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CEDAR CITY — The Southern Utah University football team will travel to Fresno State this week as both teams look for their first win of the season.
Fresno State, a member of the Mountain West Conference, has lost to USC, Utah and Nebraska this year. SUU has lost to MWC team Nevada, third FCS-ranked Southeastern Louisiana and South Dakota State.
Fresno State has been outscored 166-59 this season, similar to SUU’s scoring woes as they have been outscored 95-39 total scores in their first three games.
Fresno State is led by coach Tim DeRuyter, who has a 20-9 record in three seasons at Fresno State. This is SUU and Fresno State's first meeting, however. Fresno State has beaten the five previous FCS teams they have played by an average margin of 24 points.
Both teams average around 330 yards of total offense every game. The SUU quarterback situation is once again unclear as Aaron Cantu has started every game, but Ammon Olsen continues to see an increasing amount of time every game. Between the two SUU QBs they have thrown seven interceptions. Fresno State is led by QB Brian Burrell who, like Cantu and Olsen, is looking for a break out game this week.
On the defensive side both teams have struggled. SUU has given up an average of 472 yards a game, while Fresno State has given up 596 yards a game.
The matchup this week will be interesting to see how SUU can play with a MWC team. Hopefully, SUU can figure out its QB situation and keep the turnovers down. However, with Fresno State’s history against FCS teams, SUU might need to be almost perfect to compete.
The game is set to kickoff at 7 p.m. (PT) and will be aired on the Mountain West Network. Live stats will be available at suutbirds.com.
