Stephen F. Austin
Incarnate Word
PREVIEW: #5/7 Jacks Host UIW as SLC Play Resumes
10/1/2026 4:04:00 PM | Football
SFA eyes 16th-straight regular season win, 11th-straight at home
#5/7 Stephen F. Austin vs. (RV) UIW
Saturday, October 3 | 5 P.M. CT
Homer Bryce Stadium | Nacogdoches, Texas
LISTEN: Q107.7 FM
PxP: Chase Merrell
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WATCH: ESPN+
PxP: Rob Meyers
Color: Hunter Taylor
Sideline: Nicole Beckelman
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - #5/7 Stephen F. Austin eyes an encore on Saturday night inside Homer Bryce Stadium at Jimmy W. Murphy Field as the Jacks jump back into Southland Conference play against (RV) Incarnate Word. The Jacks and Cardinals are among the three teams still unbeaten in SLC play. A rain-soaked Piney Woods is in the forecast for the Week 5 matchup as SFA looks to extend its program record conference win streak to 11 games. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. from inside HBS. Live coverage links are available at www.SFAjacks.com.
THE SERIES
The Jacks and Cardinals meet for the tenth time in a series that was first contested in 2014. SFA won the first four matchups, but UIW has won three of the past five, including a 27-20 decision in the last meeting in Nacogdoches. That is SFA's lone home loss to the Cardinals in the series. Nearly half of the matchups (2017, 2019, 2021, 2024) have been decided by seven points or less. Among the series' defining moments include SFA's Alize Ward's walk-off pick-6 in 2017 (SFA's 100th Southland Conference victory) and the Jacks' Rayshad Nichols' 32-yard strip-and-score that gave SFA a fourth-quarter lead in the 2021 matchup that ultimately saw future No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward tie the game in the waning seconds of regulation and win, the only postseason matchup between the squads, in OT.
WEEKLY PRESSERS
HC Colby Carthel: WATCH HERE
OL Erik Gray: WATCH HERE
HOMER SWEET HOMER
The Jacks kicked off the 54th season of Homer Bryce Stadium and a third-straight campaign with six home games against East Texas A&M and has since improved a home winning streak that dates back to the 2024 season to ten games. Since the 2020 campaign, SFA is 28-6 inside HBS and is 29-9 at home under Carthel. The Jacks are currently third nationally in active home-winning streak with the second home winning streak of 10+ games under Carthel.
STREAKIN'
In addition to the heater that the Jacks are on at home, SFA has won a program record 15 straight regular season games following an 0-2 start to the 2025 campaign. The Lumberjacks have also won ten-straight in SLC play dating back to last season.
HISTORIC BEGINNINGS
SFA is off to the program's first 5-0 start to a season since the 1995 campaign. It's 4-0 start was the first ever against DI opposition. The Jacks are two wins shy of matching the '95 team's program record 7-0 start to a season.
MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME
SFA became the first team in the program's DI era and just the third ever to win three games on the road in their first four games of the season. The Jacks were rewarded with a six-week stretch that includes four of five games at home in addition to a bye week prior to its lone road trip during that month and half period.
NATIONAL POLLING
The Lumberjacks enter Week 5 ranked No. 5 in the AFCA poll and are at No. 7 in the Stats Perform rankings. It marks the 14th-straight week that the Jacks have earned a national ranking. Additionally, SFA is inside the top 10 nationally in the latest independent digital media polls FCS Untapped Top 25 Poll (No. 4) and FCS Nation Top 25 Poll (No. 8).
The Jacks' No. 5 ranking in the AFCA poll marks the highest such weekly ranking for the program since the 2010 campaign when SFA ranked No. 2 in the FCS Coaches Poll and No. 3 in The Sports Network Poll on November 22.
AFCA FCS Coaches Top 25
W4: #4
W3: #6
W2: #8
W1: #9
W0: #11
PRE: #13
Opta Analyst FCS Stats Perform Top 25
W4: #7
W3: #9
W2: #12
W1: #13
W0: #13
PRE: #13
SIGHTS SET ON NO. 50
With the historic 49th win in the rear view mirror, Carthel eyes win No. 50 which would make him just the third coach to reach 50 wins with multiple four-year programs in the state of Texas. Carthel captured 59 wins at Texas A&M-Commerce (now East Texas A&M) and is a victory shy of joining College Football Hall of Famer Dana X. Bible and McMurry legend Randolph M. "Med" Medley. Bible totaled 198 wins in his career of which 72 came at Texas A&M with another 63 at Texas. Medley won 61 times at McMurry and reached 50 at Southwestern.
