Weber State University Athletics
Wildcats Battle Undefeated Utah in In-State Clash on Saturday
9/23/2008 6:00:00 AM | Football
G A M E #5
Weber State University vs. University of Utah
Saturday, September 27, 2008 * 6:00 (MDT) Rice - Eccles Stadium * Salt Lake City, Utah
UNIVERSITY OF UTAH "UTES"
HEAD COACH
Utah head coach KYLE WHITTINGHAM is in his fourth season. Coming into Saturday's game his overall record is 28-14. ... Whittingham came to Utah as an assistant back in 1994 under Coach Ron McBride where he coached the defensive line. In 1995 he was elevated to Defensive Coordinator. He served under McBride through 2002. He was retained by Urban Meyer in 2003 and 2004 helping the Utes to a 12-0 mark and a number four ranking. ... Whittingham as coaching roots in the Big Sky Conference. From 1988 through 1993 he served on the staff at Idaho State under Garth Hall and Brian McNeely.
SERIES HISTORY
Utah leads the brief series 2-0-0. Both games were played in Salt Lake City. Below is a recap of those games.
FIRST MEETING: Oct. 14, 1978
Utah running back TONY LINDSAY rushed 23 times for 116 yards and one touchdown, leading the Utes to a 30-7 win over the Wildcats before a crowd of 23.458 on an autumn afternoon in Salt Lake City. ... Utah quarterback RANDY GOMEZ completed 11-22-1 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns. ... The Utes rolled up 492 yards of total offense while holding the Wildcats to just 12 yards rushing and 188 total yards. ... The Wildcats scored in the first quarter on a 14-yard pass from MORRIS BLEDSOE to SCOTT THOMAS. ... BLEDSOE was 18-28-0 passing for 159 yards. ... WSU punter CURT MILLER had a busy afternoon punting 10 times for an average of 33.7 per kick. ... MIKE HUMISTON, a member of the WSU Athletic Hall of Fame, had 12 tackles for the Wildcats. ... Utah was coached by Wayne Howard. His offensive line coach in that game was RON McBRIDE. ... Pete Riehlman was in his second year as head coach for Weber State.
LAST MEETING: September 1, 1984
After a scoreless first quarter, the Wildcats hit pay dirt first when KEVIN VILLARS scored on a 10-yard run just 17 seconds into the second quarter to take a 7-0 lead. But the Utes then ran off 28 straight points and were never challenged rolling to a 51-16 win before 27,828 in Rice Stadium. It was the season opener for both schools... Utah used a punishing ground attack grinding out 404 rushing yards led by the backfield duo of ERIC LEWIS (14-115 yards) and GERALD JOHNSON (7-109 yards). JOHNSON scored on a 65-yard run to start Utah's scoring blitz less than two minutes after the ?Cats took the 7-0 lead. .... Utah quarterback MARK STEVENS was 8-12-0 passing for 126 yards. Five of those eight completions went to DANNY HUEY (5-90 yds). ... The Wildcats rushed for 111 and passed for 170. ... WSU quarterback KEVIN VILLARS was 13-25-1 for 115 yards and GILBERT VASQUEZ had 65 yards rushing on nine carries. ... Weber State's head coach was MIKE PRICE. Utah was led by CHUCK STOBART.
