CEDAR CITY, Utah - Southern Utah comes home on Halloween with a ranked rival in town, as No. 7 Northern Arizona visits Eccles Coliseum for the Battle for the Grand Canyon. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. MT, with the game streaming on ESPN+ and live stats available on the schedule link at suutbirds.com.

The Game

The Thunderbirds (3-5, 2-3 Big Sky) came within one stop of completing a fourth-quarter rally at Idaho last Saturday. Down 28-18, Southern Utah marched 60 yards in 11 plays for a 32-yard Jayden Rogers field goal with 4:54 to go, then pulled even when Will Burns hit Mark Bails on fourth-and-10 for a 57-yard touchdown with 42 seconds left. The Vandals had just enough time to answer, driving into range for a 53-yard field goal that cleared the crossbar as time expired in a 31-28 finish. The T-Birds piled up 245 rushing yards on 35 carries, with Burns accounting for 187 of them. 

Northern Arizona (6-2, 4-1 Big Sky) arrives on a roll. The Lumberjacks are ranked No. 7 in both the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 and the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll, share first place in the Big Sky with Montana State, and come to town rested off a bye week with three straight wins. NAU won 38-31 at No. 12 Idaho State on Oct. 3, outlasted No. 2 Montana 49-44 on Oct. 10, and then dug out of a 14-0 hole against Portland State on Oct. 17, closing a 38-25 win with fourth-quarter touchdown drives of 65, 90, and 80 yards. Both of NAU's losses came on the road, at FBS Arizona (35-7) and at No. 1 Montana State (28-14).

Check out this Week's Coaches Show

Head Coach DeLane Fitzgerald is joined by offensive lineman Sirri Kandiyeli and host Jon Smith at Cafe Sabor to talk about the heartbreaking loss at Idaho and the prep for the Battle for the Grand Canyon against Northern Arizona this Saturday at Eccles Coliseum.

Key T-Birds to Watch

Will Burns did a little bit of everything in Moscow. The quarterback ran for 187 yards on 18 carries, including a 76-yard touchdown sprint in the third quarter, and completed 17 of 31 passes for 205 yards, capped by the game-tying 57-yarder to Mark Bails. On the season, Burns has thrown for 1,504 yards and 11 touchdowns on 124-of-197 passing and has run for 843 yards and 10 scores. Idaho made slowing Floyd Chalk its top priority and held the running back to 58 yards on 17 carries, but he still broke free for a 19-yard touchdown. That ended his streak of 100-yard games at seven to open the season, while Burns' big day kept alive SUU's run of a 100-yard rusher in every game since homecoming in 2025. Chalk has 1,093 yards and 10 touchdowns on 173 carries. Bails, a redshirt senior, led the T-Birds with 69 receiving yards at Idaho and has been a big-play machine all season, averaging 21.8 yards per catch with 21 grabs for 458 yards and three touchdowns.

On defense, safety Parker Vance continues to fill up the stat sheet. He leads the Thunderbirds with 62 tackles and five interceptions, and one more pick would tie him for second on SUU's single-season list. Linebacker Mason Stromstad ranks second with 48 tackles, four of them behind the line, and Amarion York has broken up a team-high five passes to go with an interception. Up front, Aiden Hall has lived in opposing backfields with a team-best 5.5 tackles for loss and seven quarterback hurries, and defensive end Myles Amey leads the pass rush with four sacks.

Logging the Lumberjacks

It all starts with Ty Pennington. The Walter Payton Award Watch List quarterback is in his third season running the NAU offense and has completed 154 of 241 passes for 1,898 yards and 12 touchdowns, with just four interceptions. He is just as dangerous on the move, with 294 rushing yards and six scores. Pennington had a hand in six touchdowns against Montana, running for three of them and even hauling in a 7-yard scoring pass from receiver Joey Stout. In last season's meeting, he carved up the T-Birds for 366 yards and three touchdowns through the air.

Stout is the go-to target with a team-high 44 catches for 525 yards. Tight end Jeter Purdy stretches the field, averaging 17.0 yards per catch with 28 receptions for 475 yards and a team-best four touchdowns, including an 86-yarder. Myseth Currie adds 29 catches for 357 yards and three scores. In the backfield, Quran Gossett leads the way with 415 yards and three touchdowns, while Kenveon Stone has been the home-run hitter with 303 yards and six touchdowns at 7.2 yards per carry. The Lumberjacks can flip a game on special teams, too. Lindsey Graves took a kickoff 100 yards to the house against Montana, and kicker Francisco Orduno Jr. has connected on 5 of 8 field goals, including a 55-yarder, and is perfect for 34-for-34 on extra points.

Safety Shoes Brinkley anchors the NAU defense with a team-high 57 tackles, and linebacker Jaiden Letua adds 38. Cornerback Jahaad Fort is the ballhawk of the secondary with three interceptions, and defensive lineman Devin Murphy leads the front with five sacks. Third-year head coach Brian Wright has the Lumberjacks squarely in the Big Sky title race.

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