The Thunderbirds (3-5, 0-2 Great West), who are coming off their second bye week of the season, will be looking to get back on track after suffering GWC losses the last two times out. The Thunderbirds lost a 69-41 decision at Cal Poly two weeks ago and dropped a 49-26 decision at UC Davis on Oct. 11. Prior to the Davis game, SUU had won back-to-back contests, including a14-7 home win over Youngstown State on Sept. 4, and a 34-20 victory at Texas State on Sept. 27.
    North Dakota (5-3, 0-1 GWC) is in its first season in the GWC after moving to FCS competition from the NCAA Division II ranks this season. The Fighting Sioux will also be looking to break a two-game skid this week, UND won its first four games but has lost three of the last four, including a 40-21 setback last week at Southern Illinois and a 34-21 loss in the Fighting Sioux's only GWC game, two weeks ago at UC Davis.

    The Game: Southern Utah (3-5, 0-1) at North Dakota (5-3/0-1), Saturday, 7:00 p.m. (Central) at the Alerus Center (12,283/AstroTurf).

    The Series: Saturday's game will be the second meeting between the two schools, the first in Grand Forks. North Dakota won the series-opener last season in Cedar City, taking a 37-10 win in the second game of the season.

    Radio: All of Southern Utah's 2008 football games will be available over the Thunderbird Sports Network. SUU flagship station KSUU (91.1 FM) will carry every game live as well as on the worldwide web at www.suu.edu/ksuu. The games will also be carried live over Thunderbird Radio Network affiliate KSUB AM (590), which covers southwest Utah. Art Challis is in his 34th season as the Thunderbirds' football voice. He is joined on home broadcasts by former SUU coach and athletic director Steve Lunt. Chris Holmes will provide color commentary for this week's broadcast.

    TV: There will be no live television for Saturday's game. However, highlight feeds of all five Thunderbird home games will be available via SUU's FTP site. For information on obtaining those feeds contact SUU Director of Athletic Media Relations Neil Gardner.

    SUU's GWC Players of the Week: Despite coming out on the wrong end of the outcome, Southern Utah had two football players named Player of the Week by the Great West Conference following the UC Davis game. Wide receiver Tysson Poots and return specialist Nick Miller both received the honor after their performances.
    Poots, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound sophomore from Henderson, Nev. (Coronado HS) earned the conference's offensive award after catching eight passes for 144 yards and four touchdowns. His TD grabs tied the SUU and Great West Conference records for touchdown receptions in the game. Poots accounted for for 24 of the Thunderbirds' 26 points on TD receptions of 46, 21, 11 and nine yards. Poots is SUU's first offensive player of the week this season.
    Miller, a 5-9, 175-pound senior from Scottsdale, Ariz. (Scottsdale CC/Red Mountain HS) earned the GWC special teams honor for the second time this season after tallying a career-high 297 all-purpose yards, 165 on kickoff returns, 52 on punt returns and another 80 receiving yards in the game. The 165 kickoff return yards are the fourth-most in a game by a Thunderbird in the school's history (his 184 at Montana this year are second-most).  His 52-yard punt return in the first quarter gave SUU the ball on the Davis 25 yard line, leading to the T-Birds' second touchdown and their only lead of the game. Miller also earned the special teams award for his performance in the Thunderbird win over Adams State.
    SUU has now had eight GWC players of the week this season. In addition to Poots award and Miller's two, punter Trevor Ward has been named special teamer of the week twice (last week vs. Youngstown State and at Air Force); while defensive tackle Aaron Fernandez (Youngstown State), cornerback Akeem Anifowoshe (Texas State), linebacker D.J. Senter (Montana) have earned the conference's defensive player of the week honor.

    Thunderbird Club Luncheons: The Thunderbird Club's weekly no-host luncheon is held Mondays at noon at the Cedar City Crystal Inn. The public is invited to attend the luncheons where Southern Utah's in-season coaches talk about their upcoming contests and review the past week's action.

