After a 13-7 home loss to Montana State made Weber State football’s record 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the Big Sky, the path ahead was pretty clear: to extend its streak of postseason berths to six consecutive seasons, Weber State would have to win all of its final five games.

The next week, Weber State stunned No. 2 Eastern Washington with a 35-21 lead in the fourth quarter and held on for a 35-34 road upset. Then, a 40-17 win at Idaho State.

But Portland State senior quarterback Davis Alexander stopped the run in its tracks Saturday, and the Vikings won 30-18.

Weber State is left with plenty of questions about its offense as it will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2015.

What WSU also has is a group of seniors who have given a lot to the program — Ben Bos, Conner Mortensen, Rashid Shaheed, Jared Schiess, among a great many.

Missing the playoffs matters but also doesn’t matter for Jay Hill and his Wildcats. He wants to see his team embrace the hard times and finish the season like a winning program should.

“Nobody wants to go through adversity, but adversity is a good thing in life,” Hill said after Saturday’s loss. “Right now, probably unlikely we’re going to go to the playoffs — whatever the outcome of all that stuff is, the reality is we’ve got an opportunity to have some pride about ourselves and go win, go (win) a rivalry game that’s important to us.

“Southern Utah this week. That’s all that matters is that we rebound and we’ve got an opportunity to fight through some adversity and show some toughness. Life will throw you some curveballs, and it has right now.”

So first up, a road trip to Southern Utah (1-9, 0-7 Big Sky) on Nov. 13. Weber State is playing for a rivalry win and a chance to send the Thunderbirds out of the Big Sky and into the WAC with five straight losses in the series.

Lastly is Senior Day, Nov. 20, against Northern Colorado (3-7, 2-5). Weber State is playing for its lone win at home in the season.

Wins over the next two weeks would also mean Weber State is playing for a winning record overall — 6-5 overall, 6-4 against FCS teams — and a winning record in league play at 5-3.

Two such wins would give Weber State a winning campaign, both overall and in the Big Sky, for the seventh consecutive season.

There will be questions to answer in the offseason about schemes, personnel and playcallers but, for a program that went 6-29 overall and 5-19 in the Big Sky from 2012-14, seven straight winning seasons is not nothing.

“If you learn how to get through it, you can become tougher, you can solidify yourself again as a program and as what we’re going to have coming back for next year. And they have it,” Hill said.

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