Beginning a season of high expectations, the Weber State University Wildcats will square off against the Montana Western University Bulldogs on Sept. 2.
The game kicks off at 6 p.m. at Stewart Stadium, beginning the year for a Wildcats team entering the game ranked No. 22 in the FCS preseason Coaches Poll.
This is the first time since 2013 that fans in Ogden will be treated to a season opening matchup. The Wildcats have begun on the road each of the past three years, resulting in an 0–3 record.
The Bulldogs are an NAIA program in the Frontier Conference and are coming off of a week one win against the College of Idaho. This will be the first matchup between the two teams since 2008 and the fourth matchup overall.
The first time the Wildcats and Bulldogs went head-to-head was 1962, then again in 1994 and most recently in 2008, when the Wildcats completed the historical three-game sweep. The most recent game ended with Weber State pulling off a 62–6 victory.
As in years past, the game is free to students. The first 3,000 fans in attendance will receive free black Weber State T-shirts.
The game will be the captain debut for the five Weber State football captains. The two offensive captains are senior tight end Andrew Vollert and senior quarterback Stefan Cantwell. The team named three defensive players as captains: senior cornerback Taron Johnson, senior defensive tackle McKay Murphy and the lone junior captain, linebacker LeGrand Toia.
The team will be missing two defensive starters to injury for the first game. Junior linebacker Landon Stice is out with a broken hand and senior safety Arnold Lopez will miss the game with a torn ACL.
In a game filled with firsts, one first will be available to fans at home. Despite the game not being broadcast on television, it will be viewable online through Pluto TV.
Pluto TV is a free online service where fans can watch the games on their computers and smart TVs. For streaming the game, fans can still use watchbigsky.com — the site will stay up in conjunction with Pluto.
