Stephen F. Austin
East Texas A&M
PREVIEW: #11/13 Jacks Open 54th Season of Homer Bryce Stadium with East Texas Showdown
9/3/2026 5:13:00 PM | Football
SFA carries one of nation's top five active home winning streaks into 61st matchup with East Texas A&M
#11/13 Stephen F. Austin vs. East Texas A&M
Saturday, September 5 | 7 P.M. CT
Homer Bryce Stadium | Nacogdoches, Texas
LISTEN: Q107.7 FM
PxP: Chase Merrell
Color: Rob Hipp
WATCH: ESPN+
PxP: Rob Meyers
Color: Hunter Taylor
Sideline: Nicole Beckelman
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Week 1 attention turns to the Piney Woods of East Texas as #11/13 Stephen F. Austin welcomes in a longtime rival in East Texas A&M for the 54th home opener inside Homer Bryce Stadium and the 61st gridiron matchup all-time with Lions. It is "East Texas Tough Night" in Nacogdoches as the Lumberjacks aim for a second-straight win over ETAM and a 2-0 start in Southland Conference play. The Jacks will put several streaks on the line in Saturday night's tilt as the 100th season of Lumberjack Football comes home for the first time this fall. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Live coverage links are available at www.SFAjacks.com.
THE SERIES
The all-time series has been historically dominated by the Lions. However, the Jacks have won three of the last four matchups and three-straight in Nacogdoches.
61st MEETING ALL-TIME; 32nd MEETING IN NACOGDOCHES
SERIES: ETAM, 44-15-1
STREAK: SFA, W1
LAST 10 MEETINGS: 5-5
FIRST MEETING: Oct. 19, 1924 at SFA; L, 12-2
LAST MEETING: Oct. 25, 2025 at ETAM; W, 31-21
WEEKLY PRESSERS
HC Colby Carthel: WATCH HERE
LB Jaylen Jenkins: WATCH HERE
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 232 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 103 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, 44 have come at SFA. That total currently has him third on the all-time wins list and just five 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 five SLC victories shy from setting a new program record for league wins.
HOMER SWEET HOMER
The Jacks kick off the 54th season of Homer Bryce Stadium on Saturday and enter on a eight-game home winning streak dating back to the 2024 season. The Lumberjacks boast six home games on their schedule for the third-consecutive season and since the 2020 campaign, SFA is 26-6 inside HBS. The Jacks are currently tied with UTRGV for seventh nationally in active home-winning streak with next week's opponent ACU at third nationally with 10-straight home victories.
STREAKIN'
SFA has won 11 straight regular season games following an 0-2 start to the 2025 campaign. The Lumberjacks have also won nine-straight in SLC play dating back to last season.
NATIONAL POLLING
The Jacks saw slight movement in the latest AFCA FCS Coaches Top 25 rising two spots to just outside the top 10 at No. 11 after starting the preseason at No. 13 nationally. SFA held at No. 13 in the Stats Perform rankings. The Jacks have been nationally ranked for ten-straight weeks. Additionally, SFA is inside the top 15 nationally in the latest independent digital media polls FCS Untapped Top 25 Poll (No. 14) and FCS Nation Top 25 Poll (No. 15).
With the latest rankings, the Jacks currently have seven teams on their schedule ranked or receiving votes entering Week 1 action.
FAMILIARITY ABOUNDS
Before eighth-year head coach Colby Carthel carried his coaching career into the Piney Woods, he built East Texas A&M, then Texas A&M-Commerce, into a Division II power. In six seasons, Carthel led the Lions to 59 victories, three 10+ win campaigns, three Lone Star Conference championships, four NCAA playoff appearances and the 2017 NCAA Division II National Championship.
Offensive coordinator Jared May, defensive coordinator Caid Faske, recruiting coordinator and tight ends coach Tim Bleil, co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Cameron Rogers and director of player development Chris Smith all spent time with Carthel during his six seasons in Commerce. May, Faske and Bleil were all on staff as was Rogers, who along with Smith, won a national championship with the Lions as players.
