Cedar City • Defending Great West Conference champion Southern Utah has been selected by the league coaches to repeat as GWC champion in 2011.

The Thunderbirds were undefeated in conference play in 2010 and finished the season with a 6-5 overall record. SUU, which is under the leadership of 2010 GWC Coach of the Year and Eddie Robinson Award finalist Ed Lamb, garnered two first-place votes and tallied 20 points in this year's poll.

This is SUU's final year in the Great West Conference before moving into the Big Sky Conference in 2012.

Southern Utah, which will have to find an answer to replace a standout receiving corps that included Fesi Sitake and 2010 GWC Offensive Player of the Year and two-time all-American Tysson Poots, returns three consensus first-team All-Great West Conference selections and another six who received first-team honors from either the Coaches or the Media, including preseason All-America honorees Brad Sorensen at quarterback and defensive end Tyler Osborne. Sorensen is listed on the 2011 Payton Award Watch List and has been named a Top-10 quarterback by The Sports Network. Lamb, who is in his fourth season at the helm, will lead the Thunderbirds in their opener on September 3 at South Dakota State.

Cal Poly was second in the poll for the second straight year. The Mustangs finished just behind Southern Utah with 19 points and tied the Thunderbirds in first-place votes with two. Finishing third in the GWC poll was 2009 champion UC Davis with 17 points and one first-place vote. The Aggies were second a year ago with a 3-1 GWC record and a 6-5 overall mark. South Dakota came in fourth with 13 points in the poll after finishing the 2010 season with a 1-3 GWC record. Rounding out the poll was North Dakota with six points. The Fighting Sioux kick off their season on September 1, when they host Drake for a Thursday night contest.