The distance across the Causeway makes it a natural rivalry, especially as the two programs have competed mostly at the same "level" of college football. I don't disagree with any of your points, it is simply what it is.

Cal has Stanford and Stanford has Cal. I doubt the Ags crack that one anytime soon.

In the old days, Fresno's rival was Cal Poly. Many, many moons ago. Fresno-Davis makes more sense moving forward once we hit the MWC.

Sac vs. Toledo, Bowling Green, all of the Directional Michigans, Buffalo, UMass, Ohio U. et al will be riveting Tuesday/Wednesday night MACtion viewing for all... :vomit: I nominate Sac State vs. UMass for the rivalry game for no good reason. Player parents and degenerate gamblers are the only people who will care about those match ups.

I think the SJSU rivalry and Reno Rivalry would be fruitful and realistic rivalries for us too! Naturally will form with our move to the MW starting next season. Already started stoking the fire with Nevada when we played them earlier this year :naughty:

Shows how much I think about those programs, forgot about them! Nevada has UNLV for the Cannon, but man they got upset about the Tahoe deal so let's get it on!!!

San Jose State-Fresno has been sort of a thing in past years. I remember as a kid back in the old 1980's PCAA days those Mike Perez-led Spartan teams vs. Kevin Sweeney's Bulldogs were must see TV.

The tahoe thing cracked me up haha, the fact it got to the head football coach made me laugh. I think the Reno rivalry is def worth growing.

SJSU would be a good rivalry because as @SochorField has said, lots of Aggie alum are in the Bay.

1987 Pacific Coast Athletic Association:
San Jose State
Fresno State
Cal State Fullerton (RIP)
Long Beach State (RIP)
Pacific (RIP)
Utah State
New Mexico State
San Diego State

@SailorGabe, maybe this is your ticket to the "California-esque Conference":
SJSU
Fresno St. (not happenin' unless new/old Pac12 resurrects)
UC Davis
Sac State
Cal Poly (not happenin')
Utah State
NMSU
San Diego State (not happenin' unless new/old Pac12 resurrects)

Other suspects:
Nevada
Idaho
New Mexico

I guess this is counterproductive to the thread, "The Rivalry with Sac State Needs to End"

Reno - Davis will be a natural. We already have a history with them. The game in the Toomb was one of the most exciting games I’ve ever attended.

The Aggie-Pack Battle

UC Davis and Nevada have not played each other since 2013, but have a historical rivalry dating back to the first match up in 1915 when the University Farm School Aggies beat the Nevada Sagebrushers 14–0 in Carson City, Nevada. They have played each other 54 times since.[70] The "Aggie-Pack" battle would regularly have old-fashioned rooters buses travel 146 miles (2.5 hours) down I-80 for this rivalry that was regularly "a battle for West Coast small-college supremacy ... in fact, the mid-November 1977 Nevada-UCD matchup drew 12,800 fans to Toomey Field, which still stands as a home attendance record ... and yes, the crowd-pleasing Aggies prevailed, 37-21 ..."[71] Nevada leads the series 30-21-3 as of 2024.

there’s a fun history with Reno, but in their eyes would probably always be a secondary rivalry to UNLV. It’s unfortunate really that Sac couldn’t have approached things in a different way because they are geographically ideal, but healthy rivalries require some level of mutual respect and I don’t think that’s there right now. Plus I don’t think it would take much for their program to become unstable while this overextended. Glad the trophy is properly secured until further notice. For the present, I’d say Poly remains the rival at least for football. I don’t think the horseshoe really extended to basketball.

UNR came into the 1977 game undefeated and ranked #1 and having just beaten Sac 75-0. It looked like David vs Goliath when you looked at the size of the Nevada linemen but we absolutely shocked the Wolfpack in perhaps the best football atmosphere there ever was at The Toom. Simply electric!

NDSU at the Toom was special, 1982 semis? Great defensive stands up against the North End zone, O'Brien hurt, Slater & Fricker causing havoc.

I don't agree with that and the bean counters would not agree. When the games against Sac State were televised when no other game was, when Causeway fans sell out games, and when you see a lot of media stories the week of the Causeway Classic, that says it is more than a game.

Cal Poly only cares about Davis in football. For Olympics it is Santa Barbara especially in basketball and intense in soccer,

Sac State is the rival, and it’s obvious by everyone’s reaction to them moving to FBS. No other team would have got this emotional reaction.

I don’t see why anyone is mad at Sac State for moving up. Rule #1 of the game is put yourself first.

kind of funny how it can be inconsistent between sports for a lot of historical reasons. Not that anyone cares but the Band-uh had something of a rivalry with Humboldt for years after our last athletic meeting.

You guys think I'm crazy but I'm telling you a California Conference is the optimal solution for college football in the state. The conference would consist of only California schools - this important as the conference would be tied to our economy and state law, this could be very beneficial for tv, digital, and other.

I'd love to see some new programs built: How about a UC Merced? or UC San Diego? Or Long Beach St?

I just think we forget sometimes how truly big we are as a state. 40 million people live here and we have what 9 football schools? That is just crazy to me.

I say "Keep it Californian! Keep our kids home!"

I've always said UC Davis and SACST should support each other during this transition. Think of the region not just the school. Its a natural rival that fits perfect against Cal vs Stanford, UCLA vs USC...

