Quickly: Southern Utah wraps up its final Great West Conference season this weekend when the Thunderbirds host UC Davis. The game is SUU's final home game of the 2011 season and the Thunderbirds will honor 20 seniors in a short ceremony prior to the game.

Southern Utah (4-4/0-3 Great West) is coming off a 35-28 non-conference win at Weber State. With the win the Thunderbirds stopped a three-game skid and evened their record at 4-4 heading into the final three games of the season. SUU outscored the Wildcats 32-14 in the second half, when the defense and special teams both had big plays - a sack and fumble return and a blocked punt - that led directly to touchdowns.

While the Thunderbirds will be wrapping up their GWC slate, UC Davis (2-5/0-1 Great West) is just beginning its conference schedule. The Aggies coming off a GWC-opening 27-24 loss at South Dakota to open a four-game stretch of conference games. Following this week's games the Aggies will host Cal Poly and North Dakota to finish their conference schedule.

The Thunderbirds and Aggies have two common opponents and have had similar results against the two. SUU hosted UT San Antonio on Sept. 17 and came away with a 45-22 win, then lost at South Dakota three weeks ago, 24-19. UCD also has a home win over UTSA, 38-17 on Oct. 15.

Next year both teams will move to the Big Sky Conference for football, but they aren't scheduled to meet again until 2013 when the two will meet again in Cedar City.

The Game: UC Davis (2-5/0-1) at Southern Utah (4-4/0-3 GWC), 1:00 p.m., Saturday at Eccles Coliseum (8,500/Grass).

The Series: Saturday's game will mark the 16th meeting between the two teams. UC Davis holds a 10-5 edge in the series, but the Thunderbirds are 4-3 at home and have won two straight. SUU picked up its first-ever win in Davis, Calif., last year when the T-Birds won 55-24 to clinch the Great West title, and prevailed 56-35 at home in 2009, giving the Aggies their only conference loss that year.

Thunderbird Practice Schedule: The players are off on Mondays. Daily practices Tuesday through Thursday are scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. and end at 6:15 p.m.

Media Availability: Players and coaches are available for interviews on Tuesdays following practice, at approximately 6:15 p.m. To contact a player or coach on another day or time contact Neil Gardner at gardner@suu.edu or 435-586-7753.

Television: SUU's home games are televised live on My Utah TV (KMYU), with Mychal Clanton calling the play-by-play and Jordan Buscarini providing analysis. My Utah TV is available over the air and via cable and satellite throughout Utah. In southern Utah it is available over the air on Digital channel 2.2 and 12.1 and in Utah it is available on the following cable outlets: Comcast (channel 22), Baja (20) and Bresnan (18). It is also available in Utah on Dish Network, channel 12.

Radio: All of Southern Utah's 2011 football games are available over the Thunderbird Sports Network. SUU flagship station Power 91 (KSUU, 91.1 FM) carries every game live as well as on the worldwide web at www.suu.edu/ksuu. Art Challis is in his 35th season as the Thunderbirds' football voice. Dave McMullin, a former all-conference defensive lineman for the Thunderbirds, provides color commentary.

Video Highlights: Video highlights of the Thunderbirds' road games will be available to accredited media outlets via SUU's FTP site. For information on obtaining those highlights contact SUU Director of Athletic Media Relations Neil Gardner.

GWC Teleconference: The Great West Conference holds a weekly teleconference, beginning at 12:45 p.m. (Mountain). The conference's head coaches all address their previous and upcoming games. For information on accessing the teleconferences, contact SUU Director of Athletic Media Relations Neil Gardner. The schedule follows:

            12:45 p.m. - Introduction by Commissioner Ed Grom

            12:47 p.m. - Cal Poly coach Tim Walsh

            12:55 p.m. - South Dakota coach Ed Meierkort

            1:03 p.m. - North Dakota coach Chris Mussman

            1:11 p.m. - Southern Utah coach Ed Lamb

            1:19 p.m. - UC Davis coach Bob Biggs

Thunderbird Club Luncheons: The Thunderbird Club's weekly no-host luncheon is held Mondays at noon in the Tradition Room in the home of President Michael Benson. 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.

