2017 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team

2017 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football
Big Sky co-champion
FCS Playoffs Second Round, L 13–30 vs. Weber State
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 14
FCS Coaches	No. 13
2017 record	9–3 (7–1 Big Sky)
Head coach	Demario Warren (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Justin Walterscheid (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Rod Chance (2nd season)
Home stadium	Eccles Coliseum (Capacity: 8,500)
Seasons ← 2016 2018 →

2017 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 14 Southern Utah +^		7	–	1					9	–	3
No. 5 Weber State +^		7	–	1					11	–	3
Northern Arizona ^		6	–	2					7	–	5
No. 21 Eastern Washington		6	–	2					7	–	4
Sacramento State		6	–	2					7	–	4
Montana		5	–	3					7	–	4
Montana State		5	–	3					5	–	6
UC Davis		3	–	5					5	–	6
Idaho State		2	–	6					4	–	7
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					3	–	7
North Dakota		2	–	6					3	–	8
Cal Poly		1	–	7					1	–	10
Portland State		0	–	8					0	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2017 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team represented Southern Utah University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Demario Warren and played their home games at Eccles Coliseum in Cedar City, Utah as sixth-year as members of the Big Sky Conference.^[1] They finished the season 9–3, 7–1 in Big Sky play to earn a share of the conference championship with Weber State.^[2][3] They received the conference's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs where they lost to Weber State in the second round.^[4][5][6]

Previous season[]

The Thunderbirds finished the 2016 season 6–5, 5–3 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for fourth place.

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	6:15 p.m.	at Oregon*		Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR	P12N	L 21–77	52,204
September 9	5:00 p.m.	at Stephen F. Austin*		Homer Bryce Stadium Nacogdoches, TX	ESPN3	W 51–14	12,324
September 16	6:00 p.m.	No. 21 Northern Iowa*		Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	Pluto TV	W 24–21	8,841
September 23	7:00 p.m.	at Sacramento State		Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	Pluto TV	L 27–54	7,272
October 7	6:00 p.m.	Cal Poly		Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	Pluto TV	W 20–14	10,633
October 14	6:00 p.m.	at No. 18 Weber State		Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT (Beehive Bowl)	ELVN	W 32–16	9,135
October 21	5:00 p.m.	No. 8 Eastern Washington		Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	ELVN	W 46–28	7,463
October 28	12:30 p.m.	at Northern Colorado	No. 25	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	CET	W 27–14	3,869
November 4	6:00 p.m.	North Dakota	No. 17	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	Pluto TV	W 47–21	7,641
November 11	5:00 p.m.	at UC Davis	No. 15	Aggie Stadium Davis, CA	Pluto TV	W 47–27	6,715
November 18	2:30 p.m.	No. 23 Northern Arizona	No. 14	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT (HintonBurdick Grand Canyon Trophy Game)	ELVN	W 48–20	10,842
December 2	6:00 p.m.	No. 11 Weber State*	No. 12	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	L 13–30	11,811
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

• Source: Schedule

Game summaries[]

at Oregon[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	7	14	0	0	21
Ducks	21	21	21	14	77

at Stephen F. Austin[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	7	24	10	10	51
Lumberjacks	0	0	14	0	14

Northern Iowa[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 21 Panthers	0	7	3	11	21
Thunderbirds	7	7	7	3	24

at Sacramento State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	7	7	0	13	27
Hornets	7	23	10	14	54

Cal Poly[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	7	0	0	7	14
Thunderbirds	10	7	0	3	20

at Weber State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	7	13	9	3	32
No. 18 Wildcats	3	10	3	0	16

Eastern Washington[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 8 Eagles	14	7	0	7	28
Thunderbirds	0	15	10	21	46

at Northern Colorado[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Thunderbirds	13	7	7	0	27
Bears	0	7	7	0	14

North Dakota[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	7	7	7	0	21
No. 17 Thunderbirds	13	14	13	7	47

at UC Davis[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 15 Thunderbirds	14	12	14	7	47
Aggies	0	7	7	13	27

Northern Arizona[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Lumberjacks	6	7	0	7	20
No. 14 Thunderbirds	3	24	14	7	48

FCS Playoffs[]

Weber State–Second Round[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Wildcats	0	13	14	3	30
No. 12 Thunderbirds	10	3	0	0	13

Ranking movements[]

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Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	RV	NR	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	RV	25	17	15	14	12	14
Coaches	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	23	19	18	13	13

References[]