For the First Time Since 2017, NAU Football Earns FCS Playoff Berth

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FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Nov. 24, 2024) – Less than one year after announcing Brian Wright as Northern Arizona's 31^st head football coach, the Lumberjacks have earned an at-large berth to the Division I Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs for the first time since 2017.
 
The Lumberjacks will play at No. 15 Abilene Christian in the first round on Saturday, Nov. 30 at 1 p.m. Mountain Standard time on ESPN+ from Wildcat Stadium in Abilene, Texas. The winner will go on face No. 2 North Dakota State in Fargo, N.D. on Dec. 7.
 
"I'm extremely excited, of course, to see our team's hard work pay off. I'm so proud of our seniors and our veteran players that last December when this new staff showed up decided to stay here and be committed to what our direction was going to be. I'm certainly excited for our players, our staff, and our community to have something to continue to play for," said Wright. "We are focused on going 1-0 this week and putting a good game plan together. We are a little beat up, so we need to get healthy and not let the moment get too big. We're going to go play football like we've done so well at time throughout the course of the season."
 
NAU ended the regular season 8-4 overall and 6-2 in Big Sky Conference play, winning its final five games for the longest winning streak since 2017. The Lumberjacks finished undefeated at home for just the third time in program history at 5-0 (2015, 1978), and its four losses all came on the road to No. 20 Arizona, No. 14 UIW, No. 10 Idaho and No. 12 Montana – all of which made the FCS playoffs outside of the Wildcats.
 
It marks the most amount of wins since 2013 when the Lumberjacks won nine games and is the first winning season since 2017 as well outside of the shortened Spring of 2021 season.
 
Northern Arizona joins four other Big Sky Conference teams in No. 1 Montana State, No. 5 UC Davis, No. 8 Idaho and No. 14 Montana as the league leads the FCS in playoff selections.
 
It's the sixth FCS Playoff appearance for the Lumberjacks in program history, going 1-5 in the postseason. The lone win came in 2003 when NAU upset top-seeded McNeese State on the road 35-3 to advance to the quarterfinals – the furthest the Lumberjacks have advanced.
 
NAU is 0-4 in playoff games played in Flagstaff and 1-1 on the road. The Lumberjacks have played one playoff game in the state of Texas, losing to Sam Houston State 34-31 in 2001.
 
Abilene Christian also finished the regular season 8-4 and 7-1 in United Athletic Conference play. The Wildcats won the UAC Championship earning the auto-bid for its first ever playoff game at the Division I level. This season, ACU is 2-1 against nationally ranked teams with wins over Central Arkansas and Tarleton State and a loss to Idaho.
 
Against UAC teams this season, NAU is 1-0 after topping Utah Tech on the road earlier in the year.
 
Northern Arizona and Abilene Christian have met three times in program history, with the Lumberjacks leading 3-0. It marks the first meeting since 2014 when the Lumberjacks won 27-21 in Abilene. The other two meetings came in 1989 and 1995 in Flagstaff.