This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

After his first game as a head coach, Demario Warren left Rice-Eccles Stadium without any points, but not empty handed.

His team's second play on offense was a promising run that ended in a fumble. On his second drive, he faced the fear of losing his starting quarterback. When that quarterback returned, it began to rain.

It was that kind of game for Southern Utah: an unwinnable one. But the Thunderbirds did one big thing Warren asked despite a 24-0 defeat on Thursday night.

"They fought the whole game," he said, "and never gave up."

That was never going to be enough to pull off a mammoth upset. Though Utah and SUU had never met before, Utah carried a 37-0 record against the Big Sky into Thursday's game.

But to SUU's credit, that context wasn't readily apparent by what happened on the field. The Utes struck first with a 52-yard pass just shy of a touchdown, but the Thunderbirds defense managed to wall them out of the end zone and make them settle for a field goal. The next drive, Utah again had to settle, but missed the kick attempt.

The detente continued with a 3-0 score for most of the first half, with SUU refusing to yield even as disaster was striking on offense. While the Thunderbirds couldn't pass at all with McCoy Hill out of the game for a stretch between the first and second quarters, and indeed, Tannon Pedersen's one completion was to Utah safety Marcus Williams.

But SUU had an edge in the defensive front seven: Between Mike Needham's 11 tackles, and sacks from Anu Poleo and Robert Togerso, the Thunderbirds didn't make Troy Williams' first start a cakewalk — which some fans assumed it would be.

"We're deep at the D-line, that's one of the strengths of our team," Warren said. "They did a great job of making Troy uncomfortable."

Alas, uncomfortable wasn't unproductive. Though SUU shut out the Utes in the third quarter, Williams finally clinched the game with a 57-yard touchdown pass.

But SUU proved something, if not to themselves, then to Utah coach Kyle Whittingham — who seemed unaware that the T-birds had been picked to finish seventh in their conference.

"That's a good football team," he said. "They're going to win a lot of games in the Big Sky."

kgoon@sltrib.com

Twitter: @kylegoon