2018 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

2018 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football
Conference Big Sky Conference
2018 record 3–3 (2–1 Big Sky)
Head coach Jerome Souers (21st season)
Offensive coordinator Aaron Pflugrad (1st season)
Defensive coordinator Andy Thompson (10th season)
Home stadium Walkup Skydome
(Capacity: 10,000)
2018 Big Sky football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 4 Eastern Washington  3 –0     5 –1  
Idaho State  3 –0     4 –1  
No. 14 UC Davis  2 –0     4 –1  
No. 22 Montana  2 –1     4 –2  
Northern Arizona  2 –1     3 –3  
Montana State  1 –1     3 –2  
No. 13 Weber State  1 –1     3 –2  
Idaho  1 –2     2 –3  
Cal Poly  1 –2     2 –4  
Portland State  1 –2     2 –4  
Sacramento State  0 –2     2 –3  
Southern Utah  0 –2     0 –5  
Northern Colorado  0 –3     0 –6  
  • *Although North Dakota is classified as an independent, games against them still count as Big Sky conference games.
Rankings from STATS FCS Poll

The 2018 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team represents Northern Arizona University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They are led by 21st-year head coach Jerome Souers and play their home games at the Walkup Skydome. They are a member of the Big Sky Conference.

Previous season

The Lumberjacks finished the 2017 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.

Preseason

Polls

On July 16, 2018 during the Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington, the Lumberjacks were predicted to finish in third place by both the coaches and media.[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 Lumberjacks had three players selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.[2]

Emmanuel Butler – Sr. WR

Khalil Dorsey – Jr. CB

Wes Sutton – Sr. S

Award watch lists

Award Player Position Year
Walter Payton Award[3] Case Cookus QB JR

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 14:30 p.m.at UTEP*
ESPN3W 30–1017,271
September 84:00 p.m.No. 6 Eastern Washington*No. 18
KASW
NAU-TV		L 26–318,938
September 1512:00 p.m.at Missouri State*No. 20
ESPN3L 8–407,217
September 224:00 p.m.Southern Utah
KASW
NAU-TV		W 31–235,832
September 292:30 p.m.at Idaho State
Pluto TV 243L 42–569,129
October 62:30 p.m.No. 6 Weber State
  • Walkup Skydome
  • Flagstaff, AZ
ELVNW 28–2410,000
October 2011:00 a.m.at Northern Colorado
ELVN
October 274:00 p.m.Cal Polydagger
  • Walkup Skydome
  • Flagstaff, AZ
KASW
NAU-TV
November 31:00 p.m.at UC Davis
Pluto TV 245
November 107:00 p.m.at Sacramento State
KASW
NAU-TV
November 172:30 p.m.North Dakota
  • Walkup Skydome
  • Flagstaff, AZ
KASW
NAU-TV

Despite also being a member of the Big Sky, the game vs. Eastern Washington will be a non-conference game and will have no effect on the Big Sky standings.

Game summaries

at UTEP

1 2 3 4 Total
Lumberjacks 10 7 13 0 30
Miners 0 10 0 0 10
Overall record Last meeting Result
0–5–1 1947 UTEP, 40–0

Eastern Washington

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 6 Eagles 14 7 7 3 31
No. 18 Lumberjacks 0 10 3 13 26
Overall record Last meeting Result
12–20 2016 EWU, 50–35

at Missouri State

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 20 Lumberjacks 0 6 0 2 8
Bears 10 13 10 7 40
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

Southern Utah

1 2 3 4 Total
Thunderbirds 0 7 16 0 23
Lumberjacks 7 7 10 7 31
Overall record Last meeting Result
12–9 2017 SUU, 48–20

at Idaho State

1 2 3 4 Total
Lumberjacks 7 7 14 14 42
Bengals 7 28 14 7 56
Overall record Last meeting Result
34–17–1 2016 NAU, 52–7

Weber State

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 6 Wildcats 0 8 13 3 24
Lumberjacks 7 0 14 7 28
Overall record Last meeting Result
25–26 2016 NAU, 33–20

at Northern Colorado

1 2 3 4 Total
Lumberjacks 0
Bears 0
Overall record Last meeting Result
14–4 2017 NAU, 48–20

Cal Poly

1 2 3 4 Total
Mustangs 0
Lumberjacks 0
Overall record Last meeting Result
12–1 2017 NAU, 28–10

at UC Davis

1 2 3 4 Total
Lumberjacks 0
Aggies 0
Overall record Last meeting Result
4–1 2017 NAU, 45–31

at Sacramento State

1 2 3 4 Total
Lumberjacks 0
Hornets 0
Overall record Last meeting Result
13–7 2017 NAU, 37–17

North Dakota

1 2 3 4 Total
Fighting Hawks 0
Lumberjacks 0
Overall record Last meeting Result
4–2 2016 UND, 38–31

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Final 
STATS FCS RV 18 20 RV RV NR RV  
Coaches RV 20 22 RV RV NR NR

References

  1. ↑ "Eastern Washington Picked to Win the Big Sky".
  2. ↑ "Doss, Buss Headline Big Sky Football Preseason All-Conference Team".
  3. ↑ "FCS football: 2018 Walter Payton Award watch list". August 1, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
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