When researching 2009 Bobcat football opponents, one quickly learns that not all FCS programs are created equal in regards to the wealth of information available to those interested. For example, teams with some national hype like McNeese State and Central Arkansas can be researched easily enough. You can often find updated depth charts, statistics, and rumors from various sources about these programs, and their athletic departments are usually on top of keeping things up to date as well. On the other side of the equation, well, there are schools like Southern Utah and Texas Southern. TSU has had countless program issues and gets buried in the headlines behind UT, A&M or even Sam Houston State. However, the Tigers are at least in a major urban area and there are local magazines that will give the program some coverage (Dave Campbell's Texas Football, anyone?). Consider the plight of Southern Utah football:
The Thunderbirds have only 3 winning seasons in Division 1 football play since moving up to 1-aa in 1996 and are located in a beautiful but extremely isolated area of the country (172 miles away from Las Vegas, 253 miles from Salt Lake City). They haven't been in a stable conference since 1985, when they were members of the Division 2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Since then, they've bounced around as an independent and have fled from two now-defunct conferences. Now they're a football-only affiliate in a Great West Conference looks to be teetering towards extinction in the next 5-10 years as well, at least in FCS football. Yikes.
SUU also doesn't exactly have a long-standing winning tradition as they've gone 309-354-19 in their history. Recruiting from the state of Utah is one of the toughest jobs in the country to begin with since there is not much homegrown talent, and any elite talent that doesn't get snatched up by BCS programs will more than likely go to Utah or BYU. Further down the pecking order is FBS doormat Utah State and FCS power Weber State, who made the playoffs last year. Then, at the bottom of the college football totem pole is Southern Utah. Obviously, Salt Lake media will focus on Utah, USU, BYU and WSU first, so SUU is lucky to even get a blurb on the news there. Las Vegas, while closer to Cedar City than Salt Lake, is focused on UNLV and Nevada-Reno. So, can you really blame SUU for a lack of hype and up-to-date information?
While it's understandable that you don't hear much about SUU football, it still doesn't make life any easier for the average Bobcat fan looking to learn more about the team that will round out Texas State's non-conference play. KTSW will take its best shot at previewing the Southern Utah program, so enjoy.
Texas State at Southern Utah
Location: Eccles Coliseum, Cedar City, Utah
Date/Time: October 3rd, 12 pm Central Time
Last year's result: Southern Utah 34, Texas State 20
Basic facts about SUU:
Location: Cedar City, Utah
Enrollment: 7,509
2008 Average Game Attendance: 5,073 (Capacity: 8,500)
2008 Record: 4-7 (1-3 Great West Conference)
Head Coach: Ed Lamb (4-7 in one year at SUU)
Series Record: Southern Utah leads 5-4
Location: Eccles Coliseum, Cedar City, Utah
Date/Time: October 3rd, 12 pm Central Time
Last year's result: Southern Utah 34, Texas State 20
Basic facts about SUU:
Location: Cedar City, Utah
Enrollment: 7,509
2008 Average Game Attendance: 5,073 (Capacity: 8,500)
2008 Record: 4-7 (1-3 Great West Conference)
Head Coach: Ed Lamb (4-7 in one year at SUU)
Series Record: Southern Utah leads 5-4
Southern Utah's 2008 season in review: A 4-7 record would get coaches fired at some schools, but Ed Lamb won't be sweating about his job security any time soon. After an 0-11 record in 2007 and a lack of a winning season since 2004, four wins doesn't sound too bad. Last year saw three losses by 7 points or less, victories over SLC Champion Texas State and former FCS power Youngstown State along with close losses against big names in Northern Iowa and Northern Arizona, so it's clear that SUU is no longer the patsy they once were. Lamb won't be going anywhere anytime soon unless someone offers him a coaching position at a better school.
You can't really look at the stats and point out a wealth of significant improvements when comparing SUU's 2008 campaign with the 2007 disaster; surprisingly, the Thunderbirds regressed in some categories in 2008. There was one category that did stand out, however: Interceptions. In 2007, SUU committed 27 while their opponents only committed 6. That ratio improved to 20 thrown by SUU and 9 by their opponents in 2008. While that's not exactly going to raise any eyebrows across the FCS landscape, any coach will tell you that an improvement in turnover margin will more likely than not translate into improvement in the win column as well.
