FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (September 4, 2026) – Saturday afternoon will be a historic day for the University of North Alabama football team, as the Lions will play the Arkansas Razorbacks on the SEC Network in Fayetteville, Ark.
Live coverage on
SEC Network begins at 3:15 p.m. Kickoff from Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium is set for 3:20 p.m. Dave Neal and Cole Cubelic will be the booth for Saturday's game along with Tori Petry on the sidelines.
UNA's local radio team will also be live from Arkansas 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 2:20 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. Arkansas
Date: Saturday, September 5
Time: 3:15 p.m. CT
Location: Fayetteville, Arkansas
Stadium: Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium
Capacity: 76,000
TV: SEC Network (Dave Neal, Cole Cubelic, Tori Petry)
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: A record-breaking effort by the UNA defense, explosive and timely plays by the offense, field-flipping special teams and sound coaching led the way in a 22-10 win over Samford last Saturday in Huntsville at the Story Financial Partners Bowl. UNA won its season-opener for the first time since 2019 and ranked second in FCS with negative-eight rushing yards allowed, six sacks and 13 tackles for loss.
ROOKIE SENSATION: Redshirt freshman
Xavier Johnson — a transfer from Memphis — earned the first UAC Freshman of the Week award of the season Monday with five catches for 129 yards and a touchdown in his collegiate debut last weekend. Johnson caught a 95-yard touchdown pass from
Destin Wade in the second quarter to set a school record for the longest pass in program history.
ABOUT THE HOGS: Arkansas will open the 2026 season against UNA, beginning a new era Saturday with new head coach Ryan Silverfield. Last season, the Razorbacks finished 2-10 overall and 0-8 against a tough SEC schedule. The Hogs enter on a 10-game losing streak, but they start over with Silverfield after he went 50-25 over seven seasons at Memphis. KJ Jackson will be the starting quarterback after appearing in five games last season. Memphis transfer Sutton Smith is expected to pace the rushing attack, while defensive lineman Quincy Rhodes Jr. is on the Chuck Bednarik Award watch list following his 15.5 tackles for loss and eight sacks last season.
MEMPHIS PIPELINE: Eight UNA players are former players of Silverfield's at Memphis, including five defensive linemen in
Joshua White,
Kamore Harris,
Kavion Benton,
Donovan Nevils and
Mond Cole, two wide receivers in
Xavier Johnson and
TJ Holmes and offensive lineman
Will French III. Seven of the eight made significant contributions last week, including four starters. Also, Silverfield's former assistant Josh Long is now coaching the defensive line at UNA.
SERIES HISTORY: Saturday will be the first meeting between UNA and Arkansas. This will be the second time UNA has played a team from the SEC with the first coming in 1959 at Vanderbilt. The Commodores won that game 42-7 in Nashville.
THE STREAK: From 2005-10, UNA won 27 consecutive games against schools from the state of Arkansas. During this noteworthy streak, the Lions defeated Arkansas schools by a combined score of 1,100 to 384 for an average score of 41-14. Seven schools are included in this streak, including Central Arkansas, Southern Arkansas, Henderson State, Arkansas Tech, Harding, Ouachita Baptist and Arkansas-Monticello.
RECORD RUSH DEFENSE: Against Samford, the UNA defense allowed just 237 yards of offense, including negative-eight yards rushing. This marks the first time a UNA defense allowed negative net rushing yards in the Division I level. It also marks the fewest allowed since 2014 with -23 against Western Oregon.
ALL-AROUND EFFORT: Defensively against Samford, UNA had a total effort with 20 players recording at least one tackle, including 13 with multiple. Sophomore defensive edge
Cayden Adkins led the way with five tackles, including two sacks. Seven other players had four tackles, including four tackles and two sacks from redshirt freshman
Tae Martin.
RECORD-BREAKING PASS: After a scoreless first quarter against Samford, 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 and
Fred Vili. McCauley is the leading tackler returing 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. McCauley wreaked havoc last week at Samford with four solo tackles, two for loss and one sack.
CAPTAINS: UNA named its four permanent captains for the 2026 season last week, 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.
LAST FBS WIN: UNA will hunt for its first win over an FBS team since 1997. The Lions remain the last Division II program to upset an FBS team, taking Louisiana to four overtimes on the road and winning 48-42 in 1997. The team was known as Southwestern Louisiana at the time and later became Louisiana-Lafayette. UNA was two seasons removed from winning its third consecutive Division II National Championship in 1997.
UAC ROUNDUP: West Georgia is the only team to play so far this week, falling 47-0 to FBS Kennesaw State on Thursday. The first conference matchup of the season is set for Saturday, as new member and No. 25 ranked West Florida will battle No. 24 Central Arkansas in Conway, Ark. Everyone else will join UNA in playing FBS teams on the road, including No. 5 Tarleton State at Bowling Green, No. 20 Abilene Christian at FBS No. 12 Texas Tech, No. 14 Austin Peay at Vanderbilt and EKU at Jacksonville 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.