Sonny Boy's Coaches Show: Coach Ed Lamb is Eric Ripley's guest on a weekly radio coaches show each Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. on Power 91. The coaches show is broadcast live from Sonny Boy's Barbecue, 126 No. Main in Cedar City. Fans in attendance will be eligible for gift certificates and prizes throughout the show.

Next Up/Remaining Schedule:

The Thunderbirds have a bye next week. The final two regular-season games have the Thunderbirds at Northern Iowa (Nov. 12) and Northern Arizona (Nov. 19).

The Coaches:

A 2010 Eddie Robinson Award nominee, SUU's Ed Lamb (BYU, 1996) has a record of 19-22 in his fourth season as the Thunderbird head coach and his fourth season as a head coach overall. Last year Lamb guided the Thunderbirds to their first-ever Great West Conference championship and their most successful season since 2004 when the Thunderbirds went undefeated in GWC play and finished the season with a 6-5 overall mark. Prior to taking over at SUU, Lamb spent 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 the University of Redlands, three as defensive coordinator and one as defensive line coach. Coach Lamb is 2-1 vs. UC Davis.

UC Davis' Bob Biggs (UC Davis, 1973) is 138-76-1 in his 19th season at the helm of the Aggie program and his 19th season as a head coach. Coach Biggs is 10-5 against the Thunderbirds, as he has been on the sideline in every meeting between the two teams.

Affiliations: Southern Utah is in its eighth and final season in the Great West Conference (NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision). The Thunderbirds will join the Big Sky Conference next season. SUU is affiliated with The Summit League in all its other sports except women's gymnastics, which competes in the Western Athletic Conference. UC Davis is also in its final season in the GWC and will jump to the Big Sky with SUU in football next season. The Aggies are members of the Big West Conference in the majority of their sports, however, and will remain in the BWC for everything except football.

Captains: This year's captains are senior defensive end Tyler Osborne, senior safety Erron Vonner and senior running back Daryl Brown.

Minefee Named National Offensive Player of the Week: Austin Minefee was named national Offensive Player of the Week by both The Sports Network/Fathead.com and The College Sporting News following his performance in SUU's win at Weber State. Minefee, a 5-10, 200-pound senior running back from Cedar City (Canyon View HS), was named the conference's offensive player of the week after leading the Thunderbirds in scoring, rushing, receiving and all-purpose yards against the Wildcats. To add a little icing to the cake he made the tackle on a safety as well. He carried 24 times for a team-season-high 88 yards and two touchdowns, and caught six passes for 86 yards and another score. He also returned three kickoffs a total of 112 yards, and finished the game with a team season-high 286 all-purpose yards. Minefee was also in on a play that helped to swing the momentum in the Thunderbirds' favor, when late in the third period, with his team down 21-17, he tackled Wildcat cornerback Jarrett Gooden in the end zone for a safety. Gooden had intercepted a long pass, intended for Minefee, in the end zone, but when he attempted to advance the ball out of the end zone Minefee tackled him for the safety. SUU went on to score the next 16 points to take control of the game. He was named offensive player of the week by CSN and earned co-player of the week honors, along with Eastern Washington WR Nicholas Edwards, by TSN.

Measom Named to Rice Award Watch List: SUU receiver Brady Measom has been named to the Jerry Rice Award Watch List. The award, which is given out by The Sports Network and sponsored by Fathead.com, will go to the nation's outstanding freshman in the Football Championship Subdivision. Measom has caught a team-high 39 passes for 424 yards and two touchdowns this season. He is also the team's punt return specialist, with 10 returns for 146 yards. He is nationally ranked in punt returns, receptions and receiving yards per game, ranking seventh in the FCS in punt returns with a 14.6 ypr average, 39th in receptions per game at 5.29 and 96th in receiving yards per game, at 58.43. He is the top-ranked freshman punt returner in the nation at this point of the season, is third among freshmen in receptions per game and is sixth in receiving yards per game. Measom joins 17 other freshmen, including seven others who were added to the list last week, in consideration for the inaugural Jerry Rice Award.

GWC Players of the Week:

In addition to the national honor, Austin Minefee earned his second Great West Conference player of the week award following his performance in SUU's win at Weber State.

