CEDAR CITY, Utah (October 31, 2026) – No. 7/7 Northern Arizona controlled the middle two quarters, ripping 27 unanswered points, en route to a 34-27 victory over Southern Utah on Saturday at Eccles Coliseum. The Lumberjacks won their fourth straight game and remain tied for first in the Big Sky at 5-1 in league play.
 
With the win, NAU (7-2 overall) secured its third consecutive winning regular season under head coach Brian Wright. The victory was also the Lumberjacks' fifth straight in the Grand Canyon Rivalry over the Thunderbirds as they will bring the trophy back with them to Flagstaff.
 
"The main message going into halftime was to 'be us'," Wright said. "I saw signs of things that we hadn't done in a while at the beginning of the game, and even before the game. We had really good rhythm on going into halftime on defense and we were starting to gain some rhythm on offense, but just wasn't finishing with touchdowns."
 
The Lumberjacks got off to a slow start, recording only eight yards of offense and going three-and-out on both of their first quarter possessions. Meanwhile, the Thunderbirds (3-6, 2-4 Big Sky) possessed the ball for over 12 minutes and strung together a pair of scoring drives. Floyd Chalk capped the game-opening drive with a 10-yard touchdown and Southern Utah made a chip shot field goal for an early 10-0 lead.
 
NAU wound up putting aside its slow start to finish with a season-high 512 yards of total offense. Ty Pennington was nearly perfect, completing 23-of-27 passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns, while Quran Gossett returned from a one-game absence and set a career-high with 203 all-purpose yards (131 rushing, 72 receiving).
 
Francisco Orduno Jr. put NAU on the board with a pair of second quarter field goals, chipping into Southern Utah's advantage. Orduno Jr. converted from 46 yards and 25 yards, the latter of which was set up by a 59-yard catch-and-run from Pennington to Myseth Currie, in his second multi-field goal game of the season.
 
As the Lumberjacks chopped into the deficit, their defense reversed course, limiting the Thunderbirds to 20 yards of offense and zero first downs in the second quarter. However, Southern Utah came up with the big defense stop late in the first half. With NAU moving inside the Southern Utah 10-yard line, Southern Utah sniffed out a Lumberjack fake field goal to maintain its 10-6 lead into the locker room.
 
When a trick fell short, the Lumberjacks decided to take a bunch of treats instead in the third quarter, scoring three touchdowns. Gossett set up a 1-yard touchdown on the half's first drive with a 38-yard scamper down the left sideline. After JaSire Peterson picked off Will Burns off a tipped pass, Pennington immediately hit a wide-open Jeter Purdy for a 41-yard touchdown.
 
"The interception was huge and it's exactly what you need," Gossett said. "That's what I love about our defense. We trust that they're going to get us a stop and help us get the momentum back."
 
NAU was far from done as Pennington tacked on a 2-yard touchdown, giving the 'Jacks a 27-10 lead with 4:13 left in the third quarter.
 
Southern Utah finally snapped NAU's string of 27 unanswered points with an 11-yard touchdown from Burns to Jack Fairchild to start the fourth quarter, but NAU had an answer. With Gossett powering the drive with runs of 32 and 15 yards, Pennington notched his second passing touchdown of the game with a 12-yard strike to Luke Edgecomb.
 
The Thunderbirds refused to go away quietly, scoring 10 consecutive points following Edgecomb's first career touchdown. After Southern Utah knocked a field goal in with 4:36 to play, the Thunderbirds converted a Lumberjack fumble into a 2-yard touchdown by Chalk. Chalk's second touchdown of the game closed the NAU lead to 34-27 with 2:23 remaining.
 
Opting not to go for an onside kick, Southern Utah kicked it deep to NAU and never got the ball back as the 'Jacks ran the clock out. NAU put the ball in Pennington's hands and he put the game on ice with consecutive rushes of 19, 38 and 18 yards. Instead of scoring a touchdown on his last rush, Pennington gave himself up at the 1-yard line, allowing NAU to kneel the clock out.
 
Gossett did the bulk of his damage in the second half, recording 117 yards rushing and 53 yards receiving after halftime. Gossett had five plays from scrimmage of at least 10 yards and three of more than 30 yards in the second half.
 
Like Gossett, Pennington set a career-high with 91 yards rushing as NAU ran for 220 yards as a team – marking the team's fourth game of at least 200 yards rushing this season. 
 
On the other side, NAU largely kept Southern Utah, the FCS leader in rushing yards, in check. The Thunderbirds only netted 101 yards in the final three quarters, finishing with 184 on the day after coming in averaging a nation-leading 266.1 yards on the ground.
 
"For the bulk of the football game, I thought our defense was really outstanding against the run," Wright said. "The first couple of drives we were not, and at the end not as good as we want to be, but throughout the game our defense got stops and allowed our offense to put points on the board."
 
Jaiden Letua paced the 'Jacks with eight tackles, including a sack, while Shoes Brinkley totaled six tackles and two pass breakups. Jordan Pigram and Devin Murphy also combined for a sack, giving Murphy 4.5 sacks in the last four games.
 
NAU plays its final regular season road game next Saturday, Nov. 7, at Cal Poly at 3 p.m. MST.
 
Stay up to date with Northern Arizona football by following the Lumberjacks on X and Instagram.