FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Coming off a bye week, the Northern Arizona football team will continue its road trek to start the season with a nonconference game at UC Davis on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
The Lumberjacks are ranked No. 24 in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision coaches poll and No. 25 in the The Sports Network media poll after the second week of play.
However, NAU is in search of its first win of the season after falling to Arizona in its season opener on Aug. 30. The last time the Lumberjacks started the season 0-2 was in 2006, when they opened the season with losses to Arizona State and Utah.
This will be only the second matchup ever between NAU and UC Davis. The Lumberjacks defeated the Aggies 21-7 a year ago in Flagstaff.
Although UC Davis is a member of the Big Sky, this will be a nonconference contest for the two teams, and the result will not be counted in the conference standings.
For NAU, sophomore quarterback Kyren Poe earned his first start at Arizona last week. The Chandler Hamilton product connected on his first 10 passes before finishing 21 for 36 for 176 yards and three interceptions, although two of the picks were deflected.
Meanwhile, running back Zach Bauman is just 48 yards shy of breaking the NAU career rushing record. The senior registered 71 yards against Arizona in the season opener. Bauman already owns the record for career carries (754) and is climbing up the career all-purpose yards chart with 4,642, which puts him third in school history. Bauman also is ranked third among active players in the FCS in career all-purpose yards and fourth in career rushing yards and career rushing yards per game.
UC Davis is off to an 0-2 start under coach Ron Gould, who is in his first year at the helm. The Aggies lost their opener to South Dakota 10-7 and were defeated by FBS program Nevada 36-7 last week.
The offense has struggled, as UC Davis has 288 passing yards and 275 rushing yards total through its first two games. Both Jimmy Laughrea and Randy Wright have seen playing time at quarterback, with Laughrea going 19 for 37 for 228 yards and two interceptions and Wright going 7 for 14 for a total of 60 yards.
Saturday's game will not be televised but will be available KBTK 105.1 FM and online at www.WatchBigSky.com.