REST IN PEACE TO A LUMBERJACK LEGEND
Former team captain, All-Lone Star Conference lineman and 1956 NFL draft pick Jimmy W. Murphy passed away peacefully at his East Texas farm on Sunday, September 27. He was 91.
A distinguished alumnus and devoted benefactor, Murphy was inducted into the Lumberjack Sports Hall of Fame in 1979. He later served on the SFA Board of Regents from 1995 to 2001, including two terms as chairman. His generous support of scholarships, student-athletes and athletics facilities is reflected in the Jimmy W. Murphy Wellness Center and Jimmy W. Murphy Field at Homer Bryce Stadium.
MADE TO BE BROKEN
Fifth-year wide receiver Kylon Harris enters the Week 5 matchup against UIW just three receptions shy of breaking current Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver and return specialist Xavier Gipson's program record 243 receptions. Additionally, Harris is just 20 yards shy of becoming just the third wideout in program history to reach 3K receiving yards.
Harris' 109 receiving yards in the Family Day win over NSU marked the 14th 100-yard receiving game of the Pelican State native's career and he became the first Jack to record a 100-yard game this season.
START SPREADIN' THE [NEWPORT] NEWS
Play-making since he arrived on campus, first-year defensive back Makai Frisby has made an immediate impact on the backend of the Pine Curtain defense. As of late, that impact has stretched to special teams. The Newport News, Virginia native has blocked a field goal attempt in consecutive weeks becoming the first Jack to accomplish the feat since at least 2002 and just the second to block a kick in back-to-back weeks joining Ed Bobino in 2023. Bobino denied a FGA against Texas A&M-Commerce and stuffed an XPA against Utah Tech.
Now about the defensive effort. Frisby became the first SFA defender with three interceptions over the team's first two games of a season since Stephon Rhea in 2005. He picked off two passes including a 35-yard interception return touchdown in the second quarter, delivered two tackles and nearly housed a blocked PAT in the season-opening win at McNeese.
Frisby became the first Lumberjack with two interceptions in a game since Jaheim Mullen picked off a pair in a 59-17 victory over Northwestern State on October 5, 2024 inside HBS. He is the first Jack to record two on the road since Trent Perriman collected two in the 2016 Battle of the Chief win over NSU. Frisby? More like Boomerang. That kind of play-making always comes back around.
FEELING FRESH
True freshman Emmanuel Harris is off to a disrupting start to his career as a Lumberjack. Harris is third on the team with 5.0 TFL (17) and is tied for second in sacks with 2.5 (11). Additionally, he has totaled 14 tackles with two pass breakups and two quarterback hurries in five games in his rookie year. The effort caught the eye of NCAA.com's resident FCS reporter Stan Becton who named Harris as one of seven top freshman through one month of FCS action.
FROM LITTLE ROCK WITH LOVE
A big part of Saturday's win over Northeastern State was the opportunity for the Jacks to empty the bench for younger guys to receive important in-game reps. Of the many depth players that showed out in the blowout were a pair of Natural State natives in Deuce Williams and Tank Reese. The true freshmen were once standouts at Little Rock power Joe T. Robinson HS in Arkansas. Both delivered a game-high eight tackles with Williams chipping in with two TFL, a forced fumble and a PBU.
2(00) x 4
In the win over Northeastern State, SFA produced 200 yards on the ground for the fourth-consecutive game marking the first such stretch since 1999. That stretch prior to the new millennium included several historic efforts from KaRon Coleman and Isiah Stoker. Coleman went for 216 yards against Sam Houston, the second game in that stretch, and Stoker combined for 439 yards over the final two games with a program record 289 rushing yards on 35 carries in the October 30 win against Jacksonville State. It is the third stretch of 3 or more straight 200-yard rushing efforts under Carthel.
THROUGH FIVE GAMES, SFA
· is one of eight FCS teams currently ranked in the top 12 in both rushing offense (207.6; T-11th) and rushing defense (92.2; 8th).
