# 2022 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

The 2022 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team represented Northern Arizona University as a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fourth-year head coach Chris Ball and played their home games at the Walkup Skydome.

## Preseason
### Polls

On July 25, 2022, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Lumberjacks were predicted to finish seventh in the Big Sky by the coaches and the media.
Coaches poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Montana | 111 (3) |
| 2 | Sacramento State | 110 (4) |
| 3 | Montana State | 109 (5) |
| 4 | Weber State | 84 |
| 5 | UC Davis | 82 |
| 6 | Eastern Washington | 76 |
| 7 | Northern Arizona | 62 |
| 8 | Idaho | 45 |
| 9 | Portland State | 42 |
| 10 | Cal Poly | 33 |
| T-11 | Idaho State | 19 |
| T-11 | Northern Colorado | 19 |
Media poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Montana | 356 (14) |
| 2 | Montana State | 352 (13) |
| 3 | Sacramento State | 335 (4) |
| 4 | Weber State | 261 |
| 5 | UC Davis | 255 (1) |
| 6 | Eastern Washington | 236 |
| 7 | Northern Arizona | 191 |
| 8 | Portland State | 146 |
| 9 | Idaho | 142 |
| 10 | Cal Poly | 85 |
| 11 | Northern Colorado | 71 |
| 12 | Idaho State | 66 |

### Preseason All–Big Sky team

The Lumberjacks had two players selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 1 | 7:00 p.m. | at Arizona State* | Sun Devil StadiumTempe, AZ | P12N | L 3–40 | 44,764 |
| September 10 | 4:00 p.m. | at Sam Houston* | Bowers StadiumHuntsville, TX | ESPN+ | W 10–3 | 7,117 |
| September 17 | 1:00 p.m. | No. 22 North Dakota* | Walkup SkydomeFlagstaff, AZ | ESPN+ | L 24–27 | 7,841 |
| September 24 | 1:00 p.m. | Idaho | Walkup SkydomeFlagstaff, AZ | ESPN+ | L 10–27 | 7,022 |
| October 1 | 2:05 p.m. | at Portland State | Hillsboro StadiumHillsboro, OR | ESPN+ | L 27–35 | 3,595 |
| October 8 | 1:00 p.m. | Cal Poly | Walkup SkydomeFlagstaff, AZ | ESPN+ | W 31–29 | 9,417 |
| October 15 | 5:00 p.m. | at UC Davis | UC Davis Health StadiumDavis, CA | ESPN+ | L 27–56 | 9,152 |
| October 22 | 12:00 p.m. | at Idaho State | Holt ArenaPocatello, ID | ESPN+ | W 24–10 | 1 |
| November 5 | 1:00 p.m. | No. 3 Montana State | Walkup SkydomeFlagstaff, AZ | ESPN+ | L 38–41 | 8,676 |
| November 12 | 12:00 p.m. | at Northern Colorado | Nottingham FieldGreeley, CO | ESPN+ | L 20–21 | 3,769 |
| November 19 | 1:00 p.m. | No. 7 Weber State | Walkup SkydomeFlagstaff, AZ | ESPN+ | L 31–33 | 5,217 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Mountain time |||||||

## Game summaries
### At Arizona State

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Lumberjacks | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Sun Devils | 3 | 21 | 13 | 3 | 40 |
at Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, AZ
* Date: September 1, 2022
* Game time: 7:07 p.m.
* Game weather: Clear, 103 °F (39 °C)
* Game attendance: 44,764
* Referee: Michael Mothershed
* TV announcers (P12N): Roxy Bernstein, Lincoln Kennedy
| Statistics | Northern Arizona | Arizona State |
| First downs | 7 | 24 |
| Plays–yards | 53–120 | 67–419 |
| Rushes–yards | 23–23 | 49–267 |
| Passing yards | 120 | 152 |
| Passing: comp–att–int | 20–30–2 | 13–18 |
| Time of possession | 23:49 | 36:10 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
| Northern Arizona | Passing | RJ Martinez | 18/28, 92 yards, 2 INT |
| Northern Arizona | Rushing | Draycen Hall | 2 carries, 14 yards |
| Northern Arizona | Receiving | Coleman Owen | 5 receptions, 24 yards |
| Arizona State | Passing | Emory Jones | 13/18, 152 yards |
| Arizona State | Rushing | Xazavian Valladay | 15 carries, 116 yards, 2 TD |
| Arizona State | Receiving | Messiah Swinson | 3 receptions, 50 yards |

### At Sam Houston

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Lumberjacks | 0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 10 |
| Bearkats | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |

### No. 22 North Dakota

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 22 Fighting Hawks | 0 | 13 | 0 | 14 | 27 |
| Lumberjacks | 7 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 24 |

### Idaho

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Vandals | 7 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 27 |
| Lumberjacks | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 |

### At Portland State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Lumberjacks | 7 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 27 |
| Vikings | 14 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 35 |

### Cal Poly

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Mustangs | 6 | 14 | 0 | 9 | 29 |
| Lumberjacks | 14 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 31 |

### At UC Davis

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Lumberjacks | 6 | 0 | 14 | 7 | 27 |
| Aggies | 7 | 28 | 21 | 0 | 56 |

### At Idaho State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Lumberjacks | 3 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 24 |
| Bengals | 0 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 10 |

### No. 3 Montana State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 3 Bobcats | 17 | 0 | 7 | 17 | 41 |
| Lumberjacks | 7 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 38 |

### At Northern Colorado

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Lumberjacks | 7 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| Bears | 3 | 0 | 10 | 8 | 21 |

### No. 7 Weber State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 7 Wildcats | 14 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 33 |
| Lumberjacks | 0 | 21 | 0 | 10 | 31 |