Last season's game: Southern Utah deserves all the credit in the world for their 2008 turnaround. That said, Texas State's 34-20 loss to the Thunderbirds last year was easily the lowest point in the season for a then-inconsistent Bobcat squad. The atmosphere was muted, the crowd was stagnant, and unfortunately that lack of enthusiam also seemed to translate to the Bobcat players' effort as well. Three turnovers proved extremely costly for the Cats as the Thunderbirds turned two of them into touchdowns. Even more shocking was the 199 rushing yards that SUU rolled up on Texas State, since the T-Birds were not known for being a proficient running team at all. RB Deckar Alexander gained nearly a third of his total rushing yards plus one of his two touchdowns on the season against Texas State, and backup Kenny Apilli earned his only rushing touchdown on the season. Combine that with two T-Bird passing touchdowns, and it's obvious that the Bobcat defense didn't show up that day. Negated was a 100-yard effort by Karrington Bush and a 300+ yard combined effort through the air between Bradley George and Clint Toon. Needless to say, while it wasn't the disaster that was the Abilene Christian loss in 2007, it was still tough for Bobcat fans to watch.
Returning Starters/players: 7 on offense, 6 on defense
Three of the Thunderbirds' top four wide receivers are back, including 1,200+ yard receiver senior Tysson Poots who torched opponents for an average of 112 yards per game. Poots, however, was for some reason MIA in Southern Utah's spring game. Jared Ursua and Fesi Sitake were short-range threats at WR last season, but they'll need to step up their production next season if the T-Birds want to keep their aerial attack as formidable as in 2008. Leading rusher Dereck Alexander will also return at running back, but he's going to have to step up production after an unremarkable season of 384 yards, two touchdowns (one of them against Texas State), and averagse of 2.7 yards per carry and 34.9 yards per game. Nonetheless, you can count on the Bobcat defense keying on stopping him this year. Four of the five starters on an improving offensive line are back, which should only help the Southern Utah offense improve further.
A Thunderbird defense that gave up over 420 yards per game last year will need all the help it can get from All-GWC senior linebacker Robert Takeno, who led the team in tackles last season. Colin Pretlow showed promise at CB last season with a couple of interceptions, while CB Akeem Anifowoshe is a hard-hitting converted safety that can lay the wood to running backs. Whether he'll be able to shut down Texas State's Karrington Bush is another story, however. Blake Fenn returns as the primary threat at the safety position, after tying for a team-leading two interceptions and recording 47 tackles his freshman year.
Key Losses: Two big names will be sorely missed by Southern Utah next year: QB Cody Stone and noseguard Austin Curtis. Stone, while inconsistent (he only finished with two more passing touchdowns than interceptions and completed only 50% of his passes), still passed for 242.6 yards per game in 2008 and was by far the primary source of offense for the Thunderbirds. His replacement will be a senior transfer from Oregon in Cade Cooper, who hasn't taken a snap in Division 1 football since being injured against BYU in his days with the Ducks. However, he is obviously a talented player if he was taking snaps at UO, so he will be an unknown quantity coming into this fall. Backup Kyle Bowen may see some playing time as well, after seeing action in 9 games last year. Cooper will have one less offensive weapon to work with though, since WR Nick Miller has also graduated. Miller was the only other consistent receiving threat last year behind Pooter for SUU, racking up about 70 yards per game and 763 yards on the season.
Austin Curtis, an all-GWC defensive lineman, led the team in sacks with four and tackles for loss with 13.5 total. Also gone is defensive tackle Aaron Fernandez, signaling a potential weakness in 2009 along the interior defensive line. Coach Lamb is confident about his team's ability to replace those players, using phrases such as "(Noseguard replacement) Nick Garcia is as physical a run-stopper as Austin Curtis was" and "Chad Westwood has made the adjustment well (after being converted from DE to DT)." Whether that confidence is well-founded or just posturing obviously remains to be seen. DJ Senter, DeWayne Lewis and DJ Lucchesi, three defensive backs who saw significant playing time, are also gone. Aside from the senior leadership of Takeno, this is going to be a fairly young defense.
