2017 Weber State Wildcats football team

The 2017 Weber State Wildcats football team represented Weber State University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Wildcats were led by fourth-year head coach Jay Hill and played their games at Stewart Stadium as members of the Big Sky Conference.[1] They finished the season 11–3, 7–1 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for the Big Sky championship with Southern Utah. Due to their head-to-head loss to Southern Utah in the regular season, they did not receive the Big Sky's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs, but did receive an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs, their second straight trip to the playoffs.[2][3] In the first round, they defeated Western Illinois.[4][5][6] In the second round, they avenged their regular season loss to Southern Utah.[7][8] In the quarterfinals, they lost to eventual national runner-up, James Madison.[9][10]

2017 Weber State Wildcats football
Big Sky co-champion
FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals, L 28–31 vs. James Madison
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 5
FCS Coaches	No. 5
2017 record	11–3 (7–1 Big Sky)
Head coach	Jay Hill (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Fesi Sitake (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Jason Kaufusi (2nd season)
Home stadium	Stewart Stadium (Capacity: 17,312)

2017 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 14 Southern Utah +^		7	–	1					9	–	3
No. 5 Weber State +^		7	–	1					11	–	3
Northern Arizona ^		6	–	2					7	–	5
No. 21 Eastern Washington		6	–	2					7	–	4
Sacramento State		6	–	2					7	–	4
Montana		5	–	3					7	–	4
Montana State		5	–	3					5	–	6
UC Davis		3	–	5					5	–	6
Idaho State		2	–	6					4	–	7
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					3	–	7
North Dakota		2	–	6					3	–	8
Cal Poly		1	–	7					1	–	10
Portland State		0	–	8					0	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Wildcats finished the 2016 season 7–5, 6–2 in Big Sky play to finish in third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs, their first trip to the playoffs since 2009,[11][12] where they lost to Chattanooga in the first round.[13][14]

Schedule and results

Non-conference regular season

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	6:00 p.m.	Montana Western*		Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT	Pluto TV	W 76–0	8,882
September 9	3:00 p.m.	at California*	No. 25	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	P12N	L 20–33	36,209
September 16	7:00 p.m.	at Sacramento State*		Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	Pluto TV	W 31–24	8,365
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

Big Sky regular season

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 23	5:00 p.m.	UC Davis	No. 23	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT	KJZZ	W 41–3	9,450
September 30	1:30 p.m.	at Montana State	No. 20	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	ATTRM[15]	W 25–17	19,557
October 14	6:00 p.m.	Southern Utah	No. 18	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT (Beehive Bowl)	ELVN	L 16–32	9,135
October 21	1:30 p.m.	at Cal Poly	No. 23	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	Pluto TV	W 17–3	9,234
October 28	2:00 p.m.	No. 24 Montana		Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT	KJZZ	W 41–27	8,912
November 4	2:00 p.m.	at No. 11 Eastern Washington	No. 19	Roos Field Cheney, WA	Pluto TV	W 28–20	9,451
November 11	3:00 p.m.	at Portland State	No. 14	Providence Park Portland, OR	Pluto TV	W 63–17	3,792
November 18	2:00 p.m.	Idaho State	No. 12	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT	Pluto TV	W 35–7	9,539
Homecoming Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

FCS Playoffs

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
November 25	2:00 p.m.	No. 9 Western Illinois*	No. 11	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT (First Round)	ESPN3	W 21–19	16,876
December 2	6:00 p.m.	at No. 12 Southern Utah*	No. 11	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT (Second Round)	ESPN3	W 30–13	11,811
December 8	5:00 p.m.	at No. 1 James Madison*	No. 11	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA (Quarterfinals)	ESPN2	L 28–31	13,497
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

Despite also being a member of the Big Sky Conference, the game with Sacramento State on September 16 is considered a non-conference game.

