Must Watch FCS Game on Friday Night

Originally posted on Mike Farrell Sports
By Mark Pszonak | Last updated Oct 21, 2025 9:07 AM ET

There is plenty of quality football being played at the FCS level, but there aren’t many times that I’d say a game is must watch television. But that is the situation on Friday night when No. 4 Montana (7-0) travels to Sacramento State (4-3).

Sacramento State received a fair amount of offseason buzz, especially for an FCS program that went 3-9 in 2024. However, due to a combination of their aggressiveness to try and make the jump to FBS football and the successful recruiting by new head coach Brennan Marion, they became an interesting story.

This season has been a mixed bag of results through seven games, but the Hornets have won four of their last five to maintain relevancy. However, it has been the recent off-the-field events that have brought them even more attention.

It all started months ago when Sacramento State president Dr. Luke Wood compared FCS football to junior varsity. This was during the school’s before-mentioned aggressive attempt to gain an invite into the FBS ranks, which failed. Not surprisingly, his comments rubbed plenty of FCS people the wrong way.

Fast forward to a few days ago, when Wood was interviewed regarding Montana’s upcoming visit to Sacramento State:

This is an interesting tactic by Wood to give Montana endless bulletin board material. If you’re not familiar with FCS football, Montana are the Grizzlies, not the Pandas. Aside from not even being a good dig, it was completely unnecessary, as was his comment about Montana “not playing nobody this season.”

Sacramento State should thrive to be as successful of a program as Montana. The Grizzlies have won 21 of 25 games between the two and are annually one of the nation’s elite in FCS football.

Thankfully, Montana head coach Bobby Hauck was asked about Wood’s comments yesterday during his weekly press conference:

Hauck did not mince words, but by his reaction it is very clear that everyone associated with the Montana program was very aware of what was said by Wood. And you might be wondering about the “riot” that Hauck mentioned. At the conclusion of Sacramento State’s victory over Northern Colorado on Saturday night, this happened in the stands:

Not necessarily the image you want to portray when trying to showcase your strengths to the FBS higher ups.

So if you’re around a television on Friday night, find ESPN2 at 10:30 PM ET because the chances of fireworks happening before, during or after the game are increasing by the minute.

This article first appeared on Mike Farrell Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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