Sacramento State Forces Five Turnovers, Beats Kent State 31-10 for First MAC Win in Program History

Sacramento State waited 33 years to get to the FBS, then spent the first two months of its new life learning how unforgiving the place can be. On Friday night at Hornet Stadium, the Hornets finally got the payoff, and they got it by taking the ball away from Kent State five times.

Sacramento State beat Kent State 31-10 for the first Mid-American Conference win in program history, scoring the final 25 points of the game after trailing 10-6 at halftime. Isaiah Ene ran for 107 yards and two touchdowns, Donovan Turner returned an interception 38 yards for a score, and a defense that had been searching for a signature night forced two interceptions and three lost fumbles.

The Hornets improved to 2-7 and 1-5 in the MAC. Kent State dropped to 3-6 and 2-3, a week after Dru DeShields accounted for five touchdowns in a win over Akron.

One big play, then a long grind

For about 25 minutes, this looked like it might be another chapter in a tough debut season for Sacramento State. Kent State needed just two plays to go 94 yards on one first-quarter drive, the second a 92-yard catch-and-run from DeShields to Wayne Harris with 7:25 left in the opening period. It was the longest play of the season for the Golden Flashes, and Harris left Sacramento with more than 1,000 career receiving yards, per Kent State.

The Hornets did not panic, and they did not hit a home run either. They did something that suited them better: they took the air out of the ball. Grant Meadors finished a 13-play drive with a 42-yard field goal early in the second quarter, then capped an 11-play march with a 28-yarder at 5:28. Two long drives, 13 minutes of clock, six points. It was not glamorous, but it was the plan.

Kent State answered right before the break. Tommy Newcomb hit a 29-yard field goal as the first half expired, and the Flashes went to the locker room up 10-6 despite getting outworked on the clock.

The turning point: a three-and-out and a 35-yard sprint

The second half belonged to Sacramento State. Meadors connected again, this time from 36 yards out with 4:35 left in the third quarter, to cut the deficit to 10-9. That was Meadors' third field goal of the night, pushing the kicker's career total to 23, ninth in school history.

Then came the sequence that flipped the game. The Hornets' defense forced a three-and-out, Jamar Curtis returned the punt 19 yards, and on the very next snap Ene broke a 35-yard touchdown run. A two-point conversion made it 17-10 with 2:58 left in the third. Kent State had led for most of the night. It would not score again.

A defense that kept taking the ball

The fourth quarter was a takeaway clinic. Turner picked off a pass and went 38 yards the other way with 9:04 left, making it 24-10. It was the Hornets' first pick-six of the season, and per Sacramento State, Turner's first touchdown since a senior season at Long Beach Poly in 2021. Malachi Nichols added the second interception.

Up front, Fata Puloka forced two fumbles and finished with eight tackles. Xavier Williams forced another and was credited with four of the Hornets' 11 quarterback hurries. Miles Bailey recovered two of the loose balls, and Boogsie Silvera, who led everyone with 10 tackles, fell on the third. The five takeaways were the most by Sacramento State since it forced five at Incarnate Word in September 2017.

Late in the fourth, the defense added one more stop, a turnover on downs, and Ene punched in a 5-yard run on the next snap with 2:55 left to make it 31-10. That was the final.

Alonzo Carter, the first-year head coach, summed up the night in a phrase coaches love and rarely get to use. "Tonight was the complementary football we've been looking for," Carter said.

Ene and the ground game do the heavy lifting

Ene carried 19 times for 107 yards and both offensive touchdowns. Daniel Swinney chipped in 43 yards, and the Hornets finished with 161 rushing yards, the third-most in school history against an FBS opponent. That ground game let Sacramento State control the ball for 34:47, a season high.

Jackson Sharman did not need to do much through the air, finishing 14 of 25 for 117 yards with no interceptions. Raiden Brown caught four passes and Onterrio Smith Jr. had two for 40 yards. Punter Hamish Adams helped flip the field with six punts averaging 45.3 yards.

Kent State's numbers tell a strange story

Here is the twist: Kent State outgained Sacramento State 302 to 278. The Flashes threw for 209 yards, and Harris finished with three catches for 122 yards. But 92 of those came on one play, and the turnovers made the yardage irrelevant.

DeShields went 16 of 33 for 190 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and DeShields also led the team on the ground with 43 yards on 10 carries. Backup quarterback Nolan Good completed one of five passes and threw the other pick. Kent State converted just 4 of 13 third downs and ran for only 93 yards. Five giveaways will bury almost any yardage advantage.

The Kent State defense was not the problem for most of the night. It held the Hornets to field goals on three long drives, and Trey Rubinstein and Antonio Bottiggi each recorded a sack, per the official box score. Sacramento State also did itself few favors with 10 penalties for 89 yards, nearly double the Flashes' 46. On a cleaner night, that combination might have been enough. Instead, every Hornets mistake got erased by another Kent State giveaway. The full numbers are in the official box score (opens in a new tab).

What it means

For Sacramento State, this is a milestone that will be remembered no matter how the rest of the season goes. The program fought for years to get to the FBS, and in its first season as a football-only MAC member, it had dropped its first five conference games, including a 34-17 loss at Ball State a week earlier. That changed Friday. The only other win of the season had come against FCS opponent Mississippi Valley State, a 52-0 rout in early September that gave Carter a first victory as a head coach, according to the Associated Press. Beating a MAC program that had won the week before is a different kind of statement, and it came with the defense, not the offense, carrying the load.

"I'm so happy for the players. They've put the work in all season and now they can walk on campus with their heads up," Carter said in the Sacramento State recap (opens in a new tab).

The Hornets do not have long to enjoy it. Next up is a Wednesday night MACtion game against Toledo at Hornet Stadium on Nov. 4, which will double as Senior Night for 26 players.

For Kent State and second-year coach Mark Carney, the cross-country trip was a costly one. After keeping the Wagon Wheel against Akron, the Flashes gave away a game they led at halftime. Next on the schedule is a trip to Bowling Green on Nov. 10.

The last word

Firsts in college football are usually loud. This one was methodical: field goals, long drives, a defense that simply would not stop punching the ball out. Sacramento State did not beat Kent State with fireworks. It beat the Flashes with patience and five takeaways, and for a program still learning the neighborhood, that is exactly how a first win should feel.

Sources: Sacramento State Athletics recap and box score and the Fox Sports box score. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Sacramento State Athletics.