Preview: No. 13 Weber State football opens 2023 season with Central Washington
-
- Weber State defenders Jack Kelly (17) and Maxwell Anderson (3) sack Western Oregon quarterback Kainoa Jones in a college football game Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
The cold of winter, spring camp, summer conditioning, fall camp and significant stadium renovations later, college football has finally arrived in Ogden again.
No. 13 Weber State kicks off the season by hosting Central Washington, opening the Mickey Mental era with a mid-week game at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Central Washington is one of just two Division II football programs west of Texas. The other is Western Oregon, who was WSU’s opponent in last year’s opener (and faces No. 1 South Dakota State in this year’s opener). The other Division II teams in the West have gone by the wayside, either by reclassification (Utah Tech) or by suspending their program (Simon Fraser).
Mental, the coach who cut his teeth by rising through the ranks at Division II Notre Dame College, fully expects a prepared CWU team to arrive in Ogden.
The ties go deeper than that for Mental. The former D2 quarterback played under offensive coordinator Ian Shoemaker at Baldwin Wallace, who later went on to be head coach at Central Washington. Shoemaker has since left to be offensive coordinator at Eastern Washington and now Hawaii, leaving the program to Chris Fisk.
Fisk is in his fourth full season coaching the CWU Wildcats, with a 21-11 record and 15-4 mark in conference games (removing one nonconference game played in 2020). CWU finished second last year in the Lone Star Conference.
“It’s a lot like Western Oregon last year, they’re going to come in and play hard,” Mental said. “They’re well-coached … I definitely know what the program’s about and what Ian did there, and the head coach there now has taken the reins.”
Weber State’s approach is the same no matter who is on the field, Mental said.
“For me, it’s always about us. It’s never about the opponent,” he said. “You prepare the best you can and then game days, you just let it all loose, play fast, play hard, play violent, play physical and focus on taking care of the ball and the plan to win.”
NO EAST SIDE, THIS TIME
Weber State’s renovations to Stewart Stadium began in the winter, tearing up the east side — the oldest remaining original “structure” on campus. A new east side, now split with a north-to-south concourse, is nearly complete but will not be open to fans for this game. All fans will sit on the west side.
Renovations also include a new artificial turf playing surface, complete with the newly updated WSU cat head logo, and a new track. The track is still under construction.
MEET THE (OTHER) WILDCATS
Central Washington’s top players are running back Tre’jon Henderson (No. 5) and defensive back Patrick Rogers (No. 0).
Henderson is a senior out of Texas, who played one season at Stephen F. Austin before rushing for 837 yards and 12 touchdowns in seven games in 2022, missing some time with an injury. He’s the Lone Star Conference’s preseason player of the year.
Rogers is from Tacoma, Washington, and was a first-team All-American last season. The sixth-year senior has seven career interceptions, including two for touchdowns, with 112 tackles and 28 pass breakups in 34 career games.
JJ Lemming (No. 16) will start at quarterback. The 6-foot-6 junior played in 18 games and started 10 over the last two seasons. In 2022, he completed 92 of 179 passes (51.4%) for 1,022 yards, eight touchdowns and five interceptions. He’ll throw to last year’s leading receiver, Marcus Cook (No. 17), who had 25 catches for 450 yards and three touchdowns in 10 games.
CWU’s leading tackler and starting defensive line are all gone from last season. Sixth-year senior linebacker Brett Accimus (No. 27) is the team’s returning leading tackler, totaling 76 last season with 4.5 for loss.
TEAM VS. TEAM METRICS
Using 2022 statistics:
Weber State’s offense averaged 35.1 points and 400 yards per game. Central Washington’s defense averages allowed 18.9 points and 307.8 yards per game in 10 games against all Division II opponents.
Central Washington’s offense averaged 26 points and 350 yards per game. Weber State’s defense allowed 20.4 points and 325 yards per game.
ODDS & PREDICTIONS
Most predictors and books don’t predict or put lines on games between FCS and Division II opponents.
Jeff Sagarin ranks Weber State No. 11 in FCS and No. 126 in all of Division I (FBS and FCS).
Bill Connelly has Weber State at No. 6 in FCS entering the season, with no prediction for this week’s game.
WEATHER
It will be typical late-August weather on Thursday, with sun and a forecasted high of 91 degrees.
It should be about 90 degrees at 6 p.m. kickoff. By game’s end, the temperature should drop to the ballpark of 80 degrees.
TV & RADIO
The game broadcast is via video stream on the ESPN+ subscription service, available on WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app on mobile or streaming devices. Tony Parks and Riley Jensen will be on the call.
The radio broadcast is on 103.1 FM in Utah and www.1031thewave.com. Craig Hislop, filling in for Steve Klauke, has play-by-play duties with Jerry Graybeal as color commentator.
ALL-TIME SERIES
This is the first all-time meeting between the two schools.