WACO — The final score of a football game will tell a story, but sometimes the score will only tell you a small part of the story. Such is the case for Stephen F. Austin after they opened the Colby Carthel era with a 56-17 loss at Baylor on Saturday night. The ‘Jacks came out of this game seeing the positives.

“We got the first game under our belt. There was times we looked ok and there was times it looked like the first game of the year and the first game of the program,” said Carthel. “I was really pleased that our guys just kept playing and never gave up.”

A LONG WAIT

Colby Carthel was named the 20th head football coach in SFA history on Dec. 4, 2018. That was 271 days ago for those who are counting at home. The excitement of the ‘Jacks fans and the Nacogdoches, Texas faithful has been palpable and this game will not curb their enthusiasm.

“I think Lumberjacks everywhere are fired up and we’ve had a great recruiting class,” said Carthel. “It comes a time when you gotta believe in the vision - [we have] the hashtag it’s time to raise the ax now and actually play and play the game to win.”

FINDING POINTS

SFA struggled to move the ball on their first two drives of the game but found their groove in their third drive. Junior quarterback Trae Self led the ‘Jacks on an 11-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Self running the ball into the end zone from three yards out.

This was the fifth meeting between Baylor and SFA and Self’s touchdown marked the first points the ‘Jacks have ever scored against the Bears. Entering the game, Baylor held a 201-0 edge in points in the series. This was not lost on Carthel.

“I was glad we had a drive and scored because I told (Baylor) coach (Matt) Rhule all summer, I said if they fumbled on their side of the 40 (yard line) that we’re going to go out there and kick a field goal on first down and dogpile the kicker,” said Carthel. “We actually scored a real touchdown, so we held off on the dogpile in the endzone.”

PROBLEMS WITH THE PUNT

Carthel is known as a coach that is excellent with special teams. Part of his building process will include the punting unit after they only averaged 34.6 yards on five first-half punts and had a punt blocked. Including one interception, Baylor started five of their eight first-half drives inside SFA territory and scored touchdowns on four of those drives.

“I’m just hoping Scott Power (defensive coordinator) shows back up to work tomorrow because I’m in charge of the punt team and I put him in some bad situations,” said Carthel. “Our best punter is a guy we had to leave behind Thursday when we came over here.”

HELLO OLD FRIEND

SFA will return to Nacogdoches, Texas for their home opener next week against NCAA DII No. 7 Tarleton State on Sept. 7 at 6 p.m. Carthel is very familiar with the next opponent after the Texans ended his final season at Texas A&M-Commerce in the NCAA DII playoffs last season.

“I’ve told everyone all year; Tarleton will be the second most talented team we play this year. I think they’ll have more talent than any team we’ll see in the Southland (Conference),” said Carthel. “We know we’re going to have to improve a lot between now and next Saturday night because they are a national title contender at the DII level for a reason.”

Baylor will remain at home and face UTSA on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 3 p.m.