HOME OPENERS
SFA is 6-1 in home openers under Carthel and has won six straight entering Saturday night's tilt. In its previous 99 home openers, SFA holds an overall record of 59-37-3 (.611) and is 7-1 overall in such contests since 2018.
DEBUT JACKS
More than 40 players made their SFA debut in Lake Charles, including 25 that are in their first season as Lumberjacks. Defensively, four first-year Jacks in Makai Frisby, A'Amear Walton, Jaydon Eason and Eli Ennis were in the starting lineup.
FRISBY FOR SIX
To say first-year Lumberjack Makai Frisby's SFA 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.
Frisby is 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.
CENTURY MARK IN SCORING
Redshirt junior placekicker Carlos Alvarado accounted for eight points in the win over McNeese and crossed over 100 career points for his career. He has 101 points (65 PAT, 12 FG) in 15 games played with 99 of those counting for the Jacks.
ENJOYIN' HAVIN' GAVIN
Redshirt junior quarterback Gavin Rutherford tossed for a career-high 302 yards in the win over McNeese. It marked his sixth career start over three seasons and he matched his career-high in TD passes with three. He struck on five pass plays of 30+ yards, including scoring connections to Bugs Mortimer (37 yards), Clayton Wayland (35 yards) and Stetson Sarratt (33 yards) with the latter hitting paydirt for the first time in his collegiate career.
WELCOME BACK KYLON
The only thing different for Kylon Harris in Saturday's opener was his jersey number. The Louisiana native donned the #10 against the Cowboys and nearly took a 24-yard reception to the house. His one catch for two dozen yards places him seven catches back of setting a new program career record for receptions and has him 132 receiving yards shy of becoming only the third player to reach 3K in a Lumberjack career. In all, Harris has totaled 3,176 all-purpose yards on 262 touches with 29 of those finding the endzone.
WEEK 1 IN REVIEW
#13/13 SFA 38, RV/NR McNEESE 27
LID LIFTERS
The Jacks have won half of the program's season openers as the all-time record moved to 50-45-5 in lid lifters and to 3-5 under Carthel.
FOUND MORE THAN LUCK IN LAKE CHUCK
-- The victory pushed SFA's regular season winning streak to 11 games
-- The win was the ninth-straight for the Lumberjacks in SLC play
-- The result is the first win on the road in a season opener since 2003 when the Jacks held off ULM 23-21
-- SFA closes the gap in the all-time series with the Cowboys to 23-17-2
-- It is the seventh win in 21 tries for SFA in Lake Charles and the first on the road since the 2016 season
-- It marked the first time the Jacks have won consecutive games against the Cowboys since 2010 and 2011
-- It is the 232nd win for the Lumberjacks as a Division I program
-- The victory is the 45th for Carthel at SFA and the 104th in his career
-- Carthel moves four wins shy of setting new program records in overall wins and SLC wins
QUICK RESPONSE
SFA responded to McNeese's lone touchdown drive needing just 74 seconds in its season-opening possession which began with a 42-yard connection from Rutherford to Derrick Bohler on the Jacks' first play of the new campaign and ended with the former finding a wide-open Bugs Mortimer, who made a man miss near the goal line, to cash in a 37-yard reception and even the contest less than five minutes into action.
NEW LOOK PINE CURTAIN
McNeese's opening drive totaled 75 yards in just five plays. However, over the Cowboys' next three first quarter possessions, the Jacks held the Pokes' offense to just 15 yards on ten plays. At the intermission, the host had managed only 41 yards on 24 plays excluding the lone scoring march.
SOLID START
Offensively, the Lumberjacks collected two dozen first downs, scored 17 points off turnovers and manufactured ten plays of 15+ yards including eight threw the air with five of those going for 30+ yards and to four different targets. Defensively, the Jacks forced three turnovers, registered nine tackles for loss, three sacks and four quarterback hurries.
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
There's never been a better time to lock in your seat at Homer Bryce Stadium! Season tickets are on sale now, offering the best value for a six-game home slate. Don't miss a single snap as SFA looks to defend its Southland Conference title. Visit www.SFATickets.com to secure your season tickets today and be part of the action all season long. Single-game tickets are also available for all six of the Lumberjacks' regular season contests in Nacogdoches.
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.
