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Mid-October finally brought a little temporary relief from the oppressive heat this weekend.
Two FCS football powers in the Lone Star State of Texas remained red hot.
In Stephenville Texas, no one told the visiting 2-4 University of Central Arkansas football team that they were supposed to lose against unbeaten Tarleton State. The Bears were the designated homecoming opponent for the Texans on Saturday.
UCA battled the mighty Texans to a 28-28 tie as the third quarter came to a close.
That’s when Tarleton State senior quarterback Kaden Anderson jump-started the home team. The Texans converted three consecutive fourth quarter touchdown drives and rallied for a 49-35 win. Kaden Anderson converted 21 of 29 passes for 279 yards and a career-best five touchdowns.
Tarleton State advanced to 7-0 and 2-0 in the United Athletic Conference. UCA fell to 2-5 and 0-3 in conference play.
Stephen F. Austin (now 7-0) clobbered south Louisiana neighbor Nicholls State 56-0 in Thibodaux Saturday afternoon. The Lumberjacks pounded the football for 354 yards on the ground.
SFA’s passing game was on fire, too. Speedy wide receiver Bugs Mortimer snagged three touchdown passes from quarterback Gavin Rutherford. The Lumberjacks converted four touchdown passes overall in an impressive Southland Conference beatdown.
Nicholls dropped to 2-5. Saturday’s loss marked the first time which the Colonels had been shut-out at home since 2012.
Harvard University is now 5-0!
They are the third and final FCS team with an unblemished record after last weekend’s play.
The Crimson held its third opponent under 10 points as they vanquished the Holy Cross Crusaders 30-7 in Cambridge Saturday.
Harvard’s opportunistic “Crimson Chin” (a “Fairly Odd” reference…go ask your kids) pass defense picked-off two more tosses to bring its season interception total to ten.
Holy Cross dropped to 2-5 for the season.
Rival Princeton (4-1) travels into the Boston area to challenge Harvard on Saturday (2PM CDT on ESPN+). Both teams are 2-0 in Ivy League play. The Tigers should be extra-pumped after learning about their first top ten ranking in the latest SwampSwamiSports.com FCS Top 25!
The 2-5 Idaho Vandals do not like Montana’s college football teams
The Idaho Vandals are the best 2-5 team in the FCS this season. They save their best football efforts for when they play any opponent hailing from the state of Montana.
Idaho’s five losses have (generally) come in rather close games.
The Vandals lost by only four points at 4-4 Cal-Poly, by six vs. 5-2 Lamar, by two points against 4-4 Abilene Christian, and by 11 at 5-3 Weber State. Idaho also received a substantial paycheck for participating in a 66-14 loss at the hands of unbeaten FBS member Utah.
The Vandals from Moscow, Idaho shocked the FCS world a few weeks ago with a thrilling 35-34 home win over defending national champion Montana State. Idaho scored on the final play of the game and then succeeded on a two-point conversion to send the capacity crowd in the Kibbie Dome into a frenzy.
On Saturday, Idaho traveled to Missoula, Montana to play the heavily favored 5-2 Grizzlies.
Nearly 27,000 stunned fans watched as the Vandals jumped to a 14-0 first quarter lead. The Griz battled back to tie this game at 35-35 early in the fourth quarter.
That’s when Idaho responded with a 75-yard final touchdown of their own and held on to win 42-35 at Montana.
Saturday’s victory brought the coveted Little Brown Stein trophy (which is awarded to the winner of the annual Idaho vs. Montana game) back to Moscow, Idaho.
The Vandals have defeated both Montana and Montana State in the same season for the first time since 1989.
Elsewhere around the FCS…
Lehigh’s unbeaten season came to an end on Saturday.
Ivy League member Cornell outscored Lehigh 48-38 as the Big Red captured its first win over a top-five ranked team since 1939. Cornell improved to 3-2 while the Mountain Hawks of Lehigh fell to 6-1.
Alabama A&M’s offense apparently cannot be stopped.
The 6-2 Bulldogs from suburban Huntsville are scoring nearly 46 points per game. They rolled up 669 yards of total offense on Saturday in a 61-31 thrashing of homecoming victim Grambling (which dropped to 4-3).
The winless Towson Tigers of Maryland were this year’s designated homecoming guests at 5-1 Campbell University in North Carolina. A shocked home crowd saw their beloved Camels losing 13-10 going into the half.
Campbell rallied in the final two quarters to take a nervous 24-20 win over the upstart Tigers (now 0-8). The Campbell Camels have reached 6-1 for the first time in program history. They are seeking to secure the school’s first FCS playoff berth.
The Camels will hump-it to Maine on Saturday to play the 1-5 Black Bears.
The Long Island Sharks are only 3-5 overall but lead the wacky NEC (formerly known as the Northeast Conference) at 3-0 this week.
Defending champion Central Connecticut is perched right behind at 2-0 in conference play and is 3-3 for the season. None of the eight football members of the NEC has a winning record through last weekend’s action.
The winless Northwestern State Demons came close to ending its long losing streak but a fourth quarter rally fell short on Saturday.
McNeese State feasted on five Northwestern State turnovers to leave town with a 24-21 win over the 0-7 Demons.
Nicholls State (2-5) rolls into Turpin Stadium in Natchitoches for a 2PM Saturday kick-off. Will Northwestern State finally break its 18-game losing streak going back to a 20-10 win over Alcorn State on August 28, 2025?
Let’s find out who’s #1 this week in the SwampSwamiSports.com FCS Top 25 rankings for games through Saturday, October 17, 2026:
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