Southern Utah's football team wraps up its 2008 season Saturday when the Thunderbirds host FCS No. 4 Northern Iowa at 1:00 p.m. in Eccles Coliseum. Northern Iowa is the third top-five opponent for the Thunderbirds this season, joining No. 5 Montana and No. 3 Cal Poly.
    SUU and UNI met in the regular-season finale last year as well, at UNI.
    The Thunderbirds (4-5, 1-2 Great West), are coming off a disappointing 42-20 home loss to South Dakota in their 2008 Great West Conference finale'. That loss removed some of the luster from a come-from-behind 15-14 win at North Dakota the previous week, a win which as SUU's first GWC road win since the league was formed in 2004.
    Northern Iowa (9-2, 7-1 Missouri Valley) has won seven straight games since opening the season 2-2, with losses at Brigham Young and Southern Illinois. The Panthers rolled over Indiana State last week, 28-0 to claim a share of the Missouri Valley Conference championship for the second straight season.

    The Game: Northern Iowa (9-2, 7-1) at Southern Utah (4-6, 1-3), Saturday, 1:00 p.m. (Mountain), Eccles Coliseum (8,500/Grass).

    The Series: UNI holds a 3-0 edge in the series with SUU, including a 1-0 mark in Cedar City. The Panthers ended the Thunderbirds' season last year with a 48-10 win in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The first game in the series was a 31-21 UNI win in Cedar City in 1996. The Panthers also took a 53-33 win at home in 1997.

    Radio: All of Southern Utah's 2008 football games will be available over the Thunderbird Sports Network. SUU flagship station KSUU (91.1 FM) will carry every game live as well as on the worldwide web at www.suu.edu/ksuu. The games will also be carried live over Thunderbird Radio Network affiliate KSUB AM (590), which covers southwest Utah. Art Challis is in his 34th season as the Thunderbirds' football voice. He is joined on home broadcasts by former SUU coach and athletic director Steve Lunt.

    TV: There will be no live television for Saturday's game. However, highlight feeds of all five Thunderbird home games will be available via SUU's FTP site. For information on obtaining those feeds contact SUU Director of Athletic Media Relations Neil Gardner.

    SUU's GWC Players of the Week: Southern Utah's Colin Pretlow and Trevor Ward earned Great West Conference player of the week honors for defense and special teams following the Thunderbirds 15-14 win at North Dakota.
    Pretlow, a 6-foot, 170-pound sophomore cornerback from Las Vegas (Las Vegas HS), co-led the Thunderbirds with six tackles, five solo, but his biggest play was probably his interception with 41 seconds remaining which stopped North Dakota's final drive and sealed the Thunderbird win. Pretlow also had a sack on a third-and-three that led to a missed North Dakota field goal in earning the conference's defensive award.
    Ward, a 6-5, 245-pound junior punter from Ogden, Utah (Bonneville HS) averaged 52 yards per kick on four punts, with two pinning the Fighting Sioux inside the 20 yard line and a third going into the end zone for a touchback. He also ran 14 yards for a first down on a fake punt play against the Sioux. Ward has now earned GWC special teams player of the week three times this season, for his performance at Air Force in the season-opener (when he was also named national special teams player of the week) and following the SUU win over Youngstown State.
    SUU has had 10 GWC players of the week this season. In addition to Pretlow and Ward's honors, Nick Miller has been named special teamer of the week twice (at UC Davis and vs. Adams State) and Tysson Poots has earned the offensive honor, while defensive tackle Aaron Fernandez (Youngstown State), cornerback Akeem Anifowoshe (Texas State) and linebacker D.J. Senter (Montana) have earned the conference's defensive player of the week honor.

