Game Notes: UTAH TECH - PDF | UNI - PDF
Utah Tech Football Media Central
Lance Anderson Coaches Show: TRAILBLAZER SPORTSVISION
Pre-Game/Post-Game Show: TRAILBLAZER SPORTSVISION
Live TV: ESPN+
Live Streaming Video: ESPN+
Live Audio: THE FAN SPORTS NETWORK
Live Stats: vs. NORTHERN IOWA
Twitter: @UtahTech_Sports | @UtahTech_Fball | #UtahTechBlazers | #UACFootball

TRAILBLAZER TALES 
• Utah Tech returns home to play host to Missouri Valley Football Conference member Northern Iowa in the Trailblazers' 2025 non-conference finale on Saturday night.
• Saturday's game will be the second-ever meeting between the Trailblazers and Panthers on the gridiron. 
• The two teams first squared off midway through the 2022 season in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where Utah Tech was handed a 41-14 loss inside the UNI Dome.
• Saturday's game marks the fourth time the Trailblazers will have faced an opponent from the MVFC.
• In addition to Utah Tech's first game vs. UNI, the program also played a home-and-home series vs. former MVFC member, and now current FBS/Conference USA member Missouri State (2021 and 2023).   
• Utah Tech fell to 5-36 (4-35 overall vs. AFCA) all-time record vs. ranked opponents (FCS and D-II) following a 20-6 road loss at current No. 8/8 Idaho last Saturday afternoon in Moscow.  
• The Trailblazers' overall record vs. ranked opponents includes a 1-4 record last season, and a 3-20 mark in its brief FCS era.
• The Trailblazers' last victory over a ranked team came last season at home against then-No. 9/11 Central Arkansas (34-21; 11/2/24).  
• Including Northern Iowa (RV), 10 of Utah Tech's 12 2025 opponents to date are either ranked, or received votes, in either or both of this week's AFCA and Stats Perform top-25 polls. 
• Utah Tech's 2025 schedule is currently the 25th-hardest (out of 129 FCS teams) in the latest WarrenNolan.com ELO strength of schedule ratings.
• Saturday's game will be the second of only four total night games Utah Tech will play this year. 
• In fact, the Trailblazers' first four home games will be played under the lights, while all six Utah Tech road dates will be afternoon affairs. 
 
LIVE STATS/AUDIO/STREAM INFO: Live stats and audio/video streaming information for this Saturday night's game vs. Northern Iowa can be found online at utahtechtrailblazers.com.
 
UTAH TECH ON THE AIR: All Utah Tech games this season are broadcast live on The Fan Sports Network (99.5/95.3 FM in St. George; 93.1 FM/1400 AM in Cedar City; www.thefansportsnetwork.com), while all home games will be streamed live online on ESPN+.
        The "Voice of the Trailblazers" Rod Zundel is in his fourth season calling the play-by-play action on ESPN+, and he will be joined this Saturday night by former Utah Tech defensive lineman Max Christensen III. In addition, Devin Dixon (PBP) and Paul Ratliff (color) will have the call on The Fan Sports Network.  
        As part of this season's game day broadcast coverage, Utah Tech airs a 60-minute comprehensive pregame show, and 30-minute post-game show, both of which air live on The Fan Sports Network and streamed live on YouTube on Trailblazer SportsVision (youtube.com/TrailblazerAthletics).
        Along with complete Game Day coverage, Zundel hosts "The Lance Anderson Coaches Show" every Tuesday night on The Fan Sports Network and streamed on Trailblazer SportsVision at 6 p.m. (MT).
 
A TRAILBLAZER WIN ON SATURDAY WOULD...: Stop Utah Tech's current five-game losing skid, which dates back to the final two games of the 2024 season. A Trailblazer victory would be the first against a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
 
"UNITED" FOR ONE MORE SEASON: The 2025 campaign will mark an end of an (brief) era as Utah Tech will compete as a member of the United Athletic Conference for the third, and final, season. The Trailblazers were one of the original charter members of the UAC, which was established in 2023, after they competed in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in football in 2022.
 
GOING "BIG" IN 2026: This past June 25, Utah Tech announced that it had accepted an invitation to join the Big Sky Conference beginning on July 1, 2026. 
            Starting in the 2026-27 season, 13 of the Trailblazers' 16 sports, including football, will compete in the premiere FCS conference in Division I.
 
MAYBE NEXT YEAR: Utah Tech wound up going winless against its three ranked Big Sky opponents this year, in what may be the final non-conference games played against members of the conference. 
            To date, the Trailblazers have faced eight current football playing members of the Big Sky and are a combined 1-20 lifetime against the league, 0-6 as a D-II and 1-14 in their short time as a D-I FCS program. Utah Tech's lone win against the Big Sky came during the 2023 season, a 50-36 road triumph at NAU (9/16/23). 
            Last season, Utah Tech also opened the campaign by playing three of its first four games against Big Sky opponents, including FCS national runner-up Montana State. In fact, the Trailblazers have faced at least two Big Sky opponents in each of the last four seasons overall.
 
