Thirty-three North Carolina college football teams started the season in August. After five weekends of games, only four remain unbeaten — and each represents a different level of college football in our state.
Duke, Louisburg and Mars Hill improved to 4-0 with victories Saturday, while Brevard moved to 3-0 with a 59-0 shutout of Guilford. That’s it. Every other college team with a North Carolina address has at least one blemish.
Duke represents the state’s FBS programs, Mars Hill is the lone unbeaten from Division II and Brevard carries the flag for Division III. Louisburg, the state’s only junior college football program, rounds out the unbeaten quartet.
Four other teams have four wins at this point in the season. Campbell, Elon, Shaw and UNC Pembroke each bagged wins Saturday to bump their records to 4-1.
App State was the only undefeated team to suffer a defeat this past weekend, and the Mountaineers made NC State fight to finish to secure its 41-31 victory. App State tied the game 31-31 after trailing 21-0 and 28-7.
North Carolina Teams With Winning Records | After Week 4
Duke (FBS) 4-0
Louisburg (NJCAA) 4-0
Mars Hill (D2) 4-0
Brevard (D3) 3-0
Campbell (FCS) 4-1
Elon (FCS) 4-1
Shaw (D2) 4-1
UNC Pembroke (D2) 4-1
Appalachian State (FBS) 3-1
Johnson C. Smith (D2) 3-1
Wake Forest (FBS) 3-1
North Carolina Wesleyan (D3) 2-1
North Carolina (FBS) 2-1
👉 View the complete Statewide Standings list: Win-loss records for all 33 NC college teams in one table.
Duke breaks into Top 25
Duke, which rolled past William & Mary 62-7, is finally starting to get national Top 25 attention. The Blue Devils jumped into the FBS coaches poll at No. 21 this week. The Devils are still out of the Associated Press rankings but not by much. They are the second team out.
Duke is currently tied with Louisburg (more on them below) for the longest active win streak in the state – eight in a row. The Blue Devils won their last four games of the 2025 season, including the ACC title game and Sun Bowl, and have been perfect so far in 2026.
Duke had no problems with William & Mary in its final non-conference tilt of the season. The 62-point tally was the highest score for the Blue Devils since 1949.
Running back Nate Sheppard needed just nine carries to reach the 100-yard plateau again. He finished with 116 and a touchdown, pushing his season tally to 644 yards (first in FBS). He’s averaging 7.1 yards per carry.
NC’s Longest Active Winning Streaks
8 – Duke, Louisburg
5 – Brevard
4 – Mars Hill, Shaw
3 – Johnson C. Smith, UNC Pembroke
2 – Campbell, East Carolina, Elon
Surprise! Mars Hill Leads South Atlantic Conference
Mars Hill came into the 2026 season picked eighth out of 10 teams in the Division II South Atlantic Conference. Frankly, they were mostly an afterthought in our summer coverage as we focused on Wingate (picked first), Lenoir-Rhyne (picked third) and Catawba (picked sixth, which we thought was too low).
Kevin Barnette’s Lions have our attention now.
After having its open date in Week 0, Mars Hill has since reeled off four impressive wins without a misstep:
- 17-0 at Winston-Salem State
- 22-16 against Catawba
- 15-7 against Lenoir-Rhyne
- 10-6 at Carson Newman
Mars Hill currently sits on top of the SAC standings with Anderson. Both are 3-0 in league play. Anderson was picked seventh in the preseason, so the whole league is rather upside down right now.
The Lions also jumped into both major D2 Top 25 polls this week. They are tied for No. 21 in the latest coaches poll and No. 22 in the D2Football.com poll.
Your #21 / #22 ranked football program in Division II Football!#RollHill | #MHULions pic.twitter.com/8i486to59f — Mars Hill Athletics (@mhulions) September 28, 2026
Mars Hill’s two most recent wins were the most eye-catching. After holding Lenoir-Rhyne to just 16 rushing yards and seven points, the Lions ‘D’ rose up again at Carson-Newman, which features one of the top ground attacks in D2.
