SUU football: T-Birds, Lumberjacks meet for Big Sky title ... and more

Nearly two years ago, Ty Rutledge pulled in a fingertip catch — a catch former Southern Utah head coach Ed Lamb called “impossible” — in the end zone.

That fourth-quarter grab helped the Thunderbirds to a 49-41 win over Northern Arizona and, more importantly, lifted SUU to its first Big Sky Conference football championship.

Related: SUU football: How SUU-NAU became a rivalry

Two years later, the Grand Canyon Rivalry has similar stakes.

When the T-Birds (8-2, 6-1) and Lumberjacks (7-3, 6-1) meet in their annual trophy game, there will be two trophies on the line. The winner of Saturday’s game (2:30 p.m., Eccles Coliseum) will be crowned Big Sky champions.

“I can’t wait,” Rutledge said. “After that game, you kind of wonder if I’ll ever get a chance to play in another game like that. Not very many teams are fortunate enough to do that. The opportunity is unreal. I’m so excited already.”

While the Big Sky’s premier rivalry, Montana vs. Montana State, will be going on in the Treasure State on Saturday, the Big Sky’s biggest game of the week, and maybe of the year, will be in Cedar City. Because what happens at Eccles Coliseum will go a long way in shaping what the FCS playoff bracket will look like on Sunday morning.

• IF SUU WINS … The T-Birds earn at least a share of the title (Weber State would also earn a share of the title with a victory on Saturday; there are no tiebreakers when it comes to determining the Big Sky champion) and receive the conference's automatic bid to the playoffs due to their win over Weber. And the T-Birds could also potentially earn a Top 8 seed in the bracket. Most FCS bracketologists have SUU earning the No. 7 or No. 8 seed with a win against the Lumberjacks. A seed means the T-Birds would have a bye in the first round and a guaranteed home game until they face a higher-seeded team. SUU is 13-1 over the last three seasons at Eccles Coliseum.

An SUU victory would also put NAU squarely on the playoff bubble. It’s a deep field this year, so seven wins might not be enough for the Lumberjacks to get in — and that means Saturday’s contest could also be NAU coach Jerome Souers’ final game.

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• IF NAU WINS … The Lumberjacks earn at least a share of the title and would win it outright if Weber State loses to Idaho State. If both Weber and NAU win, the automatic bid gets a little hairy since the teams didn’t play each other this season. If Montana State beats Montana, NAU would get the automatic qualifier, because it would have beat SUU. If Montana beats Montana State, the automatic bid would be decided by Sagarin ratings (currently Weber has a higher rating than NAU, but that could change with Saturday's results).

If SUU were to lose on Saturday, the T-Birds would still likely get an at-large playoff berth, but any hope for a seed and first-round bye would be over. SUU, though, could still potentially host a game in the first round, depending on its opponent. Outside of the seeded teams' games, host sites are determined by how much schools bid for the games. The highest bidding team gets the home game. So, if SUU gets paired with a team like San Diego, it would probably host. But if the T-Birds get paired with a Montana-like school, they’d be heading on the road.

Which means an SUU win on Saturday wouldn’t just mean a second Big Sky title in three years. It could be the difference between a long playoff run and a quick exit. SUU is 0-2 all-time in the FCS playoffs, with both of those games being played on the road.

“We are playing our best football right now,” SUU head coach Demario Warren said. “That’s what we wanted to do as a team — play great late. We haven’t won the final two games of the season since I’ve been here. That’s something we talked about. We wanted to finish the year strong. And going into the playoffs, make sure everybody knows we are a really good football team.”

Follow Ryan Miller on Twitter, @millerjryan.

Big Sky standings

Southern Utah, 6-1; 8-2

Weber State, 6-1; 8-2

Northern Arizona, 6-1; 7-3

Montana, 5-2; 7-3

Eastern Washington, 5-2; 6-4

Sacramento State, 5-2; 6-4

Montana State, 4-3; 4-6

UC Davis, 3-4; 5-5

Idaho State, 2-5; 4-6

North Dakota, 2-6; 3-8

Northern Colorado, 1-6; 2-7

Cal Poly, 1-6; 1-9

Portland State, 0-7; 0-10