# 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.

## 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.
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 StadiumTucson, AZ | P12N J. B. Long, Max Browne | L 3–38 | 48,159 |
| September 9 | 1:00 p.m. | at No. 17 North Dakota* | Alerus CenterGrand Forks, ND | ESPN+ Brian Shawn, Ryan Kasowski, Taylor Budge | L 22–37 | 10,009 |
| September 16 | 1:00 p.m. | Utah Tech* | Walkup SkydomeFlagstaff, AZ | ESPN+ Mitch Strohman, Kevin Stephens | L 36–50 | 7,102 |
| September 23 | 1:00 p.m. | No. 13 Montana | Walkup SkydomeFlagstaff, AZ | ESPN+ Jay Kohn, Marty Mornhinweg, Kyle Hansen | W 28–14 | 6,428 |
| September 30 | 6:00 p.m. | at No. 8 Sacramento State | Hornet StadiumSacramento, CA | ESPN+ Dave Lewis, Darren Arbet | L 30–31 | 12,549 |
| October 7 | 6:00 p.m. | at No. 13 Weber State | Stewart StadiumOgden, UT | ESPN+ Tony Parks | W 27–10 | 7,694 |
| October 14 | 1:00 p.m. | Portland State | Walkup SkydomeFlagstaff, AZ | ESPN+ Mitch Stroman, Kevin Stephens, Ava Nichols | L 21–45 | 9,713 |
| October 28 | 1:00 p.m. | No. 25 UC Davis | Walkup SkydomeFlagstaff, AZ | ESPN+ Mitch Strohman, Kevin Stephens | W 38–21 | 6,931 |
| November 4 | 12:00 p.m. | at No. 6 Montana State | Bobcat StadiumBozeman, MT | ESPN+ Ben Creighton, Ty Gregorak, Scott Breen | L 21–45 | 21,297 |
| November 11 | 1:00 p.m. | Northern Colorado | Walkup, SkydomeFlagstaff, AZ | ESPN+ Mitch Strohman, Kevin Stephens, Ava Nichols | W 28–7 | 6,003 |
| November 18 | 2:00 p.m. | at Eastern Washington | Roos FieldCheney, WA | ESPN+ Austin Getz, Bill Ames | W 49–42 | 4,078 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Mountain time |||||||

## Game summaries
### at Arizona

| 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)
| 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 |
| Northern Arizona | Rushing | T. J. McDaniel | 14 carries, 56 yards |
| Northern Arizona | Receiving | Coleman Owen | 5 receptions, 90 yards |
| Arizona | Passing | Jayden de Laura | 18/24, 285 yards, 3 TD, INT |
| Arizona | Rushing | Michael Wiley | 10 carries, 54 yards |
| Arizona | Receiving | Michael Wiley | 6 receptions, 57 yards |

### at No. 8 Sacramento State

| 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 |
| Northern Arizona | Rushing | Devon Starling | 21 carries, 117 yards, 2 TD |
| Northern Arizona | Receiving | Elijah Taylor | 2 receptions, 73 yards |
| Sacramento State | Passing | Kaiden Bennett | 18/27, 257 yards, TD |
| Sacramento State | Rushing | Kaiden Bennett | 22 carries, 76 yards |
| Sacramento State | Receiving | Jared Gipson | 5 receptions, 108 yards |