No. 2 Sacramento State controls mistake-prone No. 5 Weber State football, wins 33-30
-
- Sacramento State tight end Marshel Martin (16) runs with a reception as Weber State cornerback Eddie Heckard (5) attempts to tackle him during a Big Sky Conference football game Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
-
- Weber State running back Josh Davis (20) tries to break the tackle of Sacramento State’s Prince Washington (3) as Eian Moore (0) pursues during a Big Sky Conference football game Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
-
- Weber State defensive linemen Brayden Wilson (94) and Kalisi Moli (98) drag down Sacramento State quarterback Asher O’Hara during a Big Sky Conference football game Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
-
- Weber State quarterback Bronson Barron pulls back to throw a pass during a Big Sky Conference football game against Sacramento State on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
-
- Weber State football head coach Jay Hill is seen during a Big Sky Conference game against Sacramento State on Nov. 5, 2022, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
-
- Sacramento State defensive end Ayodele Adeoye (46) rushes against Weber State offensive lineman Jake Eichorn (76) during a Big Sky Conference football game Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
-
- Weber State safety Naseme Colvin (9) smiles after making a play against Sacramento State during a Big Sky Conference football game Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
-
- Weber State receiver Jacob Sharp mimes looking at a pretend watch after catching a touchdown pass against Sacramento State during a Big Sky Conference football game Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
-
- Weber State quarterback Bronson Barron (10) prepares to receive a snap from Ethan Atagi (66) during a Big Sky Conference football game against Sacramento State on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
-
- Weber State’s Maxwell Anderson (3) takes down Sacramento State quarterback Asher O’Hara during a Big Sky Conference football game Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
-
- Sacramento State quarterback Asher O’Hara (10) tries to shake Weber State cornerback Maxwell Anderson (3) during a Big Sky Conference football game Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
-
- As rain falls, Weber State’s Raoul Johnson yells as he takes the field ahead of a Big Sky Conference football game against Sacramento State on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
OGDEN — In identical weather as its trip to Montana State a few weeks ago, too many things repeated for Weber State football on Saturday afternoon.
Sacramento State controlled a cold, rainy game early on the ground, the No. 5 Wildcats surrendered a safety on an errant punt snap again that made a big difference later, and the No. 2 Hornets made a case for being the best FCS team in the country with a 33-30 win at Stewart Stadium.
Sacramento State is now 9-0 with an FBS win and has won 17 consecutive Big Sky Conference games, now second in conference history for the longest such win streak. Head coach Troy Taylor improved to 21-1 in Big Sky games.
Weber State fell to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the Big Sky, unable to overcome dropped passes and a long-snap safety despite a late rally.
“Tough loss. I thought the guys battled all the way to the bitter end,” WSU head coach Jay Hill said. “It’s hard to come back from that many points that late in the game … The reality is, Sac State made a couple more plays early in the game, especially, than we did.
“We had our chances in all three phases to really affect the game, change the game and take momentum when we had it … but give Sac State credit. They’re a good football team and they came in here and won.”
With the weather as it was, the Hornets went with usual run-package quarterback Asher O’Hara for most of the contest and he delivered, rushing 25 times for 81 yards and throwing 10 of 13 for 162 yards and a touchdown.
O’Hara finished an 11-play, 75-yard drive that took 5:52 off the clock with a 1-yard dive to put Sacramento State up 30-14 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
With the pressure on and Weber State’s offense struggling to find consistency, WSU sophomore Abraham Williams returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown — his third time doing so this season — to make it 30-20.
Weber still faced a two-score deficit due in part to the aforementioned punt-snap safety in the second quarter. So the Wildcats went for two and did not convert, but got a second chance due to a targeting foul against Sac State. On the retry from the 1 1/2-yard line, running back Kris Jackson was stopped inches short running around the right side. The score remained 30-20.
Weber State stopped the Hornets on their next two possessions and, when the fourth quarter was over, WSU had outgained Sac State 123-33 in the frame. WSU mounted a slow, 15-play, 74-yard scoring drive that took 4:51 off the clock only to get a 21-yard field goal from Kyle Thompson after having a first-and-goal at the Sac 10.
With the score 30-23 and 4:07 remaining, Hill had a decision to make about how to handle the kickoff. Key in the decision was that Weber State had just two timeouts left and, that for all his defense’s success in the quarter, the Hornets still sported the third-best rushing offense in the country with one of the nation’s premier running backs in Cam Skattebo.
So the Wildcats attempted an onside kick, which rolled harmlessly out of bounds without going the necessary 10 yards.
“You kick off and pin them, then you’ve got a chance. That’s obviously going through my head. We had two timeouts. And then at (the last minute), I switched,” Hill explained. “I was going to kick it off deep and then I switched and thought you know what, we’ve got a chance that if we kick the onside, the defense still has a chance to get out of it … I knew that a field goal there was going to hurt. That’s the game you play. It’s right on the brink.
“If we had three timeouts, I’d have for sure kicked it deep,” Hill continued. “I don’t know if there’s a right or wrong answer; it’s easy to second guess yourself if it didn’t work. If you get the onside, you go down and score a touchdown and you win, then it’s sweet.”
