# 2018 Weber State Wildcats football team

The 2018 Weber State Wildcats football team represented Weber State University in the 2018 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. They finished the season 10–3, 7–1 in Big Sky play to finish in a three-way tie for the Big Sky championship with Eastern Washington and UC Davis. They received the Big Sky's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs where, after a first round bye, they defeated Southeast Missouri State in the second round before losing in the quarterfinals to Maine.

## Preseason
### Polls

On July 16, 2018, during the Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington, the Wildcats were predicted to finish in second place by both the coaches and media.
Coaches poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Eastern Washington | 134 (6) |
| 2 | Weber State | 124 (3) |
| 3 | Northern Arizona | 121 (3) |
| 4 | Idaho | 101 (1) |
| 5 | Sacramento State | 94 |
| 6 | Southern Utah | 91 |
| 7 | Montana | 82 |
| 8 | Montana State | 76 |
| 9 | UC Davis | 64 |
| 10 | Cal Poly | 40 |
| 11 | Northern Colorado | 30 |
| 12 | Idaho State | 29 |
| 13 | Portland State | 21 |
Media poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Eastern Washington | 651 (27) |
| 2 | Weber State | 636 (19) |
| 3 | Northern Arizona | 535 (1) |
| 4 | Montana | 496 (2) |
| 5 | Idaho | 483 (3) |
| 6 | Southern Utah | 449 (1) |
| 7 | Sacramento State | 415 |
| 8 | Montana State | 391 (1) |
| 9 | UC Davis | 331 (1) |
| 10 | Idaho State | 170 |
| 11 | Cal Poly | 169 |
| 12 | Northern Colorado | 166 |
| 13 | Portland State | 103 |

### Preseason All-Conference Team

The Wildcats had a conference leading six players selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.
Iosua Opeta – Sr. OT
Trey Tuttle, – So. K
Rashid Shaheed – So. KR
Jonah Williams – Jr. DE
LeGrand Toia, – Sr. LB
Brady May – Sr. ST Specialist

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| August 30 | 6:00 p.m. | at Utah* | No. 8 | Rice-Eccles StadiumSalt Lake City, UT | P12N | L 10–41 | 45,988 |
| September 8 | 7:00 p.m. | at Cal Poly* | No. 10 | Alex G. Spanos StadiumSan Luis Obispo, CA | Pluto TV 244 | W 24–17 | 6,020 |
| September 15 | 6:00 p.m. | No. 22 South Dakota* | No. 11 | Stewart StadiumOgden, UT | Pluto TV 235 | W 27–10 | 8,455 |
| September 22 | 6:00 p.m. | Northern Colorado | No. 7 | Stewart StadiumOgden, UT | Pluto TV 235 | W 45–28 | 8,668 |
| October 6 | 2:30 p.m. | at Northern Arizona | No. 6 | Walkup SkydomeFlagstaff, AZ | ELVN | L 24–28 | 10,000 |
| October 13 | 4:00 p.m. | No. 4 Eastern Washington | No. 13 | Stewart StadiumOgden, UT | ELVN | W 14–6 | 8,211 |
| October 20 | 4:00 p.m. | Montana State | No. 7 | Stewart StadiumOgden, UT | ATTRM | W 34–24 | 8,062 |
| October 27 | 1:00 p.m. | at No. 22 North Dakota | No. 4 | Alerus CenterGrand Forks, ND | Pluto TV 240 | W 35–30 | 8,650 |
| November 3 | 12:00 p.m. | Sacramento State | No. 4 | Stewart StadiumOgden, UT | Pluto TV 235 | W 26–14 | 7,857 |
| November 10 | 5:00 p.m. | at Southern Utah | No. 3 | Eccles ColiseumCedar City, UT (Beehive Bowl) | ELVN | W 31–18 | 7,415 |
| November 17 | 2:30 p.m. | at Idaho State | No. 3 | Holt ArenaPocatello, ID | Pluto TV 243 | W 26–13 | 10,077 |
| December 1 | 2:00 p.m. | No. 20 Southeast Missouri State* | No. 3 | Stewart StadiumOgden, UT (FCS Playoffs Second Round) | ESPN3 | W 48–23 | 8,838 |
| December 7 | 6:00 p.m. | No. 12 Maine | No. 3 | Stewart StadiumOgden, UT (FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals) | ESPN2 | L 18–23 | 7,726 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Mountain time ||||||||
* Source: Official Schedule
Despite also being a member of the Big Sky, the game against Cal Poly was considered a non-conference matchup having no effect on conference standings.

## Game summaries
### At Utah

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 8 Wildcats | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Utes | 7 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 41 |

### At Cal Poly

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 10 Wildcats | 7 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 24 |
| Mustangs | 0 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 17 |

### South Dakota

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 22 Coyotes | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 10 |
| No. 11 Wildcats | 11 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 27 |

### Northern Colorado

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 7 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 28 |
| No. 7 Wildcats | 14 | 7 | 14 | 10 | 45 |

### At Northern Arizona

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 6 Wildcats | 0 | 8 | 13 | 3 | 24 |
| Lumberjacks | 7 | 0 | 14 | 7 | 28 |

### At Eastern Washington

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 13 Wildcats | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| No. 4 Eagles | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |

### Montana State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bobcats | 7 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 24 |
| No. 7 Wildcats | 0 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 34 |

### At North Dakota

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 4 Wildcats | 7 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 35 |
| No. 22 Fighting Hawks | 0 | 20 | 3 | 7 | 30 |

### Sacramento State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Hornets | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| No. 4 Wildcats | 3 | 10 | 13 | 0 | 26 |

### At Southern Utah

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 3 Wildcats | 7 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 31 |
| Thunderbirds | 6 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 18 |

### At Idaho State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 3 Wildcats | 3 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 26 |
| Bengals | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 13 |

## FCS Playoffs
### Southeast Missouri State–Second Round

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 20 Redhawks | 7 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 23 |
| No. 3 Wildcats | 0 | 27 | 7 | 14 | 48 |

### Maine–Quarterfinals

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 12 Black Bears | 0 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 23 |
| No. 3 Wildcats | 0 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 18 |

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final |
| STATS FCS | 8 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Coaches | 8 | 13 | 13 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 |