2023 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

The 2023 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team represented Northern Arizona University as a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Lumberjacks were led by fifth-year head coach Chris Ball and played home games at the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff, Arizona.

2023 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Record	5–6 (5–3 Big Sky)
Head coach	Chris Ball (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Aaron Pflugrad (6th season)
Defensive coordinator	Kevin Clune (1st season)
Home stadium	Walkup Skydome
Seasons ← 2022 2024 →

2023 Big Sky Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 2 Montana $^		7	–	1					13	–	2
No. 8 Idaho ^		6	–	2					9	–	4
No. 9 Montana State ^		6	–	2					8	–	4
Northern Arizona		5	–	3					5	–	6
No. 24 UC Davis		5	–	3					7	–	4
No. 13 Sacramento State ^		4	–	4					8	–	5
Portland State		4	–	4					5	–	6
Weber State		4	–	4					6	–	5
Eastern Washington		3	–	5					4	–	7
Idaho State		3	–	5					3	–	8
Cal Poly		1	–	7					3	–	8
Northern Colorado		0	–	8					0	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Preseason

Polls

On July 23, 2023, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Lumberjacks were predicted to finish ninth in the Big Sky by the coaches and eight by the media.^[1]

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Montana State	120 (10)
2	UC Davis	96 (1)
3	Sacramento State	94 (1)
4	Weber State	91
5	Idaho	89
6	Montana	84
7	Eastern Washington	52
8	Portland State	45
9	Northern Arizona	44
10	Northern Colorado	37
11	Cal Poly	25
12	Idaho State	15

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Montana State	447 (26)
2	Idaho	410 (8)
3	Montana	359 (2)
4	Sacramento State	334 (3)
5	UC Davis	330
6	Weber State	320
7	Eastern Washington	216
8	Northern Arizona	178
9	Portland State	167
10	Northern Colorado	109
11	Cal Poly	103
12	Idaho State	69

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	7:00 p.m.	at Arizona*	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	P12N	L 3–38	48,159
September 9	1:00 p.m.	at No. 17 North Dakota*	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	ESPN+	L 22–37	10,009
September 16	1:00 p.m.	Utah Tech*	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	ESPN+	L 36–50	7,102
September 23	1:00 p.m.	No. 13 Montana	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	ESPN+	W 28–14	6,428
September 30	6:00 p.m.	at No. 8 Sacramento State	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	ESPN+	L 30–31	12,549
October 7	6:00 p.m.	at No. 13 Weber State	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT	ESPN+	W 27–10	7,694
October 14	1:00 p.m.	Portland State	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	ESPN+	L 21–45	9,713
October 28	1:00 p.m.	No. 25 UC Davis	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	ESPN+	W 38–21	6,931
November 4	12:00 p.m.	at No. 6 Montana State	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	ESPN+	L 21–45	21,297
November 11	1:00 p.m.	Northern Colorado	Walkup, Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	ESPN+	W 28–7	6,003
November 18	2:00 p.m.	at Eastern Washington	Roos Field Cheney, WA	ESPN+	W 49–42	4,078
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

^[2]

Game summaries

at Arizona

See also: 2023 Arizona Wildcats football team

Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (0–0) vs Arizona Wildcats (0–0) – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	0	3	0	0	3
Wildcats	7	7	21	3	38

at Arizona Stadium • Tucson, AZ

• Date: September 2, 2023
• Game time: 7:00 p.m.
• Game weather: Sunny, 88 °F (31 °C)
• Game attendance: 48,159
• Referee: Cravonne Barrett
• TV announcers (Pac-12 Network): J. B. Long (play-by-play), Max Browne (analyst)

Game information

First quarter (11:13) ARIZ – Jacob Cowing 4-yard pass from Jayden de Laura, Tyler Loop kick (Drive: 7 plays, 65 yards, 3:47; Arizona 7–0) Second quarter (13:24) ARIZ – Jonah Coleman 7-yard pass from Jayden de Laura, Tyler Loop kick (Drive: 7 plays, 78 yards, 3:04; Arizona 14–0) (0:00) NAU – Marcus Lye 49-yard field goal (Drive: 16 plays, 49 yards, 7:43; Arizona 14–3) Third quarter (11:26) ARIZ – Tacario Davis 85-yard blocked field goal return, Tyler Loop kick (Drive: 9 plays, 66 yards, 3:34; Arizona 21–3) (4:34) ARIZ – Tetairoa McMillan 5-yard pass from Jayden de Laura, Tyler Loop kick (Drive: 4 plays, 37 yards, 2:04; Arizona 28–3) (2:02) ARIZ – Jayden de Laura 53-yard run, Tyler Loop kick (Drive: 3 plays, 63 yards, 1:07; Arizona 35–3) Fourth quarter (10:46) ARIZ – Tyler Loop 35-yard field goal (Drive: 7 plays, 64 yards, 2:32; Arizona 38–3)