Skattebo picked up 14 yards on two carries but the Weber defense stood firm from there, forcing Sacramento State into a 53-yard field goal attempt. Kyle Sentkowski booted it through, making it 33-23 with 1:56 left.
Still, Weber rallied. After a Bronson Barron QB scramble picked up a first down, Barron fired to Ty MacPherson for 18 yards and Jacob Sharp for 13 to get deep into Sac State territory.
But once the Wildcats were on the doorstep to score, the Hornets committed defensive pass interference penalties on three straight throws into the end zone. The negligible yardage surrendered was worth the time each play took off the clock so, when Barron finally punched in a 1-yard QB sneak, it was 33-30 with only 16 seconds left in the game.
Sac State recovered the ensuing onside kick and that was the ballgame.
Skattebo totaled 65 yards on 15 carries for the Hornets. Jake Dunniway added 5-of-9 passing for 65 yards and a TD, with 74 yards going to Pierre Williams and 70 to Marshel Martin.
Dontae McMillan led Weber State’s ground game with 17 carries for 73 yards. Josh Davis returned from an ankle injury and ran hard in the first half, totaling 60 yards on 12 carries, but did not take a handoff in the second half due to a “flare up” of his ankle injury, Hill said.
Barron was an inefficient 15 of 38 for 153 yards — some due to his own inaccuracy, some to receiver drops, and some due to pressure up front making it difficult for him to settle in. MacPherson totaled 89 yards on seven catches and Sharp had 29 yards on four receptions.
Desmond Williams led Weber State with 13 tackles, and Raoul Johnson and Winston Reid each had 10.
In the end, Sacramento State outgained Weber State 431-319.
Sacramento State struck first in a quick first quarter by driving 83 yards in 14 plays over 5:59 of game time. O’Hara hit Williams on a 27-yard pass to set himself up for a 3-yard rushing touchdown, making it 7-0 with 7:40 left in the first frame.
Weber answered with a prolonged drive of its own, taking 16 plays and 6:37 to go 75 yards. WSU finished the drive 4 of 4 on third downs when Barron found Sharp in the back of the end zone for a 3-yard passing TD to make it 7-7 with 1:03 left in the quarter.
The second quarter was full of massive momentum-shifters. Williams forced a fumble on a Skattebo rush, recovered by Reid, to set Weber State up at the Sac State 38. One first down later, Steven Shoats-Thomas fumbled it right back to the Hornets a play after Davis had hobbled off the field.
Five plays later, O’Hara fired a long pass down the middle of the field to his tight end Martin, who got behind the defense for a 48-yard touchdown reception and a 14-7 lead.
Just moments later, the horror from the four-safety long snap performance at Montana State came back. As perfect as Grant Sands was last week against Montana, he let fly one more wildly errant punt snap from the Weber 33 that sent punter Jack Burgess scrambling back into the end zone to slide and cover the ball for a safety, making it 16-7 with 6:28 left in the first half.
But whereas Montana State scored touchdowns after all four safeties two weeks ago, the Weber State defense forced a punt at midfield after this one. With 3:42 left, it took 10 plays and a fake punt for WSU to go from its own 9 to just across midfield, eventually turning the ball over on downs to end the first half.
MacPherson made a great, leaping grab for an 18-yard gain on third down to keep a WSU third-quarter drive alive. Jackson rushed for 4 yards on a fourth-and-1, setting up Barron to hit a rolling Justin Malone to the right of the field. He walked in a 14-yard TD reception, making it 16-14 with 8:44 left in the third.
The hopes that the game was back on were quickly dashed, however. Sacramento State needed only six plays to go 75 yards for an answer, and it was Dunniway backpedaling to avoid pressure and flipping a 9-yard TD pass to Martin to regain the two-score advantage at 23-14.
WSU had a chance to answer before the busy fourth quarter but one of several drops, perhaps the most impactful, came on a third-and-10 from the Weber 19. Barron had plenty of time to throw long, finding Sharp beating his defender 50 yards downfield. But Sharp bobbled the catch near the Sac State 30, giving Hornets defensive back Patrick Dean a window to jam his way in and grab the ball for an interception.
The game made it 3 for 3 in games Saturday for the nation’s top three ranked teams surviving a challenge by a three-point margin.
No. 3 Montana State got a miracle long-bomb throw on third down from Tommy Mellott to Taco Dowler, setting up the Bobcats for a field goal as time expired to win 41-38 at Northern Arizona.
In Cedar Falls, Iowa, No. 1 South Dakota State missed a field goal as time expired only to get a re-kick due to a Northern Iowa leaping penalty; SDSU put in the second field-goal attempt and won 31-28.
Sacramento State’s case for No. 1 now includes a comparatively better win at Northern Iowa, a 37-21 victory in Week 3. Weber State, meanwhile, likely saw its hopes of a top-four playoff seed end Saturday, but a first-round bye and top-eight seed still seem very much on the table.
Weber State next hosts Idaho State (1-8, 1-5) at 1 p.m. on Nov. 12 for the final home game of the regular season.