Ed Lamb Brings Northern Colorado Back to Cedar City as Floyd Chalk Climbs SUU's Rushing List

Southern Utah hosts Northern Colorado at Eccles Coliseum in Cedar City on Saturday, November 7, with kickoff at 1 p.m. Mountain Time on ESPN+. Both teams are 3-6 overall and 2-4 in the Big Sky, according to the conference standings, and the visitors are led by Ed Lamb, the coach who built Southern Utah's first Big Sky champion.

Southern Utah Football is home for a second straight Saturday after a 34-27 loss to Northern Arizona on Halloween; Southern Utah's recap listed the Lumberjacks at No. 7. The Thunderbirds led 10-0 after the first quarter, fell behind 34-17, then scored 17 fourth-quarter points to make it a one-score game with 2:23 left before Northern Arizona ran out the clock.

Ed Lamb's return to Eccles Coliseum

Lamb coached Southern Utah from 2008 through 2015 and went 45-47, according to Southern Utah's game-week release. His Northern Colorado biography traces the climb. He inherited a program that had lost 18 straight games and had gone 0-11 the season before his arrival, and his first team went 4-7 in 2008. By 2010 the Thunderbirds were 6-5 and 4-0 in the Great West Conference, champions of that league.

Southern Utah joined the Big Sky in 2012, and Lamb's 2013 team went 8-5 and reached the FCS playoffs, with a 22-21 win over FBS South Alabama along the way, per the same biography. His 2015 team went 8-4 overall and 7-1 in the Big Sky to win the conference title and return to the FCS playoffs. His teams also beat FBS UNLV 41-16 in 2011, and the biography lists him as a two-time finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award.

After the 2015 season Lamb spent seven years at BYU as assistant head coach and special teams coordinator, then was introduced as Northern Colorado's head coach on December 7, 2022. Southern Utah's release calls 2026 his fourth season in Greeley. His biography lists records of 0-11 in 2023, 1-11 in 2024 and 4-8 in 2025, the last of those including a 49-33 road win at Idaho that the biography calls the highest-ranked Division I win in Northern Colorado history.

The all-time series between the programs is tied 4-4, according to Southern Utah's release. Northern Colorado won the last two meetings in Cedar City, including a 17-9 game in 2021, and Southern Utah's most recent win in the series was a 30-3 result in 2015, Lamb's final season with the Thunderbirds.

Floyd Chalk's season in the record book

Redshirt senior running back Floyd Chalk carried 23 times for 130 yards and two touchdowns against Northern Arizona, including a 10-yard score on the opening drive and a 2-yard run that cut the deficit to 34-27. That pushed his season total to 1,223 yards and moved him past Brook Madsen, who ran for 1,214 yards in 1997, into ninth on Southern Utah's single-season rushing list, according to the recap.

Southern Utah's game-week release lists Chalk at 1,223 yards and 12 touchdowns on 196 carries, with eight 100-yard games this fall. The Thunderbirds have had a 100-yard rusher in every game since homecoming in 2025, the release said.

The run has come in a series of big afternoons. Chalk ran for 183 yards and three touchdowns in the 47-42 Beehive Bowl win over Weber State on September 5, including the 22-yard touchdown that put Southern Utah ahead for good. Against UC Davis on October 17 he set a career high with 212 yards on 26 carries, including a 37-yard touchdown run up the middle that made it 31-17 in the fourth quarter, and the Big Sky named him its Offensive Player of the Week. That release made him Southern Utah's third straight 1,000-yard rusher, after Targhee Lambson in 2024 and Joshua Dye in 2025.

"He's a physical back who runs with a lot of toughness, and when he gets going downhill, he's tough to bring down," head coach DeLane Fitzgerald said in that release.

Chalk is from Mission Hills, California, where he played at Bishop Alemany High School, and he arrived in Cedar City from San Jose State, according to his Southern Utah roster biography. He played at Grambling State in 2022 and 2023, running for 696 yards and nine touchdowns in the second of those seasons, and his biography lists a career-high 721 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns at San Jose State in 2024. His 2026 total is already 502 yards past that 2024 mark.