SCOUTING THE UTES
The Utes come into this week's game with a perfect 4-0 mark overall and a 2-0 record in Mountain West Conference play. They are ranked 17th ... The Utes present a balanced offense averaging 176.5 on the ground and 244.0 through the air. ... Pulling the trigger is quarterback BRIAN JOHNSON. He is 74-111-4 for 935 yards and six touchdowns through the air this season with a passing efficiency rating of 148.05. His favorite target has been BRADON GODFREY who has 20 receptions for 219 yards and one touchdown. ... The Utes have a solid running back led by MATT ASIATA and DARRELL MACK. Asiata averages 70.8 yards per game and Mack, 65.2. ... The defense is rock solid. The Utes rank THIRD in the BCS in total defense giving up just 199.50 yards per game They are 10th in rushing defense (61.25) and sixth in pass defense (138.25). ... The Utes average 9.75 TACKLES FOR LOSS per game. They rank second in the nation in that category. Defensive lineman PAUL KRUGER is the BCS individual leader in that category averaging 2.88 tackle for loss per game and ranks 8th in QB Sacks per game at 1.12. ... Utah's defense held Air Force to just 53 RUSHING YARDS and 191 total yards in last Saturday's 30-23 win. AFA came into the game averaging over 300 yards rushing per contest. ... Utah also has a formidable weapon in kicker/punter LOUIS SAKODA. He's averaging 47.1 yards per kick and would be among the nation's leader but has only punted 12 times in four games (3.6 kicks per game minimum).
WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY "WILDCATS"
HEAD COACH RON McBRIDE
Weber State head coach, RON McBRIDE, enters his FOURTH SEASON as head coach the Wildcats. In 2005 he guided the Wildcats to a 6-5 (.545) record overall and a 4-3 (.571) mark in Big Sky Conference play. Last year the Wildcats were 5-6 overall and 4-4 in Big Sky play.
MAC is now 18-19 at WSU (.486) and 106-82 (.564) overall in his 17th seasons as a head coach. McBRIDE picked up his 100th career coaching victory in the 23-0 shutout of Northern Colorado last October.
McBride was 88-63 in 13 seasons as the head coach at the University of Utah from 1990-2002. ... McBride is now (12-12) overall in Big Sky Conference games and is 2-1 vs. Sacramento State overall, 0-1 @Sac State.
NEW WEB SITE!
All Weber State University athletic department news can now be found on the new web site which is:
www.weberstatesports.com
RADIO / TV
All Weber State football games will be carried LIVE on radio station KLO (1430 AM). ... Back for his 10th season of Wildcat football play-by-play is WILDCAT CARL ARKY. ... He will be joined in the broadcast booth by former WSU football standouts JUSTIN DeFOUR and TY SPARROW for the six HOME GAMES. ... WSU Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations, BRAD LARSEN, will handle the color analyst duties on the road. ... SATURDAY'S PRE-GAME SHOW begins at 5:30 p.m. (MDT).
WILDCAT TRAVEL PLANS
The team will bus to the game from Ogden on Saturday afternoon and return after the game. ... The Wildcats ARE NOT scheduled to practice in Rice-Eccles Stadium either on Friday or Saturday.
47TH SEASON OF FOOTBALL
Weber State is in its 47th year of playing football on the four-year level, and the 46th season as a member of the Big Sky Conference. ... In 1962, Weber State attained four-year status and played as an NCAA Division II member until 1978 when they moved up to the newly created NCAA Division I-AA level (now I-FCS). ... Weber State's ALL-TIME RECORD in football is 236-256-3 (.477).
TEAM CAPTAINS
The team elected five captains for the 2008 season. ... The DEFENSIVE CAPTAINS will be J.D. FOLSOM (6-3, 230 Sr. SLB), RYAN GALOVIC (6-0, 220 Sr. ROV) and KEVIN LINEHAN (6-3, 255 Jr. DE). ... The OFFENSIVE CAPTAINS are PAUL CARPENTER (6-6, 305 Sr. OT), CAMERON HIGGINS (6-2, 195 Soph. QB) and MARCUS MAILEI (6-1, 245 Sr. FB) ... BRYAN ETEUATI (5-7, 160 Sr.) will be the SPECIAL TEAMS captain.
WEEKLY POLLS
There will be TWO major weekly top 25 polls for NCAA Division I FCS this season. ... THE SPORTS NETWORK poll is voted upon by sports information directors from all 125 FCS schools plus selected media members. ... The FCS COACHES POLL is just that. Coaches from various FCS schools voted each week. Both polls will be released on Monday afternoon during the season.
