Once again, big plays were offset by big mistakes for the Weber State football team as they dropped to 0-3 so far this season with a 42-31 loss to Sacramento State.

“We were out-executed early in the game and made lots of mistakes at the wrong time that were really costly,” said Weber State head coach Jay Hill. “We have got to get tougher and handle things better. We did lots of things well on both sides of the ball, but we have to fix our mistakes.”

The Wildcats had a season high three turnovers, including two fumbles lost in the first quarter on back-to-back possessions. Weber State also recorded 70 or more penalty yards for the third consecutive game, and are now averaging just over 73 penalty yards per game.

Sophomore quarterback Billy Green led the Wildcats with a game-high 377 yards passing, completing 36 of 60 passes including a nine-yard touchdown pass on the final possession of the game for Weber State. Green became the first Weber State quarterback with 350 or more passing yards in a game since 2009, when Cameron Higgins completed 23 of 33 passes for 364 yards and four touchdowns in the Wildcats 47-14 win over Cal Poly.

Green has completed 76 passes so far this season without throwing an interception. He is the third Wildcat quarterback to complete 70 or more passes without throwing an interception to start a season going back to 1999. The other two Wildcats to do so were Tate Bennett in 2002, and more recently Mike Hoke in 2011. Hoke completed 99 passes before throwing his first interception, the most by any Weber State quarterback in that timespan.

Continuing his climb up the all-time leaderboards, senior wide receiver Shaydon Kehano caught 11 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown. His 84 yards receiving moved him up to 15th all-time in career receiving yards (1,539 career receiving yards), passing former Wildcats Joe Collins (1,501 yards 2008-10) and Curt Miller (1,501 yards 1978-81). The Wildcats were led by sophomore wide receiver Cameron Livingston who had a game-high 175 yards receiving on 10 receptions.

The Wildcats (0-3) will travel to Texas this weekend, as they face Stephen F. Austin (2-1) in the second game of their three-game road trip. Last season, Weber State defeated Stephen F. Austin 50-40 in the Wildcats’ home opener. The next home game for the Wildcats will be on Homecoming, when they host Cal Poly on Oct. 11.