Weber State football: Wildcats make playoffs, face William & Mary

There were times this season when Weber State's chances of reaching the FCS playoffs looked nothing short of grim.

But four losses, including bad ones to Colorado State and Montana State, did not prevent the Wildcats from making a return trip to the postseason. Weber State learned on Sunday afternoon that it will play at No. 6-ranked William & Mary in the first round of the FCS playoffs in Virginia on Saturday.

"We're moving on," said Weber State coach Ron McBride. "It's a great opportunity. We were fighting our way back in it all the way."

Experts thought the Wildcats had no shot of reaching the playoffs because they lost four games, and it was a reasonable belief. Weber State is the only team in the 16-team field with four losses this year, and just the third team in the last three seasons to qualify for the postseason with four defeats. The Wildcats, after suffering their fourth loss of the season against Montana, rebounded nicely with impressive wins over Northern Arizona (27-9) and Cal Poly (47-14).

Weber State, which won five of its last six games, also got some help on Saturday when bubble teams Montana State, Liberty, Lafayette and Northern Iowa all lost.

"We kind of played our way out of it and kind of played our way back in it," McBride said.

Weber State is in the FCS playoffs for the fourth time in school history.

It was a great day for the Big Sky Conference on Sunday. Montana, the conference champion, earned the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs. Eastern Washington also qualified for the tournament, giving the league three teams in the postseason. Eastern Washington was ineligible to play in the postseason when the 2009 campaign began, but had its eligibility restored recently. The Eagles will play at Stephen F. Austin. Montana will host South Dakota State.

It's the first time since 2003 and the fifth time since 1988 that three Big Sky teams will play in the FCS playoffs.

"The conference (office) did a great job of putting our cases out there," McBride said. "Our schedule probably helped us. It all worked out. I don't know the last time the conference had three teams represented, and they're three deserving teams."

The Wildcats' entire focus as a team since losing to Montana was getting an at-large bid into the playoffs. With that out of the way, they can turn their attention to one of the best teams in the nation in William & Mary.

The Tribe are one of four teams from the Colonial Athletic Conference to make it into the postseason. They went 9-2 during the regular season with losses coming against playoff teams Villanova and Richmond. William & Mary, which outgained all of its 11 opponents this season, lost to Richmond on a field goal as time expired on Saturday.

Running back Trevyn Smith and Weber State's offensive line face a great challenge in taking on the Tribe defense. William & Mary has the nation's No. 1 run defense, allowing just 1.8 yards per rush so far this season.

"They're a balanced offensive football team," McBride said of the Tribe. "I think they're pretty darn good on defense."

Saturday's game kicks off at 11 a.m. MST.

e-mail: aaragon@desnews.com