First look: Southern Utah
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Seven. It's not just a great name. Of all the rankings and statistics in football, seven is the biggest number coming into this game. The Southern Utah Thunderbirds have lost seven games in row leading up to the season-opener against the Griz. In 2006, the Thunderbirds went 3-8 last season and 0-4 in the Great West Conference. Their last game was a 59-0 reaming by Southern Illinois. The Griz and Thunderbirds had one common opponent last year: Weber State. The Griz beat them 33-30 on the road and SUU lost 24-13 in their matchup in Ogden.
SUU's game notes give us SUU head coach Wes Meier's take on the Griz:
“Offensively I think their strength is in the running game but they definitely have good receivers and are good at throwing it down the field. They’re balanced with good personnel everywhere but I think they’re excited to have a guy like Lex Hilliard back and look forward to using him a lot.Meier on his own squad:
“Defensively they’re a pretty standard 4-3 look and they play pretty straight up. They’ll run some zone and man blitzes but they usually keep it simple because they’re so sound and tough. Troy Bierman is an all-American and there’s no question he’s a good player. Their safeties and linebackers are also very good players. They have good speed all around and really get after you.”
“This was by far the best pre-season camp we’ve had in my four years here. While there are still areas we’ll need to work on this week we feel pretty good about where we are heading into the season.Another interesting note: the last matchup between the Griz and the Thunderbirds. Southern Utah hung 45 on our Griz here in Missoula--and still lost. The final score was 68-45. This might be an indication echoing what many Griz fans have already said: Southern Utah can put up a fight.
“We’ve seen the defense really step up the last couple of weeks but [Saturday] I really liked the way our offense – particularly our first offense – looked.
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“We’re going to be ready and we’re going to be excited. Montana presents a huge challenge for us but we’re looking at it as an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to come out and go head-to-head with one of the best teams in the nation and see how we fare.”
