HELENA, Mont. – Head Coach Troy Purcell has finalized the 2026 Carroll College Football schedule, complete with a trio of games under the lights on Valley Bank Field at Nelson Stadium.
 
The 2025-26 academic year is in the books, and that means we're right around the corner from the start of Football season.
 
Coming off a 9-3 campaign in the Fall of 2025 that saw Carroll both host - and win - their first postseason contest since the 2014 season, the Fighting Saints are primed for another opportunity to secure the program's 46^th conference title.
 
A 2024 facelift to Nelson Stadium saw artificial turf installation, as well as the addition of state-of-the-art premium lighting. This Fall, the Fighting Saints will make good use of both.
 
For the first time in the 112-year history of the program, Carroll will play three of their five scheduled home games - as well as one road game - under the lights. The home slate will feature alternating start times, with three 6 p.m. kickoffs and a pair of traditional 1 p.m. starts in-between.
 
Thursday, August 27, the Fighting Saints will be one the first teams in the nation to take the field, as they host MSU-Northern in a non-conference opener at 6 p.m. The Thursday night season-opener will be one of just a handful of NAIA games to take place on the first official day of competition.
 
The Saints' lone home game in the month of September comes on September 19, as they host Dickinson State in another non-conference matchup with a 1 p.m. kick. With six NAIA National Championships, 45 Conference titles, and an NAIA Record 73 All-Americans, Carroll College is the Gold Standard of NAIA Football. The tilt with the Blue Hawks will be Carroll's first Gold Standard game, where all fans are encouraged to wear Gold - matching the Gold helmets the Fighting Saints will be wearing as a tribute to the unmatched success of the Mike Van Diest-era Saints who dominated the NAIA landscape for the better part of two decades. 
 
One of the most anticipated weekends of the year - Homecoming - will take place October 1-3. The annual Homecoming Football game will cap a jam-packed week filled with multiple sports hosting home games, the fourth annual March on the Downton Helena Walking Mall, and the 2026 Carroll Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The Fighting Saints will host Arizona Christian for the first time since 2023, beginning Frontier Conference-West play with a 6 p.m. kick on October 3.
 
The following weekend, Carroll will host the second leg of their only two-game homestand of the season, welcoming in Montana Western for a traditional 1 p.m. start. The October 10 game against the Bulldogs will be Carroll's first Purple Reign game, and fans are encouraged to help blanket Nelson Stadium in a sea of Purple, as we pay homage to Hall of Fame Coach Bob Petrino Sr. and his three decades of Saints who established Carroll Football as a prominent postseason contender.
 
The '26 home slate concludes with Nelson Stadium's first-ever Senior Night, as Carroll hosts Southern Oregon at 6 p.m. on Halloween night in a critical late-season Divisional matchup.
 
Along with the five home games on the 2026 schedule, five games will take place on the road.
 
The first road test of the season comes on September 5 at 1 p.m., as the Saints look to avenge last year's Second Round loss in the NAIA Football Championship against rival Montana Tech at Alumni Coliseum in Butte.
 
Carroll will wrap up the non-conference portion of its schedule on the last weekend in September, heading to Billings for a 6 p.m. showdown against former Defensive Coordinator Randy Bandelow and the Battlin' Bears. Bandelow spent four seasons calling the Carroll defense before being named the Rocky Mountain College Head Coach this past winter.
 
On October 7, the Saints will make their first trip to Northern California for a 2 p.m. (MST) matchup with Simpson, taking a Redhawks program that is entering its third season in program history.
 
The back end of the '26 slate will be a tough finish for Carroll, as they head West on back-to-back road trips to cap the regular season. November 7 they'll head to Caldwell, Idaho for a high-noon kick, looking to upend defending Frontier-West Champion College of Idaho.
 
Carroll wraps up the regular season at 2 p.m. (MST) on November 14 against Eastern Oregon in La Grande, Ore. – a historically hard place to play.
 
Season ticket renewals for Carroll Football will begin on Monday, June 1. All prior-year ticketholders will be emailed instructions on how to renew their respective seats through Hometown Tickets. Prior-year seating will be held through June 19, and beginning on June 20 all unclaimed tickets will be made available to the public.
 
Single game tickets for the 2026 season will be made available beginning August 1.
 
All Carroll Football tickets can be purchased online by clicking HERE.