Stephen F. Austin
Prairie View A&M
PREVIEW: #8/12 Lumberjacks Reignite Series with Defending SWAC Champ Prairie View A&M
9/17/2026 5:51:00 PM | Football
SFA, PVAMU meet for eighth time, first time since 2013 and first time ever in Prairie View
#8/12 Stephen F. Austin at (RV) Prairie View A&M
Saturday, September 19 | 7 P.M. CT
Panther Stadium | Prairie View, Texas
LISTEN: Q107.7 FM
PxP: Chase Merrell
Color: Rob Hipp
WATCH: SWAC TV
PxP: Butch Alsandor
Color: Jorge Vargas
Sideline: Lauren Robertson
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - September rolls on and so do the Lumberjacks as Week 3 reignites a series between Lone Star State programs. An inaugural trip to Prairie View, Texas, awaits Colby Carthel's Jacks on Saturday night as Prairie View A&M plays host in what will be SFA's second-straight week matching up against a defending conference champion. The Panthers have won three-straight and eight of their past 11 at home. The Jacks prep for their third road game in four contests to start the season and have won six-straight regular season road games against FCS opposition. Live coverage links are available at www.SFAjacks.com.
THE SERIES
For a series that began in 1982 and has accumulated seven meetings since, the Jacks and the Panthers will meet in Prairie View for the first time. PVAM got the best of the Jacks in the most recent meeting: a 56-48 shootout in Nacogdoches on September 28, 2013. SFA is 5-1-1 all-time against the Panthers with a 2-1-1 mark since becoming a DI member in 1986, the same season the Jacks captured a 46-14 victory over the Panthers.
8th MEETING ALL-TIME; FIRST MATCHUP IN PRAIRIE VIEW
SERIES: SFA, 5-1-1
STREAK: SFA, L1
LAST 10 MEETINGS: SFA, 5-1-1
FIRST MEETING: Sept. 2, 1982 at SFA; W, 17-0
LAST MEETING: Sept. 28, 2013 at SFA; L, 48-56
WEEKLY PRESSERS
HC Colby Carthel: WATCH HERE
QB Gavin Rutherford: WATCH HERE
A LOOK AT THE PANTHERS
Prairie View A&M football is 1–2 through its first three games of 2026, but its 52–14 Labor Day Classic win over Texas Southern gives it a 1–0 start in SWAC play. In a 49–30 opening loss to Tarleton State, the Panthers gained 519 yards, including 309 passing yards from Tevin Carter. Carter then threw four touchdowns against Texas Southern, while Malachii Williams recorded three sacks in the win. Prairie View briefly led Baylor 3–0 and intercepted three passes, but managed only 110 yards of offense in a 44–3 loss.
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 234 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 106 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, 47 have come at SFA. That total currently has him third on the all-time wins list and just two back of a new program record. He is one of just six coaches in program history to win 20 or more conference games and is two SLC victories shy from setting a new program record for league wins.
HISTORIC BEGINNINGS
SFA is off to the program's first 3-0 start to a season since the 2004 campaign and the first 3-0 start against DI opposition since 1986, the Jacks' first season as a Division I-AA (now FCS) program.
A win against the Panthers would give the Jacks' the program's first 4-0 beginning to a season since the 2004 team started 4-0. It would mark the first ever 4-0 start against DI opponents in program history.
A TOP 25 ROAD WIN
The Week 2 victory over then #23/25 Abilene Christian marked the third-straight season that the Lumberjacks have earned a Top 25 road win. The Jacks beat #20 Incarnate Word 31-17 on October 4 last fall and claimed a 27-20 win over #22 Lamar on October 12, 2024.
STATS PERFORM FCS NATIONAL TEAM OF THE WEEK
HOT START BEFORE 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.
NATIONAL POLLING
The Jacks moved up a single spot in both major polls to sit at No. 8 in the latest AFCA FCS Coaches Top 25 and at No. 12 nationally in the Stats Perform rankings. The Jacks have been nationally ranked for 12-straight weeks. Additionally, SFA is inside the top 15 nationally in the latest independent digital media polls FCS Untapped Top 25 Poll (No. 12) and FCS Nation Top 25 Poll (No. 15).
