In their Big Sky Conference opener, the T-Birds were victorious over Northern Colorado 27–21 at Nottingham Stadium in Greeley, Colo.

The victory leaves SUU with a 4–1 overall record, and a 1–0 mark in conference play. UNC drops to 1–4 with the loss, and 0–1 in conference.

Aaron Cantu had his best throwing day as a T-Bird completing 28-of-38 passes for 269 yards, one touchdown and an interception.

Cantu’s top target on the afternoon was Fatu Moala, who caught seven passes for 120 yards. Griff McNabb finished with a touchdown to go along with his six catches for 40 yards, and Easton Pedersen finished with four catches for 33 yards.

SUU didn’t have as much production on the ground as they have had in previous outings. Malik Brown was the top rusher, but only had 20 yards on seven attempts. Raysean Martin had seven carries for 17 yards, but didn’t see much time on the field after fumbling the football in the 2nd quarter.

On the defensive side for SUU Tyree Mills made a major impact in his first game of the season, finishing with both of the teams interceptions.

Tim Tancik got the start at quarterback for UNC, after the regular starter went down with an injury. He finished 26-for-43 for the game, throwing for 269 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Tromaine Dennis was Tancik’s top target, finishing with seven catches for 94 yards.

After four straight punts to start the game, SUU put the first points on the board with a Colton Cook field goal to give the T-Birds an early lead. This was Cook’s 39th field goal of his career, which is the most all-time by an SUU kicker.

On the Bear’s next drive, Tancik threw an interception on the first play of the drive. Fortunately for UNC, Cantu turned around and threw an interception on the first play of SUU’s drive.

Northern Colorado tried to turn the interception into points, but missed a field goal that would tie the score.

SUU’s next possession ended in a fumble by Martin, which UNC was able to turn that into points, taking a 7–3 lead.

SUU still trailed near the end of the second quarter, but stepped up big offensively in the closing minutes.

The T-Birds’ Levi Teo scored a touchdown with 1:02 to play in the quarter after a 10 play, 36 yard drive, giving them a three-point advantage. After a UNC three-and-out, SUU marched down the field in just under 30 seconds and Cantu found McNabb in the endzone, giving them a 17–7 advantage at halftime.

The Bears struck early in the 3rd quarter with a Tancik run, cutting the SUU lead to three. But SUU would respond roughly five minutes later, with an Easton Pedersen touchdown grab from 17 yards out.

With about six minutes to play, Cook added another field goal, making the score 27–14. The kick was the 40th of his career.

With SUU in control, the Bears tried to make things interesting. With 58 seconds left in the game, Tancik found Stimphil for a five-yard completion that pulled the bears within six.

The following was an onside kick that didn’t bounce the Bears’ way. That allowed SUU to take a few knees, and seal the victory.

SUU will be in action next Saturday, as the return to Cedar City to take on the Aggies of UC Davis. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. at Eccles Coliseum.