CEDAR CITY, Utah - Riding a four game winning streak, the No. 17/23 Thunderbird football team will return home on Saturday to face off against the Fighting Hawks of North Dakota to continue Big Sky Conference play.

Last Time Out

The Thunderbirds picked up their fourth victory in a row on Saturday against Northern Colorado, knocking off the Bears 27-14. For the T-Birds, this secured the team's third winning season in a row, which is the first time since the transition to Division I football that has been done.

Quarterback Patrick Tyler had a big day for the Thunderbirds, finishing the contest with 249 yards through the air and two touchdowns. He also picked up a touchdown run on the ground. Tyler has now thrown for 1,751 yards and 15 touchdowns this season, and ran for 240 yards and three more touchdowns on the ground.

James Felila was the primary ball carrier for the Thunderbirds against the Bears, with 23 carries for 126 yards. Felila now has 673 yards on the ground for SUU, scoring seven touchdowns through the course of the season.   

Logan Parker caught his fifth touchdown of the season on Saturday, which now leads the Thunderbirds in that category.

Defensively, Taylor Nelson had a big game for the T-Birds with 10 tackles. That number led the team. He also had 1.5 tackles for loss. Cedar City native Chance Bearnson had two sacks on Saturday, which led the team in that category. Coming into Saturday's contest Bearnson only had one sack, and now is second on the team with three behind only Taylor Pili.

Rank 'Em

Following their victory against Northern Colorado, the Thunderbird football team has moved up to the No. 17 and No. 23 spots in the two major FCS Polls.

In the STATS FCS Poll, the Thunderbirds rose to the No. 17 spot this week after entering the game against UNC as the No. 25 team in the poll. SUU received 1,246 votes this week to bump them up eight spots.  

The Thunderbirds moved up from receiving votes to the No. 23 spot in the Week 9 FCS Coaches Poll, marking the first time they've been back in the poll since the 2015 campaign. The Thunderbirds received 89 votes, and were slotted ahead of Monmouth and Kennesaw State.

Home Field Advantage

Eccles Coliseum has been kind to the T-Birds as of late.

Over the last three seasons, the Thunderbirds are 12-1 at home. The only loss in that stretch was last season at the hands of Weber State.

Fans are recognizing the significance of the streak as well, as the Thunderbirds have broken their own attendance record twice over the last two seasons. This year, for SUU's Homecoming Game against Cal Poly the T-Birds had a record 10,633 fans in attendance at Eccles Coliseum.

Opponent Preview: North Dakota Fighting Hawks

After being picked by both coaches and media to be the top team in the Big Sky Conference this season, the Fighting Hawks of North Dakota haven't quite had the campaign they were hoping for due to a number of injuries that piled up over the course of the year. However, the team is coming together at the right time and will be ready to give the Thunderbirds their best shot on Saturday.

UND will enter Saturday's contest with a 3-6 overall record and a 2-4 record in the Big Sky Conference. They picked up their first win of the season against Missouri State after playing a respectable contest against Utah to start the season. After that they went on a three game losing skid before knocking off Northern Colorado for their first Big Sky victory.

The Fighting Hawks secured a victory in their last contest, defeating the Vikings of Portland State last Saturday 48-21. Early on PSU jumped ahead 14-0, but UND stormed back to win the game in convincing fashion. The Fighting Hawks outscored the Vikings 13-0 in the second quarter, followed by a 21-0 advantage in the third quarter to ultimately seal the victory.    

Keaton Studsrud got the start at quarterback for UND, throwing for 183 yards on 16 completions. Brady Oliveira led the team in carries, rushing 15 times for 55 yards and one touchdown. The Fighting Hawks scored three times on the ground.

Defensively, UND had three sacks in the game and nine total tackles for loss. Jaxson Turner led the team with eight tackles. On the season, Jake Rastas leads the team in tackles with 63.  