    The Coaches: SUU's Ed Lamb (BYU, 1996) has a record of 3-5 in his first season as the Thunderbird head coach and his first season as a head coach overall. Lamb spent the past three seasons at the University of San Diego where he coordinated the special teams and recruiting and was the Toreros' defensive backs coach. Prior to his time at USD Lamb spent two seasons as defensive coordinator at Idaho. He also served a season at BYU as a linebackers coach and four seasons at Redlands, three as defensive coordinator and one as defensive line coach.
    At age 34, Lamb is believed to be the youngest Division I head coach in the country this season. Georgia Southern's Chris Hatcher, 35, was the youngest last year.
    North Dakota's Chris Mussman (Iowa State, 1990) is 5-3 in his first season as head coach of the Fighting Sioux and his first season overall as a head coach.

    Affiliations: Southern Utah is in its fifth season in the Great West Conference, an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) league, after competing eight seasons as an NCAA I-AA independent. SUU is a member of the GWC in football only, and is affiliated with The Summit League in all its other sports except women's gymnastics, which competes in the Western Athletic Conference. North Dakota is in its first season making the transition from NCAA Division I to NCAA Division I competition. UND is a member of the Great West Conference in all its sports. 

SUU In The FCS National Ranks:
    Individuals: SUU has individuals ranked among the nation's top-50 FCS performers in 10 categories this week, including five offensive and three defensive and two special teams categories. Return specialist/wide receiver Nick Miller and WR Tysson Poots both rank among the top-10 in two categories, with Miller fourth in all-purpose yards (183.75 yards per game) and sixth in punt return average (16.07 ypr) while Poots is fourth in receiving yards per game (108.25) and fifth in receptions per game (7.5). QB Cody Stone appears 37th in total offense, at 232.12 ypg and punter Trevor Ward is 21st in the nation with a 41.66 yard per kick average. On the defensive side of the ball, D.J. Senter is 17th in tackles per game with 10.29, while Robert Takeno is 30th (9.5). Senter is also 45th in sacks (0.57 per game) and 26th in tackles for loss (1.43 per game) with Austin Curtis 40th in TFLs (1.31).
    Team: As a team, SUU is ranked among the top-50 in four categories: sixth in punt returns with an average of 17.5 ypr, 12th in tackles-for-loss with an average of 7.75 per game, 33rd in net punting (34.17 ypp) and 41st in passing offense (232.75 ypg).

Record Breakers:
    WR Tysson Poots and QB Cody Stone each wrote their names at the top of some SUU record lists at Cal Poly.
    Poots (Henderson, Nev.; Coronado HS) caught 16 passes for 246 yards and a touchdown at Cal Poly to give him a pair of SUU records, one of the single-game and one of the single-season variety. His TD catch gave him 10 on the season to break a tie for the SUU single-season touchdown receptions record between himself and Bob Stookey (1990).The 16 receptions set the SUU single-game record while the 246 receiving yards are the third-most in a game at SUU and the most in a GWC conference game. Poots had 144 receiving yards and four touchdowns at UC Davis. His 4 TD catches at Davis also tied the SUU and Great West records.
    Stone (Bakersfield, Calif.; Bakersfield CC) set SUU single-game records for pass attempts, completions, passing yards, total yards and total plays at Cal Poly. Stone completed 34-of-58 passes for 469 yards and four TDs vs. the Mustangs and finished with 474 total yards. The previous records were held by Jerry Dyer (54 attempts, 384 passing yards, 423 total yards vs. Western New Mexico on 1974) and Casey Rehrer (28 completions and 61 plays vs. Cal Poly and Stephen F. Austin in 2004). Stone had completed a then-season-high 21 passes at UC Davis. Stone has thrown four touchdown passes in each of the last two games, one shy of the SUU single-game record.

Thunderbird Quick Hits:

?    Freshman DB Erron Vonner (Toledo, Ohio/West Valley HS) tallied a career-high and team-leading eight tackles at Cal Poly, including seven solo stops.

?    Redshirt freshman RB Daryl Brown (Magna, Utah/Cyprus HS) had played in five games but didn't get a carry until the Cal Poly game, where he wound up with seven carries for a team-high 36 yards and a touchdown.

?    Senior DT Austin Curtis (Layton, Utah/Layton HS) lived the lineman's dream at Cal Poly. A regular in SUU's short-yardage formation as a blocking fullback, Curtis got the ball on the two yard line and bulled his way in for a touchdown in the second quarter against the Mustangs. Curtis' TD gives SUU defensive linemen a pair of scores this season, as fellow DT Aaron Fernandez returned a fumble for a score against Youngstown State.

