The handful of loyal fans watching Weber State Saturday afternoon might have wondered if there were any better teams in Division I-AA football.
In defeating Sacramento State 52-14 before 4,011 at Stewart Stadium, the Wildcats looked like world-beaters. The offense sparkled in producing seven touchdowns and 556 yards. The defense came up with four interceptions and swarmed all over the Hornets, stopping them cold before allowing a couple of meaningless fourth-quarter touchdowns.OK, so maybe Sacramento State did come in with a 1-7 mark with one of the worst defenses in I-AA football. But it made little difference to the Wildcats who kept their record perfect at home, in improving to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the Big Sky.
"We got a little rhythm going on offense and the defense played really tough," said Weber State coach Dave Arslanian. "We had some players stepping up and making some plays."
In an effort to "stir things up on offense," Arslanian started freshman Josh Heupel at quarterback and Bryan Rubin at running back, in place of Steve Buck and Derek Poole, respectively. Buck couldn't play because of a concussion and Poole had missed a few days of practice with an illness. But after the way Heupel and Rubin performed, Arslanian may have a hard time keeping them out of the lineup the rest of the season.
Heupel completed 24 of 45 passes for 321 yards and a touchdown, while Rubin rushed for 74 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown.
"It was great to be out there after basically sitting out for two years," said Heupel, a former South Dakota player of the year, who redshirted last year. "The offensive line and wide receivers did a great job and made it easier for me."
The Wildcat defense was superb, holding Sac State to a mere 93 yards through three quarters, before the Hornets piled up some yards against a lot of the Weber reserves.
"We just came out knowing that the only thing left to play for was our pride," said Wildcat safety Scott Shields. "We came out and played for fun and had a helluva game."
The first Wildcat touchdown was set up by the Wildcat defense as Adam Casto tackled the Sacramento punter, forcing a short punt that was returned to the Hornet 30-yard line. A 28-yard pass to Richard Clarke set up a 2-yard TD run by Derek Poole.
In the second quarter, Heupel led the Wildcats on two long touchdown drives covering 86 and 80 yards. The scores came on a 3-yard touchdown run by Rubin and another 2-yard run by Poole.
Then Shields intercepted a tipped pass and ran it 37 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-0. On the play, Shields broke two Wildcat career records with his 16th career interception and became the all-time leading scorer with 237 points. Before halftime, the do-everything Shields added a 24-yard field goal.
In the third quarter, Heupel connected on his first career touchdown pass, hitting tight end Cam Quayle over the middle for a 27-yard score.
The Wildcats, who are 0-4 on the road this season, play their final road game this week against Montana in Missoula.
*****
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Big Sky standings
Conf. Overall
Team W L W L
E. Wash. 7 1 9 1
Montana St. 4 2 5 4
N. Arizona 4 3 6 4
Montana 3 2 5 3
Weber St. 3 3 5 4
Portland St. 3 3 4 5
CS-North. 2 3 5 5
CS-Sacra. 1 5 1 7
Idaho St. 1 5 2 7
Saturday's games
Weber St. 52, Sacramento St. 14
Cal Poly-SLO 20, Montana St. 19
Montana at Portland St. (late)
E. Washington 31, N. Arizona 14
CS Northridge 31, Idaho St. 22