    Fernandez Named CoSIDA Academic All-District: Southern Utah University defensive tackle Aaron Fernandez has been named to the 2008 University Divisioin CoSIDA Academic All-District VIII squad, it was announced today.
    Fernandez, a senior from Mesa, Ariz. (Red Mountain HS/Mesa CC) carries a grade point average of 3.46 in physical education.
    After missing the first three games of his sophomore season at SUU because of injury, Fernandez has started every game since. This season he leads the team's defensive linemen in tackles with 39 is second in quarterback hurries with four and is third in tackles-for-loss with 10. Last year he finished the season second among defensive linemen, also with 39 tackles, to go with six tackles for loss and four sacks.
    Fernandez was named the Great West Conference's defensive player of the week following the Thunderbirds' 14-7 win over Youngstown State on Oct. 4. That game he tallied eight tackles (four solo), was in on a sack and had 1.5 tackles for losses in the win but his big play came in the third quarter when he scooped up a fumble and rambled 54 yards for what proved to be the winning score.
    Selection to the CoSIDA Academic All-District squad is based on voting among the members of the College Sports Information Directors of America. District VIII is comprised of universities in Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Hawaii and British Columbia.

    Thunderbird Club Luncheons: The Thunderbird Club's weekly no-host luncheon is held Mondays at noon at the Cedar City Crystal Inn. The public is invited to attend the luncheons where Southern Utah's in-season coaches talk about their upcoming contests and review the past week's action.

    The Coaches: SUU's Ed Lamb (BYU, 1996) has a record of 4-6 in his first season as the Thunderbird head coach and his first season as a head coach overall. Lamb spent the past three seasons at the University of San Diego where he coordinated the special teams and recruiting and was the Toreros' defensive backs coach. Prior to his time at USD Lamb spent two seasons as defensive coordinator at Idaho. He also served a season at BYU as a linebackers coach and four seasons at Redlands, three as defensive coordinator and one as defensive line coach.
    At age 34, Lamb is believed to be the youngest Division I head coach in the country this season. Georgia Southern's Chris Hatcher, 35, was the youngest last year.
    Northern Iowa's Mark Farley (UNI, 1987) is 72-27 in his eighth season as head coach of the Panthers and his eighth season overall as a head coach. He is 1-0 vs. SUU.

    Affiliations: Southern Utah is in its fifth season in the Great West Conference, an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) league, after competing eight seasons as an NCAA I-AA independent. SUU is a member of the GWC in football only, and is affiliated with The Summit League in all its other sports except women's gymnastics, which competes in the Western Athletic Conference. North Dakota is in its first season making the transition from NCAA Division I to NCAA Division I competition.  UNI is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.

SUU In The FCS National Ranks:
    Individuals: SUU has individuals ranked among the nation's top-50 FCS performers in nine categories this week, including five offensive, two defensive and two special teams categories. Return specialist/wide receiver Nick Miller and WR Tysson Poots both rank among the top-10 in two categories, with Miller is second in all-purpose yards (195.4 yards per game) and ninth in punt return average (15.78 ypr), while Poots third in receptions per game (7.4) and fourth in receiving yards per game (109.8). Punter Trevor Ward is 10th in the nation with a 42.4 yard-per-punt average, while QB Cody Stone ranks 29th in total offense, at 234.4 ypg. On the defensive side of the ball, Robert Takeno is 39th in tackles per game at 8.9, while Austin Curtis averages 1.25 tackles-for-loss, which ranks 44th in the nation.
    Team: As a team, SUU is ranked among the top-50 in four categories: fifth in punt returns with an average of 16.75 ypr, 15th in net punting (35.19 ypp), 19th in tackles-for-loss with an average of 7.3 per game and 24th in passing offense (248.2 ypg).

