Home of little help to SUU

CEDAR CITY — Southern Utah's football team was hoping the home field would help provide an answer after four weeks on the road, but although the Thunderbirds played better than they had the previous two weeks, the result was the same.

No. 5 North Dakota State handed SUU a 31-7 Great West Football Conference loss in front of 3,165 fans on Saturday.

Southern Utah (3-6, 0-3) finished with 286 yards of offense, 27 more than Minnesota had last week against the Bison (7-1, 1-0) and more than doubling its 139 last week at UC Davis, but could still put just seven points on the board.

North Dakota State got 126 rushing yards and three touchdowns from all-GWFC tailback Kyle Steffes, while quarterback Steve Walker completed 16-of-23 passes for 186 yards and another score for the Bison. NDSU finished with 199 rushing yards and 385 overall.

Quarterback Wes Marshall carried the bulk of the offensive load for the Thunderbirds, who now have a bye week before hosting South Dakota State in the team's GWFC finale Nov. 11. Marshall carried 18 times for 58 yards and scored the team's only touchdown while completing 19-of-37 passes for 186 yards with one interception. Joey Hew Len caught six passes for 51 yards to lead the Thunderbird receivers.

The Bison took a 7-0 lead on a 53-yard Steffes run with 4:45 to play in the first quarter, then added two more scores, on a 1-yard Steffes run and a 32-yard Walker-to-Matt Kittelson pass to take a 21-0 edge at halftime.

Southern Utah pulled within 21-14 when Marshall took a quarterback draw 18 yards for a score to cap the Thunderbirds' opening drive of the second half. But NDSU answered with a 34-yard Shawn Bibeau field goal with 5:52 to go in the third, then salted the game away with 11:56 to play when Steffes dove 1 yard for the final score of the day.

"Give them credit," SUU coach Wes Meier said. "They're a very solid, good football team that knows how to win."