Quickly: Southern Utah plays the penultimate game of its 2011 regular season this weekend when the Thunderbirds travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to take on fifth-ranked Northern Iowa.

Southern Utah (5-4/1-3 Great West) is coming off a bye week that followed a 34-3 win over UC Davis. The win against the Aggies wrapped up the Thunderbirds' 2011 home season as well as its Great West Conference era. The Thunderbirds have won back-to-back games after suffering through a three-game losing streak. All three losses were to GWC opponents and all three were by six points or less.

UNI (7-2/6-1 Missouri Valley) is coming off a 24-17 home win over Youngstown State. That win put the Panthers back on track after a 27-19 loss at then-No. 3 North Dakota State. Going into the NDSU game the Panthers were the consensus No. 2 team in the FCS, while the now No. 1 Bison were No. 3. The Panthers' only other loss this year was a 20-19 season-opening setback at Iowa State.

The Thunderbirds and Panthers have one common opponent this season, South Dakota State. SUU suffered a 29-28 road loss to the Jackrabbits in the season-opener after a 21-point fourth-quarter rally came up short when a two-point conversion went awry. UNI claimed a 31-14 win at SDSU on Oct. 15.

The Game: Southern Utah (5-4/1-3 GWC) at Northern Iowa (7-2/6-1 MVC), 6:00 p.m. (Central), Saturday at the UNI Dome (16,324).

The Series: This will be the fifth meeting between SUU and UNI, and the Thunderbirds are still looking for their first win in the series. The Panthers are 2-0 against SUU in Cedar Falls, including a 48-10 win to end the 2007 season and a 53-33 home win in 1997. The last time the teams met, in the 2008 season-finale, then-No. 4 UNI claimed a 34-24 win in Cedar City. The first game in the series was a 31-21 UNI win in Cedar City in 1996.

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.

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: The Thunderbirds close out the regular season next week at Northern Arizona.

The Coaches:

A 2010 Eddie Robinson Award nominee, SUU's Ed Lamb (BYU, 1996) has a record of 20-22 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 0-1 vs. UNI.

UNI's Mark Farley (UNI, 1986) is 95-41 in his 11th season at the helm of the Panther program and his 11th season as a head coach overall. Coach Farley is 2-0 vs. the Thunderbirds.

Brad Sorensen and the Air Attack: 

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 234 passes, the fourth-most in a season at SUU, with 349 attempts, the fifth-highest total. He has also thrown 15 TD passes, which is ninth, and his 2,467 passing yards in 2011 rank fifth on the SUU single-season list. His 2011 season is also seventh in total plays (400) and sixth in total yards (2,446). 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 37, four shy of Rick Robins SUU record 41; second in passing yards with 5,630, 1,811 behind Robins' 7,441; and second in completions with 495, 23 behind Robins' 518. He is also second in pass attempts with 739 284 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.

Against UC Davis, Sorensen completed 24-of-33 passes for 238 yards and a touchdown without an interception. He threw a TD pass to Austin Minefee for the second straight game.

Defensive Stoppers:

• Sophomore linebacker Chad Hansen has been in double-figures in tackles in six of nine games and has led or co-led the team in tackles seven times. He led the team with eight tackles vs. UC Davis, including a team-high five solo stops, with a sack and two tackles for loss; he also forced and recovered a fumble against the Aggies. 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. 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 led 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.
•  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 - who forced a fumble, broke up a pass and had a quarterback hurry with five tackles against UC Davis - leads the Thunderbirds in sacks and tackles for loss. He has 12 TFLs for a total of 78 yards and 9.5 sacks, for 73 of those yards.
• Hansen is second on the team with seven TFLs, while Cody Larsen and Herman Sword are third with six. Larsen is second in sacks with 4.5, with Hansen third with 3.0.

Thunderbird Quick Hits:

• Austin Minefee's 131 rushing yards against UC Davis were the most by a Thunderbird since he ran for 137 vs. South Dakota, on Oct. 23, 1010. Minefee had two touchdowns in the UCD game as well, one receiving and one rushing. He has had at least two TDs in a game five times this season.
• Junior Henna Brown got the start at running back vs. UC Davis after Deckar Alexander was lost for the season to an injury at Weber State. Brown responded to the challenge with a career-high 82 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The TDs were his first at the college level and his rushing yards eclipsed his career total of 67 heading into the game.
• Junior Mike Tagliaferri also posted a career-high in rushing yards vs. the Aggies, with 35 on four carries.
• SUU rushed for a season-high 251 yards against UC Davis, its highest total in four years. The Thunderbirds also ran for more yards than they passed for (251-238) for the first time since the 2009 season-opener.
• Senior tight end Abbel Aiono led the team with a career-high eight catches for 66 yards against UCD.
•  The Thunderbirds gave up just nine first downs and held UC Davis to 43 rushing yards, the fewest the team had given up since Wyoming ran for just 36 yards in last year's season-opener.
• SUU controlled the ball for 37:43 vs. UC Davis, marking its season-high in time of possession.
•  Kicker Colton Cook had a streak of nine consecutive made field goals come to an end vs. UC Davis when he missed his first attempt (51 yards). His second attempt (54 yards) was short after being partially blocked, but he bounced back, hitting his next two (45- and 24-yarders) to give him 12 on the season, which is tied with teammate Brock Miller's total last year for fourth in the SUU single-season record book.

Panther Notes: 

UNI will be playing its fifth home game Saturday but its first home non-conference contest of the season. The Panthers are undefeated at home, with wins over Western Illinois (38-10), Indiana State (23-9), Southern Illinois (17-10) and Youngstown State (21-17) in the previous four games at the UNI-Dome.

The Panthers are one of the top defensive teams in the country. They allow the third-fewest points per game in the FCS, 15.22 and they are 22nd in total defense, giving up just 320.89 yards per game. UNI has also intercepted 16 passes, the sixth-most in the country this year. The Panthers have limited opponents to 198.33 passing and 122.56 rushing yards per game. Offensively, UNI has passed for 200.78 and run for 160.67 yards per game.

Quarterback Tirrell Rennie (6-0, 201, Sr) is a threat to run or throw. He has completed 107-of-174 passes for 1,455 yards and 10 touchdowns with just one interception, but he did not play last week after suffering a minor injury at North Dakota State. Jared Lanpher (6-1, 206, RSFr) played last week and completed 16-of-28 passes for 238 yards and two tDs. The Panthers' top receiver has been running back David Johnson (6-3, 214, RSFr), who has 26 receptions for 384 yards and three TDs. WRs Jarred Herring (5-9, 170, Sr) and Terrell Sinkfield (6-1, 192, Jr) have 22 catches for 394 yards and 20 catches for 352 yards, respectively. Sinkfield has six receptions for scores while Herring has two.

Johnson and Tirrell are 1-2 on the Panther running charts, with Johnson carrying 151 times for 645 yards and eight TDs and Tirrell carrying 105 times for 553 yards and another six scores.

Defensively, the Panthers have been led by inside linebacker L.J. Fort (6-1, 232, Sr), who ranks fifth in the nation with 13.22 tackles per game (119 total). ILB Jordan Smith (6-2, 223, Sr) is second on the squad with 84 stops and has a team-high four interceptions, while OLB James Conley (6-1, 204, Sr) has 68 and SS Garrett Scott (6-0, 201, Jr) has 63 tackles with three interceptions. DT Ben Boothby (6-0, 280, Sr) leads the team with 11.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. Two more players have three interceptions apiece, CB J.J. Swain (6-0, 170, Jr) and FS Tre'Darrius Canady (5-11, 192, Sr).