I really wouldn't say too many people are mad at Sac State for moving up, both here on this forum and on social media as a whole. I would say the emotion for most people from what I've seen, myself included, is an extreme level of confusion. I can't fathom how anyone looks at the details of the deal to the MAC and Wood's comments and say "this makes perfect sense for the Hornets". There's no anger there though. I think this play from a financial perspective makes the odds that Sac State football folds in the next several years higher than them getting an invite from the Pac 12 which I believe is their ultimate goal from this MAC deal.

For what it's worth, I think the rivalry with Sac State has been an integral part of the football season for as long as it's been in existence. Always looked forward to showing the Hornets who is little brother.

I don’t think any long time rivalries like James Madison - William and Mary have survived one school moving up. I’m guessing NDSU-SDSU is no longer and that’s bigger than the causeway.

If Oklahoma-Nebraska can die, surely the world will remain on axis if the causeway dies (or goes on hiatus).

If Cal Poly pulled this crazy BS, we'd be just as interested.

Not crazy, I was actually serious about it being the hypothetical framework for a California conference minus the Big 4 (USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford). I don't think those programs will be turning back in our lifetimes.

I sense that people in the Sacramento region think Sac State rivalry is important, and those from out of the region don’t put much value on it.
Much has been said about Sacramento being the largest metro area without a FBS football team, but it would be one of the smallest with two if that eventuates. The two schools are competitors for the biggest slice of a relatively finite pie. That explains the interest in Sacs trajectory.

The Nevada Reno Football page on Wikipedia lists Davis as one of their rivals. It would be great to get that going again, on a regular basis.

Thanks for the history lesson on the Aggie-Pack rivalry, I love that stuff! 12k+ in the Toom must have been magical.

I appreciate rivalries so I vote 'no' on the Sac rivalry going away. When it comes back, the landscape of college football will be different and the playing field should be comparable unless they find a way to continue to print money to fund their program.

The Sac market component is overstated in my opinion. A team's success, the opponent, and the promotion of the game will continue to drive attendance, and there are alums from both schools in the market. So will geographic proximity for an opponent, and that is what is going to suck for Sac playing in the MAC. MAC attendance is mostly awful, and MAC @ Sac games will draw poorly unless they're able to promote the heck out of it and maybe schedule Lil' Yachty 2 some Saturday night against Kent State. They jumped to the MAC to save face and as a place holder. Probably won't be there in 2028.

Moving to the Mountain West might bump UC Davis attendance some (with stadium expansion, "better competition", new/renewed regional opponents, etc.), but the average MWC attendance minus the new Pac 12 programs was 19,969. The Ags averaged 12,991 (questionable accounting) in 2025, while Sparta and Hawaii averaged just south of 14k per game. Sac lists an average of 15k and some change. I think the weekly 13-15,000 average attendance is about where we'll land once we move to FBS and make the stadium upgrades.

There is still room for Causeway, even with the Hornets in FBS. UCD should be going there next anyway since we hosted in '25, and Sac should pay the same guarantee they pay the other FCS opponents they're hosting when it happens. The next game in Davis will take some negotiating as FBS teams typically don't travel to an FCS host, but there can always be an exception, especially when playing for a chunk of concrete with Tim Plough's lips smeared on it after grinding out another dub. I would much rather see the Ags playing Sac than Stetson or USD.

oh I think Stanford, Cal, USC, and UCLA will all be back in a regional area within 10 years. In the case of Cal and Stanford, I think they will be looking for a new home by 2030.

There is a reason SacSt was so desperate to join FBS. They are taking the gamble that once the new TV deals are negotiated there will be new tiers of football. They think being an FBS gets them into an upper league. It’s a gamble but I think they are wrong.

Once this super league gets established only a select few will be invited (maybe 45?). Then the jockeying for the next league will take place and this is where everything gets turned upside down.

Tier 1: super league.
Tier 2: FBS
Tier 3: FCS
Tier 4: D2/D3

Let’s look at some schools inside FBS programs.

Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Stanford, Cal, Rutgers, Rice, Minnesota, UConn…do you see any of these teams winning the national championship in your lifetime? What do they add for football? Not much really. That is why you are going to see conferences start cutting fat.

They are going to create a super league of around 45 teams and break them into divisions similar to the NFL. Those schools who are not good enough to be tier 1 will be pushed to tier 2 or 3.

When this happens all the history of college football will change. A lot of schools are going to be left scrambling to find a conference (Stanford and Cal) and this is when Davis makes their move.

I mean think about it, let’s say we moved to MWC next year. Once the Tiers get established the MWC might just be another FCS league in time. If you are not in the top tier you are essentially an FCS team again. But this isn’t a bad thing.

I think there is a huge market for championship playoff football regardless of tier. Could you imagine being Stanford and actually getting a legit shot to win the championship? Same with Cal, Rice, Northwestern, etc. schools that have never come close to winning a championship now actually have a shot. I think this will rejuvenate college football as new conferences are made and new rivalries are formed.

Be patient. This is not the time to make any big moves. Our opportunity is coming.

All fine points, but Cal and Stanford have both had top 5 teams in this century that could have won national championships if a few different things broke their way. No guarantee they will get back there anytime soon, but it did happen.

Good points. Not sure I see a world where Northwestern or the Gophers are kicked out of the Big10, for example, but you raise some very interesting questions. What Tim said is true about Stanford and Cal being highly competitive recently, and Rutgers has had some admirable seasons as well. Rice would finish middle of the pack in the Big Sky and I forgot UConn had a football team (kidding). It will be very interesting to see what college football does with those programs that traditionally struggle but are affiliated with power conferences for the dough

we'd be interested but more like "oh thats good for them."