SUU In The FCS National Ranks: 

SUU has six players ranked among the FCS top-50 in 13 statistical categories following last week's games, while the team figures among the top-50 programs in 10 categories and among the top-30 in six.

Defense: DT Tyler Osborne ranks 23rd in sacks with an average of 0.81 per game and is 44th in tackles for loss with 1.25 while LB Chad Hansen ranks 22nd in tackles with an average of 10.25 per game.

Offense: On the offensive side of the ball, QB Brad Sorensen ranks fifth in total passing yards with 2,229, ninth in completions per game with 26.3, 12th in passing yards per game with 278.6, 14th in total offense with 275.38 ypg, 22nd in points responsible for with 13.50 ppg and 42nd in passing efficiency with a rating of 135.26. Austin Minefee is 17th in all-purpose yards with an average of 144.62 per game.

Special Teams: Brady Measom is sixth in punt returns with an average of 14.6 yards per return, while Minefee is 11th in kickoff returns at 28.39 ypr and kicker Colton Cook is 28th in field goal kicking with an average of 1.25 per game.

Team: In the team categories SUU eighth in net punting at 38.5 ypp, 10th in kickoff returns with an average of 24.63 ypr, 15th in passing offense at 280.88 ypg, and 19th in punt returns at 12.79 ypr. The Thunderbirds are 23rd in pass defense, allowing 183.38 ypg; 27th in pass efficiency defense at 113.92, 31st in scoring defense at 31.25, 33rd in turnover margin at plus-0.81, 42nd in scoring defense at 23.75 ppg and 49th in passing efficiency with a rating of 132.76.

Brad Sorensen and the Air Attack: 

Eight games into the season junior quarterback Brad Sorensen, who is on this year's Walter Payton Award Watch List, has broken into the school's top-10 in six single-season statistical categories. He has completed 210 passes, the fourth-most in a season at SUU, with 316 attempts, the sixth-highest total. He has also thrown 14 TD passes, which is tied for ninth, and his 2,229 yards in 2011 rank fifth on the SUU single-season list. His 2011 season is also ninth in both total plays (360) and total yards (2,203). Career-wise, Sorensen is now second on the SUU lists in three categories and third in another. He is second in touchdown passes list with 36, five shy of Rick Robins SUU record 41; second in passing yards with 5,392, 2,049 behind Robins' 7,441; and second in completions with 471, 47 behind Robins' 518. He is also second in pass attempts with 706 317 behind Robins' 1,023. He has also broken a single-game record and put several numbers into the single-game top-10, with those efforts detailed below.

At Weber State he completed 18-of-31 passes for 201 yards, with a TD pass to Austin Minefee. He also did something he hadn't done previously this season, running for a touchdown, and he ran for his first career extra point as well. He ran for two TDs last season.

Defensive Stoppers:

•  Tyler Osborne had an outstanding effort at Weber State, tallying seven solo tackles, including two sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a fumble return that he took the WSU four yard line, setting up an SUU touchdown. Both his sacks, the fumble, and another of his tackles came in the fourth quarter. Osborne leads the Thunderbirds in sacks and tackles for loss. He has 11 TFLs for a total of 75 yards and 7.5 sacks, for 64 of those yards.
• Sophomore linebacker Chad Hansen has been in double-figures in tackles in six of the first eight games and has led or co-led the team in tackles in six of eight as well. At Weber State he tallied a career-high and team-leading 14 tackles (five solo), with a TFL and an interception. The Cal Poly game was Hansen's first when he didn't either lead the team or break into double figures in tackles, as he finished with nine stops against the Mustangs, second to Herman Sword's 14. Prior to the Cal Poly game Hansen had a team-high 10 tackles in three straight games, at South Dakota (where he shared the team lead with Brennan Fjord), vs. North Dakota and at UNLV. He also had a sack at South Dakota. Although he didn't hit double-figures against UTSA, he did lead the team with seven stops. In his first start, at South Dakota State, he led the Thunderbirds with 12 tackles, seven solo, and broke up a pass but his biggest play came with under three minutes to go and the Jackrabbits running out the clock when he hit SDSU running back Tyrel Kool in the backfield, forcing a fumble that Blake Fenn recovered, leading to SUU's final score of the game. He tallied 10 tackles (including a TFL), with six solo stops and a quarterback hurry against Sacramento State.
• Cody Larsen and Herman Sword are second on the team in TFLs, with six, and Larsen is second in sacks with 3.5. Each was in on a TFL at Weber State.
•  Blake Fenn had 11 tackles at WSU, his second-highest total since he led SUU with 12 vs. Sacramento State. He also had a TFL against the Wildcats.
• Sword tallied a career-high 14 tackles at Cal Poly, a team-high, including 10 solo stops, with a sack and a half-tackle for loss.
• Redshirt freshman Gordon Garrett got his first collegiate start at cornerback and finished with three tackles, two solo.
• Sophomore safety Tommy Collett finished with a career-high nine tackles at Cal Poly and added eight more at Weber State.

