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They have known they were going for two weeks, but until 5:00 pm on Sunday night, the Weber State Wildcats didn't know where they would going for the 2008 NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs.
The Wildcats, who earned the Big Sky Conference's automatic berth, will travel to San Luis Obispo, California to face the Cal Poly Mustangs, champions of the Great West Conference. Game time has been set for 6:05 p.m. (PST) / 7:05 p.m. (MST).
Cal Poly is 8-2 this season. Their only losses came at home to MONTANA (30-28) back in early September and this past Saturday when the Mustangs traveled to Madison, Wisconsin to play the Wisconsin Badgers. Cal Poly silenced the crowd of over 80,000 in Camp Randall Stadium for most of the day and had a chance to win the game in regulation but missed a field goal in the waning moments. Cal Poly scored a touchdown in the first overtime, but missed the PAT. The Badgers then scored on their possession, kicked the PAT and won 36-35.
This is Weber State's third appearance in the 30-year history of the FCS (formerly I-AA) playoffs, and the first for the Wildcats since the 1991 season.
WSU's first appearance came in 1987 when the Wildcats and Idaho tied for the Big Sky Conference title with 7-1 records. Idaho got the automatic berth by virtue of its 41-38 win over Weber State. The Wildcats got revenge a month later when the playoff committee sent the Wildcats to Idaho for a first round match up. That, by the way, does not happen anymore. Teams from the same conference can't meet until the second round.
Weber State thrashed the Idaho Vandals 59-30 to advance to the quarterfinals where the lost 51-23 at Marshall. Four years later in 1991, the Wildcats went on the road to Northern Iowa and lost 38-21.
"We are excited," said WSU head football coach Ron McBride. "When they announced the pairings on tv it said we had a home game, so we were really fired up, but then we got the news it was an error, so that was kind of a let down. Cal Poly is a very talented team. We played them last year at their place and two years ago here and they pretty well dominated us in both games. Their option attack on offense is extremely hard to defend. They run out of 80 percent of the time. But just when you think you've got them defended, they throw the ball. Their quarterback is really talented and the big receiver Ramses Barden (6-6, 225) will be making a lot of money in the NFL next season."
The Wildcats lost 47-19 at Cal Poly on September 15, 2007. The Mustangs rolled up 513 yards of offense. Mustang quarterback Jonathan Dalley (6-0, 190) completed 13-20 passes for 328 yards and SIX TOUCHDOWNS in the game. RAMSES BARDEN had nine receptions for 219 yards and caught four of Dalley's six TD tosses. Cal Poly led 5-3 at the end of the first quarter then reeled off 28 straight second quarter points to take a 33-3 half time lead.
Two years ago Cal Poly came into Stewart Stadium and shut out the Wildcats 17-0 in a defensive struggle.
