HAMMOND, La. (September 11, 2026) – The University of North Alabama football team returns to FCS action this week and will take on Southeastern Louisiana in what will be a battle between two "Lion" schools Saturday in Louisiana.
The game will be broadcasted on ESPN+ with kickoff set for 6 p.m. at Strawberry Stadium.
UNA's local radio team will have the hometown broadcast with the longest-tenured radio duo in UNA football history on the call — "Voice of the Lions"
Benjamin Ray and
Bryan Neece. Studio host and sideline reporter
Chase Glover will lead The Countdown to Kickoff presented by Bank Independent beginning at 5 p.m. Fans can tune in on all
Roar Lions Productions platforms.
For a list of "things to know" for Saturday's game,
click here.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
North Alabama vs. Southeastern Louisiana
Date: Saturday, September 11
Time: 6 p.m. CT
Location: Hammond, Louisiana
Stadium: Strawberry Stadium
Capacity: 7,408
TV: ESPN+ (Logan Loving, Chase Gispert)
Radio: Roar Lions Productions ("Voice of the Lions"
Benjamin Ray,
Bryan Neece,
Chase Glover)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Tickets: Click Here
Social Media:
@UNAFootball
UNA Game Notes |
Opponent Game Notes |
UAC Notes
NOTABLES
A MILESTONE SEASON: The 2026 season is the 78th for the UNA football program dating back to the full-time rebirth of football in 1949. The program initially started in 1912 and played until 1928 before going on pause for two decades. The 78th season of UNA football will be a memorable one with the opening of Bobby Wallace Field at Bank Independent Stadium set for Saturday, Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. against Alcorn State. UNA played its first 77 seasons off-campus at historic Braly Stadium. Now, the Lions will have their own 10,000 seat stadium to call home in the heart of campus. The stadium is located on Pine Street between Mike D. Lane Field and CB&S Bank Arena. For more information,
click here.
LAST TIME OUT: The Lions took a historic trip to Arkansas last Saturday and played an SEC opponent for the first time since 1959. UNA fell to the Arkansas Razorbacks by a 31-14 final but put up a fight against the SEC goliath. The Lions limited Arkansas to 14 points in the first half and countered with 14 of their own in the second half with two rushing touchdowns by quarterback
Destin Wade. The UNA defense won the turnover battle with two fumble recoveries and an interception by
Trevion Butler.
ROOKIE SENSATION: Redshirt freshman
Xavier Johnson — a transfer from Memphis — is now a two-time United Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week following his second award on Monday. At Arkansas last week, Johnson caught six passes for 84 yards, including a 59-yard catch in the fourth quarter. Over his first two college games, including his collegiate debut vs. Samford, Johnson has 11 catches for 211 yards and a touchdown. This marks the second-most yards for a UNA player in the first two games of the season all-time behind Jarmon Fortson in 2010. It also marks the most receiving yards in the first two games for a UNA rookie. He is also the FCS leader in
MORE ON XAVIER: Over his first two college games, including his collegiate debut vs. Samford, Johnson has 11 catches for 211 yards and a touchdown. This marks the second-most yards for a UNA player in the first two games of the season all-time behind Jarmon Fortson in 2010. It also marks the most receiving yards in the first two games for a UNA rookie. According to stat analyst Cam Mellor, Johnson is also the FCS leader in yards after catch (YAC) with 154 this season.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT: Southeastern Louisiana is coming off a 9-4 season in 2025 that brought a 7-1 record in conference play and a home game in the first round of the FCS playoffs — a 21-3 loss to national runner-up Illinois State. This season, however, SLU has stumbled a bit out of the gate with a 34-28 loss to Houston Christian in an early Southland Conference matchup and a 39-14 loss to FBS opponent South Alabama. Senior Kyle Lowe is the SLU quarterback, while fellow senior Jordan Okoye is the leading tackler on defense at linebacker. Frank Scelfo has led SLU to four playoff appearances in eight seasons and has a 53-42 career record.
SERIES HISTORY: Saturday will mark the 14th meeting between UNA and SLU. This series has been lopsided, as SLU owns a 10-1-2 advantage. However, this will be the first meeting since 2021 and just the second since 1978. This started as a yearly meeting from 1957-62 and again in 1973-78 as rivals in the Gulf South Conference. SLU won the 2021 meeting in Florence by a 49-28 final, as SLU was ranked No. 15/17 in the FCS polls at the time. That 2021 meeting was the only one between the two as FCS opponents.