Record Breakers:
    Nick Miller became SUU's career kickoff return yardage leader at North Dakota. With three returns for 43 yards Miller totalled 1,702 for his career to move him past Dennis Wells' record of 1,680, set from 1985 to 1988. After adding 97 yards vs. South Dakota he now has 1,799 kickoff return yards.
    WR Tysson Poots and QB Cody Stone each wrote their names at the top of some SUU record lists at Cal Poly.
    Poots (Henderson, Nev.; Coronado HS) caught 16 passes for 246 yards and a touchdown at Cal Poly to give him a pair of SUU records, one of the single-game and one of the single-season variety. His TD catch gave him 10 on the season (he now has 11 with one TD grab at North Dakota) to break a tie for the SUU single-season touchdown receptions record between himself and Bob Stookey (). The 16 receptions set the SUU single-game record while the 246 receiving yards are the third-most in a game at SUU and the most in a GWC conference game. Poots had 144 receiving yards and four touchdowns at UC Davis. His 4 TD catches at Davis also tied the SUU and Great West records.
    Stone (Bakersfield, Calif.; Bakersfield CC) set SUU single-game records for pass attempts, completions, passing yards, total yards and total plays at Cal Poly. Stone completed 34-of-58 passes for 469 yards and four TDs vs. the Mustangs and finished with 474 total yards. The previous records were held by Jerry Dyer (54 attempts, 384 passing yards, 423 total yards vs. Western New Mexico on 1974) and Casey Rehrer (28 completions and 61 plays vs. Cal Poly and Stephen F. Austin in 2004). Stone had completed a then-season-high 21 passes at UC Davis.

Climbing the Charts:

    Stone, Poots and Miller are all climbing the SUU single-season and career top-10 charts as well.
In the single-season category:
    Stone is in second place with 20 touchdown passes, one behind Casey Rehrer's 21 in 2004. He is also second in pass attempts (373) and yards passing (2,413), and third in pass completions (179). Stone is also third in total plays (427) and fifth in total yards (2,434).
    In addition to holding the record for TD catches in a season with 12, Poots is second in receptions (74) and in receiving yards (1,098)
    Miller's 885 kickoff return yards are second only to his 914 last year, while his 363 punt return yards rank second to Mike Key's 555 in 1992.
In the career category:
    Stone is now second in pass completions (374), fifth in passing yards (3,675), sixth in touchdown passes (27), total yards (4,221) and pass attempts (551) and ninth in total plays (639).
    Poots is second in touchdown receptions (15), third in receiving yards (1,521) and sixth in receptions (103).
    In addition to his career kickoff return yards record, Miller is also third in punt return yards, with 538 on 38 returns.

Thunderbird Quick Hits:

?    Miller had a career-high 325 all-purpose yards against South Dakota. Miller caught a career-best 11 passes for a career-high 154 yards (and a TD), totalled 97 yards on four kickoff returns and had 74 yards on four punt returns. His 42-yard kickoff return in the first quarter was his longest this year and the second-longest of his career, behind a 50-yarder last season at North Dakota State last season.

?    Poots caught eight passes for 163 yards and a TD against South Dakota, giving him 100-yard plus receiving days in three of his last four games. Poots and Stone hooked up on a 70-yard pass against the Coyotes, the team's longest play  of the season.

?    Redshirt freshman RB Daryl Brown (Magna, Utah/Cyprus HS) carried 18 times for 70 yards at North Dakota. His attempts and yards were both career- as well as team-highs. Brown played in five of the first seven games but didn't get a carry until the Cal Poly game, where he wound up with seven carries for a team-high 36 yards and a touchdown. He missed the South Dakota game with injury, however.

?    Freshman DB Erron Vonner (Toledo, Ohio/West Valley HS) tallied a career-high and team-leading eight tackles at Cal Poly, including seven solo stops. He bettered that tally with nine vs. South Dakota, however, when he had four solo tackles and also forced a fumble.

?    Sophomore WR Fesi Sitake (Sandy, Utah/Hillcrest HS) caught a season-high six passes at North Dakota, for 62 yards but was shut out vs. South Dakota. He caught a then-season-high five passes for a season-best 94 yards at Cal Poly, including the first TD grab of his college career.

?    Senior DT Austin Curtis (Layton, Utah/Layton HS) had two sacks at North Dakota, the team's individual single-game high this season. His two contributed to a team-season-high five sacks vs. the Fighting Sioux.
?    Curtis lived the lineman's dream at Cal Poly. A regular in SUU's short-yardage formation as a blocking fullback, Curtis got the ball on the two yard line and bulled his way in for a touchdown in the second quarter against the Mustangs. Curtis' TD gives SUU defensive linemen a pair of scores this season, as fellow DT Aaron Fernandez returned a fumble for a score against Youngstown State.