Key newcomers: SUU stayed local in their 2009 recruiting class despite Utah not being known as a hotbed of talent, inking 14 of their 27 players from the Beehive State (interesting nickname, yes?). It also appears to be planning on building their program with a long-term approach rather than go after quick fixes, as only 3 of the 27 signees came from the JUCO ranks. The Thunderbirds did sign one Texan at the wide reciever position in Cameron Morgan from Uvalde, but he likely won't play against the Bobcats due to adequate depth at the position.
There isn't a whole lot of information out there right now regarding which of these signees will have a significant shot at any playing time whatsoever, and we'll update this section if and when said info comes out. However, JUCO LB Tu Tui seems to be the one player that has the best shot at seeing the field, as he recorded one tackle in the 2009 SUU Spring Game. This is pure speculation here, but JUCO DE Trent Barney seems likely to also have a shot at playing time due to less than optimal depth at the position coupled with his Honorable Mention All-American honors in the JUCO ranks.
Other notes: Last year, Southern Utah was a legitimate threat to teams when returning punts. Nick Miller and Taylor Thatcher both took one to the house last season and Miller averaged an impressive 16 yards per return. The bad news? Both players graduated.
One thing you can't accuse SUU head coach Ed Lamb of having is a lack of confidence. Following a spring scrimmage where snow covered the field, Lamb stated “(Practicing in these conditions) will do us good down the road. When we make the playoffs its likely that we’ll be matched up against someone from the Big Sky or some other cold-weather team, in a cold-weather time of the year." Now, perhaps Lamb was suggesting that the Thunderbirds will make the playoffs in the next couple of years, which isn't entirely unreasonable. The Great West Conference has only 5 teams, which is great for a quick shot at a conference championship. However, the small membership number also hurts SUU's playoff chances since it is too low to earn an automatic playoff bid from the NCAA. Big non-conference wins are needed to have a shot at the postseason.
However, if Lamb really does think that Southern Utah will make the playoffs this year, it's not out of line to accuse him of being a bit overconfident. After coming off a 4-7 season with one win being a Division II school, going the 9-3 needed to make the playoffs seems extremely unlikely (there are certain scenarios where 8-4 might be enough to get an at-large, but they're somewhat far-fetched). Consider that SUU has to play FBS teams San Diego State and Utah State along with preseason top 20 FCS teams in Texas State, Eastern Washington, and Cal Poly. Northern Arizona could crack the top 25 and the University of San Diego has rattled off six straight winning seasons. 9-3? SUU will be lucky to go 6-6, and that won't be good enough for postseason play.
The big picture: Cedar City may not be the most imposing road atmosphere that Texas State will play at this season, but this game should tell us more about the readiness of the Bobcats for Southland play then any of their previous three games. Angelo State and Texas Southern aren't at the level toughness that even the weakest SLC teams would bring every week, and TCU is too strong of a team to be legitimately compared to contenders like McNeese or Central Arkansas. So, while SUU likely would struggle to get out of the cellar in the Southland, it is still a team that has at times provided legitimate competition against the best in FCS and should provide a good road test for Texas State.
It's always hard to predict how games in the fall will go when you're sipping a beer in your recliner in the middle of June, but this contest seems especially hard to get a feel for. Will the Bobcats avoid another baffling collapse against a rushing attack that normally is only used to keep defenses honest? Despite the losses on defensive line and SUU returning 4 of 5 offensive lineman, one would have to think so since last year's game seemed to be a major anomaly. However, the relative certainties end there. Nobody knows what Cade Cooper will do as quarterback, and whether anyone besides Tysson Poots will constitute an offensive threat at receiver. The defense is an even bigger question mark, as what will happen with the interior defensive line and defensive backs is a mystery. Texas State should have a significant advantage in talent, however, and would be advised to use it to its advantage. As long as the Bobcats don't play with the same lackadaisical attitude that plagued them against in 2008's contest, it's reasonable to assume that Texas State will come home with a win.
