2021 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

2021 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football
2021 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Record	5–6 (4–4 Big Sky)
Head coach	Chris Ball (3rd season);
Offensive coordinator	Aaron Pflugrad (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Jerry Partridge (3rd season)
Home stadium	Walkup Skydome; (capacity: 10,000)
	Seasons ← 2020 2022 →

2021 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 10 Sacramento State $^	8	–	0	9	–	3
No. 2 Montana State ^	7	–	1	11	–	3
No. 7 Eastern Washington ^	6	–	2	10	–	3
No. 6 Montana ^	6	–	2	10	–	3
No. 17 UC Davis ^	5	–	3	8	–	4
Weber State	5	–	3	6	–	5
Northern Arizona	4	–	4	5	–	6
Portland State	4	–	4	5	–	6
Idaho	3	–	5	4	–	7
Northern Colorado	2	–	6	3	–	8
Cal Poly	1	–	7	2	–	9
Idaho State	1	–	7	1	–	10
Southern Utah	0	–	8	1	–	10

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2021 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team represented Northern Arizona University as a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2021 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by third-year head coach Chris Ball and played their home games at the Walkup Skydome.

Previous season

The Lumberjacks finished the 2020–21 season 3–2 to finish in a tie for fourth place.

Preseason

Polls

On July 26, 2021, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Lumberjacks were predicted to finish seventh in the Big Sky by both the coaches and media.^[1]

Coaches poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	(7)
2	Montana	(3)
3	Eastern Washington	(2)
4	Montana State	(1)
5	Sacramento State	(1)
6	UC Davis
7	Northern Arizona
8	Idaho
9	Idaho State
10	Portland State
11	Southern Utah
12	Cal Poly
13	Northern Colorado

Media poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	(14)
2	Montana	(4)
3	Eastern Washington	(3)
4	Montana State	(3)
5	Sacramento State
6	UC Davis
7	Northern Arizona
8	Idaho
9	Idaho State
10	Portland State
11	Southern Utah
12	Northern Colorado
13	Cal Poly

Preseason All–Big Sky team

The Lumberjacks had two players selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.

Defense

Morgan Vest – S

Special Teams

Luis Aguilar – K

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	6:00 p.m.	No. 1 Sam Houston State*	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	ESPN+	L 16–42	8,564
September 11	11:00 a.m.	at South Dakota*	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	ESPN+	L 7–34	5,247
September 18	7:00 p.m.	at Arizona*	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	P12N	W 21–19	33,481
September 25	12:00 p.m.	at Northern Colorado	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ESPN+	L 10–17 ^OT	5,769
October 2	1:00 p.m.	Idaho State	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	ESPN+	W 48–17	9,713
October 16	1:00 p.m.	Southern Utah	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ (Grand Canyon Rivalry)	ESPN+	W 59–35	7,511
October 23	6:00 p.m.	at No. 19 Sacramento State	Hornet Stadium Sacarmento, CA	ESPN+	L 0–44	8,210
October 30	1:00 p.m.	at Idaho	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	ESPN+	W 38–31	0
November 6	1:00 p.m.	No. 8 UC Davis	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	ESPN+	L 24–40	6,088
November 13	1:00 p.m.	No. 9 Montana	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	ESPN+	L 3–30	6,225
November 20	6:05 p.m.	at Cal Poly	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	ESPN+	W 45-21	6,371
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

^[2]

Game summaries

No. 1 Sam Houston State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bearkats	7	14	14	7	42
Lumberjacks	0	7	9	0	16

at South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	0	0	7	0	7
Coyotes	17	10	7	0	34

at Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	0	7	7	7	21
Wildcats	10	3	0	6	19

at Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Lumberjacks	0	7	0	3	0	10
Bears	0	3	7	0	7	17

Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals					0
Lumberjacks					0

Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds					0
Lumberjacks					0

at No. 19 Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks					0
No. 19 Hornets					0

at Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks					0
Vandals					0

No. 8 UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 8 Aggies					0
Lumberjacks					0

No. 9 Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 9 Grizzlies					0
Lumberjacks					0

at Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks					0
Mustangs					0

References

^ "Aguilar, Vest Named Preseason All-Big Sky, Lumberjacks Voted to Finish Seventh". July 23, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
^ "2021 Northern Arizona Football Schedule". nauathletics.com. Retrieved August 6, 2021.

[1] "Aguilar, Vest Named Preseason All-Big Sky, Lumberjacks Voted to Finish Seventh". July 23, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2020.

[2] "2021 Northern Arizona Football Schedule". nauathletics.com. Retrieved August 6, 2021.

[1]

[2]

v t e Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football
Venues	Skidmore Field (1915 –1957) Lumberjack Stadium (1958–1977) Walkup Skydome (1977–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Southern Utah: Grand Canyon Rivalry
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024