Wildcats welcome a hungry Montana team to town in rebound game following first loss

OGDEN — Following his team's first loss of the season last Saturday, head coach Jay Hill was disappointed but knew the season didn't balance on the outcome of that one game.

"This game will not define the season; this one will not," Hill said in his postgame comments following the 43-38 loss to Montana State. "The next three or four absolutely will, but this game will not define the season — it's unfortunate."

Weber State (6-1) suffered its first loss of the season after a six-game winning streak. The Wildcats also had an eight-game road winning streak that dated back to last year snapped in the loss.

But the good news for Weber State is that Hill's team gets to return home for three-straight contests. The bad news is the next two games are against teams currently ranked in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25, starting with Saturday's matchup with Montana (5-2).

The Grizzlies come into Stewart Stadium having lost their last two games, but in each game Montana came up just a touchdown short. The visitors look to get back in the win column, while the home team hopes to avoid consecutive losses for the first time since near the end of last season.

"This is a very good football team," Hill said on Montana. "I mean, two weeks ago they were the No. 2 team in the country. And I think it goes to show you how good the league is right now. Montana's still a very good team. They're physical on both sides of the ball. They do a great job of running it on offense; they do a great job of stopping the run on defense and they make you earn what you get.

"Coach (Bobby) Hauck is the all-time leader in wins at Montana, right? The guy knows how to win football games; it's not like he doesn't know what they're doing. They're good at what they do and we're gonna have to be good at what we do."

One of the biggest questions going into the game for Weber State will be how the defense responds following its worst performance of the season against Montana State. Going into that game, the Wildcats hadn't allowed more than 21 points in any game but struggled to contain almost anything the Bobcats did as they racked up 43 points.

While the weather conditions weren't ideal — rainy, windy, cold and a slippery field — Hill felt that didn't play as big a role in the outcome as many might have thought. Ultimately, it came down to a lack of execution in the fundamental tackling and containment. Montana State quarterback Tommy Mellott had a career day as he passed for 140 yards and rushed for 273 yards.

Senior safety Desmond Williams believes the defense is capable of bouncing back. It's crucial to achieving the outcome of which he knows the Wildcats are capable.

"I think our mindset is a little bit different," Williams said. "I think we got a little bit comfortable with the wins and the expectations. Now the expectation we know what it is and we know that we still had a chance to win that game. So we've just gotta take it up another level and hone in on our assignments and our techniques knowing that the scheme is perfectly fine."

Montana comes into this game with a high-powered offense that has averaged 35.4 points per game on 383.9 yards per game. The Grizzlies are currently ranked No. 11 in the Stats Perform Top 25, and a win on the road against No. 5 ranked Weber State would give them a big boost as the regular season winds down.

"We know they're a good team like most teams are in the Big Sky," Williams said. "We know they've got a very capable quarterback who's played a lot of football. He's another guy that's capable of running, as well, just like last week. ... But we respect every opponent that comes in here and we know Montana's a great, well-coached team and has great players."

The Wildcats have high playoff hopes this season and have shown they can compete with just about anyone. One loss to the No. 3 ranked team in the country won't spoil Weber State's season, but Hill knows the last four games of the regular season will make a huge difference. Beating the Grizzlies won't be easy and the Wildcats will need to put last week's game out of their mind if they're going to pull off a major win at home this weekend.

"I really believe that the Montana State game's not gonna be the one that defines us," Hill said a few days after the game. "How we rebound from it will be the critical issue. We have a very good Montana team coming in and we've gotta be ready to go. We can't allow Montana State to beat us twice, which is gonna be a critical deal.

"We've just gotta get back to being us. It's not that long ago that we played excellent against Portland State, and not that long that we started out in that Montana State game 24-9 and playing great. ... Bottom line: just be us, don't make things up, it's one loss. Very few people win championships undefeated, and that won't be the defining game. We've just gotta get back to playing great football."

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