2018 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team

The 2018 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team represented Southern Utah University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by third-year head coach Demario Warren and played their home games at Eccles Coliseum in Cedar City, Utah as seventh-year as members of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 1–10, 1–7 in Big Sky play to finish in 12th place.

2018 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
2018 record	1–10 (1–7 Big Sky)
Head coach	Demario Warren (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Justin Walterscheid (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Rod Chance (3rd season)
Home stadium	Eccles Coliseum (Capacity: 8,500)

2018 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 6 Weber State +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 2 Eastern Washington +^		7	–	1					12	–	3
No. 7 UC Davis +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 17 Montana State ^		5	–	3					8	–	5
Idaho State		5	–	3					6	–	5
Montana		4	–	4					6	–	5
Cal Poly		4	–	4					5	–	6
Northern Arizona		3	–	4					4	–	6
Portland State		3	–	5					4	–	7
Idaho		3	–	5					4	–	7
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					2	–	9
Southern Utah		1	–	7					1	–	10
Sacramento State		0	–	7					2	–	8
$ – Conference champion ^ – 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

Previous season

The Thunderbirds finished the 2016 season 9–3, 7–1 in Big Sky play to earn a share of the conference championship with Weber State. They received the conference's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs where they lost to Weber State in the second round.

Preseason

Polls

On July 16, 2018 during the Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington, the Thunderbirds were predicted to finish in sixth place in both the coaches and media poll.[1]

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	134 (6)
2	Weber State	124 (3)
3	Northern Arizona	121 (3)
4	Idaho	101 (1)
5	Sacramento State	94
6	Southern Utah	91
7	Montana	82
8	Montana State	76
9	UC Davis	64
10	Cal Poly	40
11	Northern Colorado	30
12	Idaho State	29
13	Portland State	21

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	651 (27)
2	Weber State	636 (19)
3	Northern Arizona	535 (1)
4	Montana	496 (2)
5	Idaho	483 (3)
6	Southern Utah	449 (1)
7	Sacramento State	415
8	Montana State	391 (1)
9	UC Davis	331 (1)
10	Idaho State	170
11	Cal Poly	169
12	Northern Colorado	166
13	Portland State	103

Preseason All-Conference Team

The Thunderbirds had five players selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.[2]

Marquez Tucker – Sr. OT

PJ Nu’usa – Jr. OG

Zach Larsen – Jr. C

Chinedu Ahanonu – Sr. LB

Jalen Russell – So. CB

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	6:00 p.m.	North Alabama*	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	Pluto TV 236	L 30–34	8,912
September 8	6:00 p.m.	at Oregon State*	Reser Stadium Corvallis, OR	P12N	L 25–48	36,448
September 15	9:00 p.m.	at Arizona*	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	P12N	L 31–62	41,493
September 22	4:00 p.m.	at Northern Arizona	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ (Grand Canyon Rivalry)	Pluto TV 239	L 23–31	5,832
October 6	2:00 p.m.	at No. 5 Eastern Washington	Roos Field Cheney, WA	ATTRM	L 17–55	8,887
October 13	6:00 p.m.	Sacramento State	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	Pluto TV 236	W 48–27	10,424
October 20	3:00 p.m.	at Idaho	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	Pluto TV 242	L 12–31	12,798
October 27	6:00 p.m.	Northern Colorado	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	Pluto TV 236	L 39–42	7,106
November 3	1:00 p.m.	Montana	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	ATTRM	L 14–57	7,162
November 10	5:00 p.m.	No. 3 Weber State	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT (Beehive Bowl)	ELVN	L 18–31	7,415
November 17	5:00 p.m.	at Cal Poly	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	Pluto TV 244	L 24–38	4,520
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

• Source: Schedule

Game summaries

North Alabama

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lions	3	10	7	14	34
Thunderbirds	0	16	7	7	30

at Oregon State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	7	9	9	25
Beavers	17	24	0	7	48

at Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	17	0	14	31
Wildcats	7	17	24	14	62

at Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	7	16	0	23
Lumberjacks	7	7	10	7	31

at Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	3	7	7	0	17
No. 5 Eagles	14	20	21	0	55

Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	21	3	0	3	27
Thunderbirds	7	20	14	7	48

at Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	0	0	12	12
Vandals	10	14	7	0	31

Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	14	10	18	0	42
Thunderbirds	8	3	14	14	39

Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
Grizzlies	20	10	21	6	57
Thunderbirds	7	7	0	0	14

Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Wildcats	7	14	7	3	31
Thunderbirds	6	6	6	0	18

at Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	14	7	0	3	24
Mustangs	0	21	7	10	38

References

1. "Eastern Washington Picked to Win the Big Sky".
2. "Doss, Buss Headline Big Sky Football Preseason All-Conference Team".