The rest of Southern Utah's offense

Chalk does not carry the run game alone. Quarterback Will Burns has 884 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns, plus 1,642 passing yards and 12 touchdown passes on 140-of-223 passing, according to Southern Utah's release. The team averages 257.0 rushing yards per game, which Northern Colorado's own preview called the highest figure in the Big Sky.

David Spjut leads the receivers with 30 catches for 344 yards, Mark Bails has 23 catches for 473 yards and three touchdowns at 20.6 yards per catch, and tight end Joshua Acord has a team-high six touchdown receptions. Kicker Jayden Rogers has made 10 of 12 field goals with a long of 54.

On defense, redshirt freshman safety Parker Vance made 11 tackles against Northern Arizona, 10 of them solo, and leads the team with 73 tackles and five interceptions. One more interception would tie him for second on Southern Utah's single-season list, the release said. Linebacker Mason Stromstad has 53 tackles, Aiden Hall leads the team with 5.5 tackles for loss, and Myles Amey has four sacks.

Northern Colorado's run defense and ground game

Northern Colorado comes to Cedar City off a bye week, its last game a 33-6 loss at UC Davis on October 24, according to the Bears' schedule. Its two Big Sky wins came at home in Greeley: 37-13 over Utah Tech on September 26 and 28-18 over Cal Poly on October 17. The Bears opened the season with a 30-29 home loss to Weber State on August 28.

The Bears have held opponents to 145.3 rushing yards per game and 4.5 yards per carry, according to both schools' previews, and their game-week story centered on stopping Southern Utah's ground game.

"Everyone knows Southern Utah wants to run the ball, so big point of emphasis for us is stop the run," Northern Colorado defensive lineman Blake Weslin said in the Bears' preview. He called the approach "a mano a mano mentality."

Northern Colorado runs the ball too. Justin Guin leads the Bears with 535 yards and four touchdowns on 102 carries, and the team averages 173.6 rushing yards per game. Two quarterbacks have shared the job: Kenny Lueth has completed 64 of 106 passes for 752 yards and four touchdowns and run for 290 yards and four scores in six games, and Brayten Silbor is 71-of-136 for 823 yards and three touchdowns with one interception in seven appearances, per Southern Utah's release. Marcus Mozer has 32 catches for 444 yards and four touchdowns, and Trey Olsen has 29 for 502 yards.

Linebacker Hudson Voggesser leads the Northern Colorado defense with 54 tackles, and defensive lineman Dominic Butts has 10.5 tackles for loss.

"They're a great running offense, and so are we. I'm excited to see who wins that battle," Northern Colorado offensive lineman Levi Johnson said.

Where the Big Sky table stands

Montana State and Northern Arizona share the conference lead at 5-1, with Weber State third at 5-2, according to the Big Sky standings. Southern Utah, Northern Colorado and Portland State are each 2-4.

After Saturday, Southern Utah plays at Portland State on Friday, November 13, at 8 p.m. MT and closes the regular season at home against Chicago State on November 21 at noon, per its schedule. Northern Colorado hosts Montana State on November 14 and plays at Northern Arizona on November 21.

Key facts:

• Game: Northern Colorado at Southern Utah, Saturday, November 7, 2026, 1 p.m. MT, Eccles Coliseum, Cedar City; streaming on ESPN+
• Records: Both teams 3-6 overall and 2-4 in the Big Sky
• Ed Lamb: Southern Utah head coach 2008-15 (45-47), 2015 Big Sky champion; now in his fourth season at Northern Colorado
• Series: Tied 4-4; Southern Utah's last win in the series was 30-3 in 2015
• Floyd Chalk (SUU): Redshirt senior running back from Mission Hills, California; 1,223 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on 196 carries, eight 100-yard games, ninth on SUU's single-season rushing list
• Will Burns (SUU): 884 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns; 1,642 passing yards and 12 touchdown passes
• Northern Colorado defense: 145.3 rushing yards allowed per game, 4.5 per carry
• Last games: Southern Utah lost 34-27 to Northern Arizona on October 31; Northern Colorado lost 33-6 at UC Davis on October 24, then had a bye