CEDAR CITY, Ut - The T-Birds will be away this weekend as they take on the Wildcats of Abilene Christian University. This will be the first of two business trips that the Southern Utah football team will take to Texas this year. The Thunderbirds are sitting at 3-3 with a 1-1 record in WAC play. The Wildcats will enter the matchup with a 4-2 overall record and a record of 1-0 in the WAC.
Game Information
Southern Utah at Abilene Christian
Date: October 15th, 2022
Kickoff Time: 2:25 PM MT
Venue: Wildcat Stadium
Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: https://bit.ly/3Ez49Gf
Last Saturday the Thunderbirds had a home game against Tarleton State. The T-Birds played from behind most of the game and entered the fourth quarter trailing 35-13. A furious rally fell just short however as Southern Utah dropped the contest 42-40.
Abilene Christian faced off with Conference opponent Stephen F. Austin but as the two teams are scheduled to play twice this year, this game was to be considered a non-conference matchup. In a similar fashion to what happened in Cedar City the Wildcats trailed most of the game on the road at SFA but were able to tie the game up late. The Wildcats would fall however as Stephen F. Austin hit a fifty-one yard field goal as time expired.
The Thunderbirds have a few players who are among the nations leaders in certain stat categories. Zach Strand has two fumble recoveries which is ranked third in FCS football. Rodrick Ward also sits third in the country with just under two pass break ups per game. Thunderbird punter Jake Gerardi is leading the nation with nearly fifty yards per punt.The Thunderbirds have nine interceptions as a team on the season which is good enough for the third spot in FCS.
The field general for Southern Utah Justin Miller has ten passing touchdowns on the season and has thrown for just over sixteen hundred yards. Bobby Cole still leads the T-Birds rushing attack with one hundred and seventy yards on the ground. Through the air the Thunderbirds have been led by Isaiah Wooden who has more than five hundred yards receiving and four touchdowns.
The defensive effort for Southern Utah has been dominated by linebacker Kohner Cullimore who has forty-four tackles on the season. Josh Dunn has added thirty-four tackles of his own and a pair of pass break ups. Rodrick Ward leads the defensive backs with three interceptions on the season and twenty-eight tackles.
Both the T-Birds and the Wildcats went over five hundred yards of total offense this past week with the majority of the Southern Utah offense coming through the air. A good portion of the Abilene Christian offense came on the ground courtesy of two time WAC offensive player of the week Jeremiah Dobbins. The Wildcat running back went over the century mark for the third straight game last week. The passing game for Abilene Christian has come from two different quarterbacks who have combined to throw nine touchdowns and just over fourteen hundred yards. Senior receiver Kobe Clark has been on the receiving end of most of those passes with over three hundred yards and three touchdowns.
The leading tackler for the Wildcats is freshman linebacker Reese Young who has tallied twenty-seven in the first six games. Sophomore defensive lineman Tyrin Bradley has been a force for Abilene with twenty-six tackles and two sacks. As a team they have four total interceptions and three fumbles for seven turnovers on the season.
Abilene Christian is currently ranked fourth in the WAC-ASUN power rankings. The Thunderbirds are the seventh ranked team in the same group. Southern Utah is still one of the top teams in the country in turnovers gained with seventeen.
Southern Utah has wins this season against St. Thomas (44-13), Western Illinois (17-10), and Utah Tech (31-17). Their losses on the year have come against Tarleton (42-40), Eastern Kentucky (35-28), and PAC 12 powerhouse Utah (73-7). Abilene has four wins on the year, beating Lamar (28-14), Prairie View A&M (21-13), Western New Mexico (34-7), and Utah Tech (26-10). Their two losses came on the road last week at Stephen F. Austin (41-38) and when they traveled to SEC Missouri (34-17).
The Thunderbirds will be looking to bounce back off the heartbreaking loss and finally capitalize on late opportunities to win games. The game on Saturday will kick off at 2:25 PM MT and can be viewed on ESPN+.
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