Stephen F. Austin
Northeastern State
PREVIEW: #6/9 Jacks Curtain Non-Conference Slate with First-Ever Meeting vs. DII Top 20 Northeastern State
9/25/2026 12:23:00 PM | Football
SFA aims for 15th straight regular season win, tenth straight at home; Carthel eyes program wins record
#6/9Â Stephen F. Austin vs. DII #15/19 Northeastern State
Saturday, September 26Â | 5Â P.M. CT
Homer Bryce Stadium | Nacogdoches, Texas
LISTEN: Q107.7 FM
PxP: Chase Merrell
Color: Rob Hipp
WATCH: ESPN+Â
PxP: Rob Meyers
Color: Hunter Taylor
Sideline: Nicole Beckelman
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -Â #6/9 Stephen F. Austin returns home to the Piney Woods and welcomes in Division II top 20 Northeastern State on Family Weekend. The Jacks and the RiverHawks meet on the gridiron for the first time. SFA has won eight-straight matchups against non-DI teams in Carthel's tenure. The RiverHawks are 7-2 on the road since the start of last season. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. from inside Homer Bryce Stadium. Live coverage links are available at www.SFAjacks.com.Â
THE SERIES
The Jacks and RiverHawks meet for the first time in program history. Saturday's meeting marks the seventh time overall and sixth inside Homer Bryce Stadium that SFA will host a program from the Sooner State. SFA is 5-1 at home against Oklahoma foes and 4-1 inside HBS which includes the first-ever game at Homer Bryce: a 17-0 win over Cameron in the 1973 season opener.Â
WEEKLY PRESSERS
HC Colby Carthel:Â WATCH HERE
LB Jaiydyn Johnson:Â WATCH HERE
HISTORIC BEGINNINGS
SFA is off to the program's first 4-0 start to a season since the 2004 campaign and the first 4-0 start against DI opposition ever.
A win against the RiverHawks would give the Jacks' the program's first 5-0 beginning to a season since the 1995 team started 7-0 and finished 11-2 and in the DI-AA national semifinals.Â
NATIONAL POLLING
The Jacks moved up two spots in the latest AFCA FCS Coaches Top 25 poll and climbed three spots to crack the top 10 of the Stats Perform FCS Top 25. The Lumberjacks enter Week 4 ranked No. 6 in the AFCA poll and are at No. 12 in the Stats Perform rankings. It marks the 13th-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. 8) and FCS Nation Top 25 Poll (No. 10).Â
The Jacks' No. 6 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.
Lamar is the only other Southland Conference team currently ranked in both polls sitting at No. 15 in each poll. Incarnate Word and Southeastern Louisiana are receiving votes in both polls, while Houston Christian is receiving votes in the Stats Perform rankings and UTRGV is among vote getters in the coaches poll.
With the latest rankings, the Jacks currently have seven teams on their schedule ranked or receiving votes entering Week 4 action.Â
Opta Analyst FCS Stats Perform Top 25
W3: #9
W2: #12
W1: #13
W0: #13
PRE: #13
AFCA FCS Coaches Top 25
W3: #6
W2: #8
W1: #9
W0: #11
PRE: #13
ANOTHER CONFERENCE CHAMP TAKEDOWN
The Jacks took a short trip to Prairie View in Week 3 and knocked a defending conference champion for the second-straight week. The win marked the second-straight season that SFA defeated a pair of defending league champions (UIW, ACU in 2025). Prior to that, the Jacks had not registered such a feat since 2006 when it knocked off defending SLC co-champs Texas State and Nicholls.
HOMER SWEET HOMER
The Jacks kicked off the 54th season of Homer Bryce Stadium against East Texas A&M and improved a home winning streak that dates back to the 2024 season to nine games. The Lumberjacks boast six home games on their schedule for the third-consecutive season and since the 2020 campaign, SFA is 27-6 inside HBS. The Jacks are currently tied for third nationally in active home-winning streak.
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 will now enjoy four of their next five games at home and will leave the Piney Woods just once (Oct. 17 at Nicholls) through the end of October.Â
STREAKIN'
SFA has won a program record 14 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.
ON THE DOORSTEP OF HISTORY
With his next win, head coach Colby Carthel will become the program's all-time winningest coach in program history surpassing Jim Hess' 48 SFA wins from 1982-88.Â
GETTING DEFENSIVE
Through four weeks of play, the Lumberjack defense rates as Pro Football Network's fourth highest-graded FCS defense at 92.5, the second-highest grade among teams with more than one game played.Â
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. Eason's 1.14 sacks per game rates fourth nationally and is second among players that have played more than one game.Â
TRENCH TALK
Entering Week 4, the Pine Curtain holds a top 10 ranking among FCS teams in rushing defense at 92.3 yards per game. That average allowed leads the SLC and ranks eighth nationally.
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.
On the other side of the line of scrimmage, the Jacks have totaled 200+ yards on the ground in three-straight games, marking the third such three-game stretch under Carthel. The last time the Jacks recorded four-straight 200+ yard rushing efforts was during the 1999 season.Â
Additionally, the current three-game instance is the only one where the Jacks have held their opponents to less than 100 yards rushing. SFA is one of eight FCS teams currently ranked in the top 20 in both rushing offense (201.5; 20th) and rushing defense (92.3; 8th).
PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION
Ten Lumberjacks have contributed to SFA's 18.0 sacks (111). Eason paces with 4.5, while true freshman Emmanuel Harris and fellow defensive lineman Lowote Jurkin have each collected 2.5. Defensive back Jaiydyn Johnson has recorded 2.0, while six other players have at least a full sack on their stat ledger through 16 quarters.Â
The Jacks' 4.00 per game ranks second nationally behind Harvard's 7.0. The Crimson have played one game. SFA's 7.0 sacks against PVAMU marked the fifth game with 7+ sacks under Carthel. Â
SFA has accumulated over a Canadian football field's length of tackles for loss yardage. The Jacks' 35 TFL at 8.5 per game rates fifth nationally and leads the SLC. Fifteen defenders are responsible for that total with Jurkin and Eason pacing the unit with 6.0 each, while Harris (4.0), A'Amear Walton (3.5), Johnson (3.0) and Eli Ennis (3.0) rounding out the players with 3.0+.Â
BIG PLAYS
Through 16 quarters of play, the SFA offense has produced 23 plays of 20+ yards with the unit's two longest plays this season coming in the road win at ACU.Â
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.Â
Most recently, the Jacks struck for three plays of 40+ yards at Prairie View with Wayland hauling in two of those.Â
THROUGH FOUR GAMES, SFA
· has allowed the fewest points through four games in Carthel's tenure
· ranks seventh in the FCS in scoring defense with a league-low 12.8 points allowed per game
· ranks fourth in the FCS in turnovers gained with ten, the third time a Carthel-led SFA team has registered 10+ in the first four games
· boasts the nation's third-best kickoff return defense at just 10.71 yards per return
· ranks 16th nationally in first downs offense (89) and 19th in third-down conversion defense (30.2%)
· has employed a stifling effort in the first half hour of action allowing opponents to just an average of 37.3 yards on the ground, 5.3 points and a 19.2% conversion rate on third downs
ALL-PURPOSE BUGS
Mortimer's 73 receiving yards at PVAMU moved him over 400 receiving yards as a Lumberjack and put him north of 1,000 all-purpose yards at SFA. The Floridian is averaging over 13 yards per touch in his time in Nacogdoches.Â
GOING THROUGH GAVIN
Gavin Rutherford has completed 65% of his passes for 898 yards and eight touchdowns while adding a team-high three rushing scores. He has accounted for 11 of SFA's 17 offensive touchdowns.
The Katy native ranks 7th in the country in points responsible for (66).
PASS CATCHERS ABOUND
Sixteen players have caught a pass this season, while a dozen different targets have hauled in multiple passes through four games. Mortimer leads with 14, Clayton Wayland follows with nine with Gerard Edimo having caught eight. Mortimer paces with 234 receiving yards and Wayland follows with 178. Sarratt and Edimo each went over 100 yards receiving for the season in Week 3.
BACKFIELD BLOSSOMING
Senior Jaylen Jenkins, the elder statesman in the running back room, leads the rushing effort with 273 yards and two touchdowns, while the activity behind him has been just as impressive. Preston Alford leads all SFA rushers with a 7.6 yards per carry and has totaled 223 yards with three runs of 25+ yards including a career-best 51-yard gallop against East Texas A&M. Speedy Jones found the endzone for the first time as a Lumberjack in the Week 3 win at PVAMU and is averaging 6.1 yards per tote with 176 total yards. Â
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WEEK 3 IN REVIEW
#8/12 SFA 31, (RV) PRAIRIE VIEW A&M 10
BAND OF BROTHERS
-- The victory pushes SFA's regular season winning streak to 14 games
-- The win gives SFA the program's first 4-0 start to a season since the 2004 campaign and the first 4-0 start against DI opposition ever
-- SFA moves to 6-1-1 all-time against PVAMU and improves to 17-3-1 all-time against opponents from the SWAC
-- Saturday's win marks the second-straight against a defending conference champion
-- The victory is the 48th for Colby Carthel at SFA and the 107th in his career
-- Win No. 48 ties Carthel for SFA's all-time wins record with former Lumberjack HC Jim Hess who won 48 games from 1982 to 1988
THREE FIRST-HALF SCORING STRIKES
Rutherford found a wide-open Gerard Edimo over the middle from 15 yards out for the game's first score and hit Cameron Kelley from 15 yards out along the far corner for a second first quarter strike. Alvarado punched in a 48-yard attempt to push the lead to three possessions and Rutherford lobbed one up to where only Bugs Mortimer could haul it in and the latter did with less than two minutes to play before the break to cap off the first half.Â
All four touchdown scoring drives took six plays or less, covered 70 or more yards and took less than two and a half minutes to hit paydirt.
SUFFOCATION IN THE TRENCHES
Jaydon Eason registered three sacks including two in back-to-back snaps to push Prairie View out of field goal range late in the third quarter. His first sack of the night came earlier in the same drive. Eason 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.
The Jacks held PV to just 81 yards rushing at 1.8 per carry; the third-straight game with an opponent held under 85 total rushing yards.Â
Offensively, the Jacks offensive line provided space for SFA's third-straight 200-yard rushing effort. It marked the third time under Carthel that the Jacks have eclipsed 200+ yards on the ground in three-straight games.Â
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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.Â
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.
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.Â
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 CAMPAIGNSÂ
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 235 victories with last season marking the fifth double-digit win season as a DI member.Â
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 107 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, 48 have come at SFA. That total currently has him tied with 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.Â
FOLLOW THE LUMBERJACKS
For all the latest information on SFA football, visit SFAjacks.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Lumberjacks on X, Instagram and Facebook.
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