No. 6 Northern Arizona football heads to Cal Poly for final road game

Northern Arizona University's football team, currently ranked No. 6, will travel to Cal Poly for their final regular-season game on Saturday, November 7. The game, which starts at 3 p.m. MST, will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Northern Arizona, with an overall record of 7-2 and a Big Sky Conference record of 5-1, recently defeated Southern Utah 34-27.

This victory has propelled the Lumberjacks to the top of the Big Sky standings, tied with No. 3 Montana State for first place. Montana State, however, holds the tiebreaker and is currently ranked No. 1 in the FCS Top 10 Committee rankings. NAU has extended its win streak to four games with this recent victory over Southern Utah.

Junior running back Quran Gossett, who returned from injury, had a strong performance with 203 scrimmage yards, including 131 rushing and a touchdown, and 72 receiving yards. Senior quarterback Ty Pennington had another strong performance, completing 23 of 27 passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns, adding a career-high 91 rushing yards.

Despite their success, NAU has struggled with slow starts in their last two games, falling behind by double digits in each before winning. Head coach Brian Wright attributed this issue to a lack of focus at the beginning and end of games. Cal Poly, currently 4-6 overall and 3-4 in Big Sky play, has a chance to bounce back with this game.

They have matched their overall and conference win totals from 2025, despite recent struggles, including a 61-7 loss to No. 3 Montana State. Cal Poly's junior running back Jaden Green leads the FCS with 163.5 scrimmage yards per game, while senior quarterback Anthony Grigsby Jr. has thrown for 2,153 yards and 17 touchdowns. The Lumberjacks lead the all-time series 15-2 against Cal Poly, with the last four meetings being won by NAU.

A victory in San Luis Obispo would keep NAU in contention for its first Big Sky title since 2003 and would give them four road victories for the season.