Southern Utah Thunderbirds 2007 schedule, overview

Date ... Opponent

Sept. 1 ... at Montana

Sept. 8 ... North Dakota

Sept. 15 ... Southern Illinois

Sept. 22 ... McNeese St.

Oct. 6 ... at Montana St.

Oct. 13 ... at Youngstown St.

Oct. 20 ... UC Davis

Oct. 27 ... at North Dakota St.

Nov. 3 ... Cal. Poly

Nov. 10 ... at South Dakota St.

Nov. 17 ... at Northern Iowa

2006 RECORD: 3-8

STARTERS RETURNING: 16 (8 offense, 8 defense)

STARTERS LOST: 6 (3 offense, 3 defense)

3 NAMES YOU ALREADY KNOW: QB Wes Marshall, RB Kyle Coop and RB Johnny Sanchez. Those three represented the bulk of the T-bird offensive production.

3 NAMES YOU SHOULD KNOW: G Stephen Boyer, G Tim Husslebee and OT Matt Roan. The success of the offense will hinge on the ability of those three to move people in the trenches.

3 KEY DATES: UC Davis (Oct. 20) — the T-birds' first Great West Football Conference game after a tough six-game preseason ... Cal Poly (Nov. 3) — the T-Birds had the nationally ranked Mustangs on the ropes late before losing in the end ... South Dakota State (Nov. 10) — SUU only lost to SDSU by 10 last season.

3 REASONS TO BE EXCITED: Despite losing, the T-birds played well at McNeese State and Cal Poly. They should have the confidence that they can play with ranked opponents ... They return 16 starters ... Their top five tacklers are returning.

3 REASONS TO BE CAUTIOUS: The T-birds enter the year on a seven-game losing streak ... 9 of their 11 opponents are ranked in the I-AA top 25 ... They play five of their last seven on the road.