- Will Butler, KTSW Sports Director/Blog Editor
You can't really look at the stats and point out a wealth of significant improvements when comparing SUU's 2008 campaign with the 2007 disaster; surprisingly, the Thunderbirds regressed in some categories in 2008. There was one category that did stand out, however: Interceptions. In 2007, SUU committed 27 while their opponents only committed 6. That ratio improved to 20 thrown by SUU and 9 by their opponents in 2008. While that's not exactly going to raise any eyebrows across the FCS landscape, any coach will tell you that an improvement in turnover margin will more likely than not translate into improvement in the win column as well.
Last season's game: Southern Utah deserves all the credit in the world for their 2008 turnaround. That said, Texas State's 34-20 loss to the Thunderbirds last year was easily the lowest point in the season for a then-inconsistent Bobcat squad. The atmosphere was muted, the crowd was stagnant, and unfortunately that lack of enthusiam also seemed to translate to the Bobcat players' effort as well. Three turnovers proved extremely costly for the Cats as the Thunderbirds turned two of them into touchdowns. Even more shocking was the 199 rushing yards that SUU rolled up on Texas State, since the T-Birds were not known for being a proficient running team at all. RB Deckar Alexander gained nearly a third of his total rushing yards plus one of his two touchdowns on the season against Texas State, and backup Kenny Apilli earned his only rushing touchdown on the season. Combine that with two T-Bird passing touchdowns, and it's obvious that the Bobcat defense didn't show up that day. Negated was a 100-yard effort by Karrington Bush and a 300+ yard combined effort through the air between Bradley George and Clint Toon. Needless to say, while it wasn't the disaster that was the Abilene Christian loss in 2007, it was still tough for Bobcat fans to watch.
Returning Starters/players: 7 on offense, 6 on defense
Three of the Thunderbirds' top four wide receivers are back, including 1,200+ yard receiver senior Tysson Poots who torched opponents for an average of 112 yards per game. Poots, however, was for some reason MIA in Southern Utah's spring game. Jared Ursua and Fesi Sitake were short-range threats at WR last season, but they'll need to step up their production next season if the T-Birds want to keep their aerial attack as formidable as in 2008. Leading rusher Dereck Alexander will also return at running back, but he's going to have to step up production after an unremarkable season of 384 yards, two touchdowns (one of them against Texas State), and averagse of 2.7 yards per carry and 34.9 yards per game. Nonetheless, you can count on the Bobcat defense keying on stopping him this year. Four of the five starters on an improving offensive line are back, which should only help the Southern Utah offense improve further.
A Thunderbird defense that gave up over 420 yards per game last year will need all the help it can get from All-GWC senior linebacker Robert Takeno, who led the team in tackles last season. Colin Pretlow showed promise at CB last season with a couple of interceptions, while CB Akeem Anifowoshe is a hard-hitting converted safety that can lay the wood to running backs. Whether he'll be able to shut down Texas State's Karrington Bush is another story, however. Blake Fenn returns as the primary threat at the safety position, after tying for a team-leading two interceptions and recording 47 tackles his freshman year.
Key Losses: Two big names will be sorely missed by Southern Utah next year: QB Cody Stone and noseguard Austin Curtis. Stone, while inconsistent (he only finished with two more passing touchdowns than interceptions and completed only 50% of his passes), still passed for 242.6 yards per game in 2008 and was by far the primary source of offense for the Thunderbirds. His replacement will be a senior transfer from Oregon in Cade Cooper, who hasn't taken a snap in Division 1 football since being injured against BYU in his days with the Ducks. However, he is obviously a talented player if he was taking snaps at UO, so he will be an unknown quantity coming into this fall. Backup Kyle Bowen may see some playing time as well, after seeing action in 9 games last year. Cooper will have one less offensive weapon to work with though, since WR Nick Miller has also graduated. Miller was the only other consistent receiving threat last year behind Pooter for SUU, racking up about 70 yards per game and 763 yards on the season.
Austin Curtis, an all-GWC defensive lineman, led the team in sacks with four and tackles for loss with 13.5 total. Also gone is defensive tackle Aaron Fernandez, signaling a potential weakness in 2009 along the interior defensive line. Coach Lamb is confident about his team's ability to replace those players, using phrases such as "(Noseguard replacement) Nick Garcia is as physical a run-stopper as Austin Curtis was" and "Chad Westwood has made the adjustment well (after being converted from DE to DT)." Whether that confidence is well-founded or just posturing obviously remains to be seen. DJ Senter, DeWayne Lewis and DJ Lucchesi, three defensive backs who saw significant playing time, are also gone. Aside from the senior leadership of Takeno, this is going to be a fairly young defense.
