FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (September 23, 2025) – No. 15/15 Northern Arizona opens Big Sky Conference play in at Hillsboro Stadium, home of Portland State, on Saturday at 2 p.m. MST. The game marks the league opener for both teams.
Mitch Strohman and Kevin Stephens will kick off the game with the pregame show on the Northern Arizona Healthcare NAU Lumberjack Radio Network at 1 p.m. MST. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
The Lumberjacks head into their conference opener on a three-game winning streak following a 31-23 win over No. 19/14 UIW last weekend. The victory propelled NAU to No. 15 in both the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 and AFCA FCS Coaches Poll. NAU's No. 15 national ranking is the highest for the program since the Lumberjacks were ranked No. 8 going into the FCS Playoffs in 2013.
"The guys feel like we've done some good things to this point, but they know there is so much left out there for us to do, regardless of opponent," said head coach
Brian Wright. "We know we haven't played our best football yet and there's a lot of things that we continue to want to do better. Our guys recognize they've done some good things, recognize they've won some tough ball games and did what we needed to do in the non-conference schedule. Now it's on to the next phase and round one of the Big Sky Conference."
The 2013 season also marks the last time NAU opened a season with a 3-1 record.
The Lumberjacks picked up their third straight victory, and first win over a ranked opponent in almost a calendar year, last week by virtue of another strong offensive performance. Ty Pennington earned his second consecutive Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week award after throwing for 286 yards and three touchdowns against UIW. In the last two weeks, Pennington has totaled 652 yards and six passing touchdowns.
Pennington ranks sixth in the FCS in passing yards on the season (1,085) and 10th in passing touchdowns (8), in addition to ranking 12th with 281.5 yards of total offense per game and 25th in passing efficiency (152.8).
Although Kolbe Katsis was kept out of the end zone for the first time since the first weekend, Katsis still posted a team-high 95 receiving yards on four receptions. Katsis, who has led the team in receiving in each of the four games, enters Saturday's conference opener needing 114 yards to reach 1,000 for his NAU career. He is currently eighth in the FCS in receiving yards (388) and 11th in yards per game (97.0).
Jayson Raines, Myseth Currie and Jeter Purdy were the recipients of Pennington's scoring passes last week with the touchdown being the first of Raines' career. Purdy caught a touchdown for the second consecutive week and has eclipsed 40 receiving yards in each of the last three games. A total of 11 different Lumberjacks have scored a touchdown through four games for the 15th-highest scoring offense in the country at 35.0 points per game.
NAU's defense is led by Travis Arena, who is tied for third in the FCS in sacks (5.0) and 18th in total tackles (36). Arena has posted double-digit tackles in three consecutive games and four of his five sacks have come in the last two weeks.
The team's linebacker unit was bolstered with the return of Brandon Wong, a preseason all-conference selection, who made his season debut after missing the first three games with an injury. Wong totaled six tackles, including one behind the line of scrimmage, in his first game.
Although the teams are conference rivals, this Saturday's game is a rarity. Since the Big Sky Conference expanded in 2013, the Lumberjacks and Vikings have only met four times prior to this weekend as a result of the unbalanced conference schedule. Portland State has won each of the last two matchups in 2022 and 2023 after NAU won the previous four and eight of nine.
Portland State heads into the start of conference play coming off a bye week, following four tough games to open the season. The Vikings sit at 0-4, but have opened the season with three nationally-ranked teams and two FBS squads. The Vikings, voted 10th in the Big Sky Preseason Media and Coaches Polls, fell to Hawai'i, 23-3, two weeks ago prior to the bye. Hawai'i was the Vikings' second FBS opponent of the season.
In a challenging start to the season, the Vikings also have losses to nationally-ranked FCS opponents No. 10 Tarleton State and No. 20 North Dakota as well as Big 12 foe BYU, ranked No. 23 at the time.
Largely due to its schedule, Portland State is only averaging 5.8 points per game while allowing 44.5 points on average. However, in its last two wins over NAU in 2022 and 2023, Portland State averaged 40.0 points per game.
"Portland State's schedule up to this point has been brutal," Wright said. "They've played some really good opponents. They're going to be really hungry for a victory and I'm sure they're excited, as we are, to open Big Sky Conference football this week. They get to play back at home, which they've only been able to do once this year, and we're certainly going to see the best version of Portland State on Saturday."
From a statistical standpoint, the Vikings rank 31st in the FCS in passing yards allowed (177.8), but are last nationally in rushing defense (287.8).
Portland State has started three quarterbacks in four games, but John-Keawe Sagaopolutele has started the last two and has thrown for 392 yards and a touchdown, against four interceptions, in his first season as a Viking. Defensively, Isaiah Green leads the Vikings with 35 tackles, which is tied for fifth in the Big Sky.
This season marks the first time that NAU is opening league play on the road since 2021. The Lumberjacks last posted a Big Sky opening win on the road in 2017 at Cal Poly.
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