GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Southern Utah scored 31 straight points, defeating the Univeristy of North Dakota 31-21 and spoiling UND's plans in front of a Homecoming crowd of 10,215.

The game started on a high note for North Dakota (2-4, 0-2 GWC), which was looking for its first Great West Conference win on the season. The Fighting Sioux capped their opening drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Jake Landry (Sr., QB, Grand Forks, N.D.) to Greg Hardin (RFr., WR, Bellevue, Neb.) and then followed three minutes later with a UND record-breaking interception-turned-touchdown by Joel Schwenzfeier (Sr., SS, Hallock, Minn.). Schwenzfeier's 100-yard return surpassed Kelly Howe's (1996-99) 97-yard interception-to-touchdown return in 1998.

The Sioux held onto the 14-0 lead through the first quarter, but then SUU (2-4, 1-0 GWC) put up its first points of the game and slowly turned the tables in its favor.

"We had a great crowd and got fired up," said head coach Chris Mussman. "We drive it down the field and score, get a pick for a touchdown, we're up 14 to nothing, life's pretty good.

"The thing you concern yourself with as a coach is that mental let-down. I didn't feel it at the time and I didn't think there was any real let down for us on either side of the ball."

Major Gray scored first for the Thunderbirds on a 1-yard rush and just before the second quarter expired, Brad Sorenson found Fesi Sitake on the 7-yard pass to send the game into halftime tied at 14-14.

"We go in at halftime tied and basically we just have to go in and win the second half and we didn't," said Mussman.

"They capitalized on a couple of plays and before we knew it, we were tied," said senior linebacker Ryan Kasowski (Grand Forks, N.D.). "We just couldn't get anything generated on either side of the ball."

Sorenson finished with 413 yards on 35-for-46 passing, including a 51-yard strike to Tysson Poots. Poots led both teams with 210 yards on 13 receptions and Sitake came away with 167 all-purpose yards, including 107 yards on 12 receptions.

"Poots and Sitake, those guys are good players, but we've got to get better," said Mussman. "It's not about them, it's about us."

Allowing UND just four minutes of possession, the Thunderbirds virtually controlled the third quarter. Their opening drive alone took up just over six minutes and ended with a 12-yard pass from Sorenson to Poots. The TD gave SUU its first lead of the game and turned out to be the game-winning play.

SUU scored again with roughly five minutes remaining in the third quarter to make it 24-14 and at 7:48 in the fourth, the Thunderbird found the end zone once again to make it 31 unanswered points against the Sioux.

North Dakota cut the margin down by seven as Murray scurried in for UND's second offensive touchdown of the game, but with the clock against them, the Fighting Sioux were handed their first home loss of the season.

The UND offense was held to a season-low 173 yards of offense. Murray finished with 51 yards on nine attempts and Hardin finished with 47 yards on six receptions. Landry was 13-for-25 for 100 yards, including a pair of touchdown passes.

The UND defense was led by Dominique Hawkins (Jr., CB, Plymouth, Minn.), who finished with eight tackles (all unassisted). Redshirt freshman Chavon Mackey (DB, Jacksonville, Fla.), and seniors Ross Cochran (LB, Kenosha, Wis.) and Kris Ankenbauer (DB, Murphy, Texas) finished with seven stops apiece.

Cochran, Ross Brenneman (So., DL, Omaha, Neb.), Ty Boyle (Sr., DL, International Falls, Minn.), Mitch Goertz (Jr., LB, Rothschild, Wis.), and Jay Nelson (So, DL, Wheaton, Minn.) combined for four sacks for the Sioux.

Southern Utah was led by Blake Fenn with nine stops and Tyler Osborne brought Landry down behind the line of scrimmage on two occasions.

Next week will serve as a bye week for the Fighting Sioux. They will resume the Great West Conference schedule on Oct. 16 when they travel to San Luis Obisbo, Calif., to take on the three-time GWC champion Cal Poly Mustangs.

GAME NOTES: Captains: Jake Landry, Ryan Kasowski, Ty Boyle, Paul German ... All-time the Sioux hold a 61-28-3 (.630) Homecoming record ... North Dakota trails the series against Southern Utah 1-3-0 overall and 0-2-0 when playing in Grand Forks. The teams are tied at 1-1-0 when playing in Utah ... When playing on Oct. 8, UND is 11-5 overall, 9-2 at home, and 2-3 on the road ... With the loss to Southern Utah (Oct. 8), head coach Chris Mussman's career record shifted to 14-32 (.304), his conference record moved to 3-6 (.333), and his record against non-conference remained at 11-7 (.647) ... All-time, the Fighting Sioux are 604-362-30 (.606) on the gridiron ... The ­­Nov. 13 game at Montana will mark the 1000th football game in UND history.

- Go Sioux -