TAKING ON ALL COMERS: Since transitioning to NCAA Division I FCS status, Utah Tech has faced 24 top-25 teams (3-21) and 18 total FCS playoff teams.   
        In fact, Utah Tech's 2021 fall schedule was rated as the second-toughest schedule in the entire country and featured seven ranked teams and seven 2021 FCS Fall playoff teams, including the 2021 spring national champion (Sam Houston) and runner-up (South Dakota State).
            Utah Tech has also squared off against four FBS programs over that span - New Mexico State (2021 spring in El Paso, Texas), BYU (2022), Colorado State (2023) and UNLV (2024).
 
ABOUT THE NORTHERN IOWA "PANTHERS": Northern Iowa makes its second, and final, trip to the Mountain Time Zone this season fresh off a 17-14 home victory over Big Sky member Eastern Washington last Saturday in Cedar Falls.
            The Panthers opened the 2025 campaign with a 38-14 home triumph over Butler (8/30), which was followed by a 31-7 road loss at FBS foe Wyoming (9/6) one week later in Laramie.
            Redshirt junior QB Matthew Schecklman (6-3, 210) has thrown for 680 yards on 53-for-85 passing and six touchdowns, with 359 of those yards and two passing TDs coming last week vs. EWU. 
            Schecklman's favorite target in the pass game is redshirt senior WR Tysen Kershaw (6-3, 211), who has caught 14 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns in three games. Kershaw hauled in six balls for 143 yards and a score in the EWU win, while RS-sophomore wideout Ayden Price (6-0, 198) collected 135 receiving yards on six catches and a score.  
            RS-senior RB Harrison Bey-Buie (5-10, 215) is UNI's leading rusher, averaging 62 yards in three games (188 yards/47 carries) overall and has accounted for both of the Panthers' rushing touchdowns in the early going.  
            Defensively, the linebacker tandem of RS-seniors Tucker Langenberg (6-2, 225) and Ryan Crandall (6-2, 223) co-lead the Panthers with 26 total tackles apiece, while Crandall has 2.5 TFLs to his credit. 
 
DIALING LONG DISTANCE: Redshirt junior PK Ilya Uvaydov had a day in last Saturday's loss at Idaho as he became the first Trailblazer kicker on the program's NCAA era to make not one, but two 50-plus yard field goals in a single game.
            Uvaydov got the Utah Tech on the scoreboard as time expired in the first half with a school record tying 55-yard boot that just snuck over the crossbar. The junior struck again on the Blazers' first possession of the second half, blasting a 53-yarder, which matched his previous career high he set in last year's finale at Southern Utah (11/23/24).
            Uvaydov (3) joined former kicker Connor Brooksby (5; 2021-23) as the only two Blazer kickers to have multiple 50-plus yard field goals in their careers. In fact, Brooksby nailed a pair of 55-yard field goals in consecutive seasons at home vs. SUU (11/522) and Eastern Kentucky (10/28/23). 
            In all, four Utah Tech kickers have made field goals of at least 50 yards or more, including Jameson Schulz (1 - 50-yd FG vs. Colorado Mesa, 9/10/11) and James Baird (1 - 50-yd FG vs. Fort Lewis, 3/27/21). 
 
RG5: Redshirt junior QB Reggie Graff saw his streak of multiple TD passes halted at four games in loss at Northern Arizona (9/6).
            However, Graff DID run for two second-half touchdowns, highlighted a career long 31-yard scoring scamper with just under six minutes to play in the third quarter. The southpaw signal caller then scrambled for an 8-yard touchdown with nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
            Graff combined for 149 yards of total offense at NAU, including a team-high 74 rush yards to go with 75 yards on 12-for-24 passing. 
            Graff, who went 4-for-5 for 50 yards and two TDs in the opener vs. UC Davis (8/30), became in the 14th different quarterback in Utah Tech's NCAA era to throw at least one touchdown pass in four-straight games, and is the fourth signal caller to throw for multiple touchdowns in at least four-straight games. 
            Former Trailblazer QB Griff Robles recorded at least one TD pass in a school record 18-straight games spread over two seasons with five-straight, multi-TD games in 2012-13, while Kobe Tracy was the first FCS-era signal caller to achieve the feat, doing so in nine-straight games in 2021-22, and had a six-game streak in 2023 with four-straight multi-TD games. 
            Graff joined Tracy, and current Tarleton State QB Victor Gabalis (at Utah Tech in 2022 - five-straight games with four multi-TD outings), as the only three quarterbacks in the program's FCS era to post streaks of at least four games with at least one TD pass. 
 
