Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Eastern Washington
Game 8: Wildcats hit the road at Eastern Washington Saturday
10/17/2023 10:55:00 AM | Football
Weber State takes on the Eagles Saturday at 5 p.m. Mountain time in Cheney, Washington.
• Weber State hits the road Saturday to take on Eastern Washington.
• Weber State is 3-4 overall and 1-3 in Big Sky play. The Wildcats have lost their last two games, including a 17-16 home loss to UC Davis on Saturday night.
• Eastern Washington is 2-4 overall and 1-2 in Big Sky play. The Eagles are coming off a 42-41 loss at Idaho State on Saturday night.
• Weber State has won the last four games against the Eagles, including the last two games in Cheney.
Media coverage
Saturday's game will kickoff at 4:00 p.m. Pacific time (5 p.m. MT) from the Inferno, Ross Field, in Cheney, Washington. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
Weber State's radio coverage will be on 103.1 FM "The Wave" with Steve Klauke and former Wildcat head coach and athletic director Jerry Graybeal on the call.
Live stats available at WeberStateSports.com and the Weber State Wildcats app.
Wildcats drop second-straight home game to UC Davis
Weber State dropped a tough Homecoming game 17-16 to UC Davis Saturday night at Stewart Stadium. The Aggies jumped out to a quick 14-3 lead and the Wildcat defense held UC Davis to just three points in the second half.
Richie Munoz starts at quarterback
The Wildcats started Saturday's game with a new quarterback in true freshman Richie Munoz. In his first college game, Munoz was 15 of 30 passing for 138 yards and one touchdown. He also ran for seven yards. He threw a 15-yard touchdown to Kris Jackson late in the second quarter.
Munoz signed with Weber State in December 2022 out of West Covina, California. He was a three-star recruit out of Charter Oak High School where he threw for 2,994 yards and 40 touchdowns as a senior.
Winston Reid continues to lead Wildcat defense
Wildcat senior Winston Reid added seven tackles in Saturday's game. He continues to lead the Big Sky and ranks ninth in the nation in tackles at 11.0 per game. Reid has 44 unassisted and 33 assisted tackles for 77 tackles on the season through the first seven games. He has 29 more tackles than the second-place tackler for the Wildcats. He also has 8.5 tackles for loss, which is second in the Big Sky, and ranks ninth in the country in solo tackles at 6.3 per game. Reid also has 1.5 sacks, four quarterback hurries, and an interception returned for a touchdown this season.
He is now seventh in WSU history in career solo tackles with 146.
Reid has played in 42 games in his Wildcat career that began in 2017 as a walk-on. He earned All-America honors last season and was named the Big Sky Preseason Defensive MVP. Reid now has 240 career tackles and 24.5 tackles for loss. In addition, Reid has been named to the watch list for the 2024 Reese's Senior Bowl, the prestigious pre-draft game next February. He is one of five players from the Big Sky on the preseason watch list.
Brayden Wilson leads Big Sky in tackles for loss
Weber State sophomore Brayden Wilson registered another 1.5 tackles for loss in Saturday's game against UC Davis. Wilson leads the Big Sky and is 12th in the nation in tackles for loss with 11.5, an average of 1.6 per game. The tackles have totaled a loss of 52 yards. Wilson has at least one tackle for loss in six of the seven games, including a season-high three against Montana State.
Wilson is a sophomore out of Kaysville, Utah who played at Farmington High School. He has played in 21 games in his three seasons at Weber State.
Jack Burgess first in Big Sky and second in nation in punting
Wildcat junior punter Jack Burgess continues to lead the Big Sky and is second in the nation in punting. Through seven games Burgess has 35 punts for 1,634 yards, an average of 46.7 yards per punt, second-best in the country. He has a long punt of 70 yards and 12 punts of at least 50 yards.
Burgess, a native of Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, Australia, has 85 punts in his two seasons with the Wildcats and has an average of 43.5 yards per punt, which is currently tied for the third-best career average in school history.
National rankings
Weber State leads the country in kickoff returns, averaging 29.2 yards per return. Abraham Williams is fourth in the nation at 32.6 yards per return.
WSU is also ninth in the country in net punting and 16th in interceptions with seven. The Wildcats are 14th in the nation in red zone defense, and 26th in kickoff return defense.
Individually, Haze Hadley is 20th in the nation and second in the Big Sky in punt returns at 9.2 yards per return.
Four All-Americans and eight All-Big Sky performers returning
Weber State has four returning All-Americans from last year's squad. In addition to Abraham Williams and Winston Reid, Maxwell Anderson and Noah Atagi also return as All-Americans. Atagi was an All-American last year and earned first-team All-Big Sky honors for the third-straight year.
