Weber State University Athletics
Wildcats play at No. 5 EWU Saturday on ROOT
10/27/2015 3:43:00 PM | Football
GAME 9
WEBER STATE (4-4, 3-2) AT
#5 EASTERN WASHINGTON (5-2, 4-0)
Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015 • 12:10 p.m. PT
Cheney, Wash. • Roos Field (8,600)
TV: ROOT Sports (Tom Glasgow, Jason Stiles)
Online video: none
Radio: KLO 1430 AM (Steve Klauke, Paul Grua)
Live audio: WeberStateSports.com
Live stats: WeberStateStats.com
Series: Eastern Washington leads 18-14
Streak: Eastern Washington 4 wins
In Cheney: Eastern Washington leads 9-5
Last game: 10/05/13 - CHENEY - EWU 41-19
THE GAME
Weber State heads to the Inferno for its final road game of the season as the Wildcats take on nationally ranked Eastern Washington for a Halloween game Saturday in Cheney, Wash. WSU is 4-4 overall and 3-2 in Big Sky play, while the Eagles are on top of the Big Sky standings at 4-0 in conference play and are ranked fifth in the country.
Saturday's game will kickoff at 12:10 p.m. Pacific time (1:10 p.m. MT) from the red turf of Roos Field in Cheney. The game will be televised nationally on ROOT Sports and DirecTV's Audience Network with Tom Glasgow, Jason Stiles and Brad Adam calling the action. It will not be streamed on WatchBigSky.com.
The game will also be broadcast on 1430 KLO with Steve Klauke and Paul Grua on the call. Live stats will be at WeberStateStats.com.
FIRST AND 10
• Weber State will play its final road game of the season Saturday.
• WSU junior wide receiver Cameron Livingston reached 1,500 career yards.
• Eastern Washington is ranked fifth in the nation in this week's STATS poll.
• The Eagles have won three straight Big Sky Conference titles.
• EWU leads the nation in passing offense and is third in the nation in total offense.
• The Eagles have won four straight and six of the last seven against the Wildcats.
WSU'S COMEBACK FALLS SHORT AT NORTHERN ARIZONA
Weber State's second half comeback came up short as Northern Arizona knocked off the Wildcats 52-36 Saturday afternoon at the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff.
NAU jumped out to a 21-0 lead after one quarter and led 35-3 with 1:00 left in the second half. The Lumberjacks went up 42-9 early in the third quarter when Weber State rattled off 27 straight points to cut the lead to six points with 10:19 to play. NAU added two scores in the final four minutes to seal the win.
Northern Arizona racked up 506 yards of total offense, the most the Wildcats have given up this year. NAU had 416 yards in the first half and just 90 yards in the second half. The Lumberjacks threw for 353 yards and rushed for 153.
Weber State did total a season-high 479 yards of total offense.
CAREER NIGHT FOR JADRIAN CLARK
For the second-straight week, WSU junior quarterback Jadrian Clark threw for a season-high in yards. Clark was 20-of-36 passing for a career-best 290 yards and one touchdown in Saturday's game. He also rushed for 59 yards and a touchdown, his first rushing TD of the year. In the last three games, Clark has thrown for 617 yards and five touchdowns with two interceptions.
Saturday, Clark, a native of Lakeland, Fla., became the 21st player in Weber State history to reach 2,000 career passing yards. He now ranks 19th in school history in passing yards with 2,246 yards with 15 touchdowns in his 18 career games played at Weber State. This season Clark is eighth in the Big Sky in passing yards per game at 167.4 and is ninth in total offense.
CAMERON LIVINGSTON REACHES 1,500 CAREER RECEIVING YARDS
WSU junior wide receiver Cameron Livingston had three catches for 44 yards on Saturday and in the process reached 1,500 career receiving yards. Livingston now has 1,516 career receiving yards which ranks as the 16th most in Weber State history. He is 21st in career receptions with 108.
The Ocala, Fla., native and offensive captain has 25 receptions this season for 316 yards and two touchdowns.
TWO TOUCHDOWNS FOR ERIC WILKES
WSU sophomore running back Eric Wilkes only had seven carries for 28 yards in Saturday's game but two of those seven rushes were for touchdowns. Wilkes had touchdown runs of one yard and six yards early in the fourth quarter as part of WSU's comeback.