Recent Series History vs. North Dakota

Last season in Grand Forks, N.D., the Fighting Hawks had the T-Birds' number as SUU fell to UND 45-23. Despite jumping out to an early 14-7 lead, UND was able to come back to take care of business. Raysean Pringle and Brady Measom both had highlight plays for the Thunderbirds, as Pringle ran a kick back 97 yards for a touchdown and Measom had a 68-yard TD for himself, but it ultimately wasn't enough as SUU couldn't keep it close down the stretch.

The T-Birds and Fighting Hawks squared off in Cedar City in 2014, which was a contest that SUU claimed 35-17. Highlighted by a big day from Ammon Olsen (325 yards, five touchdowns) and Chinedu Ahanonu (12 tackles, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble, one interception) the T-Birds were able to secure what was their second conference win of that season.

In Southern Utah's first matchup with UND as Big Sky Conference foes, the T-Birds jumped out to a 15-0 lead, but ultimately fell to UND 33-29 in the 2012 season.

Big Sky At A Glance

After another weekend of Big Sky Conference competition, the Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona still reside at the top of the conference standings with a 5-0 record in league play. NAU (6-2, 5-0 Big Sky) topped Sacramento State (4-4, 3-2 Big Sky) on Saturday 37-17.

That result had a major impact for Southern Utah as well. Now if the Thunderbirds win the remainder of their games, they would claim the Big Sky Championship as they'd hand NAU their first loss and hold a tiebreaker over Weber State (6-2, 4-1 Big Sky) and Eastern Washington (5-3, 4-1 Big Sky).  

Sacramento State, Montana State (4-4, 4-2 Big Sky) and Montana (5-3, 3-2 Big Sky) all sit with two losses with three weekends of football remaining.

UC Davis (2-3, 4-4 Big Sky), Idaho State (4-5, 2-4 Big Sky), North Dakota (3-6, 2-4 Big Sky) and Northern Colorado (2-5, 1-4 Big Sky) all sit above Cal Poly and Portland State, who are both still seeking their first victory of the 2017 campaign.

Words From Coach Warren

On what his message to the team has been so far this week…..

"We've just talked about how momentum starts on Monday, getting your head locked in to the next week," SUU head coach Demario Warren said. "I think we had a good practice today. Good energy, good focus, I'm pretty sure we made some mistakes but I thought the focus and energy was there. This is a huge game for us, a chance to try and get in the playoffs and a chance to play a team that knocked us out last year. We know how good this team is this year and we've got to make sure that we're ready to play on Saturday."

On what he's seen out of North Dakota on film…..

"They've still got those two backs, they've still got their quarterback and they've got some speed outside at wide receiver so offensively they look really good," he said. "Defensively it looks like those young guys are really coming along about four or five weeks into playing football like we were last year, and they're ready to make a late run like we did. They're starting to be the team that everybody thought they would be, and this is our opportunity to make sure they don't keep that momentum going."

On the home field advantage the team has taken advantage of…..

"The atmosphere has been awesome here," he said. "It's a tough place to play when you get crowds like we've been getting the last couple years and it's fun to play at home, so hopefully we get that same type of energy, same type of atmosphere that we've had and we usually need those guys in the fourth quarter, and I'm sure this game's not going to be any different."

Youth Night

This Saturday will be Southern Utah's 'Youth Night' promotion. For 'Youth Night', both Thunderkids and Junior Thunderbirds can get into the game for free by receiving a ticket from the Ticket Office.

Where To Watch / Listen / Follow Along

Saturday's game will be be available on WatchBigSky.com as well as on the PlutoTV App. Southern Utah's channel is No. 236 on PlutoTV.  

The game will be available on the airwaves locally on KSUB 590 AM with Art Challis and Devin Dixon on the call for the Thunderbirds.

Live stats will be available on  www.suutbirds.com prior to the start of the game on Saturday.

Follow Us

Keep tabs on the Thunderbirds by following @SUUFB on Twitter and Instagram and by liking the Southern Utah Football page on Facebook.

Read all about the Thunderbirds on suutbirds.com.

Tickets

Tickets for Saturday's contest with the Fighting Hawks of North Dakota can be purchased online at tbirdtickets.com or at the America First Event Center Ticket Office.