Weber State Football...End of Season Review and Grades.

WSU Season in review:

SFA

The season started with a bang and faded quickly.  There was some optimism in Ogden after the Wildcats put up 50 on Stephen F. Austin.  The offense was clicking, and there were points scored on special teams and by the defense.  As it turned out SFA was simply looking past WSU, and they nearly came all the way back in the 2nd half.  SFA had cut a big WSU lead to just 7 points by the 4th quarter.  The second half was an unfortunate harbinger of things to come.

Utah and Utah State

It has been the norm for WSU to take on 2 FBS opponents near the beginning of the season, but not two quality teams like Utah and Utah State.  After surrendering 140 points in two weeks, while scoring only 14, the team was bruised, beat up and any confidence gained in the SFA game was gone.

Rest of the season

Up until the Idaho State game, it was one thing after another for the Wildcats.  On games #2 through #11, the closest WSU had to a win was a 1 touchdown loss to Southern Utah.  The rest of the games were over by the halfway point of the 3rd quarter.  Often before that.  For the Stephen F. Austin, Southern Utah and Idaho State games, WSU's average points for were 34 and points against were 24.  That would probably get you to .500 in the Big Sky Conference.  The other 9 games WSU's average points for were 10 and average points against were 47.

Jody Sears and Jerry Bovee

Sears contract states that if his team failed to win 4 games this season, he could be fired without a buyout.  Sears will likely be working somewhere else next year.  But much of the blame for the way the season worked out is on the back of athletic director Jerry Bovee.  He needs to be shown the door as well.  Football is not the only sport that is struggling right now.  WSU, which is normally in contention for the Big Sky Conference President's trophy, is struggling in all sports right now, with only a couple of exceptions.  There have only been three conference championships in the past two seasons.  One by the Women's Soccer team and two by the Women's Cross County team.  The futility in sports has been highlighted by the dismal performance in Football and in Women's basketball who failed to win a single game last season, and who still haven't defeated another Division I school since the 2011/12 season.

In Football, the athletic director is the one who sets the schedule.  In recent seasons, with the two Jerrys, Graybeal and Bovee setting the schedule, the football program has been more about earning money for the rest of the athletic department than it has been about setting a realistic schedule.  The entire athletic department is suffering as a result.

Offense:

There was an explosion of points in the Stephen F. Austin game at the beginning of the season, but many of those points were on special teams and on defense.  There were also a lot of points in the 4th quarter of the Idaho State game.  Between those high points, the offense was the definition of anemic.  The starting quarterback, Jordan Adamczyk, was lost for the season.  WSU was near the bottom of the FCS in nearly every offensive category.  But it all began with a porous offensive line, and that is where Weber State will need to improve most over the off-season.

Grade: D-

Defense:

10 of 12 opponents that WSU faced in 2013 scored at least 30 points.  8 scored more than 40.  You don't win a lot of games when teams score on you like that.  With even an average FCS defense and this offense, WSU could have won perhaps 2 more games this season (Portland State and Southern Utah).  This is probably the #1 reason why Jody Sears, a defensive specialist will not return in 2014. 

Grade: F

Special Teams:

When the kickers got the chance to show their stuff, they were accurate, and not many were missed.  And some of the few touchdowns for the team in 2013 were scored on kick returns.  However, to call special teams the sole bright spot would be giving them too much credit.  But, they were better than average.

Grade: B-

Outlook for next season.

WSU may have been dismal this season, but they are also young.  WSU has been affected as much by the LDS mission age change as any other school, and probably won't realistically see relief until 2015, once returning missionaries have been home for a year.  However, they should probably forget trying to schedule 2 FBS opponents next year, unless one of them is (sorry Vandal fans) Idaho.  A lot of what could happen next season will depend on how badly WSU gets beat up in their non-conference games.  They have 2 games left to schedule.

WSU graduated 12 seniors and had 20 sophomores on the roster.  You will also notice that not many of the 34 freshmen on the roster are from Utah.  This is a result of the LDS church change in age for missionaries.  The experience the sophomores had this season will help.  Of the 12 seniors, only 3 were defensive starters.  WSU should be better on defense next season.

As for who should coach next year, some insiders consider, ironically, former Idaho head coach Robb Akey, a WSU alum from the Mike Price era as the front runner to coach next season.  Others name SUU defensive coordinator Justin Ena, a BYU alum who played under LaVell Edwards as the most likely to come north to Ogden.  I would like to see Nick Howell, a WSU alum from the Ron McBride era and Ogden native to come and turn WSU around.  However, it is unlikely that WSU could pay Howell enough to take the job.

Wildcat MVPs

Offensive MVP: RB Bo Bolen (Jr.)
Defensive MVP: LB Anthony Morales (Sr.)
Special Teams MVP: PK Sean McClain (Sr.)