkall went 7-6 in his first year running the Chippewas program in 2025, good enough to keep the roster largely intact and give him a real shot at building continuity into year two. That's the swing factor in a game like this — a program with a returning coaching staff hosting a team that's changing head coaches for the second straight offseason while also jumping up a level of competition.

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SAC Sacramento State

CMU Central Michigan

None of that guarantees anything on a Tuesday night football card, but it does frame where the value is. A veteran MAC staff at home against a first-year FBS staff on the road is the kind of spot bettors lean into more than casual fans realize, and it's worth watching whether Sacramento State's Big Sky athletes translate cleanly against MAC size up front.

Sacramento State Hornets

Nov 3?vs Toledo—

Oct 30?vs Kent State—

Oct 16?vs Ohio—

Oct 9?@ Bowling Green—

Sep 25?vs Massachusetts—

Sep 19?vs North Dakota State—

Sep 12?@ Fresno State—

Sep 5?vs Mississippi Valley State—

Aug 29?@ Eastern Michigan—

Central Michigan Chippewas

Nov 3?@ Eastern Michigan—

Oct 16?vs Western Michigan—

Oct 9?@ Ohio—

Oct 2?vs Akron—

Sep 26?@ Miami—

Sep 19?vs Wyoming—

Sep 12?vs Colgate—

Sep 5?@ New Mexico—

The bigger intrigue here is what Sacramento State's move to FBS actually means for MAC 'MACtion' scheduling going forward — the Hornets are stacked into a stretch of three straight midweek games late in the year, which is its own gauntlet for a first-year FBS roster still adjusting to a longer grind. Central Michigan gets this one as a home finale, which typically means a program leans on its seniors and its building continuity to close strong.

Whichever way the final score falls, this game is really about a bigger story: a Big Sky mainstay taking its first real swing at FBS football, with a MAC program that's simply trying to keep building on a bowl-eligible season. That context matters more here than any single stat line.

Sacramento State Hornets

(0)

Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report

Central Michigan Chippewas

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Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report