FLORENCE, Ala. (October 17, 2026) – The University of North Alabama football team fell on a last second field goal as time expired Saturday at Bobby Wallace Field at Bank Independent Stadium, as Abilene Christian escaped with a 31-28 road win.
In a battle between two unbeaten United Athletic Conference foes, North Alabama dropped to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in UAC play. Two-time defending conference champion Abilene Christian improved to 4-4 overall — all four losses to ranked teams — and 3-0 in the UAC.
In a game where both teams totaled the same amount of yardage and swapped the lead multiple times, it all came down to who had the ball last. ACU received that opportunity after UNA tied the game 28-28 with 3:34 remaining.
After driving 54 yards down the field on nine plays, ACU called timeout with two seconds left just outside the red zone. This set up a 37-yard field goal from senior kicker Brandon Perez to win it.
Despite the loss, the Lions had bright spots that included 368 yards of offense and zero offensive turnovers. UNA had one forced turnover in its own right with redshirt junior
Nolan Forsha popping one out to stop an ACU drive near the half in enemy territory. This came after redshirt sophomore
Kamore Harris stuffed the play and nearly finished a sack before the strip. Senior defensive back
Dallas Johnson made the recovery.
Forsha also another solo sack in this game — the first two sacks of his career.
Redshirt junior quarterback
Destin Wade had one of his best games — if not the best — of the season with three rushing touchdowns and 279 combined rushing and passing yards. Tonight marks his second career three-touchdown performance with the first coming last season at Utah Tech.
Redshirt sophomore
Roderick Taylor Jr. was the leading rusher for UNA beyond Wade's 76 yards, totaling 13 carries for 59 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown was the one that tied things up late in the fourth quarter.
Redshirt sophomore
Snap Reed and redshirt freshman
Xavier Johnson combined for 11 of UNA's 15 receptions and 16 of 25 targets. Reed had his first career 100-yard receiving game with eight catches for 105 yards, while Johnson tacked on 73 yards to remain among the nation's leaders. He entered the game fifth in FCS in receiving yards and now has 679 over seven games.
Redshirt junior
Kanijal Thomas led the Lions with nine tackles, while redshirt sophomore
Leo Glover had eight with six solo. He also had a forced fumble along with Forsha. Junior
Fred Vili added seven tackles with two for loss and a hurry.
Wade scored the first three touchdowns for the Lions, making it 7-0 on the opening drive and 14-7 near the end of the quarter. In between those two scores was a 76-yard touchdown pass from ACU's Tucker Parks to Cristian Driver on its first offensive play. UNA took a 14-10 lead into halftime, as the Lions allowed nothing but a field goal in the second quarter.
ACU took a 20-14 lead out of halftime, forcing UNA to punt on three straight drives — its only three punts of the game. Wade snatched the lead back for his team in the third quarter with another touchdown run with 1:17 left in the third, capping a long 10-play, 75-yard drive that took over five minutes off the clock. This sent UNA into the fourth quarter with a 21-20 lead and momentum.
The Wildcats scored again and converted a two-point conversion to make it 28-21 with 12:05 remaining. After that, UNA went on the longest drive of the game for either team with 14 plays, 75 yards and 8:31 coming off the clock. Taylor ended that drive with a five-yard touchdown run.
The final offensive drive for UNA included four first downs and two fourth-down conversions — a five-yard pass to Reed and a 22-yard completion to Johnson. The gambles paid off, setting up the tying touchdown. ACU used all of the clock on its last drive to take it out of UNA's hands in the end.
Attendance tonight was over 9,000 for the third straight time at Bank Independent Stadium, coming in at 9,186. UNA ranked 18th of 129 FCS teams in average attendance entering Saturday's game.
UNA and ACU totaled exactly 368 yards, marking the first time since 2002 that UNA and an opponent matched totals. The 2002 game was against Harding, where both teams totaled 438 yards.
This is the fifth time UNA has had a game end in a score of 31-28 — all five happening in Florence. Three of the five resulted in wins over Valdosta State in 1999, West Georgia in 2014 and North Greenville to end the first Division I season for UNA in 2018. The only other loss by this score in school history was in a four-overtime thriller against West Alabama.
Next Saturday, UNA remains home for its annual Hall of Fame weekend and Homecoming game. Kickoff against Austin Peay is set for 6 p.m. at Bank Independent Stadium
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