With the latest rankings, the Jacks currently have five teams on their schedule ranked or receiving votes entering Week 3 action.
Opta Analyst FCS Stats Perform Top 25
W2: #12
W1: #13
W0: #13
PRE: #13
AFCA FCS Coaches Top 25
W2: #8
W1: #9
W0: #11
PRE: #13
STREAKIN'
SFA has won a program record 13 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.
20 IN 15
SFA put 20 points on the board in the second quarter of the Week 2 win at ACU. It marked the 24th time in Carthel's tenure that the Jacks have scored 20 or more points in a single 15-minute session and it was the 14th such quarter against Division I opposition.
BIG PLAYS
Through a dozen quarters of play, the SFA offense has produced 17 plays of 20+ yards with the unit's two longest plays this season coming in last week's road win at ACU.
Rutherford hit Mortimer for a 69-yard scoring strike to spark the 20-point second quarter and the comeback. In the third quarter, he found Stetson Sarratt for 54 yards.
GARY'S FLYING AROUND
ACU moved the football down inside the SFA40 in all three of their third quarter drives, getting as close as the SFA24, but the Pine Curtain held firm, not allowing a point.
SFA forced a punt on ACU's first possession post-break, senior linebacker Gary Seidenberger jumped a crossing route to pick off a pass to end the ACU threat on drive two and then the first-year Jack sacked ACU's John David Black on 3rd and 6 for an 11-yard loss to push the Wildcats out of field goal range.
YOU'RE GROUNDED
Entering Week 3, the Lumberjack defense holds a top 15 ranking among FCS teams in rushing defense at 96.0 yards per game. That average allowed ranks second in the SLC.
In the road win at ACU, the Jacks held the host to 33 yards. It marked the 11th time, and eighth against a DI foe, in Carthel's tenure that the SFA defense held an opponent to fewer than 50 yards rushing.
PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION
Nine Lumberjacks have contributed to SFA's 11.0 sacks (73). Defensive back Jaiydyn Johnson is the only defender with more 2.0, while defensive linemen Lowote Jurkin and Jaydon Eason have each collected a sack and a half. Six other players have a full sack on their stat ledger through 12 quarters.
The Jacks' 3.67 per game ranks second nationally behind Valparaiso's 4.0.
SFA has accumulated a football field's length of tackles for loss yardage. The Jacks' two dozen TFL at 8.0 per game rates sixth nationally and second in the SLC. Fourteen defenders are responsible for that total with Jurkin pacing the unit with 4.0, while Johnson, Eli Ennis and A'Amear Walton follow with 3.0 each.
ALL-PURPOSE BUGS
Mortimer's 69-yard TD reception moved him over 300 receiving yards as a Lumberjack and put him north of 900 all-purpose yards at SFA. The Floridian is averaging over 14 yards per touch in his time in Nacogdoches.
GOING THROUGH GAVIN
Gavin Rutherford has completed 63% of his passes for 685 yards and five touchdowns while adding three rushing scores. He has accounted for eight of SFA's 12 offensive touchdowns.
FOOTBALL FINDIN' FRISBY
Makai Frisby's snagged his third interception of the season against East Texas A&M, becoming the first SFA defender with three interceptions over the team's first two games of a season since 2005 when Stephon Rhea collected two against Henderson State in the season opener and added his third at No. 16 Montana State in Week 2.
To say the first-year Jack's debut went well might be an understatement. The Newport News, Virginia native 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.
CARLOS HITS THE CENTURY MARK + A NEW CAREER LONG
Redshirt junior placekicker Carlos Alvarado accounted for eight points in the win over McNeese and crossed over 100 career points for his career.
In SFA's home opener, Alvarado delivered 14 points with the first of five successful PAT giving him 100 career points as a Lumberjack. It also marked the second three-FG effort of his career as he punched through makes of 23, 37 and 26.
Most recently, Alvarado made two more field goals to push his season total to six, while his second make of the night was a career-long 51-yarder in the waning seconds of the first half.
He has 109 points (72 PAT, 17 FG) in 17 games played.
