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SALT LAKE CITY — The Wildcats of Weber State will travel to Rice-Eccles Stadium Saturday to take on in-state opponent Utah. And while the level of talent is heavily in Utah's favor, Wildcats head coach Jody Sears says he's looking forward to the challenge.
"We know the quality opponent Utah is," Sears said, "and great moments come from great opportunity. And we're faced with one."
Last week, seven FCS teams took to the turf and beat FBS opponents, including Eastern Washington beating ranked Oregon State. While Sears won't go out on a limb and say his team will be the eighth FCS team to beat a FBS opponent, he says the focus must remain on his team.
"We can't focus too much on what Utah's doing, how their personnel's changing. The focus has got to stay on ourselves and make sure we're taking care of our daily business and doing our daily diligence," Sears said. "We're excited to go down there and it will be a huge challenge. I can't wait for the kids to show up and see how they take on the challenge."
Weber State got its first season opener victory since 2008 last Saturday, beating Stephen F. Austin 50-40. The Wildcats ran an up-tempo, no huddle offense, putting up 484 yards on 88 total plays. Most of that offense came in the ground game, with the Wildcats putting up 315 rushing yards.
- Utah (1-0, 0-0 Pac-12) vs. Weber State (1-0, 0-0 Big Sky)
- Date: Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013
- Time: 12:00 p.m. MDT
- Site: Rice-Eccles Stadium (45,017/FieldTurf)
- TV: Pac-12 Networks
- Radio: ESPN700
- Series Record: Utah leads 3-0
- Last Meeting: 2008 (37-21)
- Kickoff Weather: Partly cloudy; temps near 90
The Wildcats hope to expose some of the weaknesses, namely the inexperience in the secondary, with the Utes, but Sears believes Utah, as a whole, is a much better team on offense and defense.
"Utah's different from last year. You can tell that Coach Erickson is involved," Sears said. "His fingerprints all over that team now. Starting up front, to the backfield, to the perimeter, you can tell that he's got a heavy hand and a big influence on that offense.
"Defensively, they're big and they're strong and they run really well," he added. "And they look much improved from last year. They're a Pac-12 team; they're really good and very strong and very talented."
While Weber State hopes to mitigate the improved talent on Utah, Weber State has a threat of their own: Bo Bolen.
In last week's season opener, Bolen, who returned to team after serving an LDS mission in the Philippines, was the team's biggest playmakers. Bolen had a total of 215 all purpose yards, with a 100-yard kickoff return starting things off in the first quarter.
