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OGDEN — Though a score of 41-5 may indicate an offensively dominant game, the real star of Weber State's season opener against Division II Western Oregon was the defense.
The visiting Wolves struggled all night to get anything going against the Wildcats, be it on the ground or through the air. Every Western Oregon running back arrived at the line of scrimmage with nowhere to go, if they even made it there at all.
On the night, Western Oregon's offense had a net total of -34 rushing yards, which set a Weber State defensive record. The defense was helped by plenty of special teams miscues by the Wolves; but to Weber State head coach Jay Hill, the results are what matter most.
"No matter how you chalk that up, (school records) are hard to get," Hill said. "I thought coach (Joe) Dale and coach (Grant) Duff did a phenomenal job at having the defensive guys ready to roll."
That defense was anchored by a strong defensive line, which consistently put pressure on the Wolves' quarterbacks and limited gains on run plays. Western Oregon quarterback Gannon Winker often found himself flushed out of the pocket trying to force throws. As a result, Weber State's defense won the turnover battle with the help of three interceptions, two by junior cornerback Maxwell Anderson.
"I feel like our D-line stepped up well; we stopped them in the rush, as well," Anderson said. "But I feel like we just executed; we played to our best ability."
Defensive end Shad Pulsipher led the team with seven tackles, while safety Naseme Colvin wreaked the most havoc and tallied 3.5 tackles for loss.
Even when Western Oregon put together its best drive of the night to start the second half, the Wildcats' defense held firm and limited the Wolves to a field goal.
While the Wildcats' defense shined, the offense did its fair share of thumping on the Wolves, too. The 41 points scored is the most Weber State has scored in a season opener since a 76-0 beatdown of Montana Western in 2017.
"I felt like it was a great game to just get reps, get live game reps and just let people play," said junior wide receiver Haze Hadley. "I think that we had a great game plan coming in; the coaches prepared us really well. And, obviously, there's some things that we need to execute a little bit better. But overall, I feel like the offense had a lot of positives and we're excited to go into next week."
But even with such a productive game and a win, there's always more to work on. The Wildcats accrued 115 yards worth of penalties and missed multiple opportunities to add to their lead.
The offense struggled out of the gate when senior kick returner Josh Davis muffed the opening kickoff in the end zone. He, however, managed to bring it out to the Wildcats' 14-yard line. After a few sloppy plays, sophomore punter Jack Burgess prepared to punt the ball away, but it was blocked by the Wolves' defense and went out of the end zone, which resulted in a safety for Western Oregon and a quick 2-0 lead.
But it didn't take long for Weber State's offense to figure things out. On Western Oregon's drive following the safety, Anderson secured the first of his two interceptions on the night, giving the offense a short field to work. Three plays later, sophomore running back Damon Bankston found the end zone, and the Wildcats never looked back.
"The reality is we have tons to clean up, tons to improve upon," Hill said. "But very excited about the potential of this football team if we continue to find ways to build on what we did."
