Stephen F. Austin is pumped about getting the standalone slot on ESPN Friday night for its FCS quarterfinal against Montana State. There’s just one thing coach Colby Carthel wants ESPN to get right.
“Well, I mean, we’re the standalone game on ESPN 1 — national television,” Carthel said ahead of the game. “Nobody else is on there. The only thing that’s disappointing is I’m sure it’ll say ‘SF Austin.’ Why we can’t get that fixed? Not on us, but ESPN. Come on, ESPN, let’s get it going. I mean, we’ve been on ESPN all the time, it just says ‘SF Austin.’ It should say ‘SFA.'”
Dear @ESPN,
SF Austin is not playing in the @NCAA_FCS, but SFA is!
WE ARE SFA. See you in Bozeman!#AxeEm x #EastTexasTough pic.twitter.com/mXcYCozeY6
— Lumberjack Football (@SFA_Football) December 9, 2025
The problem is that “SF Austin” sounds like the city, and Stephen F. Austin State University is in Nacogdoches, three hours away. The school brands itself as SFA. That’s what the athletics logo says. The football team’s Twitter handle is @SFA_Football. Everyone associated with the school calls it SFA. ESPN is the outlier here, not them.
The school’s executive director of university marketing and communications, Korbin Pate, said on X that they’ve been trying to get ESPN to fix this for 10 years. “We’ve tried all the formal processes for the last 10 years with no success,” Pate wrote. “With @CoachCarthel’s help, we’re going to keep putting the pressure on!”
We’ve tried all the formal processes for the last 10 years with no success. With @CoachCarthel’s help, we’re going to keep putting the pressure on! #AxeEm https://t.co/p36Njk5MZL
— Korbin Pate (@KorbinPate) December 9, 2025
Ten years of emails and phone calls haven’t worked. So now Carthel’s saying it publicly before the biggest game of SFA’s season. The 7th-seeded Lumberjacks (11-2) get a standalone window on ESPN at 9 p.m. ET Friday in Bozeman against 2nd-seeded Montana State (11-2). SFA started 0-2 and has won 11 straight since. They beat Abilene Christian 41-34 in the second round, with former Montana quarterback Sam Vidlak throwing for 357 yards and three touchdowns.
Getting the name right shouldn’t be this hard.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.