2020 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

2020 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football
ConferenceBig Sky Conference
Record3–2 (3–2 Big Sky)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorAaron Pflugrad (3rd season)
Defensive coordinatorJerry Partridge (2nd season)
Home stadiumWalkup Skydome
Seasons
← 2019
2021 →
2020 Big Sky Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
No. 9 Weber State $^   5 – 0     5 – 1  
No. 10 Eastern Washington ^   5 – 1     5 – 2  
No. 14 UC Davis   3 – 2     3 – 2  
Northern Arizona   3 – 2     3 – 2  
Idaho State   2 – 4     2 – 4  
Idaho   2 – 4     2 – 4  
Southern Utah   1 – 5     1 – 5  
Cal Poly‡   0 – 3     0 – 3  
Montana†   –     2 – 0  
Portland State†   –     0 – 1  
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
  • Notes: Due to COVID-19, the Big Sky suspended the fall 2020 football season.
    Montana State, Northern Colorado, and Sacramento State opted out of the spring season.
    † – Montana and Portland State opted out of the conference season, but scheduled non-conference games.
    ‡ – Cal Poly opted out of the remainder of the spring season on March 29, 2021.
Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2020 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team represented Northern Arizona University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by 2nd-year head coach Chris Ball and played their home games at the Walkup Skydome. They played as members of the Big Sky Conference.

Preseason

Polls

On July 23, 2020, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Lumberjacks were predicted to finish seventh in the Big Sky by the coaches and ninth by the media.[1]

Coaches poll
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1 Weber State 135 (7)
2 Montana 128 (3)
3 Montana State 121 (1)
4 Eastern Washington 118 (1)
5 Sacramento State 99 (1)
6 UC Davis 83
7 Northern Arizona 68
8 Portland State 67
9 Idaho 66
10 Cal Poly 46
11 Idaho State 37
12 Southern Utah 33
13 Northern Colorado 13
Media poll
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1 Weber State 546 (28)
2 Montana 496 (8)
3 Montana State 493 (6)
4 Eastern Washington 438 (1)
5 Sacramento State 389
6 UC Davis 325 (1)
7 Portland State 274
8 Idaho 273
9 Northern Arizona 238
10 Cal Poly 206
11 Idaho State 133
12 Southern Utah 105
13 Northern Colorado 88

Schedule

Northern Arizona released their full schedule on January 13, 2020.[2] The Lumberjacks had a game scheduled against Arizona State, which was later canceled before the start of the 2020 season.[3]

DateTimeOpponentSiteTVResultAttendance
February 27 1:00 pm Southern Utah
Pluto TV W 34–33
March 6 2:00 pm at No. 22 Eastern Washington
L 13–45
March 27 1:00 pm at No. 3 Weber State
L 23–28
April 3 1:00 pm Cal Poly
  • Walkup Skydome
  • Flagstaff, AZ
 Canceled[a]
April 10 4:00 pm at Southern Utah
W 28–20
April 17 2:00 pm Idaho
  • Walkup Skydome
  • Flagstaff, AZ
 W 19–9

Despite being a Big Sky opponent, the game against Eastern Washington on September 19 will not count towards the Big Sky Conference standings.[5]
[6]

  1. ^ On March 29, 2021, Cal Poly announced that it would opt out of the remainder of the 2021 spring season, citing safety issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic and numerous injuries to players.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Eagles Selected to Finish Fourth in the Big Sky in 2020". July 23, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  2. ^ Wilmer, Brian (January 13, 2020). "Northern Arizona announces 2020 football schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  3. ^ Bromberg, Nick. "Pac-12 follows Big Ten's lead and won't play non-conference games in 2020". Yahoo News. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  4. ^ "Cal Poly Opts Out of Remainder of 2020–21 Spring Football Season". Cal Poly. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  5. ^ "2020 Football Schedule". Northern Arizona University Athletics. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  6. ^ "2020 Northern Arizona Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved January 30, 2021.