CEDAR CITY, Utah, Oct. 1 - Despite outgaining North Dakota in total yards, 376-to-252, mistakes and missed opportunities cost Southern Utah Saturday, as the 17th-ranked Thunderbirds fell behind against No. 24 North Dakota, 16-0, then could never climb back out of the hole in a 26-20 defeat.

Down 26-13 in the fourth period SUU caught a huge break with 6:28 to go when Herman Sword forced a Jake Miller fumble at the UND 27 yard line. The Thunderbirds took advantage, pulling within 26-20 when Brad Sorensen found Abbel Aiono in the back of the end zone to pull within 26-20.

The Thunderbirds had a chance to tie or win the game with a late drive, which moved to the North Dakota 22-yard line with 11 seconds to play, but Sorensen's pass for Jared Ursua was intercepted by UND's Daryl Brown in the end zone to seal the outcome.

"I think our guys certainly tried hard at the end, but I think early on we were trying to get by with the minimum effort required to win and that's a recipe for disaster," SUU Coach Ed Lamb said. "I thought that we were not very focused, too many personal fouls. Personal foul penalties are usually an indication that our guys are trying to get by the cheap way instead of working  for a victory."

Mistakes plagued the Thunderbirds early. After kicking off but forcing UND to punt on its first possession, things went badly for the Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds started the ensuing drive from the 2-yard line, but the drive went nowhere and a fumbled snap on the punt rolled out of the end zone for a safety.

Both teams then had drives stall, but on their next possession the Fighting Sioux took a 9-0 edge on a 34-yard Jake Miller run.

SUU mounted a drive, but it stalled at the Fighting Sioux 11 yard line. After a delay of game penalty pushed the T-Birds back to the 16, SUU opted for a field goal attempt but a bad snap was picked up by placekicker Colton Cook, who was tackled at the SUU 49. UND was again able to capitalize, going up 16-0 on a 26-yard Joey Bradley-to-Greg Hardin pass.

Southern Utah finally got on the scoreboard midway through the second period on a 6-yard Brad Sorensen-to-Deckar Alexander pass. The T-Birds opted to cut the deficit in half with a 2-point conversion attempt, but Jared Ursua was unable to hang onto Sorensen's pass.

Late in the half the Thunderbirds again drove deep into UND territory, but failed on a fourth-and-one play at the 12 yard line and came away empty and go into the break down 16-6.

Southern Utah cut the UND lead to 16-13 with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Sorensen to Daryl Brown with 5:57 to go in the third quarter, but North Dakota answered with a 45-yard Zeb Miller field goal for a 19-13 advantage, then scored what was ultimately the winning points on a 3-yard Jake Miller run with 12:23 to play.

Sorensen completed 38-of-54 passes for 353 yards. His 38 completions are a school-record, while the 54 attempts tied the second-highest total in SUU history and the 353 yards rank seventh. Easton Pedersen, Ursua and Brady Measom each caught six passes to lead the team. Pedersen's total was a career-high, as were his team-high 62 yards, while Ursua finished with 61 yards and Measom 41.

Jake Miller carried 32 times for 161 yards to lead the UND attack, while Bradley completed 10-of-21 passes for 92 yards.

-- SUU --