YOU GOT TO HAVE AN ASA IN THE HOLE: Redshirt freshman RB Asa Chatman enjoyed a breakout game at NAU (9/6), against which he posted collegiate career highs of 11 carries for 63 yards and scored his first collegiate touchdown with 4:29 remaining to draw Utah Tech to within seven points.
            Chatman has received the starting nod in each of Utah Tech's first three games this season. The freshman tallied 21 yards on seven carries in the opener vs. UC Davis (8/30). 
 
SACK GEORGE CITY: Utah Tech's defense enters Saturday's game vs. Northern Iowa tied for FIFTH in the FCS ranks with 9.0 total sacks over the first three games, including six sacks vs. UC Davis (8/30), and two more at NAU (9/6). 
            Redshirt freshman OLB Dallin Havea has accounted for three of those nine sacks, including two vs. UCD and another at NAU, which not only tied for the United Athletic Conference lead, it also ties him for seventh-overall in the FCS ranks through two full weeks of actions. 
            Fellow redshirt freshman DB River Moore also recorded his first collegiate sack in his first collegiate start of the year at NAU, while RS sophomore Will Alovao notched his first sack of the year and tallied a game and career high 2.5 TFLs at Idaho last Saturday. 
            Meanwhile, the six sacks vs. UCD were the third-highest team total in the FCS in Week #1, the most in a season-opening game in the Trailblazers' NCAA era, and tied for the fifth-most in a single game in the program's four-year history.
 
STAYING UPRIGHT: While the Blazer defense is doing its thing, the Utah Tech offensive line has surrendered only ONE sack in 12 quarters this season, which leads the UAC and is tied for FIRST in the FCS in the early going.
            The Trailblazers' O-Line did not allow a sack in the opener vs. UC Davis (8/30), which marked the eighth time in Utah Tech's NCAA era that the Trailblazers did not allow a defensive sack. Utah Tech's line then repeated the feat at Idaho last Saturday afternoon. 
 
OPPOSING OFFENSES, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM: RS-senior safety Justin Houston continued his hot start to the season with a career-high tying 11 tackles and his second-career interception at NAU (9/6), which led to a Utah Tech first quarter touchdown.
            Houston's 11 stops at NAU tied a career high he set as a true freshman in 2020 while at Fresno State in a game against New Mexico (12/12/20). He then followed that up with eight tackles and a career-high two PBUs at Idaho last Saturday. 
            Meanwhile, Houston's interception came nearly one-year-to-the-day of his first pick, which he recorded last season in the Bulldogs' win over New Mexico State (9/14/24).
            Houston's interception at NAU marked the second-straight week the senior had forced a turnover that resulted in Trailblazer points. In the UC Davis opener (8/30), Houston notched a first quarter strip sack, which was recovered by the defense and led to a Blazer field goal to open the scoring.
 