N C A A DIVISION 1 FCS
The old "I-AA" is so yesterday! ... It's now NCAA Division I FCS (Football Championship Subdivision). FCS schools have a 16-team playoff format to determine a true national champion. NCAA Division I BCS (Bowl Championship Subdivision) determines it's champion through play in post-season bowl games. ... There are 125 schools in NCAA Division I FCS this season. The 16-team playoff has eight automatic qualifiers (league champions) from the following conferences: Big Sky, Colonial, Mid-Eastern Athletic, Missouri Valley Football, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern and Southland. The other eight teams receive at-large berths. ... The first round begins on Saturday, November 29, with the quarterfinals on Saturday, December 6, semifinals Saturday, Dec. 13 and the championship game on Friday, Dec. 19 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. ... In the 29-year history of NCAA Division I FCS football, a team from the BIG SKY CONFERENCE has reached the championship game nine times, and have captured five titles. Montana is the last Big Sky team to win the national championship. The Grizzlies defeated Furman, 13-7, in 2001. ... Weber State has made two playoff appearances. In 1987 the Wildcats went on the road and defeated Big Sky league foe Idaho, 59-30, then went on the road and dropped a 51-23 decision at Marshall. ... In 1991, Northern Iowa defeated the Wildcats 38-21 in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
CAMERON HIGGINS (Offense) J.D. FOLSOM (Defense) NAMED BIG SKY CONFERENCE P.O.W.S
Weber State quarterback CAMERON HIGGINS (6-2, 195 Soph. / Hawai'i Kai, Oahu, Hawai'i) has been named the Big Sky Conference OFFENSIVE Player of the Week and teammate J.D. FOLSOM (6-3, 235 Sr. SLB / Salmon, Idaho) has been named the DEFENSIVE Player of the Week. . . . Higgins completed 21-33-0 passes for 380 yards and four touchdowns in WSU's 32-27 road win at Sacramento State to open Big Sky Conference play. He also rushed two times for eight yards and scored on a one-yard touchdown run. Higgins was named the league's Co-Offensive Player last week and marks the third time in his brief career he has been named player of the week in the Big Sky. . . . Folsom had 14 tackles in the game, five unassisted and a forced fumble. It is the first time in his career he has been named player of the week in the Big Sky. Folsom transferred to WSU last season after a stellar two-year career at Snow Junior College in Ephraim, Utah.
WEBER STATE vs. BCS SCHOOLS
In 47 seasons of playing on the four-year level, Weber State is a combined 3-39-0 (.071) against teams in the old NCAA Division I level, now Division I BCS. ... The Wildcats are 0-1 this season vs. BCS teams having dropped a 36-17 game on Sept. 6 @Hawai'i. ... The three wins have come against UTAH STATE (44-25, 1978 in Logan) and back-to-back wins over NEVADA in 1992 (23-20) and 1993 (47-30. ... Those were the first two years Nevada moved up to Division I and joined the Big West Conference.
WEBER STATE vs. THE MOUNTAIN WEST
Weber State is a collective 2-17-0 overall against schools from the current Mountain West Conference.
0-1 vs. Air Force
0-2 vs. BYU
0-2 vs. Colorado State
2-5 vs. UNLV (wins came when UNLV was DII)
0-1 vs. New Mexico
0-2 vs. San Diego State (SDSU was DII both gms)
0-2 vs. Utah
0-2 vs. Wyoming
TURF TOE
Saturday's game is one of FIVE the Wildcats play on artificial surfaces this season. ... Weber State is 24-66-0 (.267) overall when playing on the phoney grass. ... The Wildcats do have a new field turf practice field to compliment the grass side.
