CEDAR CITY, Utah – The Southern Utah University football team will welcome Portland State to town Saturday looking for its first Big Sky Conference win of the season.
GAME #5
Southern Utah vs Portland State
Date: October 2
Kickoff: 6:00 p.m. MT
Live Stream: ESPN+
Radio: KSUB 590 AM
Watch Live | Live Stats | Tickets | Game Program (PDF) | Southern Utah Notes (PDF) | Portland State Notes (PDF)
ABOUT PORTLAND STATE
Portland State enters Saturday's contest in Cedar City with an identical 1-3, 0-1 record to SUU. The Vikings dropped FBS games at Hawaii and Washington State to open the year before defeating Western Oregon, 21-7, for their first victory of 2021. PSU opened Big Sky play against Montana State and fell by a score of 30-17. Portland State is quarterbacked by Davis Alexander who owns 1,254 passing yards on the year to go with eight touchdowns. His top target through four games has been Beau Kelly who has 427 yards receiving and four touchdowns. Malik Walker leads the Viking rushing attack with 236 yards and three touchdowns. David Joseph leads the PSU defense with 17 total tackles.
SERIES HISTORY
In its history as a four-year program, Southern Utah trails the all-time series with the Vikings by a tally of 4-10. The two teams last met in 2019 when Portland State claimed a 52-31 victory on its home field. PSU last visited Cedar City in September of 2016 and Southern Utah came out on top by a score of 45-31. The Vikings have not won in Cedar City since 1993.
LAST TIME OUT
Despite celebrating homecoming, its Big Sky Conference opener and home opener, Southern Utah could not come away with a win as Eastern Washington took home a 50-21 victory. The Thunderbirds got two rushing touchdowns from David Moore III and one from Isaiah Williams, but it was not enough as EWU's high-powered offense scored the final 20 points of the game to run away with it late. La'akea Kaho'ohanohano-Davis led the SUU defense with 11 tackles and a sack.
NOTES AND QUOTES
-Southern Utah running back David Moore III has started to find a rhythm this season as the freshman now has four rushing touchdowns in the team's last three games. Moore tallied scores against Arizona State and Tarleton State before finding the end zone twice against Eastern Washington. Two of the Colorado native's scores have come off big plays as the freshman ripped off a 34-yard touchdown run against EWU and a 21-yarder at Arizona State. Moore III owns four of SUU's seven rushing touchdowns so far this season.
-Against Eastern Washington, Southern Utah's offensive line did not allow quarterback Justin Miller to be sacked for the third time this season. Miller also avoided a sack in the season opener at San Jose State and in SUU's win over Tarleton State. The Thunderbird offensive line is anchored by All-American and NFL draft prospect Braxton Jones.
-The SUU defense managed only two turnovers the entirety of the spring 2021 season. The Thunderbirds matched that total in the season opener at San Jose State and then doubled it when they faced Arizona State the following week. In the opener, cornerback Kobe Singleton recorded a pick six while Trent Whalen recovered a fumble. The T-Birds recovered two more fumbles against the Sun Devils. Desean Boyd recovered a surprise onside kick and Justin Brown scooped up a loose ball at midfield after Jake Narayan was credited with forcing the fumble. In SUU's win at Tarleton State, La'akea Kaho'ohanohano-Davis sealed the win with an interception in the final moments.
"We've got a passionate group and they're fired up. They know we could have had a chance in that game multiple times. We made some momentum mistakes early in the game. We got behind early but climbed back in it. We came out of halftime strong and cut the lead to nine but gave up a long touchdown on a busted coverage. We have to be locked in at all times to beat the number six team in the country, and we didn't do that tonight."
-Head Coach Demario Warren after dropping the home opener to Eastern Washington
"It feels good. We had to get one win out of conference. We didn't play our best football today, but we gutted it out. We needed to get into the fourth quarter of a tight game and see if we could execute. It's not the way I wanted to win, and I thought we could have put them away earlier, but the defense came away with two big stops at the end of the game and I'm excited that the offense could punch it in and take the lead. We have a team that can win a close game."
-Warren on SUU's win at Tarleton State
INSIDE THE STATS
-Kaho'ohanohano-Davis owns 42 tackles for the season which places him second in the Big Sky and 13th nationally
-Punter Jake Gerardi's 48.87 yards per punt average is third in all the FCS
-SUU's offensive line is 13th nationally with only four sacks allowed. Quarterback Justin Miller has not been sacked in three of SUU's four games
-The Thunderbird offense is 34th nationally and second in the Big Sky in average time of possession
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