2020 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team

2020 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Record	1–5 (1–5 Big Sky)
Head coach	Demario Warren (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Matt Wade (1st season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Robert Bala (1st season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Tommy Collet Jr. (1st season)
Home stadium	Eccles Coliseum

2020 Big Sky Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 9 Weber State $^		5	–	0					5	–	1
No. 10 Eastern Washington ^		5	–	1					5	–	2
No. 14 UC Davis		3	–	2					3	–	2
Northern Arizona		3	–	2					3	–	2
Idaho State		2	–	4					2	–	4
Idaho		2	–	4					2	–	4
Southern Utah		1	–	5					1	–	5
Cal Poly‡		0	–	3					0	–	3
Montana†			–						2	–	0
Portland State†			–						0	–	1
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Notes: Due to COVID-19, the Big Sky suspended the fall 2020 football season. Montana State, Northern Colorado, and Sacramento State opted out of the spring season. † – Montana and Portland State opted out of the conference season, but scheduled non-conference games. ‡ – Cal Poly opted out of the remainder of the spring season on March 29, 2021. Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2020 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team represented Southern Utah University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach Demario Warren and played their home games at Eccles Coliseum in Cedar City, Utah. They played as a member of the Big Sky Conference.

Preseason

Polls

On July 23, 2020, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Thunderbirds were predicted to finish twelfth in the Big Sky by both the coaches and media.

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	135 (7)
2	Montana	128 (3)
3	Montana State	121 (1)
4	Eastern Washington	118 (1)
5	Sacramento State	99 (1)
6	UC Davis	83
7	Northern Arizona	68
8	Portland State	67
9	Idaho	66
10	Cal Poly	46
11	Idaho State	37
12	Southern Utah	33
13	Northern Colorado	13

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	546 (28)
2	Montana	496 (8)
3	Montana State	493 (6)
4	Eastern Washington	438 (1)
5	Sacramento State	389
6	UC Davis	325 (1)
7	Portland State	274
8	Idaho	273
9	Northern Arizona	238
10	Cal Poly	206
11	Idaho State	133
12	Southern Utah	105
13	Northern Colorado	88

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
February 27	1:00 p.m.	at Northern Arizona	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ (Grand Canyon Rivalry)	Pluto TV	L 33–34	0
March 6	12:00 p.m.	Idaho State	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	Pluto TV	L 24–26	1,608
March 13	2:00 p.m.	at Cal Poly	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA		W 34–24	0
March 27	1:00 p.m.	at Idaho	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID		L 32–33	1,947
April 3	2:00 p.m.	No. 3 Weber State	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT (Beehive Bowl)		L 16–19	2,803
April 10	4:00 p.m.	Northern Arizona	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT (Grand Canyon Rivalry)		L 20–28	1,800
Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time