Game summaries

Montana Western

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	0	0	0	0
Wildcats	20	28	14	14	76

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–0	2008	WEB, 62–6

at California

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Wildcats	10	10	0	0	20
Golden Bears	7	10	0	16	33

See also: 2017 California Golden Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	16	8	0	7	31
Hornets	0	14	7	3	24

See also: 2017 Sacramento State Hornets football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
13–8	2016	WEB, 14–7

UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	3	0	0	0	3
No. 23 Wildcats	17	14	10	0	41

See also: 2017 UC Davis Aggies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–2	2016	WEB, 38–35

at Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 20 Wildcats	0	9	13	3	25
Bobcats	3	7	0	7	17

See also: 2017 Montana State Bobcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
21–30–1	2016	WEB, 45–27

Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	7	13	9	3	32
No. 18 Wildcats	3	10	3	0	16

See also: 2017 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team and Beehive Bowl

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
16–7	2016	WEB, 37–36

at Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Wildcats	8	0	3	6	17
Mustangs	0	3	0	0	3

See also: 2017 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–6	2016	WEB, 22–15

Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 24 Grizzlies	0	6	7	14	27
Wildcats	10	24	0	7	41

See also: 2017 Montana Grizzlies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
14–40	2015	WEB, 24–21

at Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 19 Wildcats	0	14	7	7	28
No. 11 Eagles	7	7	0	6	20

See also: 2017 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
10–30	2015	EWU, 14–13

at Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 14 Wildcats	14	35	7	7	63
Vikings	3	0	7	7	17

See also: 2017 Portland State Vikings football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
21–14	2016	WEB, 14–10

Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	7	0	0	0	7
No. 12 Wildcats	7	14	7	7	35

See also: 2017 Idaho State Bengals football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
41–15	2016	WEB, 34–28

FCS Playoffs

Western Illinois–First Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 9 Leathernecks	3	3	6	7	19
No. 11 Wildcats	0	14	0	7	21

See also: 2017 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–2	1976	WIU, 21–19

at Southern Utah–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Wildcats	0	13	14	3	30
No. 12 Thunderbirds	10	3	0	0	13

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
16–8	10/14/17	SUU, 32–16

at James Madison–Quarterfinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Wildcats	7	0	7	14	28
No. 1 Dukes	7	3	0	21	31

See also: 2017 James Madison Dukes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	RV	25	RV	23	20	19	18	23	RV	19	14	12	11	5
Coaches	22	20	21	18	18	16	16	23	22	14	12	9	8	5

References

1. "Weber State to play at Cal, host five in 2017". STATS FCS Football. January 26, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
2. "Hosting a football playoff game is historic, but Weber State wants to do more". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
3. Wood, Trent (2017-11-19). "Weber State football: Wildcats awarded at large bid and first round match up with Western Illinois". DeseretNews.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
4. "Western Illinois vs. Weber State - Game Recap - November 25, 2017 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
5. "Leathernecks' season ends with 21-19 playoff loss". Retrieved 2018-01-18.
6. "Weber State fends off Western Illinois in FCS playoffs". FOX Sports. 2017-11-25. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
7. "Weber State vs. Southern Utah - Game Recap - December 2, 2017 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
8. "Weber State beats Southern Utah 30-13 to advance to FCS quarterfinals". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
9. Standard-Examiner. "Weber State loses heartbreaker at No. 1 James Madison on last-second field goal". Standard-Examiner. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
10. "No. 1 James Madison survives Weber State upset bid in FCS quarterfinal". SBNation.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
11. "Weber State football: Wildcats receive at-large bid to FCS playoffs". The Salt Lake Tribune. Archived from the original on 2018-01-19. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
12. "Weber State to make first FCS playoff bid since 2009 with trip to Chattanooga | KSL.com". Retrieved 2018-01-18.
13. "Weber State vs. Chattanooga - Game Recap - November 26, 2016 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
14. "Chattanooga rolls past Weber State in playoffs". The Salt Lake Tribune. Archived from the original on 2018-01-19. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
15. "BIG SKY, ROOT SPORTS ANNOUNCE CONTRACT EXTENSION, 2017 SCHEDULE". Big Sky Conference. March 21, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2017.