Thunderbird Quick Hits:

• Minefee tallied a team-season-high 286 all-purpose yards at Weber State, as he led the team in rushing, receiving, return yards and scoring.
• SUU scored via a safety for the first time this season at WSU. The Thunderbirds scored once via safety last year, at San Jose State.
•  The Thunderbirds had a pair of two-point conversions in the second half at WSU. One was on a quarterback draw, the other came when a pass from Brad Sorensen was deflected off the hands of Brady Measom, but directly to Easton Pederson, who caught it for his first collegiate points.
• SUU had two near-misses at Weber State: The Thunderbirds nearly returned their first blocked punt for a touchdown since the 2008 season when Kaden Carli got the block and Mike Tagliaferri scooped it and ran, but Tagliaferri was stopped at the two-yard line. SUU also came close to returning a fumble for a touchdown for the first time since the 2009 season when Tyler Osborne stripped the ball from WSU quarterback Mike Hoke, picked it up and ran, but he was also stopped short of the goal, at the four.
• Colton Cook had a field goal taken away by a penalty in the fourth quarter at Weber State, but the penalty wasn't against the T-Birds. A Weber State defender jumped over the pile in an attempt to block the kick, drawing a flag. With the ball at the three before the attempt the penalty moved it inside the two, so the SUU coaches opted to take the three points off the board and go for six. The strategy paid off, as on the first play after the penalty Minefee was able to get into the end zone for his second TD of the day.

Aggie Notes: 

Like SUU, UC Davis has spent most of 2011 on the road. The Aggies are playing their fifth road game this week, and they've had just three at home so far. Two of their losses came on the road to FBS-level opponents, Arizona State and Hawai'i, and a third came at the third-ranked team in the FCS, Montana State. Their wins came at home against San Diego, 31-3, and UTSA, 38-17. The third home game was a 23-17 loss to Humboldt State, a team that has been ranked among the Division II top-25 most of the season.

Also like SUU, UCD has moved the ball primarily through the air this season. The Aggies average 256.0 yards per game through the air and 82.3 on the ground, for a total average of 338.3 yards per game. Defensively UCD has allowed an average of 411.3 yards per game, 266.1 passing and 145. rushing.

Quarterback Randy Wright (6-3, 202, So), last year's GWC freshman of the year, has completed 131-of-240 passes for 1,597 yards and 13 touchdowns with four interceptions. His favorite targets have been WRs Anthony Soto (5-10, 185, Jr) and Tom Hemmingsen (5-10, 175, So), with 33 receptions for 408 yards and four TDs and 31 receptions for 445 yards and six scores, respectively.

RB Colton Silveria (5-10, 210, RSFr) has carried the bulk of the rushing load, with 81 carries for 274 yards and three scores.

Defensively, the Aggies have been led by linebackers Jordan Glass and Byron Gruendl. Glass (6-2, 240, Sr) leads the tema with 41 tackles and 28 solo tackles, including 3.5 tackles for loss. He also has an interception and has forced and recovered one fumble. Gruendl has 37 tackles, 23 solo, with 4.5 TFLs, including a sack. DE Tommy Grillo (6-1, 245, Sr) has team-highs of five TFLs and two sacks, while CB Jonathan Perkins (5-11, 177, So) leads the team with two interceptions and six passes broken up.