GAME NOTES (PDF)
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - Coming off its only bye week of the season, the Northern Arizona football team opens Big Sky play on the road this Saturday at Cal Poly in a matchup between two teams who are looking for their first win of 2017. The Lumberjacks and Mustangs kick off at 6 p.m. at Alex G. Spanos Stadium in a game set to be televised on Eleven Sports.
Prior to the bye, NAU fell to No. 22 Western Illinois, 38-20, on Sept. 9 in its home opener in the Walkup Skydome. In defeat, sophomore quarterback
Case Cookus threw for two touchdowns while the Lumberjacks' run game was stifled by the Fighting Leathernecks' defense. Just a week after NAU tallied 185 yards on the ground against Arizona, the 'Jacks were limited to just 57 yards rushing. The Lumberjacks' secondary came up big though with the team's first two interceptions of the season courtesy of junior safety Kam'ron Johnson and sophomore cornerback
Khalil Dorsey. Another member of NAU's secondary, junior safety
Wes Sutton, had a huge game defensively totaling a career-high 11 tackles to pace the Lumberjacks against Western Illinois.
Led by Cookus, who ranks No. 17 in the country in passing yards per game (263.5), NAU ranks No. 31 nationally in total offense. The Lumberjacks are averaging 420.0 yards offensively per game, which is fifth-highest in the conference.
The Lumberjacks have had a ton of success against the Mustangs, owning the all-time series lead at 9-1 - putting them in perfect position to snap their season-opening two-game losing streak and start the conference schedule on a high note. NAU has won the last two meetings, 17-13 in 2013 on the road and 38-35 at home in 2014. Overall, since Cal Poly joined the Big Sky as an affiliate member in 2012, NAU has won two of the three head-to-head battles.
Mitch Strohman, Kevin Stephens and
Matt Howdeshell will be on the call on the Lumberjack Radio Network with the pregame show starting at 6 p.m. The Eleven Sports television broadcast can be seen on DirecTV channel 623.
Celebrate Souers: On Sept. 11, NAU Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics
Dr. Lisa Campos announced that this season would be head coach
Jerome Souers' final as the head coach of the NAU football program. The announcement was made to ensure that Souers' leadership and service to NAU would be celebrated throughout the remainder of the season. Currently in his 20th season, Souers is the longest tenured head coach in conference history. At the time of the announcement, Souers' career win total sat at 112 and his conference win total was 76, both of which are tops in Big Sky history.
Halt the Streak: This week, NAU is looking to avoid its first 0-3 start since 1971 when the Lumberjacks started the season 0-4. This is just the third 0-2 start during Souers' 20 years and first since 2006.
Big Sky Opener History: NAU is 28-19 all-time in Big Sky openers. The Lumberjacks have dropped their last two conference openers (Montana in 2015, Eastern Washington in 2016), but overall are 7-3 in their last 10 Big Sky openers.
About Cal Poly: Cal Poly is also searching for its first victory of the season after dropping its first three games of the season, most recently a narrow 45-38 loss on Sept. 9 at Northern Iowa. The Mustangs also had a bye last week and are receiving votes in the STATS FCS Top 25 poll despite their 0-3 record. Cal Poly's lone win against NAU came in the 2012 season finale in the Walkup Skydome by a 41-34 score. Cal Poly, with its triple option attack, ranks No. 17 in the NCAA FCS rankings with a Big Sky Conference leading 237.0 yards rushing per game. Jared Mohamed is second in the conference with 232 total rushing yards and ranks third with 77.3 rushing yards per game. While the Mustangs are a run-heavy team, Khaleel Jenkins has thrown for 360 yards on just 19 completions with five touchdowns and no interceptions. Jenkins is second on the team in rushing with 169 yards and leads Cal Poly with two rushing touchdowns. Kyle Lewis has caught three of Jenkins' five touchdown throws and is averaging 36.2 yards per reception. Defensively, Mason Montgomery paces the conference with 12.3 tackles per game. Montgomery has totaled 37 tackles this season in three games with 16 being of the solo variety.