TRAILBLAZER QUICK HITS
• Utah Tech has split quarterback duties between Graff and RS-freshman Bronson Barben in all three games to open the 2025 season. 
• Barben received the starting nod and the bulk of the playing time in the opener vs. UC Davis ... Barben threw for 222 yards 24-of-39 passing, and rushed for a team-high 28 yards on nine carries ... Barben recorded 61 yards passing at NAU (9/6), including a first quarter 9-yard touchdown connection with RS-senior WR Daniel Thomason.
• Thomason's touchdown grab at NAU was the third of his career, and his first since the 2023 season at Austin Peay (11/11/23) ... in fact, all three of Thomason's touchdowns catches have come on the road, including his first collegiate TD at Stephen F. Austin (10/29/22) during the 2022 season. 
• RS-junior TE Eric Olsen led the Blazer receiving corps with five catches (on 7 targets) for 45 yards at Idaho last Saturday. 
• Olsen was targeted a team-high 11 times and caught six of those passes for 46 yards in the opener vs. UC Davis (8/30), including a 1-yard TD catch, and a 31-yard reception on Utah Tech's last possession late in the fourth quarter ... Olsen was also targeted a team-high seven times at NAU (9/6) and hauled in three of those throws for 23 yards.  
• True freshman Dominic Oliver enjoyed a solid collegiate debut vs. UC Davis (8/30), during which he hauled in five passes for 50 yards. 
• RS-junior Tru Tanner collected three passes for 57 yards in the opener vs. UC Davis (8/30), 45 of which came on touchdown strike from Graff just 54 seconds into the second half.
• Sophomore Kaden Eggett also shined in his Trailblazer debut vs. UC Davis (8/30)  ... Eggett tallied a team-high 58 yards on three receptions, highlighted by a 27-yarder from Barben in the first quarter ... Eggett followed that up with three catches for 59 yards, including a 48-yard pass from Barben on the Blazers' opening drive.  
• For just the 10th time in their brief FCS era, the Trailblazers scored points in all four quarters at NAU (9/6) ... that feat broke a 16-game streak that saw Utah Tech not scoring points in all four quarters of a game.
• Utah Tech is 6-4 when it scores in all four quarters, with the last win coming, coincidentally, at NAU two years ago in Flagstaff (50-36; 9/16/23).
• Utah Tech is 17-for-43 (.395) in third down conversions through three games this season ... the Trailblazers went 7-for-16 on third down vs. UC Davis (8/30), including a perfect 6-for-6 with four yards or fewer to go.
• In fact, Utah Tech is 11-for-15 (.733) on third downs of five yards or fewer through three games this season.   
• Utah Tech is a perfect 6-for-6 in red zone conversions in the early going this season ... the Trailblazers are one of 15 teams left in the FCS ranks which are still perfect in the red zone.
• However, for just the third time in since transitioning to FCS status, Utah Tech did not record a red zone chance at Idaho last Saturday ... that instance also happened twice last season (vs. Montana State 8/31/24; at North Alabama (10/5/24).  
• Fifth year DB Devyn Perkins enjoyed his return to Trailblazer Nation as he tied a career high with seven total tackles in his first start of the year vs. UCD (8/30) ... Perkins, who played four games at Southern Utah last year after spending his first four collegiate seasons at Utah Tech, extended his personal streak of recording at least one tackle to 29-straight games overall after notching seven more tackles at Idaho last Saturday. 
• Redshirt senior OLB Moon Ashby announced his return to "The Palouse" with authority by racking up a game and career-high 10 tackles at Idaho last Saturday ... Ashby started his collegiate career across the border at nearby Washington State before transferring to Utah Tech.
• Freshman ILB Daylen Love continued his solid start to his collegiate career with nine total tackles at Idaho last Saturday ... Love made quite the splash in his collegiate debut vs. UC Davis (8/30), against which he led the Blazer defense with 10 tackles. 
• Redshirt junior DL Fasitootai Sagapolu made his long-awaited return to action vs. UC Davis (8/30) and wound up tying a career high with five tackles, along with his second-career sack, and a pass break-up ... "Marley," who had four total tackles and one TFL at NAU (9/6), missed the entire 2024 season due to injury, this after he recorded 30 total tackles and 2.0 TFLs in 2023.
• After battling through injuries all of last season, redshirt sophomore DB Aiden Aguayo enjoyed a breakout game at NAU (9/6), against which he tallied five total tackles with a team and career high 1.5 TFLs.
• RS-senior DL Cody Carlson posted his third-career fumble recovery as a Trailblazer and tallied five tackles vs. UC Davis (8/30) ... Carlson came up with the loose ball following the Houston strip sack, which set up Utah Tech's first points of the night. 
• In fact, Utah Tech scored 10 points on two Aggie turnovers on the night ... junior safety Brevin Czosnykapicked off an Aggie pass at the UCD 45-yard line, which set up the Graff-to-Tanner TD one play later. 
• Czosnyka collected a Utah Tech career high seven tackles at Idaho. 
• Junior punter Ryan Marks is second the UAC and 16th in the FCS ranks in punt average at 44.6 yards per kick ... Marks punted five times for 215 yards (43.0 ypp) at Idaho last Saturday with a 48-yarder and three punts downed inside the 20 yard line.
• Marks also completed an 8-yard pass on a 4th and 6 trick play to pick up a first down on Utah Tech's final possession at Idaho. 
 
#AB3FOREVER: Redshirt senior running back Chris Street has once again been awarded the No. 3 jersey for the 2025 season. The senior is the fourth Trailblazer player to wear the coveted number since the 2021 spring season. 
            The awarding of the No. 3 jersey has become an annual tradition honoring the memory of former Trailblazer football player Abraham Reinhardt, who passed away unexpectedly on March 22, 2019.
            Head coach Lance Anderson noted last season that he took some time to get familiar with the story of Reinhardt, both as a student-athlete and as a young man. He quickly realized the importance and the impact this tradition has on the Trailblazer football program, a tradition he is very eager to continue.
        "Once I heard the story about Abe Reinhardt, the kind of person he was, the kind of football player he was, and his tragic passing, I was very touched and felt like this is something we need to continue," said Coach Anderson. "I felt it was very important that our team understands who he was and what this jersey truly represents."

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Utah Tech opens its third and final UAC conference season next Saturday with a trip to Clarksville, Tenn., to face current No. 20/18 Austin Peay. Kickoff inside Fortera Stadium is set for 12 noon (MT).