Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
UC Davis
Game notes: No. 2 Weber State hosts No. 23 UC Davis in home opener Saturday
3/9/2021 3:32:00 PM | Football
• The second ranked team in the country, the Weber State Wildcats, will host the first game at Stewart Stadium in over a year this Saturday.
• No. 2 Weber State will take on No. 23 UC Davis on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Stewart Stadium. The game will be televised throughout the state of Utah on KJZZ TV and will be streamed on Pluto TV 1054 and WatchBigSky.com. It will also be broadcast on the radio on 103.1 FM "The Wave".
Tickets available for Wildcat football
Season and individual game tickets are available for Wildcat football. This season WSU is limiting attendance to 5,000 people due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tickets are available at WeberStateSports.com or by calling the WSU Ticket Office at 801-626-8500.
'Cats open the season with 49-21 win at Idaho State
Weber State opened the unprecedented spring season with a dominating 49-21 win at Idaho State on February 27. The Wildcats totaled 638 yards of offense and freshman Bronson Barron threw for 312 yards and four touchdowns in the season opener. It was Weber State's first game since December 21, 2019, due to the postponement of the 2020 fall season to the spring of 2021.
Game 2 at Cal Poly postponed to April 17
Weber State was scheduled to visit Cal Poly on March 6 in the second game of the season. However, that game was postponed to due to COVID-19 protocols in the Mustang program. The two teams will meet in the final regular season game of the year on April 17 in San Luis Obispo, California.
Wildcats are number two in the nation, highest ranking in school history
After the season opening win, the Wildcats are ranked second in the nation in the Stats Perform Poll, the highest ranking in school history. Weber State received two first-place votes in this week's poll and trails only James Madison. North Dakota is third with Northern Iowa fourth and North Dakota State fifth. This week and last week the Wildcats received first-place votes, which is the first time that has ever happened in school history.
Eastern Washington in the Big Sky in ranked 16th and this week's opponent UC Davis is 23rd.
Wildcat defense forces three turnovers, records six sacks
The Wildcat forced three Idaho State turnovers in the season opening win. Conner Mortensen and Logan Lutui each had interceptions and Eddie Heckard forced a fumble and Desmond Williams recovered a fumble. Weber State is 33-6 in the seven seasons under Jay Hill when leading the opponent in turnover margin and is 15-24 when trailing or tied.
In addition, the WSU defense accounted for six sacks against the Bengals.
Bronson Barron shines in debut; earns Big Sky Player of the Week honors
Bronson Barron hadn't played a football game in over three years when he made his college debut in the season opening win at Idaho State. The true freshman quarterback started the game and helped lead the fourth-ranked Wildcats to the 49-21 win at Idaho State.
For his performance, Barron was honored as the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week. Starting at quarterback in his first collegiate game, Barron totaled 354 yards of total offense in leading the Wildcats. He was 17 of 27 passing for 312 yards and threw four touchdown passes. He had touchdown passes of 27, 55, 38 and 10 yards. He averaged 18.4 yards per completion. He also had five rushing attempts for 42 yards. He helped the Wildcats total 638 yards of offense in the win.
The American Fork, Utah native originally signed with Weber State in February 2018. He returned in 2020 from serving a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Ghana.
Davis, Shaheed move up in career rankings
Two Wildcat All-Americans also had strong games in the season opener. Josh Davis had 11 rushes for 106 yards and one touchdown, a 64-yard TD run in the third quarter. Davis also had four receptions for 60 yards. He moved into 10th place in the Weber State career all-purpose yards list, now with 3,432 career all-purpose yards. The junior from Draper, Utah, also ranks fifth in career rushing yards with 2,604 yards and needs just 34 more yards to pass Morgan Welch and move into fourth place all-time.
Rashid Shaheed had five receptions for 73 yards and two touchdowns in the season opening win. The senior from San Diego is ninth in career all-purpose yards, just ahead of Davis, with 3,503 career yards. He also ranks fourth in career kickoff return yards with 1,688 career yards. He has four career kickoff returns for touchdowns, the most in school history.
Weber State picked first in Big Sky preseason polls
For the first time in school history, Weber State was picked to finish first in the Big Sky preseason media and coaches polls, which were released in late July, prior to the season being postponed to the spring. WSU had 28 first-place votes in the media poll and seven in the coaches poll.
Jay Hill becomes WSU's all-time leader in Big Sky wins
With the season opening win, Weber State head coach Jay Hill became WSU's all-time leader in career Big Sky wins. Hill is in his seventh season as head coach of the Wildcats and now has a career record of 48-30 overall record and is 35-14 in Big Sky play. The 35 wins is the most in WSU history, surpassing Dave Arslanian and Ron McBride, who each had 34. Over the last four seasons, Hill has led the Wildcats to a 22-3 record in Big Sky Conference games.
About UC Davis
UC Davis is ranked 23rd in the country in this week's Stats Perform poll. The Aggies opened the season with a 27-17 win at Idaho last Saturday. UC Davis was picked to finish sixth in the Big Sky standings in the preseason polls last July, prior to the season being postponed to the spring.
The Aggies are coached by longtime coach Dan Hawkins who is in his fourth season at UC Davis, his alma mater. Hawkins was also head coach at Boise State and Colorado. He guided UC Davis to a share of the Big Sky title in 2018 and a trip to the FCS Quarterfinals.
This year, Hill welcomes several new staff members. Matt Hammer is the new offensive coordinator. Since 2019, WSU has also added Matty Ah You (inside linebackers), Robert Conley (running backs), Andre Dyson (cornerbacks) and Bojay Filimoeatu (defensive line) as full-time coaches, in addition to James Cowser as a defensive assistant.
Series history
Weber State holds a 5-2 all-time series lead over UC Davis and the Wildcats have won the last four games. WSU beat the Aggies 36-20 in the last meeting on Oct. 26, 2019 in Davis, California.
In games played at Stewart Stadium, Weber State is 3-1 all-time and has won the last three games, including a 41-3 win 2017, the Aggies last game in Ogden.
Up next
WSU has a bye week after this Saturday's game, before hosting Northern Arizona on March 27 at Stewart Stadium.
