Final Perspective of WSU's 2009 Football Season.

2009 Season, 7-5 final record.  2nd in Big Sky.

9/05 At Wyoming, 29-22 loss.  This is not the same Wyoming team that is now headed to the New Mexico Bowl.  Austyn Carta-Samuels, MWC Freshman of the Year was on the bench for much of this game, and the Wyoming offense was not as productive when he was in.  That would change by the time the Cowboys hit the heart of the season.  The Weber State defense performed well and provided the team with a chance to win.  The game winning score was set up by a Cameron Higgins interception early in the third quarter.

9/12 At Colorado State, 24-23 loss.  In this game Colorado State gave a preview of how bad their season was going to be.   But WSU could not seal the deal and they fumbled away a third down stap while in position for a game winning field goal.  In a way, this game summed up the season for both teams.

9/19 vs Idaho State, 44-27 win.  Everything clicked for the 'Cats after giving up a pair of first quarter scores.

9/26 at Portland State 36-29 win.  The Vikings appeared to have this game won after coming from ten points down.  But the two-minute drill worked for Higgins and company and WSU eked out a 7 point victory.

10/3 vs Montana State, 26-21 loss.  Even though the turnover bug bit the Wildcats early and often, there was still a chance to win the game late.  But MSU snuffed out a fourth and goal as time expired.

10/10 at Eastern Washington 31-13 win.  This was the turning point of the season.  WSU was big late in the second quarter and the defense held back Matt Nicholos and Taiwan Jones for a 3-score win.

10/17 vs Sacramento State 49-10 win.  It was Tim Toone day for homecoming.  Toone would go wild for 4 touchdowns including a 95-yard punt return.

10/24 at Northern Colorado 28-20 win.  Trevyn Smith was suspended for the first half, so Freshman Bo Bolen took over in his home town.  The Wildcats hold off a Bear rally in the second half.

10/31 at Montana 31-10 loss.  It was all Grizzlies in this one from kickoff to gun and the Wildcats were never in it.  The Grizzly defense saved their best game of the season for Halloween.

11/14 vs Northern Arizona 27-9 win.  This game started just after a lake-effect snow squall hit campus.  The Lumberjacks had a 9-6 lead before Toone took another punt return to the house.  WSU would add two fourth quarter touchdowns.

11/21 vs Cal Poly 47-14 win.  WSU pad's their resume with a nice win over the usually powerful Mustangs.  Cam had his best game of the season.

FCS Playoffs.
11/28 at William and Mary 38-0 loss.  The Tribe had Cam Higgins number as if they had ESP.  They picked off the WSU QB four times.  The two first half touchdowns were pick-6 scores for the W&M defense.

Overall impression:

The first half of the season was a disappointment as the Wildcats lost two games they should have won.  Wins in those games could have provided the Wildcats with a better playoff seeding and provided for them a winnable game, perhaps even a home game.

For Next Year:

Cody Nakamura was injured early in the season and has applied for a medical red shirt.  My advice would be to use it only if it is needed for academic reasons.  But I am not prying any farther into this out of respect to his privacy.  Tyler Francisco did fine as a replacement.

Trevyn will graduate and Bo Bolen will be on a mission.  So there is a big hole at the running back position.  I hope that Coach McBride can bring some good, uncommitted local talent, like Tanner Hinds, to the team as a replacement at running back.  A selling point is that a good running back, like Hinds, would be able to play right away.  There are some other big shoes to fill.  Tim Toone, Kyle Mutcher, Beau Hadley, Kevin Linehan, Josh Morris and Mike Snoy have all finished their football careers at Weber State.  But Cam Higgins, Francisco and Mike Phillips return as well as some stars on defense.

I do not know how the 2010 schedule looks at this point.  But I know that the season ends with a trip to Lubbock, Texas to take on the Red Raiders of Texas Tech.  It will be a difficult game to make an impression on the selection committee, so WSU needs to take care of business early in the season.  I hope that there are no other FBS schools on the schedule.