November 22, 2025

HELENA, Mont. – The 2025 NAIA Football Championship Series kicks off Saturday, Nov. 22, on four campus sites - two in the Eastern Time Zone, one in the Central Time Zone, and one in the Mountain Time Zone. Saturday’s games feature seeds 13 through 20 in the NAIA postseason, and the four winners will join seeds 1 through 12 in next week’s Second Round. 

Three games will air on the Urban Edge Network, with links to apps, URLs, and smart TV information available at www.naia.org/watch. One game will air on a pay-per-view basis on The Sun Conference Network.
NAIA’s No. 14 national seed Carroll (Mont.) hosts No. 17 seed St. Thomas (Fla.) in the opening round of the Football Championships Series (FCS) Saturday.  Kick-off is set for 1 p.m. (Mountain Time) at Nelson Stadium.

St. Thomas makes the longest trip of the first round, heading west to face Carroll. The Bobcats feature one of the NAIA’s top scoring offenses at 41.2 points per game and rank among the top 25 nationally in scoring defense (20.1). Quarterback Keely Watson leads the aerial attack, averaging 244 yards per game with 25 touchdowns while completing 57.7% of his passes.

Carroll counters with a balanced but explosive offense, led by Kaden Huot’s 251.5 passing yards per game and 28 touchdowns on 65.6% accuracy. Defensively, the Saints have been one of the toughest units in the NAIA, allowing just 17.2 points per game and fewer than 100 rushing yards per contest.

The Saints are making their 25th all-time appearance in the NAIA Football Championship Series and enter the postseason seeking their 43rd playoff victory and seventh national championship. Carroll has appeared in eight title games, winning six Red Banners.

No. 3 national seed Montana Tech and No. 8 seed College of Idaho, who earned an automatic bid after winning the division title in the Frontier Conference, will be idle this Saturday.  They will host a playoff game next Saturday, Nov. 29.