Also returning are four other players that earned All-Big Sky honors in 2022. Haze Hadley (punt returner) and Jordan Lutui (offensive line) earned second-team honors, Ethan Atagi (offensive line) earned third-team honors and Damon Bankston (running back) earned honorable mention honors in 2022.
Mickey Mental takes over as new Wildcat head coach
Weber State is under the direction of first year head coach Mickey Mental who was named the 12th head coach in Weber State history in December. Mental served as the offensive coordinator for the Wildcats in 2022 before being named head coach. He took over for Jay Hill who left for BYU after nine seasons as head coach. Hill is Weber State's all-time leader in coaching wins with 68 and led the Wildcats to four Big Sky titles and six trips to the FCS Playoffs.
This is not the first time for Mental as a head coach. The Olmstead Falls, Ohio native spent two seasons as head coach at Division II Notre Dame College in Ohio, prior to coming to Weber State. In two seasons as head coach he posted a 16-2 overall record and a 13-1 record in conference play. In the spring 2021 season, he led the Falcons to a conference championship.
Wildcats fourth in Big Sky preseason polls
The Wildcats were also ranked fourth in the Big Sky preseason media and coaches polls for the second-straight year. Montana State was selected as the preseason favorite in both polls with UC Davis second and Sacramento State third in the coaches poll and Idaho second and Montana third in the media poll.
Oh brother
This year's Wildcat squad includes six sets of brothers. LJ and Maxwell Anderson, Ethan and Noah Atagi, Garrett and Trevor Beck, Bronson and Jagger Childs, Ishaan and Rishi Daniels, and Jordan and Masi Lutui are all on the Wildcat team this season.
Team captains
As selected by their teammates, Weber State has named four captains for the 2023 season. This year's captains are senior offensive lineman Noah Atagi, senior cornerback Maxwell Anderson, senior cornerback Marque Collins, and senior linebacker Winston Reid. This is the third-straight year for Atagi as a captain and Reid was also a captain in 2022.
About Eastern Washington
Eastern Washington enters Saturday's game at 2-4 overall and 1-2 in Big Sky play. The Eagles are coming off a tough 42-41 loss at Idaho State last Saturday. They led the Bengals 41-14 late in the third quarter before a 27-point comeback by ISU to win 42-41.
Eastern Washington started the season with a loss to North Dakota State before a double-overtime loss at Fresno State. The Eagles defeated Southeastern Louisiana in the final non-conference game, then won at UC Davis to open Big Sky play. They lost to Idaho at home before the loss at Idaho State.
On the season, the Eagles lead the Big Sky and are 16th in the nation in red zone offense at 91.7 percent. EWU is also second in the conference in passing offense at 265 yards per game and third in total offense at 410.5 yards a game. The Eagles are also third in the conference in turnover margin and fourth in scoring offense.
Kekoa Visperas leads the conference and is fifth in the country in passing at 292 yards per game. He is also first in the Big Sky and sixth in the nation in total offense.
Eastern Washington was 3-8 overall last season and finished eighth in the conference at 2-6. They were picked to finish seventh in the Big Sky preseason polls.
The Eagles are coached by former player Aaron Best who is in his seventh season as head coach at EWU. He is 46-29 overall and 33-16 in Big Sky play. He has led the Eagles to three trips to the FCS Playoffs, including the championship game in 2018.
Series history
This will be the 38th all-time meeting between the two schools with Eastern Washington holding a 19-18 all-time series lead. The Wildcats have won the last four games played, with EWU's last win over Weber State coming in 2015. WSU won 45-21 last October in Ogden.
In games in Cheney, the Eagles are 10-7 all-time but Weber State has won the last two games. WSU won 35-34 in 2021 in the last game in Cheney, when the Eagles were ranked second in the country. The Wildcats also won 28-20 in 2017 in Cheney.
Quick hits
Weber State is 3-0 this season when leading its opponent in rushing yards and 0-3 when trailing...WSU has outscored its opponent in three of the four quarters, every quarter except the second quarter. Weber State is outscoring its opponents 35-23 in the first quarter through six games, but has been outscored 82-20 in the second quarter this season, including 20-3 last week...WSU has been outscored 55-3 in the second quarter of the three Big Sky games...Weber State has 39 players on this years roster from the state of Utah. California is next with 21 followed by Texas with 12 and Idaho with 10.
Up next
After Saturday, Weber State will have a bye week next week. This is the latest bye week in the season for the Wildcats since 2015.
The 'Cats will return to action with another road game on November 4 at Idaho State. The final home game of the season will be on November 11 against Idaho.
Players Mentioned
