SALT LAKE CITY — The Southern Utah University football team lost to the No. 13 ranked University of Utah Utes on Saturday by a score of 73-7.
Entering Saturday morning’s contest, the Thunderbirds were coming off a big win at home and the Utes a frustrating loss in the Swamp at Florida. The large and raucous crowd in Rice-Eccles Stadium was still finding their seats as the game commenced. The T-Birds elected to try an onside kick that initially looked successful but was overturned as the ball was touched before traveling 10 yards.
Starting with a short field at their backs, the T-Bird defense forced the Utes to go for it on fourth and one on the opening drive but the Utah’s Tavion Thomas was able to pick up the first down on a run up the middle. Only a few plays later, Thomas finished the drive with a 13-yard touchdown run.
The Thunderbirds offense got their first action of the day starting at the 15-yard line and moving 44 yards in eight plays before being forced to punt the ball back to the Utes. The punt by Jake Gerardi sailed 49 yards before going out of bounds at the Utah 22-yard line.
The two teams traded short drives ending in punts before Southern Utah’s Trent Whalen forced a fumble that was quickly gobbled up by Rodrick Ward on the Utes’ 28-yard line. The first play after the fumble, the Thunderbirds’ Grady Robison was able to capitalize on great field position scampering 28 yards to the end zone to even the score at 7-7.
SUU coach DeLane Fitzgerald said of the first quarter effort, “We were really proud of our guys after the first 15 minutes of the game.”
In the second quarter, the Utes offense took off, scoring 38 points to go into the halftime break with a 45-7 lead. The Thunderbirds finished the first half with just 62 yards of total offense.
The second half of the game did not go much better for the T-Birds, as they opened the third quarter with a pick-six interception return by the Utes. The following drive, Southern Utah managed just 12 yards before punting the ball back to the Utes, who would then march 78 yards for another score.
The Utes would go on to score two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. A 29-yard pass from backup quarterback Bryson Barnes connected with Thomas Yassmin for the first, followed by a 29-yard rushing TD by Jaylon Glover.
Robison led the Thunderbird rushing attack with two attempts totaling 28 yards and one touchdown. Quarterback Justin Miller completed 11-of-21 pass attempts for a total of 42 yards and two interceptions. The Southern Utah offense finished the game with 85 yards total offense.
The SUU Thunderbirds will be back on the road next week when they travel to Macomb, Illinois to take on Western Illinois University.
Written by Regan Hunsaker, SUU’s assistant athletic director for sports information and communications.
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