ALL - PURPOSE CLEANER
Weber State receiver/kick return specialist BRYANT ETEUATI (5-7, 160 Sr. / Layton, Utah) became WSU's career All-Purpose Yards leader. With is 134 all-purpose yards vs. Dixie State, Eteuati moved past Nick Chournos (4,161) with 4,233 career yards. ... He also became the Big Sky Conference career leader in Punt Returns (103) and became the first player in Big Sky history to post 1,000 career Punt Return Yards (1,045). ... He also became the first player in Big Sky Conference history to have over 1,000 career receiving yards, kickoff return yards and punt returns yards.
Here are his up do date stats in each category
Rushing 11- 25 yds 2.27 ypc 0 TDs
Receiving 81 - 1,106 yds 13.65 ypc 8 TDs
Koff Returns 80 - 2,211 yds 27.63 ypr 2 TDs
Punt Returns 104 -1,077 yds 10.35 ypr 2 TDs
Total 276 - 4,419 yds 129.97 ypg 12 TDs
HIGGINS IS TOPS IN NCAA DIVISION I FCS
Weber State quarterback CAMERON HIGGINS is the NCAA Division I FCS Passing Efficiency leader through four games in 2008. He has completed 80-123-3 passes for 1,232 yards and 12 touchdowns for a rating of 176.49 ... In his now 15-game career, Higgins is 211-356 (.593) passing for 3,191 yards and 29 touchdowns, and had 58 rushing attempts for 148 yards and five touchdowns. ... He needs just 246 more passing yards to moving into WSU's career top ten list in passing yards. His 29 passing touchdowns is currently the fifth most in Wildcat football history.
HERE COMES TREVYN!
Weber State running back TREVYN SMITH (5-9, 210 Jr.) has been the Big Sky rushing leader each of the past two seasons and has gained over 1,000 yards each campaign. ... Thus far in FOUR games Smith has 83 carries for 353 yards and SIX touchdowns (13 catches for 165 yards and TWO touchdowns). ... He's averaging 88.2 yards per game and currently ranks 3RD in the Big Sky, up three positions from last week. ... He had his first 100+ yard rushing game of the 2008 season vs. Dixie State (116 yards) two week ago and followed it up with a 123 yard performance last Saturday at Sac State. It was his 12th 100+-yard rushing game in his 26-game career. ... But not to worry early. In his freshman season (2006), Smith did not have a carry in the season opener @Colorado State and just 81 yards in the next game at home vs. Cal Poly but ended the season with 1,129 yards. He rushed for 498 yards in the last three games of the season or just over 44 percent of his season total (203 vs. EWU, and 211 @ISU). ... Last season he averaged just 74.50 yards per game in WSU's first four outings, then turned up the heat and averaged 145.14 yards in the last seven games which included six straight 100+ yard performances with a career high of 225 vs. @Portland State. ... Smith has been a SCORING MACHINE in the first four games with SIX TD RUNS and TWO TD RECEPTIONS for 48 points (12.00 ppg.) He is the current Big Sky leader and ranks SECOND in NCAA Division FCS . ... Smith did not score last week @Sac State for his first non-scoring game of the season.
KICK SMOTHERING
One of the thorns in the sides of Weber State's football team the last three years has been covering punts. Opponents had 87 punt returns for an average of 13.58 yards per return and four touchdowns in 2005, 2006 and 2007 but that's all changed in 2008. The ?Cats have allowed just FIVE PUNT RETURNS for a total of TWO YARDS, with a long of four yards. ... Weber State had been among the leaders in the Big Sky the last three years in Kickoff Return Yards, holding opponents to an average of 19.07 yards per return.
BIG SKY CONFERENCE LEADERS
The Wildcats are the current Big Sky Conference leaders in Passing Efficiency Rating (174.76), Scoring Offense (38.75), Net Punting (40.57) and Sacks Allowed Per Game (0.75) and Opponents' 3rd Down Conversions (14-54 .259).
.... Individually, Cameron Higgins is the Passing Efficiency leader (176.49), Bryant Eteuati is the Punt Return leader (14.73 ypg), and Trevyn Smith is the Scoring leader at 12.00 ppg.
