Weber State and Southern Utah Meet in Cedar City With Opposite Week 0 Results

Two Utah football programs walked out of the opening weekend of the 2026 season with the same 60 minutes of effort and opposite results in the standings. Weber State is 1-0 after a one-point survival at Northern Colorado. Southern Utah is 0-1 after taking the No. 2 team in the FCS to the final possession in Missoula. On Saturday, September 5, at 6 p.m. MT, they meet at Eccles Coliseum in Cedar City.

Both of those Week 0 results were Big Sky Conference games. Saturday's is not. The Weber State-Southern Utah meeting is a non-conference matchup, a holdover from a six-game series the two schools scheduled before Southern Utah joined the league, and the Big Sky's expansion to 13 teams left one program playing eight conference games instead of nine in 2026. Southern Utah drew that short straw.

A blocked extra point decided Eric Kjar's debut

Weber State football won 30-29 at Nottingham Field in Greeley, Colorado, on August 28, and the margin came down to a single special-teams play. Northern Colorado scored with three seconds left to pull within one. Freshman linebacker Zach Smith, a Northridge High School product, got a hand on kicker Benson Ashley's extra-point attempt, and the Wildcats left Colorado with a win.

That gave Eric Kjar a victory in his college head coaching debut. Kjar arrived in Ogden after a nine-season run at Corner Canyon High School in Draper that produced a 112-10 record and six state championships, and Weber State hired him in December 2025 as the 13th head coach in the program's Division I history. His first Wildcats team opened on the road, as detailed in our look at the Eric Kjar era and his first schedule.

"Super fun game, really competitive," Kjar said afterward. "I thought our guys did a good job overall, and I guess I got the heart rate up."

The offense ran through the coach's own family. Receiver Noah Kjar caught six passes for 114 yards and both of Weber State's touchdown receptions, a 15-yard slant and a 34-yard connection. Quarterback Devin Brown threw for 175 yards on 9-of-18 passing in the first half and delivered both scoring throws before dislocating his right pinky finger in the third quarter.

Brown's injury handed the fourth quarter to backup Nate Dahle, who went 4-of-4 for 49 yards on the drive that ultimately decided the game. "For a freshman kid getting thrown in a tight game, he did a great job," Kjar said. Running back Spencer Ferguson added 74 yards on 12 carries, and kicker David Dellenbach converted field goals from 34, 42, and 39 yards.

The underlying numbers were less comfortable than the result. Northern Colorado outgained Weber State 485-370, rushed for 259 yards, converted eight of 15 third downs, and did not turn the ball over. Quarterback Kenny Lueth threw for 226 yards and ran for 90 more, completing 11 of 17 attempts in the fourth quarter alone, while running back Mathias Price carried 17 times for 106 yards.

Weber State also left Greeley with an injury list. Beyond Brown's finger, Tate Kjar was dealing with a right ankle problem and Raimoana Tinirauarii was absent for much of the second half.

Southern Utah lost the scoreboard and won the tape

Southern Utah football opened at Washington-Grizzly Stadium against No. 2 Montana on August 29 and lost 28-21. The program's own account of the night described the Thunderbirds battling the Grizzlies to the wire, which is a fair reading of a seven-point road result against the second-ranked team in the subdivision.

The statistical leaders point to how Cedar City intends to play. Will Burns leads the Thunderbirds in passing yards with 251 and is also listed as the team's leading rusher after one game. That dual-threat profile is what Southern Utah signed him for: Burns arrived from Golden West College, where he was the 2024 Southern California Football Association Offensive Player of the Year, and the program has used him in packages that ask him to run and throw within the same series.

Joshua Acord led the receiving corps with 86 yards. On defense, Parker Vance posted eight tackles and an interception, the kind of line that keeps a road game against a top-two opponent within one score into the fourth quarter.

Southern Utah is playing this season back in the Big Sky, the realignment thread we covered in our look at Utah's FCS programs entering the Big Sky. Montana was a difficult way to reopen that chapter.

What Saturday actually decides

The matchup pairs a team that won without controlling the line of scrimmage against a team that controlled long stretches of a game it lost. Weber State was outgained by 115 yards and still won; Southern Utah hung with the FCS No. 2 and still lost. Nothing that happens Saturday touches either team's Big Sky record, which is its own kind of pressure: it is a rivalry game between two league programs with nothing but the result at stake.

Weber State's health is the variable worth watching. Brown's throwing hand, Tate Kjar's ankle, and Tinirauarii's availability all sat unresolved leaving Greeley, and Dahle's four-for-four fourth quarter is a small sample on which to build a road plan. Southern Utah, meanwhile, gets its home opener at Eccles Coliseum with a quarterback who just produced 251 passing yards against a defense ranked among the FCS elite.

Key facts: Weber State at Southern Utah

• Game: Weber State at Southern Utah, Saturday, September 5, 6 p.m. MT, Eccles Coliseum, Cedar City — a non-conference game between two Big Sky programs, held over from a series scheduled before realignment
• Records: Weber State 1-0 (1-0 Big Sky); Southern Utah 0-1 (0-1 Big Sky)
• Weber State Week 0: Won 30-29 at Northern Colorado (Aug 28), decided by Zach Smith's blocked extra point with three seconds left
• Weber State leaders: Noah Kjar six catches, 114 yards, two TDs; Devin Brown 9-of-18, 175 first-half yards; David Dellenbach 3-for-3 on field goals
• Southern Utah Week 0: Lost 28-21 at No. 2 Montana (Aug 29)
• Southern Utah leaders: Will Burns 251 passing yards and team-leading rusher; Joshua Acord 86 receiving yards; Parker Vance eight tackles, one interception
• Head coaches: Eric Kjar (Weber State, first season); DeLane Fitzgerald (Southern Utah)

What's next

Both teams keep their current Big Sky records regardless of Saturday's result — Weber State 1-0, Southern Utah 0-1 — and both still have most of the league schedule ahead. Weber State travels to Colorado of the Big 12 on September 12 before its home opener against Northwestern State on September 19. Southern Utah goes to Colorado State on September 12 and then to St. Thomas on September 19 before returning to Cedar City for Idaho State on September 26.

For Burns, Saturday is a first look at a Big Sky opponent from his own state with a full statistical baseline already on the board. For Kjar, it is the first road conference game of a tenure that opened with a one-point escape.