?    SUU had two interceptions at North Dakota, one each by Troy Osborne (Peoria, Ariz.; Arizona State) and Colin Pretlow. It was Osborne's first and Pretlow's second and the two gave SUU nine on the season, the most since the 2001 season when the Thunderbirds picked off 12 passes. The interceptions also broke a two-game streak without a pick for the Thunderbirds, as the last came when Tico Pringle (Rochester, N.Y.; Brigham Young) intercepted a Brandon Summers pass vs. Youngstown State.

?    SUU didn't give up a sack at North Dakota. It was the third time this season the team didn't give up a sack, and perhaps not-so-coincidentally, all three of those games have been Thunderbird wins (vs. Adams State and at Texas State).

?    SUU's win at North Dakota was its first-ever on the road in a Great West Conference game. With the win at Texas State, the Thunderbirds now have two road wins this season, their most since the 2004 team also won two away from Eccles Coliseum.

?    Nick Miller's 165 kickoff return yards at UC Davis ranks fourth on the SUU single-game list, while his 164 at Cal Poly ranks fifth (his 184 at Montana is second). Miller finished with 184 yards in kickoff returns at Montana, the second-most kick return yards in a single game in SUU history. Miller holds the top two spots (and three of the top four), as his 208 yards at North Dakota State last season is the record.

?    DB D.J. Lucchesi (Panaca, Nev.; Lincoln County HS) tied his career-high of 12 tackles at UC Davis and he also tallied a career-best eight solo stops.

?    Troy Osborne came up with one of the biggest hits of the Youngstown State game when he drilled Penguin receiver Donald Jones in the end zone with 28 seconds to play. Osborne's hit broke up a near-certain completion that would have put YSU in position to either tie or go ahead in the final minute. Osborne missed four games after suffering an injury in the opener at Air Force. He returned to see limited duty at Texas State before returning to full-time status vs. YSU.

?    Another big hit in the Youngstown State game was delivered by the Thunderbird DJs, senior linebacker D.J. Senter (Las Vegas, Nev.; Bishop Gorman HS) and junior cornerback D.J. Lucchesi. The two converged to sack Penguin quarterback Paul Corsaro in the third period, forcing a fumble which DT Aaron Fernandez (Mesa, Ariz.; Mesa CC) scooped up and returned 54 yards for what turned out to be the winning score.

?    RB Deckar Alexander (Fontana, Calif.; Menlo College) tallied 32 carries (for 114 yards) at Texas State. It was the first time a Thunderbird had 30 or more carries since Chuck Henderson had 30 at Montana on Oct. 19, 2002 and the most by a T-Bird since Sept. 12, 1998, when Matt Cannon carried 34 times in a 45-35 SUU win at Montana. The 32 carries in a game are also tied for the seventh-most rushing attempts in SUU history (Zed Robinson vs. Santa Clara in 1991). The 114 yards at TSU mark the highest rushing total by a Thunderbird since Johnny Sanchez ran for 143 yards last season at South Dakota State (Nov. 10).

?    Freshman Safety Blake Fenn (Roosevelt, Utah; Union HS) picked off his second pass of the season at Texas State. Fenn had an outstanding debut in his first collegiate game at Air Force. Pressed into full-time duty after Osborne left the game with his injury, the redshirt freshman from Roosevelt, Utah (Union HS) led the team with 16 tackles, 11 of them solo. Fenn followed that performance with seven tackles and an interception vs. Adams State and eight at Montana but had just three vs. NAU in limited duty.

?    Senior kicker Steve Pulver (Salt Lake City; Highland HS) booted a 51-yard field goal at Texas State, the second-longest of his career and his longest this season. The 51-yarder is tied for the fifth-longest field goal in Thunderbird history as well as the seventh-longest in Great West Conference history.

