2017 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

The 2017 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team represented Northern Arizona University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by 20th-year head coach Jerome Souers and played their home games at the Walkup Skydome. They were a member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 7–5, 6–2 in Big Sky play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. They received an at-large bid into the FCS Playoffs where they were lost to San Diego in the first round.

2017 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football
FCS Playoffs First Round, L 10–41 vs. San Diego
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 25
2017 record	7–5 (6–2 Big Sky)
Head coach	Jerome Souers (20th season)
Offensive coordinator	Brian Sheppard (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Andy Thompson (9th season)
Home stadium	Walkup Skydome (Capacity: 10,000)

2017 Big Sky Conference football standings
	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

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	8:00 p.m.	at Arizona*		Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	P12N	L 24–62	43,620
September 9	4:00 p.m.	No. 22 Western Illinois*		Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	FCSP FSAZ+ Pluto TV	L 20–38	9,053
September 23	6:00 p.m.	at Cal Poly		Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	ELVN	W 28–10	7,726
September 30	4:00 p.m.	Northern Colorado		Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	KASW NAU-TV	W 48–20	5,107
October 7	4:00 p.m.	No. 11 Illinois State*		Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	FCSP FSAZ+ Pluto TV	W 37–16	10,420
October 14	2:00 p.m.	at Portland State		Providence Park Portland, OR	Pluto TV	W 42–20	4,430
October 21	4:00 p.m.	UC Davis		Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	KASW NAU-TV	W 45–31	5,093
October 28	4:00 p.m.	Sacramento State		Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	KASW NAU-TV	W 37–17	6,068
November 4	2:30 p.m.	at Montana	No. 18	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	RTNW[1]	L 15–17	22,747
November 11	5:00 p.m.	Montana State	No. 24	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	ELVN	W 37–36	6,187
November 18	2:30 p.m.	at No. 14 Southern Utah	No. 23	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT (HintonBurdick Grand Canyon Trophy Game)	ELVN	L 20–48	10,842
November 25	6:00 p.m.	San Diego*	No. 25	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ (FCS Playoffs First Round)	ESPN3	L 10–41	4,068
*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: Official Schedule

Game summaries

at Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	7	7	0	10	24
Wildcats	14	20	14	14	62

See also: 2017 Arizona Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–13	2015	ARIZ, 77–13

Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Leathernecks	7	10	14	7	38
Lumberjacks	0	7	6	7	20

See also: 2017 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–1	2016	WIU, 34–20

at Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	7	7	14	0	28
Mustangs	3	0	7	0	10

See also: 2017 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
11–1	2014	NAU, 38–35

Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	7	13	0	20
Lumberjacks	7	13	14	14	48

See also: 2017 Northern Colorado Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
13–4	2016	UNC, 21–18

Illinois State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Redbirds	0	6	3	7	16
Lumberjacks	0	13	14	10	37

See also: 2017 Illinois State Redbirds football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	14	0	14	14	42
Vikings	7	0	6	7	20

See also: 2017 Portland State Vikings football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
16–5	2014	NAU, 21–17

UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	7	0	17	7	31
Lumberjacks	0	28	7	10	45

See also: 2017 UC Davis Aggies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–1	2015	UCD, 38–24

Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	0	10	7	0	17
Lumberjacks	10	7	6	14	37

See also: 2017 Sacramento State Hornets football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
12–7	2015	NAU, 49–35

at Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 18 Lumberjacks	3	6	0	6	15
Grizzlies	7	0	7	3	17

See also: 2017 Montana Grizzlies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
14–35	2016	NAU, 45–34

Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bobcats	7	9	7	13	36
No. 24 Lumberjacks	3	13	14	7	37

See also: 2017 Montana State Bobcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
26–23	2016	NAU, 20–14

at Southern Utah

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

See also: 2017 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team and Northern Arizona–Southern Utah football rivalry

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
12–8	2016	SUU, 48–21

FCS Playoffs

San Diego–First Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
Toreros	10	14	10	7	41
No. 25 Lumberjacks	0	10	0	0	10

See also: 2017 San Diego Toreros football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–0–1	1960	TIE, 14–14

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	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	18	24	23	25	RV
Coaches	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	RV	24	22	24	16	24	23	RV	RV

References

1. "BIG SKY, ROOT SPORTS ANNOUNCE CONTRACT EXTENSION, 2017 SCHEDULE". Big Sky Conference. March 21, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2017.