· has allowed the fewest points through five games in Carthel's tenure
· ranks fifth in the FCS in scoring defense with a league-low 13.0 points allowed per game
· ranks fourth in the FCS in turnovers gained with 12, the third time a Carthel-led SFA team has registered 12+ in the first five games
· boasts the nation's fifth-best kickoff return defense at just 13.0 yards per return
· ranks 10th nationally in first downs offense (115) and 19th in third-down conversion defense (30.6%)
· has employed a stifling effort in the first half hour of action allowing opponents to just an average of 38.4 yards on the ground, 5.6 points and a 21.2% conversion rate on third downs
NOW DRIVING
Against NSU, the Jacks put together a pair of one-play scoring drives, the first of the season, in addition to two 12-play scoring drives including just the third 99-yard drive under Carthel. The one-play TD drives were the 26th and 27th such marches under Carthel, while the 12-play jaunts were the 36th and 37th TD scoring efforts that lasted a dozen or more snaps.
-- Doesn't Take Long: The Jacks' 31 offensive scoring drives have averaged just over six plays, 54.8 yards and just 2:33 of possession time.
-- Sustaining Drives: Sixteen of SFA's 17 scoring drives that have covered 60 or more yards have found the endzone, while all 10 of 70+ yards have hit paydirt.
-- Opening Statement: The Jacks have scored an opening possession TD in four of its five games this season.
-- Quarter 2 Earnings: SFA has produced a season-high 82 points in the second quarter of games this fall and has outscored its opposition 134-21 before the intermission. The Jacks have carried a halftime lead in all five games.
GAVIN GOES FOR 5
Behind a career-high four touchdown passes, all in the first half of play, and a game-opening rushing score, junior quarterback Gavin Rutherford became the fourth different quarterback under Carthel to account for five TDs in a game and the first with a rushing score. Rutherford's rushing score was the 13th of his career and the ninth from six or fewer yards out.
TEXAN VS TEXAS
Carthel owns a 34-9 record at home against Texas teams in his 14-year head coaching career. He is 16-3 inside HBS against Lone Star State programs.
MAKING THE GRADES
Through five weeks of play, the Lumberjacks hold top 10 offensive and defensive team grades through Pro Football Network. The Lumberjack defense rates fourth nationally at 89.8, the second-highest grade among non-Ivy League programs. SFA's offense ranks ninth nationally at 90.2.
99 PROBLEMS
First-year Jack Jaydon Eason delivered a three-sack performance to go along with a forced fumbled against Prairie View A&M. The South Carolina native became the first Jack in 11 seasons to record three sacks in a game with the last instance coming in a three-sack effort by John Franklin on September 10, 2016, against West Alabama. Eason rated as Pro Football Network's highest-graded FCS defensive tackle in Week 3 at 92.7.
The Southland Conference leader in sacks and forced fumbles, Eason currently holds per game averages in sacks and forced fumbles that each rank in the top 20 nationally.
SACK-OGDOCHES
Thirteen Lumberjacks have contributed to SFA's 21.0 sacks for 134 yards. Eason leads the way with 4.5, while Harris and fellow defensive lineman Lowote Jurkin have each collected 2.5. Defensive back Jaiydyn Johnson and Kylan Darville have recorded 2.0 apiece, and A'Amear Walton has 1.5. Eli Ennis, Gary Seidenberger, Chance Sautter, Kyran Moore and Cody Ford have each registered one.
The Jacks' 4.20 sacks per game rank second nationally behind Harvard's 4.50. The Crimson have played two games. SFA's seven sacks against Prairie View A&M marked the fifth game with at least seven sacks under Colby Carthel.
BACKFIELD BANDITS
SFA has accumulated well over a Canadian football field's length of tackles-for-loss yardage, recording 45.0 TFL for 193 yards. The Jacks' 9.0 TFL per game rank third nationally and lead the Southland Conference. Twenty-three defenders have contributed to the total, with Jurkin and Eason pacing the unit at 6.0 apiece. Harris follows with 5.0, while Walton has 3.5 and Johnson and Ennis have 3.0 each.
BIG PLAYS
Through 20 quarters, the SFA offense has produced 33 plays of at least 20 yards. The Jacks recorded a season-high 10 such plays against Northeastern State, including three gains of at least 40 yards.
Jaylen Jenkins scored on a 55-yard run, Gavin Rutherford connected with Bugs Mortimer for a 41-yard touchdown and Speedy Jones broke a season-long 70-yard touchdown run. Jones' run surpassed the 69-yard Rutherford-to-Mortimer touchdown at Abilene Christian as SFA's longest play of the season.