FROM RED TO PURPLE
Saturday's game also marks the return of a couple of Wildcats to their initial collegiate stomping grounds. PATE MOLENI (6-3, 260 Sr. DE / West Valley City, Utah / Hunter HS) and BRYCE SCANLON (6-3, 295 Sr. DT / Evanston, Wyoming/ Evanston HS) each began their careers at the University of Utah. ... Moleni red-shirted at Utah in 2004 and in 2005 played on special teams. He transferred to Weber State just one week for the 2006 season opener at Colorado State. He earned Honorable Mention All-Big Sky honors that 2006 season. ... Scanlon also sat out the 2004 season at Utah. In 2005 he appeared in one game as a defensive tackle before being moved to offensive line during 2006 spring drills. ... He transferred to WSU at the beginning of the 2006 Fall camp.
. . . The WSU coaching staff also has a couple of UTAH ALUMS. ... DON ECK is in his first year coaching the Wildcat offensive line. Eck played four seasons at Utah, three under Coach Wayne Howard and one under Coach Chuck Stobart. He was a three-year starter at center and earned 2nd Team All-WAC honors his senior year. ... CHAD KAUHA'AHA'A is in his 4th season coaching the WSU defensive line. He played three seasons at Utah for Coach Ron McBride and defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham. He was named 2nd Team All-WAC in 1995.
INJURY REPORT
The Wildcats will start JARED WILCOX (6-5, 280 Jr. / Clearfield, Utah) at left guard in place of LAWAIA NAIHE (6-2, 305 Sr.). Naihe sustained a knee injury in last Saturday's game and will miss this week's game and is questionable for the Oct. 4 game at home vs. Montana.
THE " R E D Z O N E "
Weber State is tops in the Big Sky Conference in RED ZONE scoring, and third in RED ZONE defense. ... The Wildcats are 19-20 (.950) in their scoring chances inside the opponents' 20-yard line and have allowed opponents' 9-11 (.818).
QUICK HITTERS . . .
The referee in the last Weber State/Utah game back in 1984 was DOUG TOOLE who currently serves as the Big Sky Conference football officials coordinator. . . . The Wildcats have put up 400+ offensive yards in each of their three wins and have passed for over 300 yards in each of those games as well. . . . The Wildcats are 15-28 (.538) on Third Down Conversions in the FIRST HALF, but just 10-24 (.417) in the SECOND HALF. . . . Weber State has scored 100 of its 155 points this season in the FIRST HALF and are out scoring opponents 56-9 in the Second Quarter this season. . . . The Wildcats are averaging just 5:57 of possession time this season in the FOURTH QUARTER.
NEXT WEEK
The Wildcats return home for a crucial Big Sky Conference match up against the UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA GRIZZLIES. ... Kickoff is set for 1:05 p.m. (MDT) in Stewart Stadium. ... The game is being televised by KPAX-TV in Missoula, Montana.
R O N M c B R I D E Q U O T E S
ON UTAH: "They will without a doubt the quickest team on both sides of the ball we will see all year, especially their defense. Coach Anderson (Gary) has done a wonderful job of getting his group to all run to the ball, and they get there really fast. They are solid in every phase of the game and that's why they are having a great deal of success. Kyle has done an outstanding job of putting the right pieces in place to have continued success."
ON RETURNING TO RICE-ECCLES STADIUM: "Obviously I have a lot of great memories of being on the sidelines there and was involved in many memorable games. We had a lot of good boosters and fans help us out during our stay to improve facilities and to get good players through recruiting. It will definitely feel different being on the other sideline this Saturday."
ON THE WILDCATS "We made plays good teams make when they are having success or make them become successful last Saturday. It was especially nice to be able to play well on the road. Cameron continues to make smart decisions and improves with each game and practice. The offensive line will have its biggest test of the year this week. Utah is extremely quick, so we need to be focused and ready to get physical."