The Eagles came into Saturday averaging better than 330 yards rushing per game. They only managed 178 yards (and zero passing yards) and never found the end zone, settling for two field goals in the first half. Mars Hill stuffed 12 of 15 third-down plays and two of three on fourth down.
Jy’Mire Wright, Isaac White and Jamarion Farrior lived around the ball all day Saturday, making 15, 14 and 11 tackles respectively. Saturday’s stingy defensive effort has Mars Hill ranked fifth nationally in rushing defense (74.0 yards per game) and fifth in total defense (228.8).
On the offensive side, Mars Hill receiver Charlie Guinade ranks 19th nationally in total yards (416). He made 12 catches for 167 yards from quarterback Lukas Kachilo on Saturday, including the game-winning 5-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
South Atlantic Conference Standings
| School | SAC | Overall |
| Mars Hill | 3-0 | 4-0 |
| Anderson | 3-0 | 4-1 |
| Carson-Newman | 2-1 | 4-1 |
| Newberry | 2-1 | 3-1 |
| Tusculum | 2-1 | 3-2 |
| Catawba | 1-2 | 2-3 |
| Lenoir-Rhyne | 1-2 | 2-3 |
| Wingate | 1-2 | 2-3 |
| Emory & Henry | 0-3 | 1-4 |
| UVA Wise | 0-3 | 0-5 |
Louisburg College continues 2026 domination
The Hurricanes improved to 4-0 with a 44-0 shutout of Sussex County on Saturday, extending their winning streak to eight games.
Louisburg, which entered the season regarded as one of the nation’s top NJCAA Division III programs, has been particularly dominant defensively. The Hurricanes have posted three shutouts in four games and have allowed just 28 points total — all of them in a 35-28 victory over Central Georgia Tech.
Louisburg’s defense did more than keep Sussex off the scoreboard Saturday. The Hurricanes returned two interceptions for touchdowns and forced multiple turnovers, while freshman quarterback Houston Scott started in place of unavailable starter Thomas Stallworth. Louisburg led 24-0 at halftime before pulling away for the 44-0 victory.
Brevard football unstoppable so far
Brevard was the last North Carolina college team to start its season. The Tornados played their first game on Sept. 12 but the wait has been worth it so far.
Coach Bill Khayat’s team ran its record to 3-0 with a 59-0 shutout of Guilford College on the road this past Saturday – the most points the team has tallied since 2017. The Tornadoes rushed for 302 yards, never punted, forced four turnovers and held Guilford to 173 total yards.
Zion Fauntleroy-McDaniel rushed for a pair of scores. Christian Conley threw two touchdown passes, both to Miles Mason within a minute of each other in the second quarter.
DJ Stevenson returned an interception 88 yards for a score. Spencer Crum hit a 25-yard field goal and made all eight PATs.
Brevard jumps into USA South Conference play this week against Belhaven. The Tornados were picked fourth in the league but received one first-place vote. Belhaven was voted third behind defending champ LaGrange and Huntingdon.
More standings notes after Week 4 games
- Only three of our 33 college teams remain winless after five weeks of action. Charlotte and Elizabeth City State both own 0-4 records, while Winston-Salem State is 0-5.
- Charlotte has the longest active losing streak in our state, now at 13 games after Saturday’s loss to Louisiana. WSSU has dropped its last seven games, and ECSU has lost four in a row after finishing last season on a three-game winning streak.
- Methodist and North Carolina A&T shed two of the longest losing streaks in the state on Saturday. Methodist beat The Apprentice School 27-22 to end a nine-game skid. A&T upset Rhode Island 22-18 to get back on track after eight straight defeats.
- Only three teams own .500 records at this stretch – NC State, East Carolina and Chowan who are each 2-2.
- Eight teams are 2-3 after five weeks of play.
