Causeway Classic adds another twist to rivalry
This rivalry has experienced everything: thrillers to the wire, blowouts, games in the mud, games in the fog and games to salvage and extend seasons.
Now the topper: The 65th Causeway Classic between Sacramento State and UC Davis will be played in Reno, Nev. today with a noon kickoff.
The move was to best ensure safety for student-athletes and fans who planned to attend the contest originally scheduled for Aggie Stadium in Davis. But the air quality did not look promising in Yolo County — or much of anywhere in Northern California, for that matter — prompting a venue change that capped a whirlwind last few days of scrambling for options.
The Camp Fire that has devastated parts of Butte County, including the town of Paradise, has clogged much of Northern California with smoke. It’s been so bad that UCD, Sac State and most all area school districts closed campuses.
UCD coach Dan Hawkins joked Thursday, “We may have to go to Reno to play it, or we can play at 5 in the morning before it gets too bad, or we can play it in the park.”
Now it’s Mackay Stadium, where the game-time temperature will be 55 degrees with crisp, clean air.
The urgency of this game went beyond any rivalry meaning. UCD at 8-2 is coming off a 59-20 loss in the chill of Cheney in the Pacific Northwest, home of national powerhouse Eastern Washington.
The Aggies are eager to suit up again with a home FCS postseason game on the line. The playoff teams will be announced Sunday.
Sac State, meanwhile, was hopeful of having a final game to cap a trying season. The Hornets are 2-7, undone by a rash of injuries after good health and good fortune propelled the program to its best Big Sky Conference showing in 2017.
Sac State in 2017 went 7-4 overall and 6-2 in conference play, capped with a 52-47 season-ending victory over UCD that nearly landed the Hornets their first FCS playoff bid.
UCD this season under its spirited second-year coach has made a quantum leap, including halting its consecutive losing seasons streak at six.
“We need a game,” Hawkins said. “Baseball has a lot of games. Basketball has a lot of games. Football has a lot of practices but not a lot of games.”
Hawkins played in the Causeway in 1981 and ‘82 as a hardcharging fullback and later coached in it as an assistant with the Aggies. The game still resonates deep in his soul, but he doesn’t whip up rivalry talk with any sense of venom.
“I’m not into hate,” Hawkins said Thursday at the Causeway luncheon. “There’s enough of that in our world. I’m not into that. I respect teams. Respect each other. That’s the message the rest of the world needs to listen to.”