The Sacramento State had everything. They had the stadium sketches. They had the media market. And they even had $35 million in NIL heat locked and loaded. The Hornets weren’t just daydreaming about moving to the FBS—they were pulling up with receipts. And then? NCAA hit the brakes hard. No waiver. No green light. Just a cold, corporate “nah” to the Hornets’ football dream. And while most schools would go ghost or play victim, first-year head coach Brennan Marion? He stepped up and said what needed to be said—plain, bold, and hopeful.

“We’re obviously aware of the decision today,” Marion told CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz after the NCAA Division I Council denied their waiver. “But we remain fully confident that we’ll have the opportunity to go FBS here in the near future. 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.”

Sacramento State’s situation is a wild one. They’re planning to bounce from the Big Sky in 2026 and ship all sports except football to the Big West. That leaves the football squad in limbo. The Hornets wanted to leap into the FBS as an independent, similar to what Liberty did in 2017. But the NCAA wasn’t vibing with the idea this time around.

“Although a waiver of the bona fide invitation requirement was granted in 2017, that decision was made in a different era,” the Oversight Committee wrote. Translation? That was then; this is now. The rules have changed, the vibes have shifted, and the NCAA wants schools to have an FBS conference locked down before switching lanes.

But Sac State’s hustle wasn’t just empty noise. The Hornets had plans—big ones. They rolled out designs for a slick new 25,000-seat stadium. They talked up Sacramento’s media market, which ranks No. 20 nationwide and has zero NFL or FBS programs in town. And they secured a $35 million NIL backing, thanks to local boosters and a passionate fan base. And then there’s the Sac12 group—a booster squad trying to manifest a Pac-12 revival with Sac State as a key piece.

Now, despite that full-court press, the denial puts Sac State in an awkward, lonely position. They told the Big Sky they’re gone by June 2026. They announced the Big West move for everything else. And yet, their football team is now a homeless warrior, left with FCS independent status unless something drastic changes. That’s not just a recruiting nightmare; it’s a scheduling headache, a brand hit, and a tough pitch to any future QB1 trying to go pro from the 916.

From rejection to reloading: what’s next for Sac State football?

Coach Marion, though, isn’t sweating bullets. Not publicly, at least. He’s got that cool confidence only a guy with inside info could have. When he says, “There are things in the works that I can’t go into detail on,” it feels like there’s a big chess move brewing. Maybe it’s a last-minute dance with the Mountain West. Maybe it’s talks with a rebuilding Pac-12. Either way, Brennan Marion doesn’t sound like a man who just took an L. More like someone waiting to go for two.

The NCAA’s decision, however, does expose a bigger issue in college football’s ever-shifting landscape. Liberty got the green light in 2017, but times have changed. The NCAA is now flexing tighter control over who gets in and how. The “bona fide invitation” rule means dreams alone don’t cut it anymore—you need a formal invite to the party. That gatekeeping, some say, is a way to preserve the old power structures, while others believe it keeps chaos at bay. Either way, schools like Sacramento State are stuck playing politics instead of football.

This whole thing also shows how bold, aggressive ambition can backfire. Word on the street is the NCAA wasn’t very thrilled with how Sac State publicly flexed its FBS dreams. Some insiders believe the Hornets rubbed folks the wrong way with how loud they were about their plans. And when you’re asking for an exception, that swagger better be backed with major pull—not just renderings and NIL hype.

Still, the Hornets aren’t retreating. With their Big Sky exit locked in and Big West move in motion, there’s no going back. It’s FBS or bust. And Brennan Marion is the face of that fight—young, fiery, and unapologetically hungry. The question now isn’t if Sacramento State wants to be FBS. That’s obvious. The real question is whether college football has space for the outsiders, the upstarts, and the programs with chips on their shoulders and something to prove.