Game 1 • #8 Northwest Missouri State
Kingsville, TX • Javelina Stadium
Texas A&M-Kingsville (0-0, 0-0) vs #8 Northwest Missouri State (0-0, 0-0)
Saturday, August 29th • 7:00 pm CT
TV: FloCollege

Kingsville - Texas A&M-Kingsville will kick off the 2026 college football season at home against top-ten ranked Northwest Missouri State Saturday from Javelina Stadium.

Under the direction of second-year Head Coach Scott Parr, the Javelinas will look to begin their 2026 campaign with a bang against a Bearcat team that is a consensus top-ten team in Division II in the preseason polls. Saturday's contest will be the first time since the 2023 season where the Javelinas hosted a non-conference ranked opponent, in which they defeated No. 20 West Georgia in Javelina Stadium.

Saturday's contest is the first time since 2010 that the Bearcats have traveled to Javelina Stadium, as the previous two matchups have both occurred in Maryville, Missouri. The Javelinas are still searching for their first win against the Bearcats since that 2010 season, as they are 0-3 historically in their last three matchups.

Texas A&M-Kingsville will have a new quarterback in command of the offense in Mills Dawson, who transferred to the Javelinas by way of Western Illinois before the 2025 season. Dawson joins preseason player to watch Christian Kretz, who finished last season top ten in the conference in receptions and receiving yards.

Defensively, it will be a brand new looking defense for the Javelinas with new defensive coordinator Cortez Carter in command. Carter will have a good amount of returning talent to play with, namely defensive preseason player to watch Jeremiah Conaway and linebacker Max Alvarez, who will look to be key contributors for the Javelina defense this season.

It will be a good test for the Javelina defense early, as Northwest Missouri State returns the MIAA co-freshman of the year from last season Zechariah Owens and D2Football.com elite 100 offensive lineman Kaleb McCullough, who look to power the Bearcats offense that reached the NCAA DII playoffs last season.

Kickoff for Saturday's contest is set for 7:00 pm. Fans of the Javelinas can watch the game of FloCollege or follow the action at JavelinaFB on X.

Quick Hitters:

- Both the Javelinas and Bearcats have combined for 13 national championships in football, with the Javelina slightly edging out the Bearcats with seven national championships

- The Javelinas return fourth fifths of their starting offensive line from last season, including second-team all-conference selection Miguel Carrizales.

- Texas A&M-Kingsville also returns freshman phenom Edward Chumley, who was named as a second-team all-conference running back in his debut season with the Javelinas.

- Northwest Missouri State could have a dynamic trio of weapons on the outside, boasting three division I transfers in their wide receiver room (two from Kansas State, one from Kansas)