Cedar City • Southern Utah bids farewell to the Great West Conference on Saturday.

The Thunderbirds, who join the Big Sky Conference in 2012, play UC Davis at Eccles Coliseum in their final Great West game this season.

Southern Utah needs a victory over the Aggies and wins in its final games at No. 2-ranked Northern Iowa and Northern Arizona to keep its faint postseason hopes alive.

With a 4-4 record, the Thunderbirds are extreme long shots to reach the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

But it could happen, if SUU wins its final three games and other possible at-large teams struggle.

Consider:

• If the Thunderbirds end up 7-4, their wins would include one over a Football Bowl Subdivision team (UNLV), one over the second-ranked team in the FCS (Northern Iowa) and three teams from the Big Sky (Sacramento State, Weber State and NAU).

• If SUU wins out, it will have lost four games this season by a combined 16 points, including two against teams that were nationally ranked at the time.

Still, Southern Utah coach Ed Lamb says all talk of the future was "banned from our locker room and practice field" three weeks ago.

Lamb decided the best way to recover from heartbreaking losses to North Dakota (26-20), South Dakota (24-19) and Cal Poly (31-27) was to focus on "one game at a time."

It worked last week, when Southern Utah rallied past Weber State, 35-28. The Thunderbirds parlayed a blocked punt, an interception, a fumble recovery and a safety into a 32-point second half.

"We certainly needed a victory and we certainly needed a lesson about making our own breaks," Lamb said. "I think we were boo-hooing for a few weeks about not getting many breaks."

Lamb says UC Davis is "a very solid, well-coached football team, as always."

He called Aggies quarterback Randy Wright "a fantastic player with a fantastic arm. … Just outstanding." —

UC Davis at Southern Utah

P At Eccles Coliseum, Cedar City

Kickoff • 1 p.m.

TV • KMYU

Radio • 590-AM, 91.1-FM

Records • Southern Utah 4-4, 0-3; UC Davis 2-5, 0-1

Series • UC Davis leads 10-5

Last meeting • Southern Utah, 55-24 (2010)