?    Junior punter Trevor Ward (Ogden, Utah/Bonneville HS) kicked a pair of rugby-style punts at Cal Poly. The strategy didn't work out as he shanked both rugby punts (they went 17 and 13 yards) and wound up with a season-low average of just 27 yards on five kicks.

?    WR Fesi Sitake (Sandy, Utah/Hillcrest HS) caught a season-high five passes at Cal Poly, including the first TD grab of his college career.

?    Junior WR Ryan Griffith (Hemet, Calif./Hemet HS) caught his first two passes of the season at Cal Poly. Six players caught passes at CP, including Griffith, Poots, Nick Miller, Sitake, Jared Ursua (two for TDs) and Deckar Alexander. Miller, Sitake and Ursua all had five receptions, while Alexander had one.

?    KR/PR Nick Miller's (Scottsdale, Ariz.; Scottsdale CC) 165 kickoff return yards at UC Davis ranks fourth on the SUU single-game list, while his 164 at Cal Poly ranks fifth (his 184 at Montana is second).

?    DB D.J. Lucchesi (Panaca, Nev.; Lincoln County HS) tied his career-high of 12 tackles at UC Davis and he also tallied a career-best eight solo stops.

?    DL Troy Bunting (Salt Lake City; Utah/Alta HS) had a career-high three tackles for loss at UC Davis, then had another at Cal Poly.

?    After forcing three turnovers in three straight games the Thunderbirds didn't get a single give-away at UC Davis but they were the beneficiaries of a fumble at Cal Poly.

?    Senior safety Troy Osborne (Peoria, Ariz.; Arizona State) came up with one of the biggest hits of the Youngstown State game when he drilled Penguin receiver Donald Jones in the end zone with 28 seconds to play. Osborne's hit broke up a near-certain completion that would have put YSU in position to either tie or go ahead in the final minute. Osborne missed four games after suffering an injury in the opener at Air Force. He returned to see limited duty at Texas State before returning to full-time status vs. YSU.

?    Another big hit in the Youngstown State game was delivered by the Thunderbird DJs, senior linebacker D.J. Senter (Las Vegas, Nev.; Bishop Gorman HS) and junior cornerback D.J. Lucchesi. The two converged to sack Penguin quarterback Paul Corsaro in the third period, forcing a fumble which DT Aaron Fernandez (Mesa, Ariz.; Mesa CC) scooped up and returned 54 yards for what turned out to be the winning score.

?    RB Deckar Alexander (Fontana, Calif.; Menlo College) had 91 rushing yards vs. Youngstown State and 114 at Texas State. He tallied 32 carries at Texas State. It was the first time a Thunderbird had 30 or more carries since Chuck Henderson had 30 at Montana on Oct. 19, 2002 and the most by a T-Bird since Sept. 12, 1998, when Matt Cannon carried 34 times in a 45-35 SUU win at Montana. The 32 carries in a game are also tied for the seventh-most rushing attempts in SUU history (Zed Robinson vs. Santa Clara in 1991). The 114 yards at TSU mark the highest rushing total by a Thunderbird since Johnny Sanchez ran for 143 yards last season at South Dakota State (Nov. 10).

?    When CB Tico Pringle (Rochester, N.Y.; Brigham Young) intercepted a Brandon Summers pass vs. YSU it gave SUU seven interceptions on the season, one more than the team had all of last year. The pick was Pringle's first as a Thunderbird and it gave SUU stops in the Penguin red zone in back-to-back possessions. The Penguins didn't get back into the red zone until their final drive of the game.

?    Freshman Safety Blake Fenn (Roosevelt, Utah; Union HS) picked off his team-leading second pass of the season at Texas State. Fenn had an outstanding debut in his first collegiate game at Air Force. Pressed into full-time duty after Osborne left the game with his injury, the redshirt freshman from Roosevelt, Utah (Union HS) led the team with 16 tackles, 11 of them solo. Fenn followed that performance with seven tackles and an interception vs. Adams State and eight at Montana but had just three vs. NAU in limited duty.

?    Senior kicker Steve Pulver (Salt Lake City; Highland HS) booted a 51-yard field goal at Texas State, the second-longest of his career and his longest this season. The 51-yarder is tied for the fifth-longest field goal in Thunderbird history.

