GAME DAY: #16 WSU 'Cats @ #15 NAU 'Jacks

[weberwildcat]

Game of the week
10/25/2008 Northern Arizona Weber State Flagstaff, Ariz. 3:05 p.m.

WSU 35, NAU 24

Deciding factor is WSU won't let down the bus of students traveling to the game.


Here is how I see the rest of the 'Sky "shaking down":

10/25/2008 Northern Colorado Montana Greeley, Colo. 12:05 p.m.

Will UNC's #1 scoring defense slow down UM which looks to be on a roll? Can UNC's lack of offense get some points up this week?

UM 28, UNC 13

10/25/2008 Portland State Idaho State Portland, Ore. 1:05 p.m.

This should be the highest scoring game of the week.
PSU 38, ISU 35

10/25/2008 Sacramento State Montana State Sacramento, Calif. 2:05 p.m.

Sac is over due and still a good football team.
Sac 21, MSU 17

 

[native]

Montana at Northern Colorado: The Bergquist offense has its groove back, and the UM defense will have no problems with Northern Colorado. The Bears defense will make some plays, but a hungry Grizz team will prevail on the road by two touchdowns.

UM 28, UNC 13

Idaho State at Portland State: Biggest point total for the week. PSU wins at home.

PSU 38, ISU 28

Montana State at Sacramento State: Hornets seize the day!

CSUS 31, MSU 24

Weber State at Northern Arizona: Game of the Season for Weber, Northern Arizona ...and Montana! If the Wildcats win, they could still lose to PSU, EWU or ISU and clinch the Big Sky championship by virtue of having aready beaten Montana and NAU. If the Lumberjacks prevail, NAU takes the lead in the conference race but must face a resurgent Montana on the road, setting up the potential for a three way tie.

Against common opponents Sac State and Northern Colordao, NAU holds an advantage in turnover differential. Rushing, penalties and 3rd down conversions are roughly a draw. WSU has the edge in first downs, total yards and passing. Also, Weber has faced a tougher overall schedule.

Will these factors translate to championship poise in this make-or-break road game for WSU, or did last week's turnover jitters against UNC start a trend? Turnovers are key. If Weber State holds on to the ball, the Wildcats win in a close contest.

WSU 27, NAU 23

 

[weberwildcat]

From eGriz:

Haven't looked into either team much too yet, however this should be a very interesting matchup mainly for one reason:

1. To see how NAU preforms against real competition.

Yeah sure they're 4-0 in the conference and 7-1 overall but look at their schedule:

Only loss to Arizona St
Win over New Mexico Highlands (1-7)
Win over S. Utah (3-4)
Win over N. Colorado (1-5 / 1-2)
Win over Sac St (3-4) / 1-3)
Win over PSU (2-4 / 1-2)
Win over ISU (0-7 / 0-4)

So their best wins are over Southern Utah who they beat by 5, and Sac who had a backup DE playing QB that day by 32. Meanwhile the Griz beat both of those teams by 36 each.

The combined W-L of the teams they beat is 10-31.
The combined W-L in conference of their opponents so far is 3-11

So basically they've beat up the bottom of the leauge, meanwhile Weber has two quality wins against Montana and Montana State. I'll give NAU credit with their run defense. One other side-note. Every year that NAU plays well as they head down the stretch - then when their biggest game of the year arrives they fall flat.

I think Weber will prove they're the better team, it will probably be close, but Weber wins it going away, 31-21.

 

[weberwildcat]

WSU compared to the NAU stats above.


WSU 4-0 in the conference and 6-2 overall:

Loss to Hawaii (3-4)
Loss to Utah (8-0)
Win over Montana-Western (2-5)
Win over Dixie St (3-5)
Win over N. Colorado (1-5 / 1-2)
Win over Sac St (3-4) / 1-3)
Win over UM (6-1) / 2-1)
Win over MUS (3-4) / 1-2)

The combined W-L of the teams we beat is 29-28.
The combined W-L in conference of their opponents so far is 5-8

 

[ajwildcat]

This UNC game was the classic "trap" game, although it wasn't pretty, WSU did what they had to do to get the "W." And as far as I am concerned, the outcome of this game was never in doubt. Now that this game is behind WSU, lest go kick some Lumberjack A$$!!!

 

[WildcatMafia]

The Coaches will have the players total focus this week, and WSU typically doesn't play real well in Flagstaff, BUT this group of Wildcats are different. WSU is gonna go down to Flagstaff and show just how over-rated NAU is. Im saying WSU defense is going to physically man-handle the jacks, punch them in the face and steal their ladies.
The "O" will run circles around NAU down there on that turf.
YOu heard it here first
WSU 42
NAU 28

 

[demonofdarkness]

Get your Rolaids Ready.

 

[ajwildcat]

Rolaids? do you mean Pepto? for the NAU fans? Cuz they are gonna have an upset stomach after watching the Lumberjacks get a beat down.
GO WILDCATS!!!