In the last three games, Wilkes, a native of Las Vegas, has 49 carries for 231 yards and three touchdowns. On the season he is second in the Big Sky in kickoff returns, averaging 29.2 yards per return. He is also fourth in the league in all purpose yards at 123 per game and averages 61.5 yards rushing per game.
DEFENSE
The Wildcat defense gave up 506 yards of total offense but did make several big defensive plays. WSU had three sacks and six tackles for loss as well as forcing two turnovers. Cordero Dixon led the way with 10 tackles. Tre'von Johnson had nine tackles while Emmett Tela also had nine tackles with one sack and one forced fumble. Jared Afalava also had a sack and a forced fumble while Josh Burton recovered a fumble and Taron Johnson had an interception.
JOSH KEALAMAKIA KNOCKS DOWN 52-YARD FIELD GOAL
Weber State senior kicker Josh Kealamakia started the scoring with a career-long 52-yard field goal in the second quarter of Saturday's game. The 52-yard field goal was the longest by a Weber State player since Joe Johnson made a 52-yard field goal in 2005. It is also tied for the third longest field goal in WSU history.
Kealamakia, a native of Syracuse, Utah, is seventh in the Big Sky in field goal percentage this season, knocking down 9-of-13 attempts. He ranks 10th in Weber State history in career field goals with 21. He is also fifth in the league in punting at 40.8 yards per punt. Kealamakia has played in 41 career games at Weber State.
TURNOVER MARGIN
Weber State and Northern Arizona each had two turnovers in Saturday's game.
In the two years under head coach Jay Hill, Weber State is 5-1 when winning the turnover margin and 1-13 when losing or tied in the turnover margin. This season WSU is ninth in the Big Sky in turnover margin at -2.
RED ZONE OFFENSE
The Wildcats have scored in the red zone in their last nine attempts. WSU is a perfect 9-of-9 in the red zone in the last three weeks with eight of those possessions being touchdowns. On the year WSU is eighth in the Big Sky in red zone offense at 78.9 percent, scoring on 15 of 19 possessions with 12 touchdowns.
HALLOWEEN GAME
Saturday will mark the eighth time in Weber State history that the Wildcats will play a game on Halloween. WSU is 3-4 all-time in games on Oct. 31. The last game played was in 2009, a loss at Montana. WSU's last win on Halloween came in 1992 when the Wildcats won 23-21 at Nevada.
INJURY REPORT
WSU running back Zach Smith has yet to play this season with a meniscus injury. Junior offensive lineman A.J. Wilcox has missed all season with a shoulder injury. In addition, WSU sophomore safety Jawian Harrison has missed the last four games with a foot sprain.
ABOUT #5 EASTERN WASHINGTON
Eastern Washington comes into Saturday's game ranked fifth in the nation in the latest STATS FCS Top 25 poll. The Eagles are 5-2 overall and a perfect 4-0 in Big Sky play and have won five straight games heading into Saturday.
EWU opened the season with back-to-back road losses at Oregon and Northern Iowa but have since won five-straight beginning with a non-conference home win over Montana State. They also have Big Sky wins at Sacramento State, home to Cal Poly, at Idaho State and last week, survived to beat Northern Colorado 43-41 on a last second field goal.
The Eagles have won 21 of their last 22 Big Sky games and have won 18 straight regular season home games. They have also won 31 of their last 34 conference games and are 33-5 all-time since installing the red turf at Roos Field. EWU has won three straight Big Sky Championships and has advanced to at least the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs for three straight seasons.
Last season Eastern Washington won the Big Sky title with a 7-1 conference record and finished 11-3 overall. The Eagles return 13 starters off last year's squad. They were picked to finish first once again in the preseason media poll.
This season Eastern Washington has one of the nation's most prolific offenses. The Eagles lead the Big Sky and are third in the nation in total offense, averaging 547.3 yards per game. EWU leads the country in passing offense at 409.1 yards per game and is seventh in the country in scoring offense, averaging 41.4 points per game. The Eagles have scored at least 28 points in every game this season and have scored 40 or more points in five of seven games.
However, defensively, EWU is last in the Big Sky and 120th in the country in total defense, giving up 511.9 yards per game. The Eagles are also last in the conference and 122nd in the nation in rushing defense at 294.7 yards a game and are 12th in the conference and 113th in the country in scoring defense, giving up 39.9 points per game. Their opponents have scored at least 20 points in every game and they've given up 40 or more points four times.
