The epicenter of the FCS universe on Saturday afternoon will be at Bobcat Stadium.

Weber State, one of the last remaining undefeated teams in the United States, is ranked No. 5 this season. Jay Hill’s Wildcats appear to be back to playoff form after missing the postseason for the first time in six years last fall.

Third-ranked Montana State has gone through as much drama as any team in the league yet hasn’t wavered. MSU is 4-0 in league play and 6-1 overall, the lone loss coming to Pac 12 Oregon State.

Saturday’s tilt at Bobcat Stadium will mean the Big Sky Conference will have one less undefeated team in the league standings and one team another step closer to a league title.

“With Weber State coming to town, we are going to have to play our very best at this point,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “They are playing well, undefeated. They are good on offense, defense, special teams all the way around. We are going to have to match that.”

Montana State won the match-up in Ogden, Utah last season, posting a 13-7 victory in a slugfest. It proved to be a pivotal win for the Bobcats on the way to a nine-win regular season on the way to a bye in the FCS playoffs. It also proved to be a dagger for the Wildcats, who finished 6-5 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2015.

“I’m glad this game is being played here at home but that doesn’t guarantee us anything,” Vigen said.

Founded: 1889. The coeducational, public university began as the Weber State Academy, then changed its name to the Weber Academy, the Weber Normal College and Weber College, becoming a junior college in 1939 and Weber State College in 1962. The school earned University status in 1991.

Enrollment: The university has 26,681 students and an endowment of $155.2 million.

Stadium: Stewart Stadium. The picturesque stadium along the Wasatch Front was named Wildcat Stadium from its opening in the 1950s until its renaming for Elizabeth Dee Shaw Stewart in 1998. The multi-purpose stadium holds 17,312 and is sits 4,760 feet above sea level.

Weber State is averaging 8,760 fans per game so far this season.

As has been well chronicled, since Hill took over at Weber, the Wildcats have incrementally improved each season, a climb that now has the program operating among the nation’s elite. WSU made the playoffs for the first time under Hill in 2016, then won the league four years in a row, winning 26 of 29 games including an unbeaten league slate during the spring season in 2021.

Before Hill arrived, Weber had made the playoffs twice…ever. Now the Wildcats are gunning for their sixth playoff appearance in seven seasons. WSU had two playoff wins in its history, a total equaled in 2017 alone. Hill and the Wildcats have won three more playoff games since and five overall.

Hill played for Ron McBride at Utah before beginning his coaching career on McBride’s staff in 2002 with the Utes. Hill took over a Weber program McBride led from 2005 until 2011 that was in shambles when Hill took over before the 2014 season. John L. Smith’s quick stop that led to Jody Sears’ brief two-year tenure gave Hill a team with two wins in each of the previous two seasons when Hill took over.

Hill’s first team won two games in 2014. The Wildcats had a winning record, including a 5-3 mark in Big Sky Conference play, in 2015, including posting their first win at Washington-Grizzly Stadium over Montana since 1987 during that 6-5 campaign.

Weber made the playoffs for the first time since 2009 in 2016 and ripped off 11 wins en rout to a share of the Big Sky title and a berth in quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs in 2017. Both seasons included decisive wins over Montana State – 45-27 in 2016 and 25-17 in Bozeman in 2017. WSU beat MSU 34-24 in Ogden in 2018 in the last meeting between the two teams before last season in Ogden.

Hill is 47-17 in Big Sky Conference play, 64-36 overall during his time leading Weber.

“He’s got them on a national stage,” Vigen said last fall. “How he’s went about it has them succeeding at not just a Big Sky level but a national level.”

The prospect from nearby American Fork, Utah already has quite the story coinciding with his time at Weber State. He went on an LDS mission in February of 2018, returning to the Wildcats in time for the spring of 2021 season.

Barron has been outstanding this season, completing 66 percent of his passes for 239 yards per game. He has thrown 11 touchdowns against five picks. He threw for 368 yards and four scores in a win over Utah Tech. Last week, he threw for 275 yards and three more scores in a 42-7 win over Portland State.

“I think offensively, their quarterback is playing well,” Vigen said. “He’s making good decisions and getting the ball out. They are throwing the ball better and differently than they did last year.

Barron has mobility within the pocket but doesn’t run a ton. Still, Vigen said the Bobcats had to be aware of his ability to extend plays.

“He has enough mobility he can make plays with his feet although they aren’t trying to run him. He can get the ball out quick and what they’ve added is the RPO element which really wasn’t part of their offense last year. He’s making good decisions with the football.”

Damon Bankston, running back, 5-11, 195, sophomore – This spot has been reserved for Josh Davis since the former Utah Gatorade Player of the Year since he first burst onto the scene as the Jerry Rice Award winner as the national freshman of the year. But Davis has battled injuries for most of his career, yet still has managed to become one of seven Weber players ever to earn first-team All-Big Sky honors three times.

Despite the fact (or maybe because of the fact) that Davis entered this season with more than 3,000 career rushing yards and more than 4,000 all-purpose yards, Weber has lightened his load.

Bankston, a speedster from Katy, Texas outside of Houston, is WSU’s leading rusher entering the game on Saturday. He’s rushed for 388 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 5.8 yards per carry. Davis has rushed for 338 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 4.7 yards per turn. And Dontae McMillan has rushed for 267 yards and four touchdowns as WSU is rushing for 213 yards as a team.

“They are playing different tailbacks right now and they all have their different style,” Vigen said

MacPherson entered this season as a steady contributor who had 92 receptions for 1,389 yards and seven touchdowns in his career.

This season, he’s broken out as one of the top big-play wide receivers in the league. He had 160 yards and three touchdowns against Utah Tech. he scored a 65-yard touchdown on WSU’s first offensive series and finished with six catches for 128 yards in a 45-21 win over No. 21 Eastern Washington.

He is averaging more than 20 yards per catch (tops in the league) and has 25 total catches for 502 yards and six touchdowns, all among the best totals in the Big Sky.

Winston Reid, linebacker, 6-1, 230, junior – Reid looks like the next in line of Weber State linebackers, a conveyor belt that produces aggressive sideline to sideline tacklers who relish contact. Reid leads WSU with 44 total tackles, including 4.5 tackles for loss and one of WSU’s 15 sacks. He also has one of WSU’s 12 interceptions.

The entire Weber State defensive secondary — WSU often plays packages with five and six defensive backs. They mix up coverages but primarily play man on the outside. They are also ball hawks, contributing to a league-best 12 interceptions.

Junior cornerback Eddie Heckard is the most decorated of the group. He is a three-time All-Big Sky selection, earning first-team honors twice last calendar year and landing on the preseason all-league squad entering this fall.

Senior Desmond Williams and junior Naseme Colvin are the primary safeties and the two most productive tacklers. And Maxwell Anderson might be the most opportunistic; he leads the team with five interceptions.

Jack Kelly, outside linebacker, 6-3, 235, redshirt freshman – the Wildcats play a ton of linebackers and defensive lineman along their front seven. Kelly has been one of the breakout young players. He leads WSU in sacks (4) and tackles for loss (5) in rotational duty.

“Defensively, I wouldn’t say it’s like, ‘boy, if you could stop this guy, then you have them. I think they are pretty good mostly everywhere,” Vigen said. “They rotate a bunch of guys up front so they are always fresh. Their linebacker corps is strong, like always. They play six defensive backs sometimes, which speaks to the depth they have.

“They play a lot of man coverage and that’s really been the core fundamental coverage for them.”

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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