2020 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

The 2020 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team will represent Northern Arizona University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They will be led by 2nd-year head coach Chris Ball and play their home games at the Walkup Skydome. They will be members of the Big Sky Conference.

2020 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
2020 record	0–0 (0–0 Big Sky)
Head coach	Chris Ball (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Aaron Pflugrad (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Jerry Partridge (2nd season)
Home stadium	Walkup Skydome (Capacity: 10,000)

2020 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Cal Poly			–							–
Eastern Washington			–							–
Idaho			–							–
Idaho State			–							–
Northern Arizona			–							–
Southern Utah			–							–
UC Davis			–							–
Weber State			–							–
$ – Conference champion Note: Due to COVID-19, the Big Sky suspended the 2020 football season. – Montana, Montana State, Northern Colorado, Portland State, and Sacramento State not playing 2020-21 FCS schedule As of January 30, 2021; Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Lumberjacks finished the 2019 season 4–8, 2–6 in Big Sky play to finish in a five-way tie for ninth place.

Preseason

Polls

On July 23, 2020, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Lumberjacks were predicted to finish seventh in the Big Sky by the coaches and ninth by the media.[1]

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	135 (7)
2	Montana	128 (3)
3	Montana State	121 (1)
4	Eastern Washington	118 (1)
5	Sacramento State	99 (1)
6	UC Davis	83
7	Northern Arizona	68
8	Portland State	67
9	Idaho	66
10	Cal Poly	46
11	Idaho State	37
12	Southern Utah	33
13	Northern Colorado	13

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	546 (28)
2	Montana	496 (8)
3	Montana State	493 (6)
4	Eastern Washington	438 (1)
5	Sacramento State	389
6	UC Davis	325 (1)
7	Portland State	274
8	Idaho	273
9	Northern Arizona	238
10	Cal Poly	206
11	Idaho State	133
12	Southern Utah	105
13	Northern Colorado	88

Schedule

Northern Arizona released their full schedule on January 13, 2020.[2] The Lumberjacks had a game scheduled against Arizona State, which was later canceled before the start of the 2020 season.[3]

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
February 27		Southern Utah	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ (Grand Canyon Rivalry)
March 6		at Eastern Washington	Roos Field Cheney, WA
March 13		Idaho	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ
March 27		at Weber State	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT
April 3		Cal Poly	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ
April 10		at Southern Utah	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT (Grand Canyon Rivalry)
Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

Despite being a Big Sky opponent, the game against Eastern Washington on September 19 will not count towards the Big Sky Conference standings.[4]
[5]

References

1. "Eagles Selected to Finish Fourth in the Big Sky in 2020". July 23, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
2. Wilmer, Brian (January 13, 2020). "Northern Arizona announces 2020 football schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
3. Bromberg, Nick. "Pac-12 follows Big Ten's lead and won't play non-conference games in 2020". Yahoo News. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
4. "2020 Football Schedule". Northern Arizona University Athletics. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
5. "2020 Northern Arizona Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved January 30, 2021.