Statistics	NAU	ARIZ
First downs	17	22
Total yards	264	478
Rushing yards	41–78	27–186
Passing yards	186	292
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	18–29–0	20–26–1
Time of possession	35:04	24:56

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Northern Arizona	Passing	Kai Millner	14/22, 166 yards
	Rushing	T. J. McDaniel	14 carries, 56 yards
	Receiving	Coleman Owen	5 receptions, 90 yards
Arizona	Passing	Jayden de Laura	18/24, 285 yards, 3 TD, INT
	Rushing	Michael Wiley	10 carries, 54 yards
	Receiving	Michael Wiley	6 receptions, 57 yards

at No. 8 Sacramento State

See also: 2023 Sacramento State Hornets football team

Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (1–3) at No. 8 Sacramento State Hornets (3–1) – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	7	14	7	2	30
No. 8 Hornets	14	10	0	7	31

at Hornet Stadium, Sacramento, CA

• Date: September 30, 2023
• Game time: 6:00 p.m. PST
• Game weather: 67 °F (19 °C) • 0 mph • Cloudy
• Game attendance: 12,549
• Referee: Gregg Wilson
• TV announcers (KMAX-TV/ESPN+): Play-by-Play: Jason Ross, Jr. • Analysis: Darren Arbet

Game information

First Quarter (11:54) NAU – Chase Belcher 3-yard run (Marcus Lye kick) (Drive: 4 plays, 81 yards, 1:37; Northern Arizona 7–0) (8:36) SAC – Carlos Hill 16-yard pass from Kaiden Bennett (Zach Schreiner kick) (Drive: 9 plays, 75 yards, 3:18; Tied 7–7) (1:32) SAC – Elijah Tau-Tolliver 3-yard run (Zach Schreiner kick) (Drive: 12 plays, 58 yards, 4:58; Sacramento State 14–7) Second Quarter (14:29) NAU – Devon Starling 8-yard run (Marcus Lye kick failed) (Drive: 6 plays, 81 yards, 1:58; Sacramento State 14–13) (8:08) NAU – Coleman Owen 19-yard pass from Adam Damante (Adam Damante pass to Devon Starling for two-point conversion) (Drive: 8 plays, 98 yards, 4:05; Northern Arizona 21–14) (5:25) SAC – Zeke Burnett 7-yard run (Zach Schreiner kick) (Drive: 7 plays, 72 yards, 2:38; Tied 21–21) (1:22) SAC – Zach Schreiner 31-yard field goal (Drive: 9 plays, 32 yards, 3:09; Sacramento State 24–21) Third Quarter (7:55) NAU – Devon Starling 8-yard run (Szymon Gawlick kick) (Drive: 16 plays, 99 yards, 6:54; Northern Arizona 28–24) Fourth Quarter (8:31) SAC – Coleman Kuntz 2-yard run (Zach Schreiner kick) (Drive: 18 plays, 81 yards, 6:54; Sacramento State 31–28) (0:02) NAU – Team Safety (Drive: 4 plays, -13 yards, 1:34; Sacramento State 31–30) Line SAC –20.0 Over/Under 59.5

Statistics	NAU	SAC
First downs	21	25
Total yards	450	418
Rushing yards	195	161
Passing yards	255	257
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	24–34–1	18–27–0
Time of possession	30:13	29:47

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Northern Arizona	Passing	Adam Damante	23/33, 196 yards, TD, INT
	Rushing	Devon Starling	21 carries, 117 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Elijah Taylor	2 receptions, 73 yards
Sacramento State	Passing	Kaiden Bennett	18/27, 257 yards, TD
	Rushing		22 carries, 76 yards
	Receiving	Jared Gipson	5 receptions, 108 yards