GAME DAY GRADES: Weber State @ Portland State

Photo Credit: Robert Casey, Weber State Athletics

Weber State added to their nation-leading road winning streak on Saturday with a dominant 42-7 performance against the Portland State Vikings up in Hillsboro. Our panel share their grades and what they might mean for the next critical three weeks for the Wildcats.

Colby

Offense: A-

Another balanced outing from the Wildcat offense with 269 yards rushing and 286 yards passing. Seven Wildcats were in double digits receiving, continuing to show that QB Bronson Barron gets more comfortable in OC Mickey Mental’s system. Barron now ranks 4th in the conference for passing yards, just 20 yards behind Eastern Washington’s Gunner Talkington. Imagine saying a thing like that in the previous two seasons. The passing game has come a long way. In addition, we had a Kris Jackson sighting, racking up 77 yards on 6 carries (a whopping 12.8 yards per carry!) and terrific outings by Dontae McMillan and Damon Bankston. If there’s a criticism it’s penalties (11 for 90 yards) and the interception. Clean those things up and we’ve got a chance to be special.

Defense: A-

The defense handled Chachere exactly how we expected, keeping him contained and applying enough pressure to force him into making quick decisions (and mistakes). Chachere ended the day with just 167 yards passing on 29 attempts (an average of 5.7 yards/throw). Also as expected, Chachere led the Vikings in rushing yards, but it was just 20 yards net on 19 attempts. The Vikings tried a similar system to Davis, going for quick strikes to move the chains, but the Wildcat secondary was ready, allowing only 125 yards on 17 completions if you remove the one 42-yard strike from first team All-Big Sky receiver Beau Kelly. The defensive line also got home for 4 sacks, 1.5 of those going to sophomore LB turned DE Jack Kelly with the K-town power (as Tony Parks says). For all intents and purposes, this game was a shutout by the defense. The touchdown came in garbage time with the two’s and three’s on the field while PSU kept their first team guys playing. If we were to complain, that might be where we do it.

Special Teams: A

Nothing really to complain about on special teams. There was no need to kick a field goal in this one and the punting was on point. Kick returns averaged 23 yards and punt returns just 4. There was a ton of wind at the stadium, so the low punt return number is understandable. One item to keep an eye on is any news that the team shares in the coming days about Haze Hadley. His injury looked serious, but we’re hoping to see him back on the field soon. He’s been phenomenal this season on punt returns.

Stephen

Offense: B+

Ok, let's start off by saying once again this team was really really good. But, there were a lot of penalties and a ton of missed opportunities. The next 3 weeks are going to be very, very tough. The schedule is unkind… but if we want to walk out 9-0 heading into ISU and NAU then we need to clean up the little things. We can’t commit so many penalties. 11 total penalties is a very large number. This team looks great. If Josh is healthy we have 3 running backs that could start at most schools and then add in Kris Jackson and we are scary good. Let’s hope Haze Hadley isn’t badly hurt (though not optimistic there). T-Mac is doing the things we expected of him and Jacob Sharp has been incredible.

Defense: A

The first 4th quarter touchdown sucked. But it was against the backups. Let’s move on. This team is good and knows how to play big. I really don’t have much to critique here.

Special Team: Incomplete

Look, they fixed a lot of issues from the past weeks. But so much is thrown out if Haze is hurt. In a situation where they probably didn’t need to have him A) return the ball or B) even be out on the field. I’m excited to see how they continue to grow, but the potential of losing Haze for the season is a lot to consider.