In a very odd year where the best FBS teams in Utah recorded .500 records and have their bowl berths in jeopardy, one might want to flock to the very south to see a college football game with championship implications. In October the Beehive State went several weeks without any of its three FBS recording one single win. This pales in comparison to a year where Weber State had its winningest season in school history after recording it’s 11th win in 13 games as they beat SUU in a attendance record setting crowd in Cedar City on Saturday night.
On most given days the FBS schools would easily beat these smaller schools in an FCS matchup. However, if Weber State and SUU has some of the recruiting advantage that an FBS team has then we might be telling a different story. It’s no surprise that even BYU recognized the coaching talent of Ed Lamb at SUU as they hired the previous Thunderbirds coach in 2015. Ed now is an assistant coach on the Cougars staff.
On a conference championship night where all teams in the Beehive State were home, Weber State came alive in the second half to score 17 unanswered points to advance to win 30-13 over a Thunderbirds team that shared the Big Sky championship with its in-State rivals.
This win for the Wildcats avenged a 32-16 loss to SUU in Ogden in October 14th. The home team has had a disadvantage in this heated rivalry. Weber proves that defense wins games as they showed why they are the number one Big Sky team in points allowed as they allowed an average of just over 16 points per game.
The star of Weber State this weekend was senior quarterback Stefan Cantwell. On a night where his team was heavily losing the turnover battle, Cantwell led the purple cats to 299 passing yards while completing an accurate 63.6% of his passes. He also recorded 105 yards with his feet to record an astounding 404 yards of total offense that he was fully or at least partially responsible for.
The Weber State Wildcats face undefeated FCS powerhouse James Madison on Friday at 5 PM on ESPN2. James Madison even got a visit from the ESPN College Game Day crew early in the season to celebrate their 19 game win streak dating back to last season.
On a Sunday where big teams are getting bids to the College Football Playoff, a Cotton Bowl or a Potato Bowl, these FCS teams from the Beehive State are competing in something that 97% of FBS teams don’t get to play for: a national championship.