Football team headed to Virginia

For the fourth time in Weber State University history, the WSU Football Team is in the playoffs. WSU will be playing the College of William and Mary Tribe, which has the No. 1-ranked rushing defense in the NCAA Division I FCS. The team will head to Williamsburg, Virginia, to play CWM Saturday, Nov. 28.
CWM has only two losses in their 11 games during the season and both of these losses have come to ranked teams. No. 2 Villanova beat CWM 28-17 Saturday, Oct. 3 and No. 4-ranked Richmond defeated them 13-10 Saturday, Nov. 21.
The Tribe has only allowed 55.45 rushing yards per game. CWM isn’t just effective against the run, they are second in the country with quarterback sacks per game (3.55) and third in total defense, allowing 236.55 yards per game.
“So far from what I’ve heard they’re a pretty solid football team,” said tight end Tyrell Francisco. “They have a pretty active defensive end. He’s pretty much their guy on defense. I’m sure the coaches will have a good game plan put together for them.”
Defensive end Adrian Tracy, the player mentioned by Francisco, had 19 tackles for loss in the season for a minus 93 yards. Another player Francisco mentioned, linebacker Evan Francks, has 74 tackles in the season.
Corner Josh Morris stressed that the team is approaching the game the same as any other, and that the team’s attitude reflected that.
“Everybody’s being optimistic,” Morris said. “Everybody’s not talking too much or anything like that, I mean, we’re going into the game like a regular game. We just know that we need to play well to go on. If we don’t play well then we don’t get to play the week after. That’s the attitude everybody has because it’s go big or go home.”
WSU is averaging 420.27 yards per game, 293.91 in the air and 126.36 on the ground. Receiver Tim Toone has caught 77 passes for 1,063 yards this season, an average of just under 100 yards per game, and receiver Mike Phillips is averaging a team-high 18.3 yards per catch. Trevyn Smith is leading the team in rushing, averaging 97.9 yards per game, while backup running back Bo Bolen is averaging 40.2.
Linebacker Taylor Sedillo and safety Jordan Brown are leading the team in tackles with 99 and 90 respectively. Defensive end Kevin Linehan is leading the team in sacks with 6.5 for minus 47 yards.
Francisco said the team making it into the first round of the playoffs brings the team a step closer to accomplishing their ultimate goal: winning a national championship.
“That’s just another of our team goals,” Francisco said. “We’re just a few games away from achieving the goals we set at the beginning of the season. Step one was getting to the playoffs. Step two is getting to the national championship game. It’s really cool that we made the playoffs, we just have to come to play now.”
The Big Sky Conference has three teams representing it in the FCS playoffs, only the fifth time since 1978 that the Big Sky has sent this many teams. With the three teams (the University of Montana, Eastern Washington University and WSU) deserving to make the playoffs, there was no guarantee the Wildcats would be chosen, especially since UM was guaranteed a berth for being Big Sky Champions.
“I felt relieved,” Morris said. “I mean, it took a burden off of my shoulders. I’m guaranteed another game here at Weber State. It was a lot of relief and a lot of happiness after that.”
Their way to the playoffs hasn’t been smooth; the team has had several key injuries such as a season-ending injury to tight end Cody Nakamura, a last-minute loss to Montana State University and a blowout loss against UM. In the end though, the Wildcats did just enough to make the playoffs and to the players that’s all that matters.
“Everyone’s pumped,” Francisco said. “We made the playoffs! It’s pretty cliché, but big players come to play in these games. I love the playoffs, I mean, the playoffs to me means everybody gets exposed; there’s a lot of excitement coming into every game. Everybody knows what’s going on. Last year when we beat Cal Poly a lot of the people got excited about Weber State football and everybody was raring to go. It brings that out not just in the fans, but the players as well.”