The Big Sky Conference named Weber State junior running back Damon Bankston as co-offensive player of the week for his performance in a Week 2 win over Portland State, the first conference game across the league this season.

Bankston rushed 15 times for 133 yards and two touchdowns, including a backbreaking, 75-yard touchdown burner in the fourth quarter to put the game away, which WSU eventually won 43-16.

In two games this season, Bankston has 31 carries for 228 rushing yards (7.4 per carry), leading the Big Sky in rushing.

In his last four games when fully healthy, (the first two weeks of this season and last season), Bankston has run for 491 yards on 66 carries (7.4 per carry) with seven touchdowns.

Bankston is one of 15 Texas natives heading home this week as Weber State travels to face Lamar (Beaumont, Texas).

WILDCATS UP TO NO. 20

Weber State (1-1) rose four spots in this week’s STATS FCS Top 25, moving up to No. 20 in Monday’s Week 3 poll.

WSU started the season No. 22.

The Wildcats remain one of six Big Sky teams to be nationally ranked. No. 3 Montana State (3-0) leads the way with two blowout FCS wins and one FBS win.

Idaho (1-1) rose to No. 4 with a road win at Wyoming after narrowly losing at Oregon. Montana (1-1) fell to No. 8 with a road loss at now-No. 10 North Dakota. Sacramento State is No. 11 with two FBS losses. UC Davis (1-1) moved up to No. 15. Eastern Washington (1-1) is no longer receiving votes after paying Drake $285,000 to beat the Eagles.

South Dakota State and North Dakota State remain on their perch at 1-2. After Montana State and Idaho, the rest of the top 10 is: Villanova, South Dakota, Central Arkansas, Montana, Southern Illinois, North Dakota.

NEW FACES JOIN IN

A few new faces made their debuts for WSU against Portland State.

Freshman running back Davion Godley got three straight handoffs in the fourth quarter and looked great, totaling 29 yards and scoring a 14-yard touchdown.

At quarterback, junior Creyton Cooper got his first action this season; he ran for 10 yards on his first snap but was dropped for negative-3 yards over his next two carries.

Sophomore Dijon Jennings, the Akron transfer, appeared to have a TD pass to Jacob Sharp in the fourth quarter but Sharp was pulled down by the defender with no flag. Either on the pass or through the penalty, what should’ve been a short TD drive for Jennings instead ended in a missed field goal.

Freshman receiver Noah Kjar also touched the ball for the first time. He took over at punt returner after Jaden Thrower (three catches, 32 yards) fumbled two punt catches in the first half.

Kjar secured second-half two punt returns with no gain (one fair catch, one tackled on the spot).

“It was good to get him some live reps as a young player, put his feet to the fire a little bit” Mental said. “Still have a ton of trust in JT, just had a couple snafus today, but we’ll watch the film, reevaluate that and see where we’re at.”

WEEK 3 DEPTH CHART

Kjar didn’t crack the Week 3 depth chart at punt returner, released Tuesday (Thrower and Clarence Butler are the two-deep there), but did move into the backup slot receiver spot behind Jayleen Record.

Tajon Evans moved from slot to a co-starter with Jacob Sharp on the outside, and Marcus Chretien is now listed as backup to Thrower at the other receiver spot.

Roy High alum Cole Millward is now officially listed as starter at right guard, where he started against PSU, in the injury absence of Vae Soifua.

Junior linebacker Jayden Ah You, a presumptive starter being worked back into full action due to injury recovery, is not listed at any linebacker spot despite totaling five solo tackles against Portland State.

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