At ACU, Rutherford's 69-yard scoring strike to Mortimer sparked the 20-point second quarter and the comeback. He later found Stetson Sarratt for 54 yards in the third quarter.
The Jacks also struck for three plays of at least 40 yards at Prairie View A&M, with Clayton Wayland hauling in two of them.
ALL-PURPOSE BUGS
Mortimer followed his 73-yard performance at Prairie View with 90 receiving yards against Northeastern State. He now has 324 receiving yards and 378 all-purpose yards this season.
In two seasons as a Lumberjack, the Floridian has accumulated 534 receiving yards and 1,128 all-purpose yards. He is averaging 13.9 yards per touch during his SFA career.
GOING THROUGH GAVIN
Gavin Rutherford has completed 65.9 percent of his passes for 1,197 yards and 12 touchdowns while adding a team-high four rushing scores. He has accounted for 16 of SFA's 24 offensive touchdowns.
The Katy native is tied for third nationally with 96 points responsible for.
PASS CATCHERS ABOUND
Eighteen players have caught a pass this season, while 14 different targets have recorded multiple receptions through five games. Mortimer leads the Jacks with 17 catches, followed by Clayton Wayland with 10 and Gerard Edimo with eight.
Mortimer also leads with 324 receiving yards, while Wayland follows with 184. Kylon Harris has 136, Stetson Sarratt has 122 and Edimo has 106, giving SFA five players with at least 100 receiving yards.
BACKFIELD BLOSSOMING
Senior Jaylen Jenkins, the elder statesman in the running back room, leads SFA with 367 rushing yards and three touchdowns while averaging 6.2 yards per carry.
Speedy Jones leads SFA's regular ball carriers at 7.4 yards per attempt. He has rushed for 259 yards and two touchdowns, including a season-long 70-yard score against Northeastern State.
Preston Alford has added 256 yards at 6.7 yards per carry. His three runs of at least 25 yards include a career-long 51-yard gallop against East Texas A&M.
20 IN 15
SFA scored 20 points in the second quarter of its Week 2 win at Abilene Christian. It marked the 24th time during Carthel's tenure that the Jacks had scored at least 20 points in a single 15-minute period and the 14th such quarter against Division I opposition.
The Jacks added two more 20-point quarters against Northeastern State, scoring 21 in both the first and second periods. SFA has now produced 26 quarters with at least 20 points under Carthel, including 14 against Division I opponents.
AXE MARKS
-- The Champs Are Here: SFA took down defending conference champs in consecutive weeks (ACU, PVAMU) for the second-straight season (UIW, ACU in 2025). Prior to last season, a such feat had not happened since 2006 when SFA knocked off defending SLC co-champs Texas State and Nicholls.
-- Road Dawgs: With the Week 2 victory over then #23/25 Abilene Christian, the Jacks have beaten a Top 25 team on the road for a third-straight season after earning wins at #20 Incarnate Word (2025) and at #22 Lamar (2024).
-- Labor Day: Following thorough research, the 2026 Lumberjacks are believed to be the first NCAA Division I team (FBS & FCS) to win two conference games in the same season before Labor Day. Since the NCAA split Division I into 1-A and 1-AA in 1978, the Jacks are believed to be the fourth team to start a season 2-0 before the holiday.
-- Home Openers: SFA moved to 7-1 in home openers under Carthel and has now won seven-straight after beating East Texas A&M. SFA holds an overall record of 60-37-3 (.611) and is 8-1 overall in such contests since 2018.
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WEEK 4 IN REVIEW
#6/9 SFA 63,DII #15/19 NORTHEASTERN ST. 14
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
-- Carthel becomes the program's all-time winningest coach with SFA win No. 49 surpassing Jim Hess' 48 wins from 1982-88
-- The victory pushes SFA's regular season winning streak to 15 games
-- The Jacks' home-winning streak improves to ten games
-- SFA moves to 28-6 inside HBS since the start of the 2020 season
-- SFA is off to the program's first 5-0 start to a season since the 1995 campaign
-- SFA moves to 7-3-1 all-time against opponents from Oklahoma and to 6-1 in home games against Sooner State foes
-- The Jacks' record against non-DI foes under Carthel improves to 9-1
LUMBERJACK RUSHING ATTACK
SFA produced 200 yards on the ground for the fourth-consecutive game marking the first such feat since 1999. Jaylen Jenkins turned nine carries into 94 yards and a touchdown with a long scoring run of 55 yards. Speedy Jones' 70-yard scamper for six, the longest play from scrimmage by the Jacks this season, was a part of six carries for 83 yards. Preston Alford found the endzone for the first time this season on a short plunge as part of a 9-carry, 37-yard effort.