Individually, the Eagles are led by junior wide receiver Cooper Kupp who last week became the Big Sky Conference's all-time leading receiver after he set a school record with 20 receptions for 275 yards and three touchdowns. He was honored as the FCS National Player of the Week. He has 281 career receptions for 4,338 yards and 52 touchdowns and is only a junior. He needs six more TD's to become the FCS all-time leader. Kupp leads the nation in receiving yards per game, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.
At quarterback is junior Jordan West who ranks second in the Big Sky and fourth in the nation in total offense at 366.1 yards per game. West leads the nation in passing yards per game (359.7) and passing yards (2,518).
HEAD COACH BEAU BALDWIN
The Eagles are coached by Beau Baldwin who is in his eighth season at Eastern Washington. He enters Saturday's game with a career record of 72-27 at Eastern Washington and is 49-11 in Big Sky games. Saturday's game will be the 100th career game for Baldwin as the head coach of the Eagles.
Baldwin served as the offensive coordinator at Eastern Washington from 2003-06 before taking over as head coach at Central Washington where he spent one season and posted a 10-3 record. He became the head coach of the Eagles in 2008 and has guided EWU to the FCS playoffs in five of the last six years and led the team to the 2010 FCS National Championship. He is a two-time Big Sky Coach of the Year and was the national coach of the year in 2010.
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 33rd all-time meeting between the two teams with Eastern Washington holding an 18-14 all-time series advantage. The Eagles have won four straight and six of the last seven against the Wildcats. WSU's last win in the series came in 2009, a 31-13 win in Cheney.
In games played at Eastern Washington, the Eagles hold a 9-5 all-time series lead and have won three of the last four meetings.
LAST GAME - 10/05/13 - OGDEN - EWU 41-19
The last game played between the two schools was in Cheney two years ago with Eastern Washington picking up a 41-19 win on Oct. 5, 2013. The Eagles racked up 493 yards of total offense, compared to just 249 for the Wildcats and rushed for 279 yards. Vernon Adams threw for 194 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for another touchdown to lift the Eagles to the win.
The Wildcats were led by Austin Chipoletti who threw for 140 yards and a touchdown but was sacked three times by the Eagle defense. Josh Booker rushed for 42 yards and a touchdown.
AROUND THE BIG SKY
Eastern Washington and Southern Utah remain on top of the standings at 4-0 in conference play. Portland State and Montana are both 3-1 and play each other this week in Portland. Weber State is 3-2 followed by Montana State, Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado at 2-2.
Five teams are ranked in this week's STATS Top 25 poll with Eastern Washington on top of the rankings at No. 5. Portland State is 12th, Montana is ranked 17th, Montana State 19th and Southern Utah 24th.
Eastern Washington and Montana State were picked as the preseason favorites in the Big Sky polls. The Eagles were picked first in the media poll with Montana State second and the Bobcats were picked first in the coaches poll with the Eagles second. Weber State was picked to finish 10th in the conference race in the preseason media poll and was picked 11th in the coaches poll.
WILDCAT EXPERIENCE
Weber State has 11 seniors on this year's squad, including only three seniors on the offensive side of the ball. All three seniors on the offensive line.
The Wildcats have 29 juniors, 19 sophomores, eight red shirt freshmen and
23 true freshmen.
TEAM CAPTAINS
Coach Hill has named five team captains for the 2015 season. The team captains are; junior safety Josh Burton, senior center Joe Hawkins, senior cornerback Devonte Johnson, junior linebacker Tre'von Johnson and junior wide receiver Cameron Livingston. The five players have combined to play in 149 games at Weber State.
WILDCATS COME FROM ALL OVER
Weber State's roster this season includes players from 11 different states. A total of 36 players on the roster come from the state of Utah. The 'Cats have 19 players from the state of California, six from Idaho and six from Florida. WSU also boasts players from Nevada (4), Washington (4), Arizona (3), Colorado (3), Texas (3), Louisiana (2) and Minnesota (2). WSU has one player from Australia.
LOOKING AHEAD
After Saturday's game the Wildcats will be back home for two games to close out the season. WSU will host UC Davis on Nov. 7 at 12 p.m. at Stewart Stadium. Following a bye week, the 'Cats will host Idaho State Nov. 21 in the final regular season game of the season.
