The underclassmen on the NAU football team are going into today's game with one main goal: Win one for the seniors.

With no chance at the playoffs and no better than another sub-.500 season record looming as cold, hard facts, the best thing the Lumberjacks (4-6 overall, 3-5 Big Sky Conference) can do is send their seniors out with one last win.

Southern Utah, a non-conference opponent that the Jacks have beaten five-straight times, will not be a pushover by any means, however, and the Lumberjacks think that honoring their seniors with one last win is good motivation to make it six in a row.

"For them (the Thunderbirds), they'll be hungry because we've beat them five games in a row," sophomore running back Zack Bauman said. "But it's real important for us to finish strong, and in the last home game we want to send our seniors out on a good note. So it's a must-win game and we're playing for the seniors."

Bauman, who said he's never had a losing season in any sport in his life, added it'll help to also be playing for pride.

"Nothing against them, but our offense is really looking to embarrass their defense," he said.

Bauman is at the top of the conference with 1,278 yards on 252 carries, 13 touchdowns and 127.8 yards per game.

He's fired up and ready to do some damage. The Thunderbirds (5-5, 1-3 Great West Conference) don't have the best run defense, giving up 174.2 yards on the ground per game.

The Jacks will look to their balanced offense to punch holes in whatever coverage the Thunderbirds show, and NAU also has weapons to break the passing game wide open.

Senior receiver Khalil Paden needs just 64 yards receiving to break the 1,000-yard mark for the season, and he said he's also shooting for the single-season record.

Clarence Moore holds the record -- set in 2003 -- with 1,184 yards. Paden has tallied 936 yards on the year, meaning he needs 249 yards in today's game to break Moore's record.

"Hopefully I'll be able to accomplish those things (today)," Paden said. "I've been telling (receivers coach Francis) St. Paul I've wanted to break that record all season."

Bauman added his offensive line also set a big goal for him. The line wants Bauman to break 1,500 yards for the season. Bauman needs 222 yards to achieve that, making it another pretty lofty goal for the Jacks' offense.

"I set high expectations for myself, and though people don't think I can reach them, I think I can," Bauman said. "That's why I set them."

Bauman is 34 yards short of 3,000 all-purpose yards in his career, something he should be able to break today.

If Paden gains 64 yards, he'll be just the 10th receiver in NAU's history to crack the 1,000-yard mark.

Paden said he and junior quarterback Cary Grossart have really been on the same page lately, so if the pair can figure out USU's offense, anything is possible.

"They like to play a lot of man coverage, so we're going to try to take some shots and hopefully attack their defense deep," Paden said.

Grossart has 2,558 yards on 176 completes and 15 touchdowns -- he's thrown eight to Paden -- and is the third-leading quarterback in the Big Sky in efficiency. Grossart has seven interceptions in 266 attempts for a 160.29 rating.

He almost made it eight picks last week against Weber State in a snowy game in Ogden, Utah, but Weber was flagged for roughing the passer and the interception was reversed.

That was just one of a host of problems the Jacks had against the Wildcats.

"It was the first time a lot of us had even seen snow coming down during a game, let alone being the first time we ever played in snow," Bauman said. "It was tough but it made us really hungry, and we want to finish out the season right."

Playing in the comfort of the Skydome should tilt a little favor to the Lumberjacks' side. NAU has a 3-2 record at home, dropping a 36-28 loss to Eastern Washington and another to Montana, 28-24.

Paden said those were two of the four close losses NAU has dropped by a total of 17 points this year.

"We've had some tough losses in some close games this year, and we want to make a statement and set things up right so next year's team can come in on a victory," he said.

Being a senior, he also hopes to go out on a high note.

"This is the last game, but it's just another game where I'm going to come out and play my hardest," he said.

Bauman said it's the final chance of the season for the Jacks to do the little things right for a whole game.

"The losses we had were real tough, and in the close ones I felt like we were right on the cusp of winning," he said. "But you have to do the little things right to win."

Bill Harris can be reached at bharris@azdailysun.com or 556-2251.