KYLON BEING KYLON
Kylon Harris became the first Lumberjack this season to produce a 100-yard game (rushing or receiving) as his 109 receiving yards marked the 14th such effort of his career.
TALE OF TWO TYPES OF SCORING DRIVES
The Jacks put together a pair of one-play scoring drives in addition to two 12-play scoring drives including just the third 99-yard drive under Carthel.
DEPTH PLAYERS MAKING PLAYS
True freshman Deuce Williams led the defensive effort with eight tackles, two tackles for loss, one breakup and a forced fumble. High school teammate Tank Reese also registered eight tackles. The finishing touches on the scoring were placed by Emiril Gant who scampered 41 yards on a fumble return for the game's final score. Kyran Moore picked off a pass, the Jacks' seventh of the season, less than a minute into the second quarter, which led to a six-play drive that resulted in Aiden Meeks' first career touchdown reception.
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ON THE HEELS OF HISTORY
The Lumberjacks are coming off a historic 2025 that saw SFA capture the program's fifth SLC title and first since 2010, while making the program's ninth FCS postseason appearance. That title came behind the program's first eight-win conference season and first perfect finish in league play in 99 seasons. The Jacks reached double-digit wins for the fifth time in program history, and the 11 victories last fall are the most since the '95 campaign.
CENTURY MARK IN PIGSKIN CAMPAIGNS
Not long after Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College opened its doors, Dripping Springs, Texas native Robert H. Shelton was designated by SFASTC President Dr. A.W. Birdwell as the program's first football coach. Shelton, who would later become known as the "father of SFA Athletics," not only led that first team in 1923, but dressed out and practiced as well. Eleven days after welcoming students, SFASTC played the first game in program history resulting in a historic 120-0 trouncing of Center High School. It was the first of three wins in the inaugural season and the first of 16 victories in Shelton's six-season tenure. The point total remains a program record for points scored in a single game. Twenty-three players appeared in the first team photo published in the 1924 Stone Fort yearbook. Fast forward ten decades later and one opponent from season one: Lamar, which was known then as South Park Junior College and too in its inaugural season, is part of the '26 slate. The Cardinals won the 1923 meeting 10-0 on October 12 in Nacogdoches. The two sides meet for the 39th time on November 7 in Beaumont.
FOUR DECADES OF DI FOOTBALL
The last four decades of Lumberjack Football has been contested at the Division I level. SFA joined the division in 1986 and in that time has accumulated 236 victories with last season marking the fifth double-digit win season as a DI member.
IT'S THE 'LAND, MAN!
Season No. 37 of Southland Conference play is underway for the Lumberjacks. The Jacks' five league titles are the second most among active members behind overall league leader McNeese with 14.
ALL TEXAS, ALL THE TIME
Entering his eighth season directing the gridiron operations in the Piney Woods, head coach Colby Carthel eyes a championship encore for his program which enters the 100th season in school history on a daily mission to "be the best version of the 2026 Lumberjacks" they can be. If anyone embodies #EastTexasTough, it's a man who has spent over a quarter century coaching, and his entire life, in the Lone Star State. A former two-sport standout at Angelo State, all 14 of the Friona native's collegiate head coaching seasons have been spent in East Texas. He's totaled 108 wins, with No. 100 coming in a road blowout of Houston Christian last season, across two stops at a pair of institutions that call the timber-ridden region home. Of the 100+ victories, a program-record 49 have come at SFA. On September 26, Carthel passed Lumberjack legend Jim Hess (1982-88) for first on the all-time wins list. He is one of just six coaches in program history to win 20 or more conference games and is three SLC victories shy from setting a new program record for league wins.
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
There's never been a better time to lock in your seat at Homer Bryce Stadium! Don't miss a single snap as SFA looks to defend its Southland Conference title. Visit www.SFATickets.com to secure your tickets today and be part of the action all season long.
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#AxeEm
