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OGDEN — Weber State football is realistic about its now 0-6 start.
A 30-24 homecoming loss to Cal Poly puts the Wildcats in a situation they didn’t expect — a winless team in October. Obviously, Weber wants a victory badly and the team feels it is close.
Weber had a chance to take the lead late in the fourth quarter, but a lack of continued offensive success throughout the game showed up late.
However, Weber State coach Jay Hill said the team continues to suffer from inconsistency in crucial situations.
“We’re right there again,” he said. “We’re so close to a win, it’s almost like we can taste it every week. We’re not getting it, so we’ve got to get these guys rallied up.”
Quarterback Billy Green, who came into the game ranked eighth in the nation in passing offense, threw for only 97 yards.
Green threw an interception in the first quarter, and Wildcats coach Jay Hill said he thought the early mistake threw Green off for the rest of the afternoon.
"We're right there again," Weber State coach Jay Hill said. "We're so close to a win, it's almost like we can taste it every week."
“Offensively, it was inept passing game,” he said. “We’re not throwing the ball for enough yards per attempt. The completion percentage is not bad, but that’s not the key stat in football. The key stat is yards per attempt, and we’re not nearly high enough right now.”
While the offense struggled, the defense kept Weber in the game, keeping the Mustangs’ high-powered triple-option attack at bay for most of the afternoon. However, Weber was burned by the passing game, which included a couple halfback passes for big gains.
Hill, who faced the option several times which coaching at Utah, said Cal Poly did exactly what he expected, and the Wildcats were simply unable to make the plays.
“I was happy with the defense for a lot of that game,” he said. “I thought they got out of a lot of key, critical drives. They did a great job of stopping the option.
“Where we got burned too many times was on the misdirection gimmick plays. I didn’t think we did a good job with that.”
Every week without a victory means another week of soul-searching for the team’s coaches and players. Of all the problems facing the team, a lack of overall consistency and consistently losing the turnover margin top the list.
While he did mention turnovers as an issue, Hill said he worries about overemphasizing the need to create turnovers.
“We practice it, we work on it, we do drills to do it,” he said. “I think we’ve got to the point with this program where we’re kind of harping on it. I think the more you talk about it in practice, it sometimes becomes a mental thing and I don’t want it to go there.”
The players’ soul-searching is fairly simple, as they know who they want to win for: the Weber coaching staff.
Senior running back/kick returner Bo Bolen said the coaching staff deserves a victory.
“Our record is horrible obviously, but if you actually watch the games, we’re actually a really good team,” said Bolen, who scored on a 94-yard kick return. “It’s kind of remarkable to see what these coaches have done with essentially recruits from four different head coaches. I think, after what this program has been through the last couple years, they were the perfect staff to come in and unite us all together.
“It’s crazy because people just look at the win-loss record, but I personally Coach Hill is going to win a Big Sky Conference championship before he leaves here.”
