2015 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team

The 2015 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team represented Southern Utah University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by eighth-year head coach Ed Lamb and played their home games at Eccles Coliseum. This was their fourth year as a member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 8–4, 7–1 in Big Sky play to be crowned Big Sky champion for the first time. They received the Big Sky's automatic bid to the FCS playoffs where they lost in the first round to Sam Houston State.

2015 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football
Big Sky champion
FCS Playoffs First Round, L 39–42 vs. Sam Houston State
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 18
FCS Coaches	No. 18
2015 record	8–4 (7–1 Big Sky)
Head coach	Ed Lamb (8th season)
Offensive coordinator	Gary Crowton (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Demario Warren (2nd season)
Home stadium	Eccles Coliseum (Capacity: 8,500)

2015 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 18 Southern Utah $^		7	–	1					8	–	4
No. 10 Portland State ^		6	–	2					9	–	3
No. 14 Montana ^		6	–	2					8	–	5
North Dakota		5	–	3					7	–	4
Northern Arizona		5	–	3					7	–	4
Eastern Washington		5	–	3					6	–	5
Weber State		5	–	3					6	–	5
Northern Colorado		3	–	5					6	–	5
Montana State		3	–	5					5	–	6
Cal Poly		3	–	5					4	–	7
UC Davis		2	–	6					2	–	9
Idaho State		1	–	7					2	–	9
Sacramento State		1	–	7					2	–	9
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

On December 26, Lamb resigned to become the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach at BYU.[1] He finished at Southern Utah with an eight year record of 45–47.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	7:00 PM	at Utah State*		Maverik Stadium Logan, UT		L 9–12	21,209
September 12	5:00 PM	at No. 9 South Dakota State*		Coughlin–Alumni Stadium Brookings, SD	ESPN3	L 10–55	13,423
September 19	6:00 PM	Northern Colorado		Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	WBS	W 30–3	5,103
September 26	6:00 PM	Brevard*		Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	WBS	W 55–7	5,789
October 2	6:00 PM	at Weber State		Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT	WBS	W 44–0	5,778
October 17	6:00 PM	Sacramento State		Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	WBS	W 44–0	3,607
October 24	5:00 PM	at UC Davis		Aggie Stadium Davis, CA		W 34–6	4,640
October 31	3:00 PM	Cal Poly		Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	WBS	W 54–37	4,506
November 7	1:00 PM	at Montana State	No. 20	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	RTUT	W 34–23	17,427
November 14	3:05 PM	at No. 15 Portland State	No. 18	Providence Park Portland, OR	WBS	L 23–24	6,122
November 21	3:00 PM	No. 24 Northern Arizona	No. 20	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT (HintonBurdick Grand Canyon Trophy Game)	WBS	W 49–41	9,022
November 28	3:00 PM	at No. 6 Sam Houston State*	No. 17	Bowers Stadium Huntsville, TX (FCS Playoffs First Round)	ESPN3	L 39–42	3,098
*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 Utah State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	6	3	0	0	9
Aggies	5	0	0	7	12

See also: 2015 Utah State Aggies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–3	2012	USU, 34–3

at South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	7	0	0	3	10
#9 Jackrabbits	3	24	7	21	55

See also: 2015 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–5	2014	SDSU, 26–6

Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	3	0	0	0	3
Thunderbirds	17	6	7	0	30

See also: 2015 Northern Colorado Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–1	2013	SUU, 27–21

Brevard

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tornados	0	0	0	7	7
Thunderbirds	7	20	14	14	55

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	7	10	14	13	44
Wildcats	0	0	0	0	0

See also: 2015 Weber State Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–15	2014	SUU, 31–28

Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	0	0	0	0	0
Thunderbirds	21	0	16	7	44

See also: 2015 Sacramento State Hornets football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–8	2014	SAC, 42–21

at UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	7	13	14	34
Aggies	3	3	0	0	6

See also: 2015 UC Davis Aggies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–11	2013	UCD, 21–3

Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	3	21	7	6	37
Thunderbirds	10	23	7	14	54

See also: 2015 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–16	2014	POLY, 42–39

at Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#20 Thunderbirds	0	7	19	8	34
Bobcats	7	3	7	6	23

See also: 2015 Montana State Bobcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–3	2013	SUU, 22–14

at Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#18 Thunderbirds	10	0	7	6	23
#15 Vikings	7	10	0	7	24

See also: 2015 Portland State Vikings football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–8	2013	SUU, 17–7

Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
#24 Lumberjacks	3	21	7	10	41
#20 Thunderbirds	7	7	21	14	49

See also: 2015 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team and Northern Arizona–Southern Utah football rivalry

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–12	2014	SUU, 22–14

FCS Playoffs

First Round–at Sam Houston State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#17 Thunderbirds	6	26	7	0	39
#6 Bearkats	16	10	7	9	42

See also: 2015 Sam Houston State Bearkats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	2013 FCS Playoffs	SHSU, 51–20

Ranking movements

Main article: 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football rankings

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	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	20	18	20	17	18
Coaches	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	24	18	15	18	16	18

References

1. "Ed Lamb resigns as Southern Utah Thunderbirds coach to join BYU Cougars staff". Espn.go.com. 2015-12-26. Retrieved 2016-09-21.