CEDAR CITY, Utah – After finishing just one point shy of an upset at Montana, the Southern Utah University football team will play its final road game of the season when it travels north to take on the Idaho Vandals Saturday at the Kibbie-ASUI Activity Center.
GAME #10
Southern Utah at Idaho
Date: November 6
Kickoff: 2 p.m. MT
TV: ESPN+
Live Stream | Live Stats | Southern Utah Notes | Idaho Notes
ABOUT IDAHO
Idaho enters Saturday's contest with an overall record of 2-6 and a conference mark of 1-4. The Vandals own victories against Simon Fraser and Portland State so far this season. Last week, Idaho dropped a narrow heartbreaker to Northern Arizona by a score of 38-31. Mike Beaudry quarterbacks the Vandals and owns 1,082 passing yards with four touchdowns on the season. Idaho uses a running back-by-committee approach, and has seven different players with rushing touchdowns this season. Zach Borisch leads the way in rushing yards with 364, while Aundre Carter has seven touchdowns on the ground. Terez Traynor is the leading receiver for the Vandals with 550 yards and two touchdowns. Tre Walker leads Idaho defensively with 77 total tackles. He is followed closely by Fa'Avae Fa'Avae who claims 71 tackles on the year.
SERIES HISTORY
Southern Utah and Idaho have met a total of three times on the gridiron with Idaho claiming victory in every meeting. The Thunderbirds and Vandals first met in 1994 when Idaho visited Cedar City and took home a 43-10 victory. The next meeting did not take place until 2018 when the Vandals earned a 31-12 win in Moscow. The most recent meeting between the two schools occurred on Idaho's home turf in the spring 2021 season. In a nail biter that came down to the very end, Idaho emerged victorious by a single point, claiming a 33-32 decision.
LAST TIME OUT
The Southern Utah University football team walked into Washington-Grizzly Stadium and punched the No. 11 Montana Grizzlies in the mouth Saturday afternoon but could not hold onto the lead late as the Griz escaped with a one-point victory in the final minutes.
The Thunderbirds took advantage of an early Montana miscue to get on the scoreboard first. On its second drive of the game, the Griz snapped the ball out of the shotgun but fumbled, and Aubrey Nellems quickly jumped on the ball to earn possession for SUU. The T-Birds then drove down to the Montana 14-yard line before Noah Alejado trotted out on fourth down to connect on a 32-yard field goal, making the score 3-0 in Southern Utah's favor.
SUU's second score of the day followed the same pattern as the first with the defense forcing a turnover and the offense capitalizing. On the opening play of the second quarter, the Grizzlies snapped the ball near midfield and the defense brought heavy pressure. Linebacker Quaid Murray grabbed the quarterback and forced a strip sack which was recovered by teammate Jayden Clark. The T-Bird offense took over and drove all the way down to the two-yard line where Isaiah Williams then punched in a touchdown run to put SUU up 9-0.
After Montana rattled off 10-straight points to take its first lead of the afternoon, Southern Utah's offense came up with a big answer to take a 16-10 lead into the locker room at halftime. Facing a 3rd down and nine in their own territory, Justin Miller sent a bomb down the sideline and connected with Brandon Schenks on the other end. Schenks broke a tackle and made his way down the sideline to find the endzone for a 60-yard touchdown.
The second half turned into a gritty defensive battle as both teams struggled to move the ball after Montana scored a touchdown in the half's opening minutes. Southern Utah was able to drive down to the Montana five-yard line at the end of the third quarter but could only manage a field goal. Alejado connected from 23 yards out to put SUU back in front by a score of 19-17.
Montana appeared to be driving for the end zone to open the fourth quarter, but SUU's defense made a big stand and held the Grizzlies to a field goal. Trailing 20-19, the T-Birds took over possession and went on a long drive all the way to Montana's 18-yard line. On fourth down, SUU called on the field goal unit, but the Griz blocked the go-ahead field goal and sealed the one-point win on their next possession.
NOTES AND QUOTES
-After not playing since Southern Utah's second game of the season at Arizona State, wide receiver Lance Lawson returned to the field Saturday against Montana and made an immediate impact. Lawson caught six passes for 79 yards, including a clutch reception over the middle for 21 yards in the fourth quarter that gave SUU a chance to win the game.
-Against Montana, the Southern Utah defense forced four turnovers for its best turnover output of the season. Kobe Singleton recorded his third interception of the season while Jayden Clark, AJ Stanley and Aubrey Nellems all recovered fumbles
-The game at Idaho marks Southern Utah's final road game of the 2021 season. After Saturday, the Thunderbirds will have played seven road contests as opposed to just four at home. Each time SUU went on a road trip this season, it was part of at least two-consecutive games away from home.
"I'm proud of the guys and the way they fought. They came out here and fought their guts out. I love the way they competed and I'm so grateful for their effort."
-Head Coach Demario Warren after his team nearly upset Montana
"Obviously it was another difficult loss. All the guys have put a lot of effort in and continue to work hard, so we just need to have some perspective and stay positive so we can respond. We had a thousand chances out there tonight, but we just didn't play well enough to win the game."
-Warren on his team's tight loss against Northern Colorado
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