Both Weber State and Sacramento State are sitting right about where most expected them to through three games, but they are hardly content with 2-1 records.

They'll put those winning marks on the line Saturday at Hornet Stadium for the first Big Sky Conference game this season.

"Now you've got to prove what you're all about," Weber State coach Ron McBride said on a conference call Wednesday. "The rest of it is just getting yourself ready."

The Hornets and the Wildcats each sandwiched victories over lower-division programs around a road loss to an FBS school. Weber State led Hawaii by 10 points at the half before losing 36-17, and Colorado State needed a last-second field goal to beat Sacramento State, 23-20.

It's clear to both teams' coaches, then, that their squads are improved from last season. The question is by how much.

The Hornets' primary concern now is health on offense. Quarterback Jason Smith and running back Bryan Hilliard, both starters, missed the team's 27-16 victory over NAIA Southern Oregon. Their status this week is uncertain, coach Marshall Sperbeck said.

In their stead, however, quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson and a pair of running backs played well.

"The more these guys play," Sperbeck said, referring to the backups, "it's only going to give us more depth down the road."

Weber State hasn't experienced such injury problems, and its starters at those same positions have impressed both Wildcats and Hornets coaches. Through three games, sophomore Cameron Higgins leads the conference with 852 passing yards and eight touchdowns. Running back Trevyn Smith's six touchdowns are also a Big Sky high thus far.

Then there's receiver and return man Bryant Eteuati, who set a conference career record for kickoff return yards a year ago.

"The best way to stop him is to not give him the football," Sperbeck said. "He can turn the game at any minute, and we've got to know where he is all the time."

Their contest begins at 3:05 p.m. and will be broadcast free on bigskytv.org.

Familiar foes tangle with Big Sky teams

A week after hosting Southern Utah, No. 4 Montana will be at home against UC Davis, another Great West Conference team that always seems to show up on Big Sky schedules.

By the end of this season, UC Davis will have played six games against Big Sky teams in a two-year span. Last year, the Aggies beat both Portland State and Sacramento State, and last week they defeated Portland State 38-24.

UC Davis will host Northern Colorado and Sacramento State later this season.

Southern Utah hasn't picked up a win against a Big Sky foe in its last three tries, but it gets another shot Saturday when it hosts Northern Arizona - a program the Thunderbirds have never beaten in football.

The dearth of FCS opponents out West make teams like UC Davis, Southern Utah and Cal Poly attractive nonconference foes, Northern Arizona coach Jerome Souers said.

"They compete real well with the Big Sky," Souers said of Southern Utah, the Cedar City school that's about a five-hour drive from Flagstaff, Ariz. "So for us geographically, when we have them on the schedule, it's a plus."

By season's end, those three Great West teams will have played 15 games against Big Sky teams since the start of the 2007 campaign.

Two more chances

Just two more Big Sky teams will get an opportunity to knock off an FBS opponent this season after the conference's squads failed to do so in their first 10 tries.

Perhaps the best chance of them all, though, comes Saturday, when Portland State (1-1) visits winless Washington State (0-3) out of the Pac-10.

Much maligned by the national media, the Pac-10 has been referred to as "USC and the nine dwarfs" after its teams lost four contests to Mountain West squads last week.

Washington State is coming off a 45-17 loss at Baylor, a Big 12 school.

Portland State coach Jerry Glanville said he sees parallels between where the Cougars are at under first-year coach Paul Wulff and where his own Vikings team sits in a rebuilding year.

"They're like we are: They're in a mental vapor lock trying to learn to do things correctly," Glanville said. "Both teams are going through it and will work their way through it and become a good football team."

The final Big Sky matchup with an FBS team comes Sept. 27, when Weber State visits 20th-ranked Utah.