Southern Utah is not having a hot year coming off of their playoff appearance. Personally, I didn't think they were playoff material last year and they certainly aren't this year.
Offensively, Southern Utah is going to be a run first offense that will lob the ball when they get stuffed by the run. They average 374 yards per game which is less than UC Davis did with a stronger schedule. Many of their offensive woes come from poor offensive line play. Even with a rush first offense, this team has given up 19 sacks. Although statistically they haven't looked very hot, SUU seems to have some upside, beating Weber State and putting 39 points on Cal Poly. Remember, every team we play in conference this year will be chomping at the bits. Every team will give their best effort. Every team wants to be the team to finally take down EWU's conference streak. SUU will come out to play on their home turf.
Defensively, SUU is doing even worse than EWU giving up 532.3 yards per game. Quite surprising for a team that was so good on defense last year. Now, that average yardage is pretty much split down the middle for rushing vs pass. However, take note that most teams SUU has played have been rush first offenses. I've seen a few games from SUU and their secondary play is bad. Like, real bad. If they played teams that could actually throw the ball (SELA and Fresno split their rush/pass down the middle, so they didn't inflate the stat) they would be giving up insane yards on offense.
This is a perfect game to break Jordan West in with. He will have many receivers wide open, he just needs to work on his accuracy and get the ball down field. If JW is struggling, Mario will be able to move the ball to help reduce high pressure situations. I expect with SUU recent upsides on offense, they will put some points on the board. There will still be some pressure on Jordan West to get points on the board. I hope he gets put in some pressure situations so that he can learn to relax and do his job.
I'm saying EWU 45- SUU 27
