Cedar City, Utah - The No. 24 Thunderbirds moved to 5–0 in Big Sky Conference play Saturday night at Eccles Coliseum as they knocked off the Cal Poly Mustangs 54–37 in a Halloween showdown.

SUU head coach Ed Lamb said he with pleased with the complete team effort on Saturday.

“Everyone of our players knows that was just a huge, monumental victory,” he said. “Cal Poly is a really good team that just didn't go away. We took their very best shot and that's becoming a weekly theme for us is to take their best shot, hang in there together, believe in each other. The team found ways, it wasn't always offense, it wasn't always defense, it wasn't always special teams, but the team found ways to play together, overcome, make clutch plays in the end and I just couldn't be prouder. Wins over Cal Poly for Southern Utah do not happen very often, and I couldn't be prouder of the guys' effort.”

In the process, SUU defensive end James Cowser broke the NCAA FCS tackles for loss record, as he now sits with 72.5 in his career. Cowser said his mind wasn't on breaking the record, but he was glad it happened.

“I forgot about it until they threw it up on the scoreboard and someone showed me,” he said. “It's not really on my mind, I'm just thinking tackle the fullback mostly.”

The teams traded field goals to start the game, and the first touchdown of the contest was scored by Thunderbird running back Malik Brown on a 10-yard rush to put SUU up 10–3, which would remain the score until the start of the second quarter.

Early in the second, linebacker Mike Needham had a fumble recovery touchdown, SUU's first of what would be three defensive scores of the game, to put them up 17–3.

After another Keita Calhoun field goal Cal Poly responded with running back Kyle Lewis scoring his first touchdown of the contest from seven yards out to pull the Mustangs within a touchdown.

Brown struck again on SUU's next drive to cap off a seven-play, 69-yard possession with a 2-yard carry to put SUU up 27–10. The second quarter scoring continued on Cal Poly's next drive, as Lewis scored again, this time from six yards out, to pull the Mustangs in closer.

SUU struck again on their next drive, as Ammon Olsen found wide receiver Ty Rutledge from 18 yards out to put SUU up 34–17 after the PAT was blocked. However, the Mustangs responded again with another TD run from Lewis to pull Cal Poly within ten going into the half.  

Midway through the third quarter Mustang quarterback Chris Brown carried the ball in from 15 yards out to pull the Mustangs within three, and Cal Poly was driving again later in the third when the Thunderbirds forced a fumble and Needham returned his second to the house to put the Thunderbirds back up ten.

“During that play the ball kind of just fell into my arms, but once I entered the endzone I was just freaking out,” Needham said about the score. “I just wanted to win this game so bad, and I knew that was a huge turning point in the game and I give credit to the D-line, they stripped the ball, it fell into my arms and I had lead blockers, I didn't do it all.”

SUU's next score came early in the fourth, as Cowser did something he hadn't done in his career before today, returning a fumble for a touchdown, marking the Thunderbirds third defensive score of the ball game and putting them up 17.

Lewis would respond with another touchdown for Cal Poly, but the Thunderbirds would put a cap on the game with just under 10 minutes left as Olsen found wide C.J. Morgan from 26 yards out to put SUU up 54–37, which would remain the final score.

Olsen threw for 205 yards and two touchdowns, and Brown carried the ball 17 times for 85 yards and two touchdowns. Olsen said even though the offense didn't put up big numbers, they did their job.

“We take it one drive at a time and our offense did a really good job taking advantage of the defensive stops,” he said. “Obviously we knew Cal Poly was going to run and they're really good at what they do, but when we got a chance to score I think we only punted a few times today and that was good to be able to drive the field and if we didn't score then we flipped the field, so it was really good of our offense to do that.”

Mike Needham finished the game with 20 tackles and two fumble recoveries, followed by Miles Killebrew who had 17 tackles for SUU. Cowser also had two fumble recoveries to go along with his TFL record.

Cal Poly had four players rush for 100 plus yards, with Lewis leading the way with 121 yards and four touchdowns. Mustang QB Chris Brown rushed for 109 yards and threw for 47.

The Mustangs finished with 535 yards on the ground.