The past few weeks, I’ve wondered what has happened to the Weber State University football team.
I remember a few weeks ago, jumping up and down in my living room after senior linebacker Garrett Beck strip-sacked University of Montana quarterback Logan Fife to seal the overtime victory for the Wildcats. I thought to myself, “If we can beat Montana (the defending Big Sky Conference Champions), we can beat anyone — the rest of our conference slate.”
After taking down the top of the Big Sky, the Wildcats returned home the following week to face the bottom of the Big Sky, the University of Northern Colorado Bears. The Bears had not won a game in 700 days, and hadn’t beaten Weber since 2012. However, during that week, I had a bad feeling about the game: a voice in the back of my head, a sick feeling in my stomach.
As I stood in the student section, I witnessed our quarterback Richie Muñoz, coming off throwing six touchdown passes in the toughest stadium to play in the Football Championship Subdivision, struggling to hold on to the ball against arguably the worst team in the FCS. I knew something was wrong.
As the final interception was thrown to seal the game for the Bears, I sat on the bleacher with my face in my hands. Any chance we had at the playoffs was most likely gone.
What happened next ruined my sanity. A near comeback against Sacramento State University, in which the Wildcats had three chances to score from the one yard line and only could muster a field goal, mixed with a missed field goal to lose the game.
A game against Northern Arizona University, where the Lumberjacks had a 21–0 lead against the Wildcats with nine minutes left in the first quarter.
A game against Idaho State University, where the Bengals defeated the Wildcats in Ogden for the first time since 1984, to take the rivalry trophy that hadn’t been played for since 1975.
Prior to the Northern Arizona game, the combined score of Weber’s FCS losses was 10 points.
There is so much talent on this team. The running back room is arguably the best in the FCS, with star junior Damon Bankston rushing for 1,000 yards this season, along with the emergence of true freshman Davion Godley, who has produced a 500-yard season himself.
The same goes for the wide receiver room, led by senior Jacob Sharp, who is third in the conference in receiving yards and second in receiving touchdowns.
It seems as though the offense and defense can never be on the same page. We saw in the game against NAU, the defense only allowed six points after the first five minutes of the game, but the offense could only get 6 points. However, the following week against Idaho State, where Muñoz threw for over 300 yards and four touchdowns, along with Godley’s first 100-yard rushing game, but the defense allowed 340-passing-yards from the Bengals.
Some like to think coaching is the problem. Calls to fire second-year head coach Mickey Mental increase by the week.
Is it injuries? The Wildcats have dealt with a myriad of injuries, from linebackers Jayden Ah You and Beck, to offensive linemen Vai Soifua and Lavaka Taukeiaho and even, just recently, star running back Damon Bankston.
Or is it the players? Or maybe the execution? Have the players given up?
As I sat in a student section that was outnumbered by an opposing student section in our own stadium, my mind was running with questions.
How can a team who won four straight conference titles and just last year was ranked No. 9 in the country fall to this level so quickly?
I do not know the answer to those questions. What I do know is there is a great team, somewhere in there. It is a young team. It’s a team that, if they stick together after this season, should see success in the future, whether that be next year, in my final year at Weber, or after I leave.
