Weber State football hits the road for its first game outside the state of Utah this season, heading to face Cal Poly for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday.

On the surface, facing a struggling Cal Poly (1-3, 0-1 Big Sky) team who got hammered three times in the spring season before dropping out, and has been hammered this season by South Dakota and Montana (with a win against San Diego), should be a winning proposition for the No. 19 Wildcats (1-3, 0-1).

But games aren’t played on paper, as they say.

Or, as WSU head coach Jay Hill says about his team: “The reality is, being 1-3, you can’t overlook anybody.”

In the polls, WSU has losses to No. 3 and No. 8, and Cal Poly has a loss to No. 4.

“In this league, if you don’t show up ready to go, anybody can get you. They’re talented enough on both sides of the ball that if you’re not ready to go, they’ll get you,” Hill said.

One thing that stood out to Hill is Cal Poly’s defense. The Mustangs lost 39-7 in Missoula, but only 17 Griz points were scored by its offense against CP’s defense; Montana got a kick return for a touchdown, an interception return for a touchdown, and blocked a punt and recovered it for a touchdown.

“They’ll fly around and hit you and do some good things. They went up to Montana and I thought their defense played good,” Hill said.

Those other three scores, however, highlight where WSU has an opportunity to make progress after losing the turnover battle against both James Madison and UC Davis.

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Cal Poly’s offense has played seven games under head coach Beau Baldwin, the former national champion head coach at Eastern Washington who worked as an offensive coordinator at Cal for three seasons before returning to the Big Sky to be a head coach in San Luis Obispo.

It’s still a work in progress for the former triple-option team now running a spread passing attack. The Mustangs opened the season with a 28-17 win over a struggling San Diego team, then scored 14 points against South Dakota and seven against Montana.

In a reversal, Cal Poly is averaging 258 passing yards per game to just 52 yards per game on the ground. Three quarterbacks have shared reps through four games, and the depth chart attached to this week’s game notes for the Mustangs lists seven quarterbacks, with freshman Khaliq Paulette at the top.

Paulette has been the least efficient of the three, throwing 22 of 50 for 221 yards, one touchdown and one interception over three games. Sophomore Spencer Brasch, listed second to last on the depth chart, has thrown the most passes for Cal Poly; he’s 41 of 71 for 528 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

Junior Conor Bruce, listed a the bottom of the seven QBs on the depth chart, has seen the field in two games, throwing 19 of 33 for 252 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Whoever’s tossing the rock will be looking for Fresno State graduate transfer Chris Coleman frequently. Coleman probably has the best talent of skill players offensively and has 17 catches for 224 yards and three touchdowns over four games. Michael Briscoe has been a big-play threat, racking up 199 receiving yards on nine catches, or 22.1 yards per reception.

Weakside linebacker Matt Shotwell, a senior, leads the CP defense with 36 tackles and freshman defensive end Elijah Ponder has two sacks.

SERIES HISTORY

Weber State leads the all-time series 9-6, with four consecutive wins and a 4-1 mark under Hill. Games have typically been low-scoring recently, with WSU claiming wins of 22-15, 17-3 and 24-17 before a 41-24 decision in 2019.

The last time WSU played at Cal Poly was the 24-17 win in 2018, which was freshman Josh Davis’ breakout game, his first career start, in which he rushed for 177 yards.

ODDS & PREDICTIONS

Jeff Sagarin, longtime college football computer ratings guru, ranks all of FBS and FCS together. His system ranks Weber State 117th nationally and Cal Poly 218th.

Using his prediction formula and accounting for home-field advantage, Weber State is favored by 19 points.

WEATHER

Rarely is there a bad time to take a football trip to Cal Poly, and this week appears to fall in line. Saturday’s high in San Luis Obispo, California, is forecast to be 82 degrees and perfectly sunny, with temperatures in the low 70s by the time kickoff arrives.

TV & RADIO

No. 19 Weber State and Cal Poly kick off at 6:30 p.m. — game time was moved back 30 minutes earlier this week to help account for a firework show at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.

The game will be video streamed on the subscription ESPN+ service, available on the ESPN mobile/streaming app or at espn.com/watch.

Tony Parks and Jerry Graybeal have the Weber State radio call on 103.1 FM or 1031thewave.com

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