From the desert to the Top 10 — Campbell surging midway through the season

Consider me an uneducated FCS fan, but I can’t say I know a whole lot about the Campbell Fighting Camels.

In fact, when I opened our weekly rankings and saw the Fighting Camels in the top 10, I was flabbergasted.

Then I took the time to educate myself, and I might have a new top-three favorite team in the country and without question a new favorite mascot.

Campbell (7-1, 4-0) sits near the top of the CAA standings, only behind Monmouth, just one year after finishing with a record of 2-10. In fact the seven wins already this season is a program record, topping the six-win mark they had reached only four times since the program started in 2008.

A lot of credit for that turnaround belongs to third-year coach Braxton Harris, who has taught his team to fight through adversity after finishing 14th and 10th in the conference in his first two seasons.

It also helps having senior quarterback Kamden Sixkiller — amazing name — at the helm of an explosive passing offense. Sixkiller, who started his career at McNeese for two seasons before transferring to Campbell as a junior, has already thrown for a career-best 2,349 yards and 18 touchdowns, while adding 219 yards and four scores on the ground.

Sixkiller has also had plenty of targets to spread the ball around to — with nine players catching double-digit passes this season. Jyron Waiters leads Campbell in receiving with a team-best 35 catches for 497 yards and five scores. In the running game, JJ Cowan has 516 yards and three scores on the ground, while De’Von Thomas had found the end zone seven times on just 29 carries.

The marquee win so far for Campbell came in the season opener against No. 12 East Tennessee State with a 49-37 win on the road. But the true test of the Fighting Camels’ talents will come over the final month of the season.

Campbell’s daunting final stretch features games all against teams that are .500 or better, starting Saturday at No. 22 UAlbany (Noon EDT, ESPN+). Then comes games against Stony Brook, at Elon and finally against conference-leading No. 18 Monmouth.

The turnaround that has happened in Buies Creek, North Carolina has to be one of the best feel-good stories in the FCS this season, but the Fighting Camels are hoping to prove they are more than just a flash in the pan.

Stephen F. Austin extends coach Carthel: Everything that could go right this season, has gone right for Stephen F. Austin.

The Lumberjacks are a perfect 8-0 on the year, including a 5-0 record to top the Southland Conference. Quarterback Gavin Rutherford has the offense humming for seventh-ranked SFA and the defense is playing lights out.

So it only makes sense that the program rewards the man in charge. And on Monday, they did just that.

Stephen F. Austin announced it has extended head coach Colby Carthel through the 2031 season, keeping the program’s all-time winningest coach in Nacogdoches, Texas for the foreseeable future.

"Colby has built a championship culture through outstanding coaching staffs, player development and retention, and a genuine connection to our community,” SFA Athletic Director Michael McBroom said in a school release. “Our recent success is a testament to that foundation, but we're even more excited about what's ahead.”

The Lumberjacks now enter a pivotal two-week stretch in their schedule hosting Houston Christian on Saturday (2 p.m. CDT, ESPN+) followed by a trip to No. 14 Lamar on Nov. 7.

Top 25 movement: The top four spots remained unchanged this week with Tarleton State leading the way, followed by Montana State, South Dakota State and Youngstown State — but it was South Dakota that jumped into the fifth slot after toppling rival North Dakota over the weekend.

Lehigh suffered its second-straight loss, dropping the Mountain Hawks from No. 12 to No. 25, while the middle of the poll is still a bit muddied but saw teams like Monmouth, UC Davis and East Tennessee State climb.

Two new teams entered the Top 25 this week with UAlbany and Chattanooga taking spots 22 and 23 respectively.

Looking ahead: Oh baby, this weekend is a big one.

The Missouri Valley Football Conference will again continue its inner-conference carnage Saturday as No. 8 North Dakota travels to No. 4 Youngstown State (Noon EDT, ESPN+) and No. 5 South Dakota takes on rival No. 3 South Dakota State (3 p.m. CDT, ESPNU). Those two results could clear the picture on who has the inside track to the conference title and playoff autobid, but also an SDSU or Youngstown win could give them a shot at a top two playoff seed.

We’ve already mentioned the Campbell/UAlbany ranked showdown, but there are actually four ranked matchups on the slate this week as No. 21 UC Davis travels to No. 19 Weber State (1 p.m. MDT, ESPN+) as both schools try to keep pace with Big Sky leaders Montana State and Northern Arizona.

Other games of interest on the slate include Thursday’s MEAC showdown between South Carolina State and Morgan State (7 p.m. EDT, ESPNU), Friday’s battle for the top of the Ivy League between No. 16 Harvard and Dartmouth (7 p.m. EDT, ESPNU) and No. 11 Montana looking to end its two-game slide with a trip to the red turf of Eastern Washington on Saturday (1 p.m. PDT, ESPN+)