College football season is rapidly coming to a close. There are just four more games left in the regular season for FBS teams, and even fewer for FCS teams, and before we know it, we’ll be watching the final 12-team playoff in college football history. This season has flown by, so make sure you enjoy the final few weeks and soak it all in.

Before we get into this weekend’s action, we’ve got to catch you up on some CFB news. From Purdue pausing their annual series against Notre Dame to some FCS Top-25 drama, here’s everything you need to know this Wednesday.

Purdue Announces Pause in Its Series With Notre Dame

Purdue and Notre Dame have one of the longest-standing rivalries in college football. These two programs have squared off 90 times, but earlier this week Purdue announced it is pausing its annual series for at least the next two seasons. Instead, Purdue will travel to West Virginia in 2027 for their final non-conference game.

Purdue Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tommy McClelland said the reason for the pause was the need to adjust their schedule with the 24-team playoff. With the expanded playoff coming next year, programs like Purdue have a real shot at making the CFP, and since they play in the Big 10 and already have a lot of great teams on their schedule, they don’t want to add another one by playing Notre Dame.

Kind of soft if you ask me, but hey, gotta do what you gotta do.

Howard Suffers Major Offensive Blow Ahead of South Carolina State Game

Howard football is preparing to face off against South Carolina State this weekend, but they will be without their starting quarterback, Ja’Shawn Scroggins. In fact, they will be without him for their final three games of the season after he suffered a season-ending injury.

In 2026, Scroggins has completed exactly half of his passes for 1,092 yards, six touchdowns, and five interceptions while adding 228 yards and three scores on the ground. With him out, Isaiah Freeman is likely to take over as the starter for the rest of the year.

Has Scroggins been great? No, but it’s hard to make such a drastic change to your offense this late in the season.

Alabama A&M Returns to FCS Top-25 After Five-Year Absence

Alabama A&M hasn’t been ranked in the FCS Top-25 since 2021, a season when FCS football was played in the spring due to COVID. They finished as the No. 24 team in the country, but since then it’s been all downhill for the Bulldogs, who haven’t won more than six games in a season.

After a 7-2 start to the season and a win over Alabama State, the Bulldogs are officially back in the top-25. The Bulldogs ended a four-year drought against Alabama State, and now sit at No. 24 in the FCS Top-25. With a game against the defending SWAC champions coming up, the Bulldogs could keep climbing this week.

Northern Arizona Reaches 30-Year Ranking Milestone as FCS Contender

Another FCS team that has blown expectations out of the water this season is Northern Arizona, who currently sits at No. 6 in the FCS Top-25, a ranking they haven’t held since the 1996 season. With just two games to play, Northern Arizona is looking to move to 8-2 and essentially secure a spot in the FCS playoffs with a win this weekend.

NAU will hit the road and travel to Cal Poly. The Mustangs are 4-6 on the year and have dropped three straight games to teams much worse than NAU. They would love nothing more than to upset NAU and potentially erase their playoff hopes, so Northern Arizona can’t sleep on their opponent.

Tennessee Tech Crashes FCS Top-10 After Conference Switch

Tennessee Tech spent over three quarters of a century in the Ohio Valley Conference, which included winning the last two OVC championships, but this past offseason, they decided to make a big change and move to the Southern Conference, and they’re already reaping the benefits. In their first year in their new conference, Tennessee Tech is 8-1 and ranked No. 9 in the FCS.

With three games left on their schedule, Tennessee Tech stands atop the Southern Conference with an 8-1 (5-1 SoCo) record. This week, they will host VMI before hosting Mercer, who is 4-1 in the SoCo and has Southern Conference Championship aspirations as well.

Billy Napier Addresses Alma Mater Absence After Troy Loss

Former Florida head coach and current JMU head coach Billy Napier is under fire from the media and fans right now for exiting the field before the playing of the school’s alma mater after the Dukes’ loss to Troy this past weekend. After a 7-0 start to the season, JMU has lost back-to-back overtime games, and after the loss to Troy, the team headed straight to the locker room. But Napier has put his hand up and recognized his mistake.

“I know there’s been a lot of conversation about the alma mater,” Napier said. “I do think that it’s important for everyone to know that there was no intent there by myself or our players. I think we, to be quite honest, lacked transparency; we hadn’t even processed losing in Bridgeport. I do think that it’s a failure on my behalf to maybe think about some of those contingency plans. We absolutely will be there win or lose going forward.”

After back-to-back OT losses, it’s understandable that the team and coaching staff were frustrated, but being on the field for the alma mater is tradition for most teams regardless of whether they win or lose.

Idaho State Pulls Off Unusual Defensive Comeback

Idaho State won a very unusual game against Utah Tech this past weekend. Despite being outgained by nearly 170 yards and not forcing a single punt, the Bengals knocked off the Trailblazers, 34-27. Utah Tech is 1-8 on the year, but the close win still propelled the Bengals up five spots, jumping from No. 23 to No. 18.

Utah Tech dominated the game statistically, winning the total yards and time-of-possession battle, but the Bengals forced four turnovers and scored 24 points off them, leading to a narrow victory over the Trailblazers.

North Texas Suffers Fresh Injury Blow as Key WR Remains Sidelined

North Texas WR Corri Milliner remains on the sideline with an undisclosed injury. He will miss his fourth straight game as the Mean Green host Rice and try to hold on to their No. 1 spot in the American conference.

Milliner got off to a hot start this season, catching 20 passes for 325 yards and a touchdown through five games. He went for over 65 yards in every game before he got hurt and was averaging better than 16 yards per reception. UNT has been fine without him, winning their last three games, but getting him back would help cement their spot in the American Conference Championship game.

Florida A&M Faces Crucial Final Stretch as First-Year HC Seeks Turnaround

From 2019 to 2023, Florida A&M was a force in the SWAC, winning 9+ games every year and even finishing 12-1 in 2023. Since then, though, things have been going downhill with the Rattlers going 7-5 in 2024, 5-7 in 2025, and now 2-7 in 2026. This November, the record doesn’t matter much. Head coach Quinn Fordham wants to see his team play more consistent football on both sides of the ball.

FAMU ranks 11th in the SWAC in total offense, averaging 291.4 yards per game, and 10th in total defense, giving up 433.4 yards per game. A 140+ yard disparity is going to make it hard to win football games, so these final few games are just about playing disciplined football and setting the standard for next year.

CIAA Championship Race Heads Towards Dramatic Finish With Three HBCU Programs on Top

The CIAA Championship race is heading towards a dramatic finish with three teams fully in contention for the conference championship. Right now, Virginia Union leads with a flawless 7-0 conference record, but Johnson C. Smith and Virginia State are right behind, sitting at 6-1 in CIAA play. Behind them, two more teams, Fayetteville State and Bowie State, are still in the race with CIAA records of 5-2 and 4-3, respectively.

To make things more interesting, Virginia State and Virginia Union play each other this weekend on November 7th in a game that could completely shake up the conference standings. If Virginia Union wins, they secure the 1-seed in the conference, but if they lose, it’s anyone’s ballgame.

The CIAA has one of the most intriguing finishes coming up, but nobody is talking about it.