Key newcomers: SUU stayed local in their 2009 recruiting class despite Utah not being known as a hotbed of talent, inking 14 of their 27 players from the Beehive State (interesting nickname, yes?). It also appears to be planning on building their program with a long-term approach rather than go after quick fixes, as only 3 of the 27 signees came from the JUCO ranks. The Thunderbirds did sign one Texan at the wide reciever position in Cameron Morgan from Uvalde, but he likely won't play against the Bobcats due to adequate depth at the position.
There isn't a whole lot of information out there right now regarding which of these signees will have a significant shot at any playing time whatsoever, and we'll update this section if and when said info comes out. However, JUCO LB Tu Tui seems to be the one player that has the best shot at seeing the field, as he recorded one tackle in the 2009 SUU Spring Game. This is pure speculation here, but JUCO DE Trent Barney seems likely to also have a shot at playing time due to less than optimal depth at the position coupled with his Honorable Mention All-American honors in the JUCO ranks.
Other notes: Last year, Southern Utah was a legitimate threat to teams when returning punts. Nick Miller and Taylor Thatcher both took one to the house last season and Miller averaged an impressive 16 yards per return. The bad news? Both players graduated.
One thing you can't accuse SUU head coach Ed Lamb of having is a lack of confidence. Following a spring scrimmage where snow covered the field, Lamb stated “(Practicing in these conditions) will do us good down the road. When we make the playoffs its likely that we’ll be matched up against someone from the Big Sky or some other cold-weather team, in a cold-weather time of the year." Now, perhaps Lamb was suggesting that the Thunderbirds will make the playoffs in the next couple of years, which isn't entirely unreasonable. The Great West Conference has only 5 teams, which is great for a quick shot at a conference championship. However, the small membership number also hurts SUU's playoff chances since it is too low to earn an automatic playoff bid from the NCAA. Big non-conference wins are needed to have a shot at the postseason.
However, if Lamb really does think that Southern Utah will make the playoffs this year, it's not out of line to accuse him of being a bit overconfident. After coming off a 4-7 season with one win being a Division II school, going the 9-3 needed to make the playoffs seems extremely unlikely (there are certain scenarios where 8-4 might be enough to get an at-large, but they're somewhat far-fetched). Consider that SUU has to play FBS teams San Diego State and Utah State along with preseason top 20 FCS teams in Texas State, Eastern Washington, and Cal Poly. Northern Arizona could crack the top 25 and the University of San Diego has rattled off six straight winning seasons. 9-3? SUU will be lucky to go 6-6, and that won't be good enough for postseason play.
The big picture: Cedar City may not be the most imposing road atmosphere that Texas State will play at this season, but this game should tell us more about the readiness of the Bobcats for Southland play then any of their previous three games. Angelo State and Texas Southern aren't at the level toughness that even the weakest SLC teams would bring every week, and TCU is too strong of a team to be legitimately compared to contenders like McNeese or Central Arkansas. So, while SUU likely would struggle to get out of the cellar in the Southland, it is still a team that has at times provided legitimate competition against the best in FCS and should provide a good road test for Texas State.
It's always hard to predict how games in the fall will go when you're sipping a beer in your recliner in the middle of June, but this contest seems especially hard to get a feel for. Will the Bobcats avoid another baffling collapse against a rushing attack that normally is only used to keep defenses honest? Despite the losses on defensive line and SUU returning 4 of 5 offensive lineman, one would have to think so since last year's game seemed to be a major anomaly. However, the relative certainties end there. Nobody knows what Cade Cooper will do as quarterback, and whether anyone besides Tysson Poots will constitute an offensive threat at receiver. The defense is an even bigger question mark, as what will happen with the interior defensive line and defensive backs is a mystery. Texas State should have a significant advantage in talent, however, and would be advised to use it to its advantage. As long as the Bobcats don't play with the same lackadaisical attitude that plagued them against in 2008's contest, it's reasonable to assume that Texas State will come home with a win.
- Will Butler, KTSW Sports Director/Blog Editor
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