Sport | Football |
---|---|
First meeting | November 7, 1924 Louisiana Normal 7, Stephen F. Austin 3 |
Latest meeting | October 5, 2024 Stephen F. Austin 59, Northwestern State 17 |
Next meeting | September 27, 2025 |
Trophy | Chief Caddo (1961–2019) |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 77 |
All-time series | Northwestern State leads, 45–29–3 |
Trophy series | Northwestern State leads, 32–21–1 |
Largest victory | Northwestern State, 52–0 (1991) |
Longest win streak | Northwestern State, 7 (1927–1933), (1976–1982) |
Current win streak | Stephen F. Austin, 3 (2019–present) |
Chief Caddo is the name of the statue formerly given to the winner of the annual football game between Southland Conference members Northwestern State University (NSU) of Natchitoches, Louisiana and Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) of Nacogdoches, Texas. Northwestern State University stopped participating in the exchange in 2021 after a Student Government Association and Faculty Senate joint resolution recognizing that Caddo Nation officials stated the statue was offensive, acknowledging the statue was inauthentic, and calling for the end to the practice. [1]
Made of solid wood, Chief Caddo was one of the largest trophies in college football, standing 7.5-foot (2.3 m) and weighing in excess of 330-pound (150 kg).
The idea of the statue was created in 1960 when longtime rivals NSU and SFA decided to award the winner of the game a trophy. The two schools settled on a wooden statue (both schools are located in heavily forested areas) supposedly representing an American Indian "chief" who, in European-American folklore originating in the 1930s, was responsible for settling the locations that became the cities in which university was located (both of which are named for branches of the tribe). Under the agreement, based on the results of the 1961 football game, the losing school would chop down a tree from one of its nearby forests, while the winning school would receive the log and carve the statue from it. [2]
NSU won the 1961 game 35–19; thus, SFA delivered a 2,000-pound black gum log to NSU. Woodcarver Harold Green spent some 230 hours fashioning the statue. It was named "Chief Caddo," supposedly after the Native nation that first settled the two communities.
In June 2010, after years of transportation to and from games had left "Chief Caddo" in poor condition, the trophy was given a much-needed refurbishing. The project, headed by Bill Flynn (Flynn Paint & Decorating of Nacogdoches), undertook the restoration of the trophy. Among the many restorations to the trophy were: the repairing of the base, the construction and replacement of feathers in the headdress, the restaining and repainting of the entire trophy, and intricate detailing.
NSU and SFA played for this trophy from 1961 to 2019. [2] [3]
In 2024, NSU and SFA announced that with SFA's return to the Southland Conference, the rivalry would continue but with a new trophy. "The Chief" has " the same 7-foot-6, 320-pound dimensions as the original, commissioned by both universities in 1960. It is topped with a pitchfork on one end and an axe on the other, with scores from past games adorning the length of the trophy. The winning team will display the trophy with its representative logo facing upward." Both schools engaged in conversations with the Caddo Nation regarding plans to add a piece designed by the nation to the trophy [4]
Currently, the statue resides at Stephen F. Austin State University.
Northwestern State victories | Stephen F. Austin victories | Tie games |
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Stephen F. Austin State University is a public university in Nacogdoches, Texas. It was founded as a teachers' college in 1923 and subsequently renamed after one of Texas's founding fathers, Stephen F. Austin. Its campus resides on part of the homestead of Thomas Jefferson Rusk. On May 11, 2023, the university joined the University of Texas System; it was previously one of two public universities in the state not affiliated with one of Texas's seven university systems.
Homer Bryce Stadium, located in Nacogdoches, Texas, is the home of Stephen F. Austin State University's Lumberjack football and Ladyjack and Lumberjack track and field events. The stadium includes a walking and running track open to the public. After renovations to take place over the summer of 2021 the track will be closed to the public. Recent renovations to the area include a sports medicine and academic center addition to the field house that houses the new athletic training program and the installation of a new artificial turf surface provided by a donation from a former Lumberjack football letterman. A state of the art video board with replay screen was completed in September 2016, home to largest video board in the South land Conference.
The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks and Ladyjacks are composed of 16 teams representing Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) in intercollegiate athletics. Stephen F. Austin teams participate in Division I as a member of the Southland Conference (SLC), having rejoined that conference on July 1, 2024 after three years in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The football team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision for football in the SLC. The only SFA sport not sponsored by the SLC is women's bowling, which competes in Conference USA (CUSA).
