The Wildcats will open the 2025 season at James Madison, the schools announced Monday. The game is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, at Bridgeforth Stadium.

James Madison, recently a familiar foe, will be in its third year of FBS football. The game contract shows JMU will pay Weber State $300,000 for the trip.

The game will be the fourth all-time between the two schools. JMU is 3-0 in the contests, starting with the 2017 FCS quarterfinal where the No. 1 Dukes needed a field goal as time expired to stave off Weber State. JMU won a 2019 playoff semifinal at home, then claimed a 2021 victory in Ogden.

The two teams were previously set to open the 2023 season in Virginia before JMU moved up from FCS to FBS and were required by its new league, the Sun Belt Conference, to add FBS teams to its nonconference schedule. JMU then paid WSU $80,000 for the cancellation, which WSU used to bring Central Washington to Ogden.

The contest finalizes Weber State’s 2025 road nonconference slate and gives the Wildcats three consecutive road games to start the season. After the JMU opener, WSU will play at Arizona ($625,000 for a game arranged more than four years ago) on Sept. 6 and then return to McNeese its trip on Sept. 13.

Weber State said it is pursuing a home game for Sept. 20 to finish the nonconference schedule, as 2025 is another season where FCS teams can play 12 games instead of 11. WSU’s Big Sky opener is already slated for Sept. 27 at UC Davis, meaning Weber will play four of its first five games on the road.

SIX WILDCATS EARN ALL-BIG SKY

Six Weber State players were named to the Big Sky’s all-conference team following the 2024 regular season.

Voted to the second team: running back Damon Bankston, defensive end Kemari Munier-Bailey, offensive lineman Gavin Ortega and receiver Jacob Sharp.

Linebacker Garrett Beck and defensive end Brayden Wilson got honorable mention nods.

Bankston rushed for 1,104 yards in 11 games this season. Munier-Bailey totaled nine sacks and 18.5 tackles for loss — second in the Big Sky in sacks and tied for first in tackles for loss.

Ortega started all 12 games on the offensive line for Weber State. Sharp’s 10 touchdown receptions tied for third-most in a season at WSU and his 18 career touchdowns is tied for fourth.

Beck, who played through injury, finished third on the team with 55 tackles. Wilson led the team with 57 tackles and four sacks.

As of Tuesday, only Ortega was set to return for 2025. Munier-Bailey, Sharp and Beck exhausted their eligibility while Bankston and Wilson have announced they will enter the transfer portal.