 

[ogdengodfather]

IM GONNA SAY WSU BY +17

 

[n.ogdencat]

This game, could be one of the biggest, and most important, games in Weber State Football History. It would be awesome to have a huge number of Wildcats at the Dome on Saturday afternoon. With that being said, Weber does not have a great history of playing in domes, especially the Walkup Sky Dome! HOwever, I'm not worried, this team has demonstrated the ability to play on any surface in any condition, and be successful.

 

[ajwildcat]

I do agree that WSU doesn't have a great history in Domes, except at HOLT Arena, the way WSU plays up there it might as well be a home game for WSU. Hopefully WSU can start to have that dominance down in Flagstaff.

 

[weberwildcat]

I do agree that WSU doesn't have a great history in Domes, except at HOLT Arena, the way WSU plays up there it might as well be a home game for WSU. Hopefully WSU can start to have that dominance down in Flagstaff.

A little off the subject but isn't the definition of an arena - having seating on every side of the stage or field? I think they should just call it Holt Hanger or LOLt Hanger.

 

[ajwildcat]

OR you could just call it CRAP HOLE HANGER. At least NAU's place is a lot nicer than that POS in Pokatato.

 

[weberwildcat]

Weber @ NAU - In another thread I'd already discussed that NAU has not beat a single good team yet. I'm throwing out all stats in this game b/c I need the Lumberjacks to make a statement, and in facing Weber will be the first of a string of tests for NAU. Will it be an advantage for NAU that the game is in Flagstaff? Probably not, Weber put 52 up on ISU's crappy turf, NAU had a measly 5800 at their last game, and Weber has just as much team speed. The big question mark is about NAU's rush D, is it for real? Or will tough-nosed Trevyn Smith bust it open? On the other hand Weber has come off two big emotional wins, beating teams they normally don't, Montana and Montana State, and then made tons of mistakes and out-gained UNC by a vast majority but only won by 7. For parity's sake an NAU win would be great for Griz fans, however I firmly believe that Weber is for real, NAU is not - Wildcats win it by passing and running as NAU falls flat in their biggest game of the season; 31-21.

 

[smjcpa1]

I sure hope that NAU falls flat, but not going to count on it. Especially when you look at the history of WSU in Flagstaff. I think that it will come down to who can take care of the ball, and a field goal.
WSU 24
NAU 21

 

[demonofdarkness]

Rolaids? do you mean Pepto? for the NAU fans? Cuz they are gonna have an upset stomach after watching the Lumberjacks get a beat down.
GO WILDCATS!!!

Oh, don't get me wrong. I want the Wildcats to win big time. It's just been a long long drought and my cynicism still lingers somewhat. I'm concerned about the NAU game based on last Saturday's performance against UNC. I listened to coach Mac's worries during the post game show. We gotta bring to Flagstaff what we had against Montana and Montana State. If we do that we should be fine.

WSU 28
NAU 21

Go Cats!!!

 

[weberwildcat]

From BigSkyfans.com:

WSU @ NAU - without a doubt the game of the week. Good chance this could be the game of the year also. A lot on the line for both of these teams. I think this will be a really good game. From what I've seen WSU might bring a bit more to the table but that is probably offset by going on the road. Frankly a tough one to pick but I'll go with WSU by 3.

 

[weberwildcat]

From NAU Fans Forum:

Saturday, October 25th, 3:05 pm PST

This should be a good one. Then again, I said the same about Portland State, Idaho State and Sacramento State. I was wrong all three times. I'd be thrilled to continue being wrong and have NAU win by 32, 20 or 22 going away. My heart wants this will happen. My brain says it won't.

Weber State is good. Damned good. Their running back's a fire hydrant with legs and put a hurt on a good Grizzly defense. There won't be any holding the opposing team to negative rushing yardage this weekend. I think the Jacks will be able to limit Trevyn's effectiveness and possibly hold him under 100 yards. Weber's QB, Higgins, impressed me in the two partial games I saw on tv when Weber State played UM and MSU. He'll get his yards too. Lots of small, quick receivers.

Their defense if solid and will come to play but I say we have a slight edge there. Weber's been tested with a tougher schedule to this point. Two BCS schools, U Hawai'i and U Utah, on the road ending in losses and Montana win at home. The start and end of our tough schedule to this point has been ASU on the road. NAU's had it relatively easy up to this point. Advantage there to Weber State.

Weber State kept their game against Northern Colorado close courtesy of a slew of turnovers and penalties. NAU struggled against Northern Colorado too. Similar weaknesses on both teams, perhaps?

Predict the winner of this game is the team to make the fewest mistakes on special teams and limit the turnovers/penalties.

Final Score: Lumberjacks 33
Wildcats 29

These two teams control their own destinies in the conference. Here's hoping for a well played, injury free competitive game.

Go Jacks!

MTJack

PS - Give a shout out to the Purple Pack (Weber State student booster bus) as well. They deserve props for making the long trip to support their school.

Side note:
Holy crap, I just took the time to look over the NAU roster and am stumped at how few seniors are on this team. Albeit, they do lose a lot of starters/contributors in that senior bunch but I'd have to say that this bodes well for the immediate future.

 

[purplefogdog]

PURE SWEETNESS!!!

 

[weberwildcat]