2016 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team

The 2016 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team represented Southern Utah University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Demario Warren[1] and played their home games at Eccles Coliseum. This was their fifth year as a member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 6–5, 5–3 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for fourth place.

2016 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
2016 record	6–5 (5–3 Big Sky)
Head coach	Demario Warren (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Justin Walterscheid
Co-defensive coordinator	Ryan Hunt
Co-defensive coordinator	Solomona Tapasa
Home stadium	Eccles Coliseum (Capacity: 8,500)

2016 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Eastern Washington +^		8	–	0					12	–	2
No. 12 North Dakota +^		8	–	0					9	–	3
No. 25 Weber State ^		6	–	2					7	–	5
No. 24 Cal Poly ^		5	–	3					7	–	5
Southern Utah		5	–	3					6	–	5
Northern Colorado		4	–	4					6	–	5
Northern Arizona		4	–	4					5	–	6
Montana		3	–	5					6	–	5
Montana State		2	–	6					4	–	7
Portland State		2	–	6					3	–	8
UC Davis		2	–	6					3	–	8
Sacramento State		2	–	6					2	–	9
Idaho State		1	–	7					2	–	9
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	6:00 PM	at Utah*	Rice-Eccles Stadium Salt Lake City, UT	P12N	L 0–24	45,945
September 10	6:00 PM	Southeastern Louisiana*	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	WBS	W 28–23	7,010
September 24	6:00 PM	No. 25 Portland State	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	WBS	W 45–31	10,306
October 1	2:30 PM	at No. 11 Montana	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	WBS	L 20–43	26,092
October 8	6:00 PM	UC Davis	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	WBS	W 24–3	8,107
October 15	12:00 PM	at No. 22 North Dakota	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Midco SN	L 23–45	10,506
October 22	6:00 PM	Weber State	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT (Beehive Bowl)	WBS	L 36–37	8,511
October 29	2:35 PM	at Idaho State	Holt Arena Pocatello, ID	Eversport.tv	W 52–27	4,667
November 5	12:00 PM	Montana State	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	WBS	W 38–21	7,342
November 12	1:00 PM	at BYU*	LaVell Edwards Stadium Provo, UT	BYUtv	L 7–37	59,302
November 19	3:00 PM	at Northern Arizona	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ (HintonBurdick Grand Canyon Trophy Game)	NAU-TV FSAZ	W 48–21	5,626
*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

See also: 2016 Utah Utes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Southern Utah at Utah

1 2 3 4 Total Thunderbirds 0 0 0 0 0 • Utes 3 14 0 7 24 Date: September 1 Location: Rice-Eccles Stadium Salt Lake City, UT Game start: 6:07 MDT Elapsed time: 3:06 Game attendance: 45,945 Game weather: 80 °F (27 °C), Partly cloudy, winds S 11 mph Referee: Land Clark • Umpire: Matt Jordan • Linesman: Bob Day • Line judge: Jeff Robinson • Back judge: Justin Nelson • Field judge: John Morton • Side judge: Bernie Hulscher • Center judge: John Love TV announcers (P12): Roxy Bernstein, Anthony Herron, Lewis Johnson Sources:[2]

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP SUU Utah 1 10:38 9 67 4:22 Utah 26-yard field goal by Andy Phillips 0 3 2 3:41 9 53 4:49 Utah Troy McCormick 4-yard touchdown run, Andy Phillips kick good 0 10 2 1:11 4 37 1:00 Utah Tim Patrick 2-yard touchdown reception from Troy Williams, Andy Phillips kick good 0 17 4 9:27 2 57 0:37 Utah Tim Patrick 57-yard touchdown reception from Troy Williams, Andy Phillips kick good 0 24 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 0 24

Game Stats:

• Passing: SUU: McCoy Hill 6-12-0--42, Tannon Pedersen 0-6-1--0; Utah: Troy Williams 20-35-0--272, Tyler Huntley 3-4-0--26.
• Rushing: SUU: Malik Brown 10-49, Ty Rutledge 1-33, Hill 8-26, Raysean Pringle 5-13, James Felila 3-9, Isaiah Diego-Wi 1-0, Pedersen 4-(-14); Utah: Troy McCormick 12-55, Joe Williams 12-49, Armand Shyne 8-19, T. Williams 5-15.
• Receiving: SUU: Mike Sharp 1-14, Steven Wroblews 1-12, Rutledge 1-9, Logan Parker 1-6, Felila 1-4, Pringle 1-(-3); Utah: Tim Patrick 5-105, Rae Singleton 2-56, Troy McCormick 3-55, Tyrone Smith 3-31, Evan Moeai 1-18, Walla Gonzales 1-11, Demari Simpkins 1-8, Siaosi Wilkins 1-8, Terrell Burgess 1-7, Kyle Fulks 2-1, Joe Williams 3-(-2)
• Interceptions: Utah: Marcus Williams 1-0.

