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That wonderful but cheesy 1960’s television show Batman! featured pop-up visual exclamations such as “Pow!”, “Zowee!” or “Oof” as Batman and Robin dispensed of the villains every week.
My dearly departed ninth grade English teacher (insensitively nicknamed “Juicy Lucy” by students due to her poorly fitting dentures) would correct me at this point.
Those one-word exclamations which sound like the actions they represent are actually known as onomatopoeia.
Thank you, Dynamic Duo, for helping me to pass English many decades ago!
The top two teams in the SwampSwamiSports.com FCS Top 25 each administered an assortment of onomatopoeias toward their respective opponents last weekend.
Top-rated Tarleton State generously spotted United Athletics Conference foe West Georgia an early 6-0 lead in Carrollton, Georgia on Saturday.
The unbeaten Texans then pummeled the home team by scoring the next 49 points (“Kapow!”) as they humiliated the wounded Wolves 49-6. Tarleton State moved to 8-0 as they racked up nearly 500 yards of total offense at West Georgia (now 1-6).
The Southeastern Louisiana Lions have a long reputation for being a rugged Southland Conference football competitor. They have finished with a 9-4 record on three occasions over the past five seasons and played in the FCS playoffs. SLU traveled to Nacogdoches, Texas on Saturday to face #2-ranked and unbeaten Stephen F. Austin.
SFA immediately pounced on Southeastern (“Biff!”) and led 21-7 early in the second quarter.
A delighted home crowd of more than 12,000 watched the high-scoring Lumberjacks subdue the Lions 45-24 and improve to 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the Southland Conference. Southeastern Louisiana dropped to 4-4.
Stephen F. Austin’s 8-0 start is the school’s best in more than 100 years of football.
On Monday, Stephen F. Austin’s head football coach Colby Carthel was rewarded with a contract extension intended to keep him (perhaps) in East Texas through 2031.
This is his ninth season as the head coach at SFA.
The rest of the FCS Playoff field is tightening
Tarleton State, Stephen F. Austin, and 6-0 Harvard remained the only unbeaten teams in the FCS this week.
Right behind them are four teams with one loss apiece. Defending champion Montana State is 7-1 along with the Campbell Fighting Camels and Tennessee Tech. Dayton improved to 6-1.
There are 19 more teams which have two losses through last weekend’s games.
November brings a number of rivalry games between many of today’s top-rated teams. The resulting carnage over the final month will create a 24-team FCS playoff field which is bound to include a number of three-loss teams.
The Campbell Fighting Camels won a record 7th game on Saturday
Congratulations to Campbell University of the Coastal Athletic Association!
Those pass-happy Fighting Camels from North Carolina cruised to a 35-6 win over the Maine Black Bears (now 1-6). Saturday’s game in Orono, Maine (located just north of Bangor) saw the 7-1 Fighting Camels throw for 455 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday.
This is the first time in which Campbell University has won seven football games during a football season as a member of the FCS.
The road gets much tougher beginning this Saturday. The Fighting Camels will “hump-it” to New York for an 11AM CDT kickoff against the 5-3 Albany Great Danes.
Campbell is 4-0 in CAA league play while UA comes in at 3-1.
And the Northwestern State Demons just lost their 8th game of the season
Last Saturday’s full moon and a homecoming crowd didn’t help the Northwestern State Demons win their first game of the 2026 football season.
The Demons trailed Southland Conference rival Nicholls State 27-24 late in the fourth quarter Saturday in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
They drove the football downfield 71 yards on 12 plays to the Colonels’ 15-yard line with only five seconds left in the game. Northwestern State’s final pass into the end zone was intercepted by Nicholls to end the football game and sink the Demons to 0-8 this year. The Colonels improved to 3-5.
A dejected Northwestern State head coach Blaine McCorkle told the press afterwards, “You can’t write that script anywhere. Our guys continue to fight unbelievably hard.”
The loss was Northwestern State’s 19th in a row going back to August, 2025.
Towson State and VMI are also winless at 0-8 coming into this weekend’s games.
FCS Spotlight – Pioneer Football League
Upon hearing the names of universities such as Dayton, Butler, and Davidson, my mind immediately says, “Basketball!”
Those three schools plus eight others also play football in the FCS Pioneer Football League.
The PFL remains the only non-scholarship, football-only conference in the FCS.
It was founded in 1993 by a group of Midwestern universities including Butler, Drake, Dayton, and Valparaiso. The Evansville Purple Aces were the fifth founding member. That school ended its 75-year old football program in 1997 due to rising costs.
The Pioneer Football League later added football-playing schools in the West (University of San Diego), East (Marist in Poughkeepsie, NY), and South (Stetson in DeLand, Florida just north of Orlando).
The winner of the Pioneer Football League was finally awarded an automatic bid into the FCS 24-team playoffs beginning in 2013. The league has yet to produce an FCS champion.
Reminder – the PFL member schools do not provide football scholarships.
Dayton and the University of San Diego have dominated the Pioneer Football League. Both schools have won the PFL 12 times during the league’s 33-year history.
The Dayton Flyers are 6-1 this fall and tied for the conference lead at 3-1 with Butler, Marist, and the St. Thomas (MN) Tommies.
The Pioneer Football League’s tiebreaker to determine a league champion to participate in the FCS playoffs is rather complicated (read it here).
Let’s hope that one team emerges as the outright champion in late November!
Now, let’s raise the curtain on the SwampSwamiSports.com FCS Top 25 teams for the week ending Saturday, October 24, 2026:
