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Louisiana Christian Upsets Northwestern State 42–37 in Week 0 Shock

The comeback raises questions about how NAIA wins over scholarship Division I teams are counted.

Overview

  • Louisiana Christian rallied from a 27–14 halftime deficit to beat Northwestern State 42–37 on Thursday night, handing the NAIA program its first win over a Division I opponent in modern reporting.
  • The Wildcats forced three turnovers and outscored Northwestern State 28–10 in the second half despite being outgained 525 yards to 347 and trailing in time of possession.
  • Running back Datlan Cunningham led LCU with 117 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns while Bryce Perkins and defensive plays including a 42-yard interception return turned the game in LCU’s favor.
  • The result comes against a Northwestern State program that went 0–12 in 2024 and 1–11 in 2025 under coach Blaine McCorkle and highlights that LCU is a small NAIA school that may offer limited equivalency scholarships.
  • Coverage of the upset also produced a major media error when syndicated copy from TotalProSports misidentified the opponent as Big Ten Northwestern, a mistake that was removed from Yahoo and amended on the publisher’s site and that has renewed scrutiny of partner content and editing practices.