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Cedar City • Mike Needham returned two fumbles for touchdowns Saturday, and James Cowser returned another to help Southern Utah beat Cal Poly 54-37.

"Every one of our players knows that was just a huge, monumental victory," Southern Utah coach Ed Lamb said. "Cal Poly is a really good team that just didn't go away. We took their very best shot and that's becoming a weekly theme for us is to take their best shot, hang in there together, believe in each other."

The Thunderbirds (6-2, 5-0 Big Sky Conference) led 33-31 late in the third, when Needham scored his second TD to extend the lead.

Cowser made it 47-31 on the first play of the fourth quarter, stealing slotback Kyle Lewis' option pitch out of the air and returning it 55 yards.

Cowser broke the FCS tackles for loss record in the game and now has 72.5 in his career. He broke the mark of 72 set by Howard's Keith Pough (2008-12).

Cowser said his mind wasn't on breaking the record, but he was glad it happened.

"I forgot about it until they threw it up on the scoreboard and someone showed me," he said. "It's not really on my mind, I'm just thinking tackle the fullback mostly."

Southern Utah quarterback Ammon Olsen connected on 18 of 31 passes for 205 yards and two scores. Malik Brown added TDs on runs of 10 and 2 yards, finishing with 85 yards on 17 carries.

The Thunderbirds had allowed just nine points — on three field goals — in their first four Big Sky games, but gave up 535 yards rushing to Cal Poly.

Southern Utah entered the game fourth nationally in scoring defense (11.9) and 20th in total defense (305.4).

The Mustangs (2-6, 1-4) lost for the sixth time in seven games, despite getting 124 yards rushing from fullback Jared Mohamed, 121 from Lewis, 111 from slotback DJ Peluso and 109 from quarterback Chris Brown.

The Thunderbirds forced six fumbles and recovered five, negating the Mustangs' powerful triple option offense that went into the game leading the nation in rushing with an average of 391.7 yards per game.

Needham had 20 tackles and fumble returns of 9 and 68 yards for touchdowns as the Thunderbirds won their sixth consecutive game.

Southern Utah led by 16 points at halftime, but Cal Poly pulled to within two at 33-31 on a 41-yard touchdown run by Lewis and a 15-yarder by Brown.

The Mustangs were driving late in the third period when Mohamed's fumble was caught in mid-air by Needham, resulting in a 68-yard return for a touchdown.

Cowser's 55-yard return for a TD nine seconds into the fourth quarter put the game out of reach.

The 54 points are the most Cal Poly has allowed since UC Davis beat the Mustangs 63-28 in 2000.