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Cedar City • Southern Utah's undisputed Big Sky Conference championship didn't mean much to the Football Championship Subdivision playoff selection committee.
The Thunderbirds earned an automatic bid to the 24-team tournament by winning the Big Sky, but that's where the good news for them ended on Sunday, when the bracket was announced.
Southern Utah will open the playoffs Saturday at Sam Houston State in far off Huntsville, Tex. If the Thunderbirds win, they will play a second-round game against undefeated No. 4 national seed McNeese State in Lake Charles, La.
The Southern Utah-Sam Houston State pairing is a rematch of a first-round playoff game in 2013. The Thunderbirds took a quick 10-0 lead before the Bearkats rallied for a 51-20 victory.
"It's exciting for the guys who were there two years ago," SUU coach Ed Lamb said. "We jumped out to a lead in the first quarter and played really well [but] just wore out. … So it's a chance to erase a bad memory [and] replace it with a better one. For the guys who were on the team two years ago, it's exciting. It's exciting for me."
Southern Utah wrapped up its first Big Sky Conference championship with a 49-41 win over Northern Arizona on Saturday. The Thunderbirds finished the regular season with an 8-3 record. They are ranked 18th in this week's national coaches poll.
Despite winning the Big Sky, however, Southern Utah received the equivalent of a No. 20-22 seed on the playoffs — an unexpected turn of bad luck, especially considering the plight of the conference's two other qualifiers.
Portland State, which also finished 8-3, shared second place in the league with Montana.
The Vikings received the No. 6 national seed and a first-round bye. An early-season 24-17 win over Washington State of the Pac-12 obviously dazzled the selection committee. Portland State also beat Southern Utah, 24-23, two weeks ago when the Thunderbirds failed to convert a two-point conversion in the final moments. On the other hand, Portland State lost to non-playoff teams North Dakota and Northern Colorado.
Perennial FCS power Montana also received a bid despite finishing with a 7-4 record, which included losses to non-playoff teams Cal Poly, Liberty and Weber State. Unlike Southern Utah, the selection committee awarded the Grizzlies a first-round home game against South Dakota State.
Twitter: @sluhm —
• Southern Utah opens the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs Saturday at Sam Houston State.
• The Thunderbirds finished the regular-season 8-3 and won the Big Sky Conference championship.
• The Bearkats finished second in the Southland Conference and are 8-3 heading into the playoffs.