A School With Fewer Than 1,000 Students Just Did Something No NAIA Team Had Ever Done.

Louisiana Christian University has fewer than 1,000 undergraduate students. Northwestern State has more than five times that many, plays in the NCAA's Division I, and offers athletic scholarships Louisiana Christian's NAIA program doesn't. On paper, this wasn't supposed to be close. By early in the second half, it looked like it wasn't going to be — Northwestern State led 27-14.

Louisiana Christian outscored Northwestern State 28-10 over the rest of the game at Harry Turpin Stadium in Natchitoches, finishing it off 42-37. Quarterback Bryce Perkins threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns, including a 52-yard score to Omarius Davis that put the Wildcats up 42-30 with 14 minutes left. Running back Datlan Cunningham added 117 rushing yards and two touchdowns of his own, and Ernest Mitchell delivered a 42-yard pick-six that swung momentum in the third quarter.

Northwestern State cut the lead back to 42-37 with under three minutes left, setting up an onside kick that would have given the Demons the ball back with a real chance to win. Louisiana Christian recovered it, picked up the first downs it needed — including a 16-yard run from Cunningham on third-and-13 — and ran out the clock. That result made Louisiana Christian the first NAIA program in history to beat an NCAA Division I team that offers athletic scholarships. Only twelve other NAIA-over-D1 wins have happened at all, against non-scholarship or lower-division opponents; this is the thirteenth, and the first against a fully scholarship program.

IF Daily could not confirm a mainstream broadcast highlight video for this specific game at publication time; this account is drawn from Bleacher Report, Yahoo Sports, and Athlon Sports coverage, cited below.