?    After controlling the ball for just 17:06 vs. Northern Arizona the Thunderbirds turned the tables at Texas State, running 78 plays and keeping the ball for 33:59. It was the first time this season SUU had finished with a higher time of possession than its opponent. The 78 plays were also the most by the Thunderbirds this season until the team tallied 88 at Cal Poly. SUU also controlled the time of possession battle vs. the Mustangs, keeping the ball for 32.25.

?    In addition to the time of possession and total plays number, SUU also posted team-season-highs for rushing attempts (42), yards rushing (199), yards per carry (4.7), and TD carries (two) at TSU.

?    LB Robert Takeno (Sandy, Utah; Hillcrest HS) ? who has finished among the Thunderbirds' top three tacklers the past two seasons and is once again atop the SUU chart ? tallied a team-season-high and a career-high 18 tackles vs. NAU. He also had a team-best 12 solo tackles vs. the Lumberjacks. The 18 tackles were the most in a game by a Thunderbird since Nov. 2, 2002, when Steve Smith finished with 21 at Arkansas State.

?    Nick Miller finished with 184 yards in kickoff returns at Montana, the second-most kick return yards in a single game in SUU history. Miller holds the top two spots (and three of the top four), as his 208 yards at North Dakota State last season is the record.

?    SUU's announced crowd of 8,018 for the NAU game was the sixth largest in Eccles Coliseum history. The largest was against Cal Poly, on Oct. 9, 2004, when an over-flow crowd of 9,028 filled the Coliseum.

?    Prior to Takeno's 18 tackles vs. NAU, Senter's 17 tackles at Montana were the most in a single game by a Thunderbird this season, one more than the previous high or 16 Blake Fenn had at Air Force. The 17 stops were also a career-best for Senter. The 17 tackles were also the most by a Thunderbird since Nick DiPadova had 17 against South Dakota State back on Nov. 13, 2004.

?    When Mike Kaniho (Waikoloa, Hawaii; Kealakehe HS) blocked a Ryan Hedberg punt and Thatcher Taylor returned it 29 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter against Adams State it marked the first punt blocked for a TD by a Thunderbird since Sept. 30, 2006. Brian Kofoed blocked that one and Robert Takeno scooped it up and ran 11 yards for the score at Cal Poly.

?    Junior punter Trevor Ward (Ogden, Utah; Bonneville HS) set the SUU record for longest punt when his kick at the end of the Air Force game flew, then rolled, 91 yards into the Falcon end zone.

?    SUU played before the largest crowd in its football history at Air Force. The official attendance for the game was 39,180, which shattered the previous high-attendance mark for SUU: 26,715 back in 2000 at Utah State.

    Sioux Section: North Dakota's loss at Southern Illinois last week had a particular twist, as the defeat came at the hands of former coach Dale Lennon, who guided the Sioux fortunes for nine seasons and posted a 90-24 record and seven Division II playoff appearances before leaving for SIU this past off-season.
    Quarterback Danny Freund (6-0, 199, Sr) guides a potent Fighting Sioux attack which averages 245.6 passing and 154.8 rushing yards per game, Freund has completed 170-of-240 passes for 1,888 yards and 19 touchdowns already this season. His favorite target has been Brady Trenbeath (6-1, 190, Sr), who has 63 receptions for 89 yards and seven scores, while Alex Nicholas (6-1, 192, Sr) has 31 receptions for 357 yards and five TDs. Running back Josh Murray (5-11, 210, So) leads the GWC with an average of 115.4 yards per game (923 total on 150 carries). Murray has 10 rushing touchdowns and is third on the team in receiving yards with 160 on 16 receptions.
    Defensively the Fighting Sioux have been tough against the run, limiting opponents to 109.1 ypg on the ground even after Southern Illinois ran for 323 yards last week. The UND defense is led by FS Rory Manke (6-1, 196, Sr), who has 51 tackles, including three TFLs, with ILB Andrew Miller (6-0, 228, Jr), CB Dominique Hawkins (6-0, 180, RSFr) and ILB Brett Holinka (6-2, 225, Sr) ranking second through fourth on the team with 35, 34 and 33 tackles, respectively. Hawkins has a team-high two interceptions and three players have two sacks each.