IDENTITY CRISIS: UNA and SLU both use the "Lion" mascot and are two of five teams in FCS to do so. The other three are Lindenwood, Columbia and East Texas A&M. Another variation is Arkansas-Pine Bluff who goes by "Golden Lions."
DEFENSE ON LOCKDOWN: Despite facing a run attack as daunting as Arkansas, the North Alabama defense put up a strong showing and continues to rank among the nation's leaders in FCS. The UNA defense ranks third nationally with 4.5 sacks per game, fifth nationally in tackles for loss with 9.0 per game and 10th nationally with 70.0 rushing yards per game. These numbers are strengthened by a record performance against Samford in Week 0 with negative-eight rushing yards allowed in that game.
A STAT THAT TRANSLATES: Most coaches claim the turnover battle impacts wins and losses more than any other factor, and UNA is off to a tremendous start on both sides of the ball. UNA ranks eighth nationally with a 1.5 turnover margin that includes four takeaways and just one giveaway. The only UNA offensive turnover was a fumble by Wade that appeared to be forced by the ground but was ultimately ruled a fumble at Arkansas after review.
A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH: For the last two weeks, sophomore transfer
Cayden Adkins has been the highest graded FCS edge rusher by Cam Mellor's Pro Football Network grading system. He graded out at 95.2 against Arkansas and already has eight tackles, three sacks, a hurry and two forced fumbles this season. The Georgia State transfer is one of just three players in the nation to have two forced fumbles in their two games.
SPREADING THE LOVE: UNA had 13 players record multiple tackles in the season opener, and the trend of multiple players stepping up defensively continued at Arkansas last week. This included a 10 tackle performance for redshirt sophomore safety
Leo Glover — a Florence native — to set a new career high. He and redshirt junior
Avery Howard lead the Lions with 13 tackles this season, including nine for Howard at Arkansas last week. He added 2.5 tackles for loss, was involved in two sacks and forced a fumble.
RECORD-BREAKING PASS: After a scoreless first quarter against Samford two weeks ago, UNA struck gold with a 95-yard pass from Wade to Johnson with 8:44 left in the half. This broke UNA's all-time record for longest pass in school history, last set in 1997 by Travis Carswell and James Moore at 94 yards. This was the first collegiate touchdown for Johnson, who redshirted and did not appear while at Memphis.
PRESEASON PRAISE: The Lions celebrated two preseason all-conference selections from the UAC this season in linebackers
Tango McCauley Jr. and
Fred Vili. McCauley is the leading tackler returning to the team from last season and the third-leading tackler returning to the UAC. He played in all 12 games last season with starts in the final six. He had 58 tackles last season with 3.5 for loss. Vili will make the move from edge rusher to mike linebacker this season, strengthening the defense. Vili finished with 41 tackles and ranked second on the team with 8.0 tackles for loss last season. He missed the first two games this season for family reasons but is expected back this week.
CAPTAINS: UNA named its four permanent captains for the 2026 season during fall camp, including redshirt senior defensive line transfer
Joshua White, senior defensive lineman
Jyheam Ingram, redshirt senior offensive lineman
Collin Wright and redshirt junior quarterback
Destin Wade. Ingram and Wright are both Muscle Shoals natives.
UAC ROUNDUP: Seven UAC teams will be in action this week with No. 20 West Florida going on bye following two historic wins over Southern Illinois and Central Arkansas in their first two FCS games. The other 2-0 team in the UAC is No. 4 Tarleton State, who will play at McNeese on Saturday. UNA and Tarleton will not be the only two UAC teams playing a Southland school this week, as No. 23 Abilene Christian hosts No. 13 Stephen F. Austin in a high caliber matchup. Other games include No. 15 Austin Peay hosting Morehead State, EKU hosting Chattanooga, Central Arkansas hosting Central Oklahoma and West Georgia traveling over to FBS Arkansas State.
NEW LOOK UAC: UNA Football has been a member of the United Athletic Conference since 2023, which began as a partnership between the ASUN and WAC Conferences for football. On July 1, 2026, the UAC became an official conference as part of the Unison Sports consortium along with the ASUN, making the UAC the primary conference for UNA Athletics as a whole. Of the 19 sports UNA sponsors, 17 will be members of the UAC with the exception of beach volleyball and men's tennis.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