The Northwestern State Demons football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Northwestern State University located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and is a member of the Southland Conference. Northwestern State's first football team was fielded in 1907. The team plays its home games at the 15,971 seat Harry Turpin Stadium in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) located in the U.S. state of Texas. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as members of the Southland Conference, which SFA rejoins for the 2024 season after a three-year absence. SFA had played the 2023 season in the United Athletic Conference (UAC), newly formed for the 2023 season as a merger of the football leagues of SFA's previous home of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN). It replaced an alliance between the two conferences that operated in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
The Battle of the Piney Woods is a college football rivalry between Sam Houston State University (SHSU) located in Huntsville, Texas and Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) located in Nacogdoches, Texas.
The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball team is the men's basketball team that represents Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, United States.
The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks basketball team is the women's basketball team that represents Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) in Nacogdoches, Texas. SFA rejoined the Southland Conference on July 1, 2024 after playing the previous 3 seasons in the WAC.
The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, United States. The team is a member of the Southland Conference (SLC), which is part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The team plays its home games at Jaycees Field in Nacogdoches, Texas. The Lumberjacks are coached by Matt Vanderburg. On July 1, 2024, SFA returned to the SLC, which had been its conference home fromn 1987 to 2021, after three years in the Western Athletic Conference.
The 2012 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football team represented Stephen F. Austin State University in the 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Lumberjacks were led by sixth-year head coach J. C. Harper and played their home games at Homer Bryce Stadium. They were a member of the Southland Conference. They finished the season 5–6, 4–3 in Southland play to finish in a tie for fourth place.
The NSU Challenge is an American college football rivalry game played annually between the Nicholls Colonels football team representing Nicholls State University and Northwestern State Demons football team representing Northwestern State University. Both universities are members of the Southland Conference. The NSU Trophy, which is a wooden trophy enscripted with NSU goes to the winning team. Although Nicholls has changed their athletic brand name from Nicholls State to Nicholls in 2018, thus not going by NSU anymore in athletics, the rivalry is still called the NSU Challenge.
The Stephen F. Austin Jacks softball team represents the Stephen F. Austin State University, located in Nacogdoches, Texas. The Jacks, which participate in NCAA Division I college softball, were members of the Western Athletic Conference through the 2024 season, after which they will return to the Southland Conference after a three-season absence. The team is currently led by head coach Jeff Jackson and plays home games at SFA Softball Field.
SFA Softball Field is the home stadium for the Division I (NCAA) Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks softball team. The stadium is located next to Jaycees Field, home of the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks baseball team, in Nacogdoches, Texas. The stadium has seating for 750 fans. Stephen F. Austin State University has a nineteen (19) year exclusive use lease on the stadium with the City of Nacogdoches, Texas starting in 2010. The university made several improvements to the preexisting city softball field including a new playing surface, a warning track, a Daktronics electronic scoreboard, new dugouts, windscreens, a new grandstand, an expanded press box, and bullpens.
The 2020–21 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball team represented Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Lumberjacks, led by fifth-year head coach Kyle Keller, played home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, Texas. This season was the Lumberjacks' last as members of the Southland Conference; SFA is one of four schools, all from Texas, that will leave the Southland in July 2021 to join the Western Athletic Conference.
The 2021 Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks softball team represented Stephen F. Austin State University in the 2021 NCAA Division I softball season. The Ladyjacks played their home games at SFA Softball Field and were led by fifth year head coach Nicole Dickson. They were members of the Southland Conference.
The 2021–22 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball team represented Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Lumberjacks, led by sixth-year head coach Kyle Keller, played their home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, Texas. This season was the Lumberjacks' first as members of the Western Athletic Conference; SFA was one of four schools, all from Texas, that left the Southland Conference in July 2021 joining the WAC.
The 2000 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football team represented Stephen F. Austin State University as a member of the Southland Conference during the 2000 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Led by second-year head coach Mike Santiago the Lumberjacks compiled an overall record of 6–5 with a mark of 3–4 in conference play, placing fifth in the Southland. Stephen F. Austin played home games at Homer Bryce Stadium in Nacogdoches, Texas.
The 1988 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football team was an American football team that represented Stephen F. Austin State University as a member of the Southland Conference during the 1988 NCAA Division I-AA football season. In their seventh year under head coach Jim Hess, the team compiled an overall record of 10–3, with a mark of 5–1 in conference play, and finished second in the Southland. After they defeated Jackson State in the first round, the Lumberjacks lost to Georgia Southern in the Division I-AA quarterfinals.
The 2024 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football team represents Stephen F. Austin State University as a member of the Southland Conference (SLC) during the 2024 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Lumberjacks are coached by sixth-year head coach Colby Carthel and play at Homer Bryce Stadium in Nacogdoches, Texas.
The 2005 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football team represented Stephen F. Austin State University as a member of the Southland Conference during the 2005 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Led by first-year head coach Robert McFarland, the Lumberjacks compiled an overall record of 5–6 with a mark of 1–5 in conference play, placing in last place in the Southland. Stephen F. Austin played home games at Homer Bryce Stadium in Nacogdoches, Texas.