The Colorado Buffaloes return to Folsom Field on Saturday for a Week 2 matchup, and they are expected to win comfortably. Weber State comes to Boulder as a 34.5-point underdog, the only Football Championship Subdivision opponent on Colorado's 2026 schedule.
The Wildcats (1-1) will not roll over quietly. They opened the Eric Kjar era with a 30-29 win at Northern Colorado, but fell 47-42 to Southern Utah in a game that exposed serious issues stopping the run. Weber State gave up 368 rushing yards in the loss.
Colorado (1-0) is coming off a 14-13 escape at Georgia Tech in which Julian Lewis threw a 20-yard touchdown to Charlie Williams with 37 seconds left. The Buffaloes rushed for 183 yards and held the Yellow Jackets to 48. Kickoff is set for 1:30
p.m. MT Saturday at Folsom Field, where fans are encouraged to wear white.
A first-ever visit to Folsom Field
The matchup is a first. Colorado and Weber State have never played, which makes Saturday the opening chapter in a series that may not be revisited for a while. For the Buffaloes, it is also the lone FCS game on the 2026 slate, and a chance to build depth and get healthy before conference play arrives.
Weber State has built its early schedule around life on the road as the Wildcats opened with consecutive trips to Northern Colorado and Southern Utah before making the drive south to Boulder. That road stretch tests a roster that has barely had time to settle in under a new coach.
Folsom Field will be the biggest stage most of these Weber State players have ever seen. The atmosphere will be a step up in every measurable way for a Wildcats program still finding its footing, and how Kjar's group handles the moment early will say a lot about whether this game stays competitive into the second half.
Eric Kjar brings a Utah high school resume to Ogden
Weber State handed its program to a coach who has never led at the college level, and the reasoning is clear. Eric Kjar (pronounced "Care") spent 17 years building one of the most dominant high school coaching resumes in Utah history. He went 181-39 at Jordan and Corner Canyon and won seven state championships, developing players like New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart.
The leap to the Big Sky is a different animal. Kjar inherited a roster with roughly 80 new players, and he has leaned on familiar faces to bridge the transition. His son, Noah Kjar, is one of them. The wide receiver caught passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns in the season-opening win at Northern Colorado and has quickly become the Wildcats' top target.
Weber State head coach Eric Kjar on Colorado: “I thought they played great defense.”
— Scott Procter (@ScottProcter_) September 7, 2026
“That was a big win for them.”
Also says QB Devin Brown “will probably miss one more week.” pic.twitter.com/op6OJpJRnA
Weber State has a high-scoring offense
Weber State can score. The Wildcats put up 42 points against Southern Utah and showed enough firepower to make a game interesting. The problem is what happened on the other side of the football. Southern Utah ran for 368 yards and rolled up more than 500 yards of offense in a 47-42 win that erased a 29-20 halftime lead.
The Wildcats surrendered 27 points in the second half of that loss, and the defensive breakdowns went beyond a single bad quarter. Weber State missed assignments at the second level and struggled to set the edges. Colorado will watch the tape and know where the soft spots are.
The Northern Colorado win offered a cleaner picture on offense but did not answer the defensive questions. Weber State escaped Greeley with a 30-29 victory that came down to the final moments.
Weber State's defense has a run-stop problem
One of the most important developments from Colorado's 14-13 win at Georgia Tech came on the ground. The Buffaloes rushed for 183 yards, averaged 3.7 yards per carry and handed the ball to three different backs at least 10 times. That is a shift for a program that has not had a steady run game since Phillip Lindsay was in the backfield.
Micah Welchdid the heaviest lifting in Atlanta. He carried 19 times for 64 yards and a touchdown, including a second-quarter drive in which he took the ball four straight times for 35 yards and scored Colorado's first rushing touchdown to open a season since 2021. The offensive line played incredibly well even with many rotations, and Brennan Marion's Go-Go offense used the run to control the clock for more than 34 minutes.
Colorado should test that run defense early and often. The Wildcats just gave up 368 rushing yards, and Colorado has the personnel to keep feeding the ground game. Expect Welch and JaQuail Smith to get plenty of work as the Buffaloes try to build a comfortable lead and pull their starters.
Weber State are heavy underdogs
Oddsmakers installed Colorado as a 34.5-point favorite after the Georgia Tech win. However, the Buffaloes have their own issues to clean up before they think about a blowout. Colorado surrendered a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown to Georgia Tech's Rahkeem Smith and had a field goal blocked after a bad snap. Boo Carter saved the game with a blocked kick on the final play, but the special teams remain a live concern. Weber State brings its own chaos to that phase — the Wildcats won their opener on a blocked extra point with three seconds left.
Saturday is a chance for Colorado to tighten up the coverage units and hopefully give the backups meaningful reps. Coach Prime will want to see a sharper passing game from Julian Lewis (hopefully better weather will help) and a cleaner showing from the secondary. The goal against Weber State will be to win convincingly, stay healthy, and build depth before the Big 12 schedule toughens up.
Follow James Carnes on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
Contact/Follow us @BuffaloesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Colorado news, notes and opinions.
This article originally appeared on Buffaloes Wire: 5 things Colorado fans should know about Weber State
