STEPHENVILLE, Texas (November 14, 2025) – As the 2025 football season winds down, the University of North Alabama football team will make one final road trip in hopes of playing spoiler and salvaging a tough road stretch with a matchup at No. 5 Tarleton State in Stephenville, Texas.
Kickoff on Saturday's United Athletic Conference game from Memorial Stadium is set for 6 p.m.
For a list of "things to know" for Saturday's game,
click here.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
North Alabama vs. Tarleton State
Date: Saturday, November 15
Time: 6 p.m. CT
Location: Stephenville, Texas
Stadium: Tarleton Memorial Stadium
Capacity: 24,000
TV: ESPN+ (Kyle Youmans, Hek'ma Harrison, Laura Sadler)
Radio: Roar Lions Productions ("Voice of the Lions"
Benjamin Ray, Bryan Neece)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Tickets: Click Here
Social Media:
@UNAFootball
UNA Game Notes |
Opponent Game Notes |
UAC Notes
NOTES
ABOUT THE LIONS: North Alabama has a 2-8 record and will look to shake off a three-game skid. The Lions last won on Oct. 18 against Eastern Kentucky by a 35-14 final in Braly Stadium. UNA has an 0-6 record on the road this season but has proven it can challenge top teams in their home venue, including a 38-36 double-overtime loss to then-No. 4 Illinois State. The Lions have steadily improved its scoring production this season, ranking fifth in the UAC with 26.9 points per game.
ABOUT THE TEXANS: Tarleton State enters with an impressive 9-1 record and a top-five ranking in both the AFCA Coaches Poll and in the FCS Top 10 Committee Rankings. The Texans started 9-0 and ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation before a 31-28 loss to Abilene Christian on the road two weeks ago. Tarleton State owns an FBS win over Army, a nationally-ranked win over No. 23 West Georgia and has won by double digits in eight of its nine victories. The Texans lead the conference in both offense and defense with 43.6 PPG and just 17.7 PPG allowed.
SERIES HISTORY: Saturday will be the sixth all-time meeting between UNA and Tarleton State. The Texans have a 4-1 advantage in the series, including three straight wins over the last three seasons. The Lions hunt their first win over Tarleton State since 2013, where UNA won 44-7 in Stephenville, Texas. Both teams battled in a home-and-home non-conference series in 2012 and 2013 as Division II powers. The road team has won four of the five meetings in this series.
RECORD AGAINST TEXAS SCHOOLS: Saturday marks the 17th time UNA will play at team from Texas, with the first occasion coming in 1993. UNA is 9-7 against schools from the Lone Star State, including a perfect 6-0 record against Texas A&M Kingsville, two wins over Abilene Christian and one win over Tarleton. The Lions are 0-1 against East Texas A&M.
LAST TIME OUT: A promising first half ended in a tight loss North Alabama this past Saturday, as the Lions fell 24-17 against classic rival West Georgia in United Athletic Conference play at Braly Stadium. UNA was up 17-10 until starting quarterback
Destin Wade was injured in the first half. UWG scored twice in the first half, winning a game in Florence for the first time since 2004.
RECENT TRANSITION TEAMS: The Lions and Texans have much in common, outside of their purple color scheme, as both programs completed successful stints at the NCAA Division II level and recently transitioned to Division I in all sports. UNA completed its transition three seasons ago, joining in 2018 and going through a four-year transition period before becoming a full-fledged playoff-eligible FCS member in 2022. Tarleton State is not far behind, moving up to DI and FCS during the 2020-21 season. The Texans made the FCS playoff in their first eligible season and are poised to make a bigger run in 2025.
LIGHTING IT UP: The first four meetings between UNA and Tarleton State were offensive shootouts. Last season's meeting, a 28-14 win for Tarleton, is the lowest scoring game of the series. In three of the four losses, the losing team scored at least 28 points. The other loss, which was Tarleton's loss, was a 44-7 rout by the Lions in 2013. The 2013 Lions went on to the Division II playoffs after this game and made a run to the quarterfinal round.
UAC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK: Redshirt freshman wide receiver
Azariah Fletcher was named the UAC Freshman of the Week on Monday. Fletcher made his first career catch a memorable one on Saturday, scoring on a 75-yard touchdown pass from redshirt sophomore
Destin Wade against West Georgia at Braly Stadium. Wade launched it to Fletcher at the opponent 40-yard line, and Fletcher shook off the only defender in his way for the score. UNA has won this award 10 times since 2023 — more than any other team in the league.
WATFORD THE RECORD BREAKER: Junior punter
Adam Watford had three punts sail over 50 yards last week against West Georgia, etching his name into the UNA record books. Watford set the career record for most 50 yard punts all-time with 32, breaking Tony Faggioni's record of 30 set from 1995-98. Watford also broke Joe Gurley's single-season FCS era school record of 50-yard punts with 17.
FUMBLE FORCERS: North Alabama and Tarleton State are the only two teams in the UAC with 10 or more forced fumbles. The Texas have forced 12 fumbles while the Lions have 10. UWG and EKU rank third with eight apiece. Both Tarleton and UNA are above 1.0 per game.
TWO 100-YARD RUSHERS: Quarterback
Destin Wade and running back
Jayvian Allen both rushed for over 100 yards against Utah Tech, marking the first time UNA has had a pair of 100-yard rushers in a game since 2017. The last time this happened was in 2017 against Mississippi College with running back Nick Taylor and wide receiver Dre Hall, who took a lot of snaps as a wildcat quarterback against the Choctaws.
BIG BOOT WATFORD: The Lions are one of the top teams in net punting this season thanks in large part to
Adam Watford. The junior ranks eighth individually and atop the UAC with 45.9 yards per punt. Watford has landed at least one punt of 49 or more yards in every game this season. This includes an FCS school record 74 yard punt against Central Arkansas. The 74 yard punt is the second-longest in school history and longest since 1991.
WATCH OUT FOR VACHON: Redshirt junior
Ian Vachon was named to the Fred Mitchell Award Midseason Watch List last month. The Fred Mitchell Award recognizes placekickers for their excellence on the field and in the community. The recipient of the Fred Mitchell Award will be announced in December. Vachon is one of 19 FCS kickers on the list. Over 10 games, Vachon is 8-11 on field goal attempts with a long of 55 yards, setting a new school record. He made a 43-yarder against West Georgia last week on his only attempt.
BAND OF BROTHERS: Christian Burkhalter and
Bishop Burkhalter are one of the few sibling sets in FCS football. Against Central Arkansas, the Burkhalter brothers were both credited with a tackle on the same play. There are no other FCS teams to record stats on the same play so far this season.
PENALTY TRENDS: Over the last four games, UNA has finished with under 55 penalty yards, including 40 vs. EKU, 41 at Austin Peay, 54 at Utah Tech and 40 against West Georgia. Those four opponents combined for 295 penalty yards while UNA has just 175 in those games. Prior to the last four weeks, UNA has at least 55 penalty yards in every game, including a whopping 154 penalty yards against Central Arkansas and 129 against No. 4 Illinois State. UNA is not only the most penalized team in the UAC with 72.2 yards per game, but UNA's opponents also have the most penalty yards in the league with a combined average of 81.8 yards per game.
UAC ROUNDUP: All nine teams are in action on Saturday, including a non-conference game between Austin Peay and Samford at 1 p.m. in Clarksville. Utah Tech makes its longest road trip of the season to West Georgia for a 1 p.m. kick. No. 18 Abilene Christian will travel to EKU for a 2 p.m. kickoff. The Lions and Texans will be followed by Central Arkansas at Southern Utah at 8:30 p.m. All times listed are central.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