AMONG THE SLC'S BEST IN WEEK 1
Lowote Jurkin (Defensive) and Carlos Alvarado (Special Teams) were named Southland Conference Players of the Week following Week 1 action.
Jurkin, a native of Pflugerville, delivered 1.5 sacks, a quarterback hurry, a pass break up and two tackles, while aiding the Lumberjack defense in holding the Lions to 187 total yards of offense with just 56 yards coming on 22 rushing attempts. SFA's pass rush helped generate three interceptions.
THROUGH THREE WEEKS, SFA
· has allowed the fewest points through three games in Carthel's tenure
· ranks eighth in the FCS in scoring defense with a league-low 13.7 points allowed per game
· is one of five FCS teams with six interceptions this season
· ranks fifth in the FCS in turnovers gained with nine, the most by the program through three games since 2023
· is among the top 20 teams in FCS in both first downs defense (47) and first downs offense (68)
· has employed a stifling effort in the first half hour of action allowing opponents to just an average of 28.7 yards on the ground, seven points and a 20% conversion rate on third downs
PASS CATCHERS ABOUND
Sixteen players have caught a pass this season, while 11 different targets have hauled in multiple passes through three games. Mortimer leads with eight, Clayton Wayland follows with seven and Derrick Bohler and Gerard Edimo each having caught six. Mortimer paces with 161 receiving yards and Stetson Sarratt follows with 97. Running back Preston Alford has collected five for 52 yards and is at 210 all-purpose yards this season. True freshman Sean Carter also has five catches.
BACKFIELD BLOSSOMING
Senior Jaylen Jenkins, the elder statesman in the running back room, leads the rushing effort with 234 yards and two touchdowns, while the activity behind him has been just as impressive. Collectively, Jenkins along with Speedy Jones and Preston Alford are averaging 5.9 yards per carry. Alford's 25 carries have produced 154 yards including the longest rushing play from scrimmage by a Jack this season: a 51-yard gallop against East Texas A&M, while Jones' 17 attempts have totaled 99 yards.
MALACHI REACHES 100
Senior linebacker Malachi Williams entered the '26 season after a 91-tackle effort in his first year as a Lumberjack last fall. He recorded nine stops on the road at McNeese to reach the 100-tackle mark as a Lumberjack.
WEEK 3 IN REVIEW
#9/13 SFA 26, #23/25 ABILENE CHRISTIAN 7
ROAD DAWGS
-- The victory pushes SFA's regular season winning streak to 13 games
-- SFA snaps ACU's ten-game home winning streak which was the third-longest active streak in the FCS
-- Saturday's win marks the third-straight season with a top 25 road win
-- SFA is off to the program's first 3-0 start to a season since the 2004 campaign and the first 3-0 start against DI opposition since 1986, the Jacks' first season as a Division I-AA (now FCS) program
-- The Jacks' win over the Wildcats is the second straight, the program's fifth on the road and the 16thin the all-time series
-- SFA moves to 8-2 against ACU since Carthel's first season in 2019
SLUGGISH START
SFA managed just 65 yards in the first quarter and converted just one of four third-down attempts, but turned that effort around in the next 15 minutes as the Jacks converted four of six third-down attempts and totaled 227 yards.
20 BURGER IN THE SECOND
That second quarter turnaround produced 20 points, touchdown passes from Gavin Rutherford to Bugs Mortimer and Gerard Edimo and a pair of field goals from Carlos Alvarado.
BIG PLAYS
The season's two biggest plays were produced via the aerial attack as Rutherford hit Mortimer on a 69-yard pitch and catch to even up the scoring, while Rutherford found Stetson Sarratt on a 54-yard completion in the third quarter.
BIG BOOTS
Multiple Lumberjacks' special teams units were operating on all cylinders. Dillon McDougal was a weapon in his own right averaging 47.8 yards per punt with two downed inside the 20 and a long of 75, tied for the fourth longest in program history, to flip the field when the Jacks were backed up at their own four-yard line in the early portion of the third quarter.
One of Carlos Alvarado's made field goals was a career-long 51 yarder in the waning seconds of the first half.
Parker Crenshaw kept the Wildcats kick return game in check, a return game that housed a kickoff for six against Texas Tech, by not allowing a single return in four attempts.
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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