CEDAR CITY, Utah - Riding a five game winning streak and sitting in a tie atop the Big Sky Conference standings, the No. 15/19 Thunderbird football team is headed on back to the Golden State for their final road game of the regular season against the Aggies of UC Davis.

Last Time Out

In their last game at home the Thunderbirds were able to take care of business at Eccles Coliseum and knock off the Fighting Hawks of North Dakota 47-21.

The Thunderbirds are now 13-1 the last three seasons when playing in Cedar City.

Patrick Tyler continued his impressive season as a T-Bird on Saturday, throwing for 310 yards and two touchdowns. That is the second most yards he's thrown for in a single game this season, as he threw for 414 against Stephen F. Austin in SUU's second game of the year. He also completed a pass to 11 different receivers. Tyler now has thrown for over 2,000 yards this season, and has accounted for 20 touchdowns.

Jay Green Jr. had a breakout performance for the T-Birds on the ground, breaking into the endzone three different times on Saturday evening.

Defensively, the Thunderbirds forced five turnovers on Saturday, including three interceptions. Jarmaine Doubs Jr., Tyler Collet and Siddique Newkirk all picked off the Fighting Hawks. Mike Needham led the team in tackles with eight, with one for a loss.    

Rank 'Em

The Thunderbirds moved up to the No. 15 spot in the STATS FCS Poll, after being ranked No. 17 the week before.

The ranking matches the highest the T-Birds have ever been ranked in either of the major polls. It is also the highest the team has reached in the STATS Poll.

The highest the Thunderbirds had been ranked in either of the two major polls previously was during the 2015 season, when they climbed to the No. 15 spot in the Coaches Poll ahead of playing Portland State.

In the most recent Coaches Poll the Thunderbirds moved up four spots to the No. 19 spot in the FCS. Southern Utah is one of four ranked teams from the Big Sky Conference in the FCS Coaches Poll, along with No. 12 Weber State, No. 21 Eastern Washington and No. 24 Northern Arizona.

Opponent Preview: UC Davis Aggies

The alma mater of SUU head coach Demario Warren is riding high this week, as the Aggies of UC Davis knocked off the Idaho State Bengals 56-17 last Saturday in Pocatello.

UC Davis quarterback Jake Maier had a huge day for the Aggies, throwing for 358 yards and three touchdowns. Maier went over the 3,000-yard mark on Saturday, completing 240 passes over the course of the year for 3,033 yards and 22 touchdowns.  

His top target this season has been Keelan Doss, who has caught 91 passes for 1,233 yards and seven touchdowns. Doss was huge for the Aggies against Idaho State, pulling in 11 passes for 112 yards. Wesley Preece has also caught seven touchdowns for the Aggies this season, including one against the Bengals.

The Aggies will enter the contest with a 5-4 overall record, and a 3-3 mark in Big Sky Conference play. UC Davis picked up their first win of the season against San Diego in the second week of the season, and followed that up with a victory over Portland State. They've won two in a row now, knocking off both Cal Poly and Idaho State in back-to-back weeks.

Defensively, Ryan Bua has been a story of the Aggies this season. He leads the team with 70 total tackles and three tackles for loss. He's also recovered three fumbles for the Aggies this season. Terrell Cloud has been a lot for opposing offensive lines to handle this year, with five sacks this season.   

Recent Series History vs. UC Davis

The Thunderbirds have claimed victory the last two times they've faced off against the Aggies of UC Davis.

Last season the T-Birds knocked off the Aggies in Cedar City, claiming a 24-3 victory. SUU scored 21 points in the second quarter, which was ultimately the difference in the contest. Patrick Tyler threw for 183 yards in the contest, while Malik Brown and Raysean Pringle both ran a ball into the endzone for the Thunderbirds.

The Thunderbirds also knocked off the Aggies on their last run at the Big Sky Conference Championship, beating UC Davis on the road 34-6 in 2015. Ammon Olsen threw for 336 yards and two touchdowns in the victory. Eight of those passess went to Justin Brown, who broke into the endzone once during the game.

The last time the Aggies topped the T-Birds was in 2013, when they left Cedar City with a 21-3 victory thanks to the play of Gabe Manzanares, who ran for 175 yards and two touchdowns.  

Alma Mater

This game will mark the first time SUU head coach Demario Warren has been the lead guy traveling to play against his alma mater, as he played for UC Davis from 2003-2006. SUU did play UC Davis last season, but in Cedar City. 

Coach Warren had an impressive junior campaign, as he carried the ball 93 times for 314 yards. That was enough to make him second on the team in that category.  

As a senior in 2006, Warren carried the ball 27 times for 81 yards. That season he caught a touchdown pass.

Big Sky At A Glance

Sitting at the top of the Big Sky Conference along with the Thunderbirds are the Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona and the Wildcats of Weber State. All three teams have a 5-1 record in Big Sky Conference play.

However, the Thunderbirds control their own destiny moving forward as they hold a tiebreaker with Weber State and will face off against the Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona in their last game of the 2017 season.

Montana, Eastern Washington and Montana State have all suffered two losses in Big Sky play, and all sit with a 4-2 record with just two weeks remaining in the Big Sky season.

Words From Coach Warren

On the midset the team should have going into this weekend…..

"We've got to get better," SUU head coach Demario Warren said. "This is probably the best team we've played since we played since Eastern Washington, and at this point of the season they might be a little bit better. They've got the No. 6 offense in the country, they've got the best receiver in the country, their quarterback is third in passing right now and their defense just held Idaho State, which was 11th in the country in total yardage, to 14 points so we've got our hands full. This is going to be a tough game for us, and we've got to go to California again where we didn't do to well last time, so we've got to lock in, practice much better and we'll see what Saturday brings us."

On what the keys will be defensively to slow down the Aggies' offensive attack…..

"I don't know, nobody's been able to do it," he said. "Weber stopped them in the red zone with some turnovers and they got lucky on a couple things, so I guess luck and hoping we're good enough to get the job done. We're going to work hard, we're going to have a gameplan to stop what they like to do and we've just got to execute and our players have got to win."  

On what the weekend means to him…..

"We're just trying to get to eight wins," he said. "This team is special to me and that's something that we wanted to do, we wanted to have the best season in SUU history and with a win on Saturday we do that and it's a tough one. So we're excited, we've got a lot of work to do and we've got to go out there and play our best game of the year."

Where To Watch / Listen / Follow Along

Saturday's game will be be available on WatchBigSky.com as well as on the PlutoTV App.

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.ucdavisaggies.com or 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 Southern Utah's final regular season home game against Northern Arizona can be purchased online at tbirdtickets.com or at the America First Event Center Ticket Office.