CEDAR CITY, UT – The Thunderbirds will be on the road again for another non-conference game at Western Illinois University this Saturday the 17th of September. Both Southern Utah and Western Illinois are coming off tough games as the T-Birds fell to the Utes 73-7 in week two while the Leathernecks lost on the road at Minnesota 62-10.
When the Thunderbirds travel to Macomb this weekend they will be facing off with a team in a very similar situation. The Leathernecks are possibly the only team in the country with more new faces this season than Southern Utah. New Head Coach for Western Illinois Myers Hendrickson is 0-2 in his first two games at the helm. Hendrickson is a Western Illinois Alum who is returning to Macomb after spending the last 10 years climbing the coaching ranks. He spent the last three seasons at Kansas Wesleyan building a 31-7 career record.
Hendrickson and his newly appointed staff inherited a team which went 2-9 last season picking up wins against Youngstown State and Illinois State. Western Illinois was picked to finish last in the preseason by the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The Leathernecks returned five offensive starters, six defensive starters, and the starting kicker.
With all the new faces and a tough couple of games to open the season the Leathernecks are looking to bounce forward in the home opener. Western Illinois has started with consecutive losses to University of Tennessee at Martin (25-42) and University of Minnesota (10-62) on the road. The Leathernecks have not won a home opener since they took down the Montana Grizzlies in September of 2018.
The Thunderbirds are 1-1 to start the season with a big win at home over St. Thomas 44-13. Southern Utah flashed some impressive offense and tough defense in the opening game of the year, gaining 489 yards of total offense and forcing 4 turnovers. Over matched in game two against the University of Utah, the Thunderbirds fell 73-7 at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The T-Birds played a tight first quarter finishing the first fifteen minutes with a 7-7 tie. Southern Utah quickly fell behind as the difference in depth became apparent. The Utes rattled off 66 unanswered points to finish the game.
Starting quarterback Justin Miller will look to bounce back after giving up 2 interceptions in the Utah game. Miller, who started the season with an outstanding performance against St. Thomas struggled to find his receivers within the complex Utes secondary. Southern Utah's air attack has gone mostly through Isaiah Wooden and Mata'ava Ta'ase who each have more than 100 yards on the season. The T-Birds offense will also look to find its running game this week as they try to exploit the 283 yards per game average that Western Illinois has given up in its first two games.
Despite struggling against the #13 FBS team in the country, the T-bird defense has been able to count on the linebacking core. The leading tacklers for the T-Birds are linebackers Josh Dunn and Kohner Cullimore along with defensive back Roderick Ward. Cullimore has 2 tackles for a loss on the season and fellow linebacker Aubrey Nellems has 4 tackles for a loss on the year. Southern Utah has been able to capitalize on the plus turnover margin so far this season with 23 points off turnovers.
Saturday's game in Macomb will kick off at 2:00 PM MT and should feature clear weather with 85 degrees as the forecasted high. The game will be televised on ESPN+. To listen to the Thunderbirds play by play on the radio tune in to KSUB 590 AM.
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