2019 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team

The 2019 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team represented Southern Utah University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fourth-year head coach Demario Warren^[1] and played their home games at Eccles Coliseum in Cedar City, Utah as eighth-year members of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 3–9, 2–6 in Big Sky play to finish in a five-way tie for ninth place.

2019 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Record	3–9 (2–6 Big Sky)
Head coach	Demario Warren (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Justin Walterscheid (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Brandon Fisher (1st season)
Home stadium	Eccles Coliseum
Seasons ← 2018 2020 →

2019 Big Sky Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 3 Weber State +^		7	–	1					11	–	4
No. 9 Sacramento State +^		7	–	1					9	–	4
No. 4 Montana State ^		6	–	2					11	–	4
No. 6 Montana ^		6	–	2					10	–	4
Eastern Washington		6	–	2					7	–	5
Idaho		3	–	5					5	–	7
Portland State		3	–	5					5	–	7
UC Davis		3	–	5					5	–	7
Northern Arizona		2	–	6					4	–	8
Cal Poly		2	–	6					3	–	8
Idaho State		2	–	6					3	–	9
Southern Utah		2	–	6					3	–	9
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					2	–	10
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Although North Dakota was classified as an independent, games against them still counted as Big Sky Conference games. Rankings from STATS Poll

Preseason

Big Sky preseason poll

The Big Sky released their preseason media and coaches' polls on July 15, 2019. The Thunderbirds were picked to finish in eleventh place by the media and in twelfth by the coaches.^[2]

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	536 (25)
2	UC Davis	510 (13)
3	Weber State	472 (4)
4	Montana State	417
5	Montana	396 (1)
6	Northern Arizona	302
7	Idaho State	285
8	Idaho	248
9	Cal Poly	196
10	Portland State	178
11	Southern Utah	160
12	Sacramento State	125
13	Northern Colorado	90

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	140 (10)
2	UC Davis	127 (2)
3	Weber State	124
4	Montana	104 (1)
5	Montana State	100
6	Northern Arizona	88
7	Idaho State	72
8	Idaho	65
9	Cal Poly	56
10	Portland State	42
11	Sacramento State	40
12	Southern Utah	38
13	Northern Colorado	19

Preseason All–Big Sky team

The Thunderbirds had one player selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.^[3]

Offense Zach Larsen – C

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 31	8:00 p.m.	at UNLV*	Sam Boyd Stadium Whitney, NV	Stadium	L 23–56	17,421	^[4]
September 7	3:00 p.m.	at No. 11 Northern Iowa*	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN3	L 14–34	9,241	^[5]
September 14	6:05 p.m.	Stephen F. Austin*	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	Pluto TV	W 45–38 ^OT	5,568	^[6]
September 21	5:00 p.m.	at No. 3 South Dakota State*	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD	Midco	L 7–43	14,269	^[7]
September 28	6:05 p.m.	Cal Poly	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	Pluto TV	L 21–24	7,741	^[8]
October 5	3:00 p.m.	at Portland State	Hillsboro Stadium Hillsboro, OR	Pluto TV	L 31–52	3,222	^[9]
October 12	6:00 p.m.	at No. 4 Weber State	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT (Beehive Bowl)	Pluto TV	L 14–29	10,622	^[10]
October 19	6:05 p.m.	No. 23 UC Davis	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	Pluto TV	L 25–33	3,156	^[11]
October 26	2:05 p.m.	Idaho State	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	Pluto TV	W 59–34	3,809	^[12]
November 2	12:00 p.m.	at No. 14 Montana State	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	RTNW	L 7–42	15,617	^[13]
November 16	2:05 p.m.	Northern Arizona	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT (Grand Canyon Rivalry)	Pluto TV	W 31–30	3,711	^[14]
November 23	12:00 p.m.	at North Dakota	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Pluto TV	L 18–36	7,485	^[15]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

• Source:^[16][17]

Game summaries

At UNLV

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	7	0	16	23
Rebels	7	28	21	0	56

See also: 2019 UNLV Rebels football team

At Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	0	7	7	14
No. 11 Panthers	7	17	10	0	34

See also: 2019 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

Stephen F. Austin

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Lumberjacks	0	17	7	14	0	38
Thunderbirds	10	7	7	14	7	45

See also: 2019 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football team

At South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	7	0	0	7
No. 3 Jackrabbits	7	14	15	7	43

See also: 2019 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	3	14	0	7	24
Thunderbirds	0	7	6	8	21

See also: 2019 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

At Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	10	7	14	31
Vikings	10	28	7	7	52

See also: 2019 Portland State Vikings football team

At Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	7	0	7	14
No. 4 Wildcats	0	7	7	15	29

See also: 2019 Weber State Wildcats football team

UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Aggies	12	14	7	0	33
Thunderbirds	0	7	0	18	25

See also: 2019 UC Davis Aggies football team

Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	14	6	0	14	34
Thunderbirds	28	3	14	14	59

See also: 2019 Idaho State Bengals football team

At Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	0	0	7	7
No. 14 Bobcats	21	21	0	0	42

See also: 2019 Montana State Bobcats football team

Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	3	17	7	3	30
Thunderbirds	3	14	14	0	31

See also: 2019 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

At North Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	15	3	0	18
Fighting Hawks	7	10	10	9	36

See also: 2019 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team

References

1. "Demario Warren - Football Coach". Southern Utah University Athletics. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
2. "Scoreboard: Big Sky Conference preseason football polls". 406 MT SPORTS. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
3. "Big Sky Conference announces preseason all-conference teams". MTSPX. July 15, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
4. "Southern Utah vs. UNLV - Game Summary - August 31, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
5. "Southern Utah vs. Northern Iowa - Game Summary - September 7, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
6. "Stephen F. Austin vs. Southern Utah - Game Summary - September 14, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
7. "Southern Utah vs. South Dakota State - Game Summary - September 21, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
8. "Cal Poly vs. Southern Utah - Game Summary - September 28, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
9. "Southern Utah vs. Portland State - Game Summary - October 5, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
10. "Southern Utah vs. Weber State - Game Summary - October 12, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
11. "UC Davis vs. Southern Utah - Game Summary - October 19, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
12. "Idaho State vs. Southern Utah - Game Summary - October 26, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
13. "Southern Utah vs. Montana State - Game Summary - November 2, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
14. "Northern Arizona vs. Southern Utah - Game Summary - November 16, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
15. "Southern Utah vs. North Dakota - Game Summary - November 23, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
16. "2019 Football Schedule". Southern Utah University Athletics. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
17. "2019 Southern Utah Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved July 21, 2019.