MOSCOW, Idaho-Saturday, Southern Utah football makes a historic trip to the Kibbie Dome to play at Moscow, Idaho against the Idaho Vandals for the first time in school history.
While the Thunderbirds had a successful Homecoming Saturday, in dismantling Sacramento State 48-27, they return to the road seeking their second consecutive Big Sky Conference win.
SUU’s freshmen were instrumental in the rout of the Hornets as tailback Karris Davis, a product of Hillcrest High School in Midvale ran 10 times for 84 yards and a pair of scores Saturday.
Fellow freshman, receiver Austin Ewing also caught a touchdown pass and ran for another score for SUU in the rout.
In the stead of injured starting signal-caller, Chris Helbig, Aaron Zwahlen has completed 63.1 percent of his passes for 577 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.
The leading receiver for the Thunderbirds at this stage is Landen Measom with 32 grabs for 353 yards.
Senior linebacker Chinedu Ahanonu has 51 tackles, 6.5 tackles for a loss and 1.5 sacks to pace the SUU defense.
As for the Vandals, they returned to FCS football and the Big Sky Conference this season after leaving for the FBS in 1996.
The Vandals come in at 2-4 and 1-3 in the Big Sky, having beaten Portland State and NCAA Division II Western New Mexico.
They have lost consecutive games to in-state rival Idaho State as well as Montana State.
The Vandals have played two quarterbacks extensively this season with Mason Petrino (938 yards, 5 TD’s/5 INT’s) and Colton Richardson (407 yards, 5 TD’s/4 INT’s) getting the reps.
The leading rusher for the Vandals is Isaiah Saunders (115 car, 533 yards, 4 TD’s) and Idaho’s leading receiver is David Ungerer (40 rec, 432 yards, 2 TD’s) while the leading receiver in touchdown grabs is Jeff Cotton who has four touchdown grabs on 21 catches.
Idaho’s defense is bolstered by linebacker Kaden Elliss who has a team-best 4.5 sacks on the season.
The Thunderbirds and Vandals have only met once in history, with Idaho coming to Cedar City in 1994 and routing SUU 43-10.
