Sacramento State’s attempt to make the jump from the FCS to the FBS as an independent fell short this week when the NCAA Division l Council stuck with the recommendation from the FBS Oversight Committee to shut down the bid, leaving the school’s football program in limbo.
Sac State’s Hail Mary attempt to reach the FBS didn’t just come up short — it didn’t even reach the end zone. In this case, the Division l Council was almost certainly going to stick with the recommendation from the committee. Now, Sac State is without a football conference after 2026 after exiting the Big Sky to join the Big West — a conference that doesn’t sponsor football.
The decision, first reported by Yahoo Sports, will become official following meetings Wednesday. It forces Sacramento State to recalibrate after months of bold moves and even bolder messaging. If Sac State can’t find a conference, it will likely have to operate as an FCS Independent for the foreseeable future.
NCAA reportedly denies Sacramento State’s FBS waiver, leaving football program in limbo
Cody Nagel
First-year coach Brennan Marion has leaned into that visibility since taking over.
Sac State president Luke Wood has been equally bullish on the move. Wood hasn’t been shy in expressing his desire to make the jump, which was highlighted by an “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit earlier this spring in which he referred to the FCS as a “JV” league. Wood lamented that playing in the FCS “significantly” reduces Sac State’s media value.
Other FCS administrators haven’t forgotten about Wood’s comments. In a since-deleted social media post, South Dakota athletic director Jon Schemmel reacted to the announcement from the FBS Oversight Committee, saying, “all of us JV programs are excited to compete with a varsity program.”
Does Sac State have a parachute?
Behind the scenes — privately and publicly — Sac State officials and people around the program believed this jump wasn’t a matter of if, but when. And the athletic department certainly operated under that premise.
The Hornets hired Brennan Marion, one of the coaching carousel’s hottest names, to guide the program’s potential transition. Marion hit the ground running on the recruiting trail, using the program’s potential increase in exposure as a key selling point.
The Hornets brought in a transfer portal class strong enough to catch national attention, highlighted by former Arizona State quarterback Jaden Rashada. They have the No. 55 recruiting class in the country for the 2025 cycle — by far the best in the FCS. Their 2027 haul looks even better, ranked No. 3.
It’s all part of a deliberate strategy: flood the zone with offers to the nation’s best players, control the narrative on social media, and act like a program on the rise. And it’s worked — national recruiting reporters now regularly highlight Sacramento State visits and offers, a rarity in the FCS world.
There’s a big fly in the ointment, of course. Most of this talent came to Sac State under the idea that they would play in the FBS sooner than later.
“There is an element (of) going FBS and playing in big games, that thing is very important to players,” Marion told CBS Sports in April on the pitch to recruits. “… Players are excited about what the future of Sac State looks like.”
Uncertainty likely extends to Marion himself, a hot coaching prospect who has quickly climbed the assistant ranks thanks to his innovative Go-Go offense. If Sac State gets stuck in transition limbo, there’s a scenario where another school poaches the budding star coach.
So what happens next?
The NCAA’s final decision has done little to quell Sac State’s vocal calls transition. Wood quickly released a statement claiming the school is still planning to play FBS football in 2026.
“Sacramento State has met every meaningful benchmark for FBS membership, and we believe our university, our students, and the entire Sacramento region deserve major college football,” Wood’s statement read. “We’re full steam ahead and we still plan to be playing FBS football in 2026.”
Marion was in lockstep with Wood’s sentiments.
“We’re obviously aware of the decision today but we remain fully confident that we’ll have the opportunity to go FBS here in the near future,” he told CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz. “There are things in the works that I can’t go into detail on right now but our full expectation is that we will be making the move to the FBS in the near future.”
But the NCAA’s ruling made it clear that the Hornets can’t move up without an FBS conference invite, and only two landing spots make geographic sense — the Mountain West and the Pac-12.
The Mountain West is looking to replace departing members Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State — all of which left for the Pac-12 last year. The league has added UTEP, Northern Illinois and Hawaii to the football ranks and UC Davis as a non-football member.
After the league found itself on the brink of extinction, the Pac-12 is in the midst of a rebuild thanks to its five defections from the Mountain West. Early indications are that Texas State is in line to join the league next, giving it the eight football-playing members required by the NCAA.
Sure, either league could buy into the strong future that Sac State has sold to its donors, recruits and coaching hires over the past couple of years, but that remains to be seen. For now, after all their active moves, the program finds itself waiting on the sidelines for a decision.
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