2026 Week 4 - WIU at North Alabama

[ST_Lawson]

 AT 

Opponent: North Alabama Lions
Game Time: Saturday, September 26 at 3 PM
Location: Bank Independent Stadium, Florence, Alabama. This will be the second game ever held at the new on-campus, 10k seat stadium, after opening it last weekend with a win over Alcorn.

Last Year: North Alabama went 2-10 with a 1-7 record in the UAC. Their two wins were over D2 Northeastern State, and a big homecoming win over Eastern Kentucky.
This Year: The Lions are 2-2 with wins over Samford (22-10) and Alcorn State (38-20), and losses at FBS Arkansas (31-14) and at Southeastern Louisiana (30-25).
History: The Leathernecks and Lions have faced off once, a 26-17 loss for the Leathernecks at UNA in 2019

Projections: 

• Massey Ratings gives us a 44% chance of victory, with a predicted score of 31-28 for the Lions.
• Sagarin says 46% chance of us winning, with a predicted score of about 23-17 for the Lions.

So far this season, we've "out-penaltied" our opponents every game (as in, we've had more penalties for more negative yards than every team we've played). Despite steamrolling Morehead State last week, we still had 6 penalties for 70 yards (vs 3 for 17 yards for MSU). We're not the worst team in the FCS for penalties, but we're tied for 87th with an average of 7.67 per game, and 84th with an average of 65.33 penalty yards per game. If we can clean up the stupid mistakes...those penalties...running a punt return back into the opponents endzone...then we should have a decent chance of winning. On the "plus" side, UNA is one of the most penalized teams in the FCS currently.

Now that we're a few games into the season, I'll start posting stats comparisons (they wouldn't really be comperable any earlier in the season) in case you want to get "into the weeds" on stats: 

 
 

[meganeck]

UNA has alot of transfers from Memphis , most seem to be on offense, I didn't look at their coaches, but I wonder if one or more of their coaches came from Memphis. Also seem to have a Handful of transfers from Tennessee St and Oklahoma St. They also have a transfer from Culver Stockton.

[ST_Lawson]

Not football-related, but UNA also has a phenomenal corps-style marching band. I've known a few people that marched there back in the '80s and '90s (they were good back then too).


 

[ST_Lawson]

UNA has alot of transfers from Memphis , most seem to be on offense, I didn't look at their coaches, but I wonder if one or more of their coaches came from Memphis. Also seem to have a Handful of transfers from Tennessee St and Oklahoma St. They also have a transfer from Culver Stockton.

 

The only coach I'm seeing who spent time at Memphis is their D-Line coach Josh Long: https://roarlions.com/sports/football/r ... h-long/964
That being said, UNA and Memphis are only about 2 1/2 hours apart and it's possible that some of the two coaching staffs know each other from previous jobs, so there might be some connections there that aren't quite as obvious.

[NewNeck]

Agree the penalties have been an issue. Was a big reason Necks could never get ahead of the sticks on either side of the ball vs ISU (a game where every inch mattered). 

Hopefully confidence grows after last week and McGill continues to roll. Necks still leading the OVC in most O & D stat categories. #1 total offense & defense. Good rushing O & D as well.

Even though non conference slate hasn’t been as challenging it’s good they took care of business. 5 Pioneer teams (non scholarship) beat/upset scholarship D1 teams last weekend. 

[NewNeck]

QB OPOW https://ovcsports.com/news/2026/9/21/ov ... er-21.aspx

by our count that’s the 3rd different QB Necks have had chosen as a OVC POW in Davis’s 2+ years. Has to be good for recruiting.

[meganeck]

UNA has alot of transfers from Memphis , most seem to be on offense, I didn't look at their coaches, but I wonder if one or more of their coaches came from Memphis. Also seem to have a Handful of transfers from Tennessee St and Oklahoma St. They also have a transfer from Culver Stockton.


 

The only coach I'm seeing who spent time at Memphis is their D-Line coach Josh Long: https://roarlions.com/sports/football/r ... h-long/964
That being said, UNA and Memphis are only about 2 1/2 hours apart and it's possible that some of the two coaching staffs know each other from previous jobs, so there might be some connections there that aren't quite as obvious.

 

Ok, i was wrong, there are only a couple on the offense, they have 8 transfers from Memphis and a lot of them are defensive lineman, so that makes sense with that connection.

[ST_Lawson]

Agree the penalties have been an issue. Was a big reason Necks could never get ahead of the sticks on either side of the ball vs ISU (a game where every inch mattered). 

We had 10 penalties for 76 yards. If we had half that, we still would have lost, but I think it would have been a much closer game, especially since it seemed like a few of those extended drives for ISU.

[wiu712]

 
 

[wiu712]

Game Day Forecast for Florence, Alabama:
Sunshine and clouds mixed.
High 83.
Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.

Dimers predicts North Alabama winning 31-23