Southeastern Louisiana

See also: 2016 Southeastern Louisiana Lions football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	2014	SELA, 41–14

Southeastern Louisiana at Southern Utah

1 2 3 4 Total Lions 10 7 0 6 23 • Thunderbirds 7 7 7 7 28 Date: September 10 Location: Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT Game start: 6:00 MDT Elapsed time: 3:10 Game attendance: 7,010 Game weather: 75 °F (24 °C), Sunny TV announcers (Watch Big Sky): Art Challis, Devin Dixon Sources:

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP SLU SUU 1 12:51 5 75 2:09 SLU Brandon Acker 19-yard touchdown reception from Justin Alo, Jonathan Tatum kick good 7 0 1 9:45 10 60 3:06 SUU Brady Measom 6-yard touchdown reception from Patrick Tyler, Keita Calhoun kick good 7 7 1 0:45 8 40 2:21 SLU 24-yard field goal by Jonathan Tatum 10 7 2 12:14 4 69 1:47 SLU Rasheed Harrell 5-yard touchdown run, Jonathan Tatum kick good 17 7 2 8:33 11 87 3:41 SUU Ty Rutledge 3-yard touchdown run, Keita Calhoun kick good 17 14 3 7:57 7 53 2:15 SUU Brady Measom 10-yard touchdown reception from Patrick Tyler, Keita Calhoun kick good 17 21 4 9:27 9 69 2:39 SUU Mike Sharp 16-yard touchdown reception from Patrick Tyler, Keita Calhoun kick good 17 28 4 3:33 12 75 5:54 SLU Juwan Dickey 20-yard touchdown reception from Justin Alo, 2-point pass failed 23 28 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 23 28

Game Stats:

• Passing: SLU: Justin Alo 18-31-2--275; SUU: Patrick Tyler 18-28-0--188, Mike Sharp 1-1-0--34, Ty Rutledge 0-1-0--0.
• Rushing: SLU: Kaelyn Henderson 5-46, Julius Maracalin 6-40, Rasheed Harrell 7-36, Alo 7-13, Darius Durall 7-13, Jake Ingarfia 1-(-2), Micah Thomas 1-(-3) ; SUU: Malik Brown 32-146, Raysean Pringle 6-30, James Felia 4-17, Tate Lewis 1-10, Tyler 6-8, Rutledge 3-6, Team 2-(-2).
• Receiving: SLU: Brandon Acker 8-146, Juwan Dickey 5-88, Juwaan Rogers 3-39, Joe Pack 1-4, Javon Conner 1-(-2); SUU: Brady Measom 6-58, Mike Sharp 4-64, Steven Wroblews 4-59, Logan Parker 2-23, Desean Holmes 2014, Rutledge 1-4.
• Interceptions: SUU: Mike Needham 1-4, Tyler Collett 1-0.

Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#25 Vikings	3	7	14	7	31
Thunderbirds	7	24	7	7	45

See also: 2016 Portland State Vikings football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–9	2015	PSU, 24–23

at Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	7	7	0	6	20
#11 Grizzlies	9	13	14	7	43

See also: 2016 Montana Grizzlies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–5	2014	MONT, 35–17

UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	0	3	0	0	3
Thunderbirds	0	21	3	0	24

See also: 2016 UC Davis Aggies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–11	2015	SUU, 34–6

at North Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	14	3	6	0	23
#22 Fighting Hawks	7	21	3	14	45

See also: 2016 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–3	2014	SUU, 35–17

Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	6	8	23	37
Thunderbirds	14	9	13	0	36

See also: 2016 Weber State Wildcats football team and Beehive Bowl

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–15	2015	SUU, 44–0

at Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	7	10	21	14	52
Bengals	7	6	7	7	27

See also: 2016 Idaho State Bengals football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
5–10–1	2014	ISU, 56–28

Montana State

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

See also: 2016 Montana State Bobcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–3	2015	SUU, 34–23

at BYU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	7	0	0	7
Cougars	14	17	0	6	37

See also: 2016 BYU Cougars football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Northern Arizona

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

See also: 2016 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team and Northern Arizona–Southern Utah football rivalry

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–12	2015	SUU, 49–41

Ranking movements

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	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	RV
Coaches	23	23	21	RV	24	RV	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	RV

References

1. "Demario Warren Named New Head Football Coach". Southern Utah Thunderbirds Athletics. January 12, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
2. "Southern Utah at Utah". Stat Broadcast. Retrieved 2016-09-01.