?    LB Robert Takeno (Sandy, Utah; Hillcrest HS) ? who has finished among the Thunderbirds' top three tacklers the past two seasons and is once again atop the SUU chart ? tallied a team-season-high and a career-high 18 tackles vs. NAU. He also had a team-best 12 solo tackles vs. the Lumberjacks. The 18 tackles were the most in a game by a Thunderbird since Nov. 2, 2002, when Steve Smith finished with 21 at Arkansas State.

?    SUU's announced crowd of 8,018 for the NAU game was the sixth largest in Eccles Coliseum history. The largest was against Cal Poly, on Oct. 9, 2004, when an over-flow crowd of 9,028 filled the Coliseum.

?    Prior to Takeno's 18 tackles vs. NAU, Senter's 17 tackles at Montana were the most in a single game by a Thunderbird this season, one more than the previous high or 16 Blake Fenn had at Air Force. The 17 stops were also a career-best for Senter. The 17 tackles were also the most by a Thunderbird since Nick DiPadova had 17 against South Dakota State back on Nov. 13, 2004.

?    When Mike Kaniho (Waikoloa, Hawaii; Kealakehe HS) blocked a Ryan Hedberg punt and Thatcher Taylor returned it 29 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter against Adams State it marked the first punt blocked for a TD by a Thunderbird since Sept. 30, 2006. Brian Kofoed blocked that one and Takeno scooped it up and ran 11 yards for the score at Cal Poly.

?    Junior punter Trevor Ward (Ogden, Utah; Bonneville HS) set the SUU record for longest punt when his kick at the end of the Air Force game flew, then rolled, 91 yards into the Falcon end zone.

?    SUU played before the largest crowd in its football history at Air Force. The official attendance for the game was 39,180, which shattered the previous high-attendance mark for SUU: 26,715 back in 2000 at Utah State.

    Panther Paws: Northern Iowa will be looking to enter the playoffs on a roll as they have won seven straight games and their last three by a combined tally of 100-6, including two straight shutouts, last week's 28-0 win at Indiana State and a 42-0 home victory over Missouri State. Prior to the MSU game, the Panthers handed No. 23 Western Illinois a 30-6 setback in Macomb, Ill.
    UNI's defense is one of the stingiest in the country, giving up just 15.5 points and 297.4 yards per game, figures which rank sixth and 16th in the FCS, respectively. UNI allows just 108.2 rushing and 189.2 passing yards per game while its offense averages 199 rushing and 165.2 passing ypg. UNI also ranks 10th in the FCS with a plus 1.18 turnover ratio.
    Quarterback Pat Grace (6-2, 230, Jr) has completed 90-of-149 passes for 1,245 yards and nine touchdowns with five interceptions and is the team's third-leading rusher with an average of 46.7 yards per game and he has rushed for a team-leading nine scores. Running back Corey Lewis (6-0, 197, Sr) averages 93.2 yards per game on the ground with eight TDs, while Derrick Law (6-1, 219, Jr) has six TDs to go with a 53.0 ypg average.
    The Panthers will be without their top two receivers ? Johnny Gray, who led the team with 29 catches for 380 yards and two TDs, and Victor Williams who had 28 receptions for 362 yards and two scores ? after they were dismissed from the team Monday morning. Josh Collins (5-9, 193, RSFr) leads the active receivers with 20 receptions for 364 yards and a touchdown. Tight end Schuylar Oordt (6-7, 244, So) is the leading scorer among receivers, with three TD grabs among his eight catches.
    The Panther defense has been led by linebacker Josh Mahoney (6-1, 234, Jr), with 95 tackles, including six TFLs. LB De'Veon Harris has 79 tackles with seven TFLs, three sacks, an interception and a team-best nine passes broken up. LB Jamar Thompson (6-3, 215, So, 70 tackles) and CB Terrell Moore (6-1, 185, Sr, 42 tackles) co-lead the team in interceptions with four each, while DE James Ruffin (6-4, 265, Jr, 53 tackles) leads the team in tackles-for-loss (14.0) and sacks (8.0).