Trinity at 6-1: Where the Tigers Stand, and What It Takes to Win the SAA

10/29/2026 | Snap Count Press |
Trinity Football

Seven games in, Trinity is 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the Southern Athletic Association. The Tigers are in a crowded race at the top of the league, and they’ll take the field in San Antonio again this Saturday. Three games remain, and every one of them is an SAA game. The conference title and the SAA’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs are both still in play.

The season so far

Trinity came into 2026 as the SAA’s preseason favorite (SAA, 2026b) and was No. 14 in the D3football.com preseason Top 25 (D3football.com, 2026). For five weeks the Tigers played like it. Here are the results, per the Trinity schedule and the SAA schedule (Trinity University Athletics, 2026a; SAA, 2026a):

  • Sept. 5: W 36-14 vs. Texas Lutheran
  • Sept. 12: W 31-17 vs. McMurry
  • Sept. 19: W 24-6 vs. Pacific Lutheran
  • Oct. 3: W 23-6 vs. Berry (SAA)
  • Oct. 10: W 35-7 at Southwestern (SAA)
  • Oct. 17: L 12-16 vs. Maryville (SAA)
  • Oct. 24: W 28-21 at Millsaps (SAA)

Defense has carried this team. Through seven games, Trinity has allowed 12.4 points and 260.4 total yards per game, with 24 sacks, according to the team’s cumulative stats (Trinity University Athletics, 2026b). The offense scores 27.0 points per game.

The Maryville loss changed the math

Trinity’s only loss so far was a 16-12 home defeat to Maryville on Oct. 17. In a round-robin league, that one could matter more than any other result. Going into the final three weeks, Maryville sits first in the SAA standings at 4-1, with Berry, Trinity and Millsaps all 3-1 (SAA, 2026c). The conference pointed out that Maryville has played one more league game than the rest of the pack:

Bouncing back in Jackson

A week after the Maryville loss, Trinity trailed 14-6 early at Millsaps before scoring 22 straight points and holding on for a 28-21 win. Dorien Hill sealed it with an interception in the final minute. Trinity ran for 295 yards. Running backs Luke Sams (125 yards, three touchdowns) and Jamel Nickerson (122 yards on 14 carries) both went over 100 yards, which two Tiger backs hadn’t done in the same game since 2017. Sams also became the first Trinity player since 2015 to run for three touchdowns in a game. San Antonio’s own Alejandro Tavarez (Johnson High School) caught three passes for 121 yards and a touchdown. Quarterbacks Hondo Franklin and Welker Horn combined to go 11-for-20 for 123 yards (Trinity University Athletics, 2026c). Trinity’s football account posted the final:

Here’s a question for the rest of the season: Trinity has played two quarterbacks, and the passing game had just 123 yards at Millsaps. Can the Tigers lean on the run all the way through November?

What’s left

  • Sat., Oct. 31: vs. Sewanee (1-6, 0-4 SAA), 1 p.m. CT, Trinity Football Stadium
  • Sat., Nov. 7: at Centre (3-4, 2-2), Danville, Ky., noon CT
  • Sat., Nov. 14: at Rhodes (0-7, 0-5), Memphis, 2 p.m. CT

Kickoff times and opponents’ records come from the SAA schedule and standings (SAA, 2026a, 2026c). Our opinion: on paper, Sewanee and Rhodes look like games Trinity should win. Centre is the tougher trip. The Colonels have won two straight, beating Rhodes 63-20 and Sewanee 69-30, and they play at Berry on Halloween before hosting Trinity (SAA, 2026d). Will Trinity’s defense hold up against a team that has scored 132 points in its last two games?

The SAA title and automatic-bid picture

SAA’s rules state the regular-season champion receives the league’s automatic bid. Tied teams are named co-champions. A two-team tie for the bid is decided by head-to-head. A three-team tie is decided by a points system (two points for each win over another co-champion, one for each win over the rest of the league), and if three teams are still tied after that, the NCAA’s Division III NPI rankings decide it (SAA, 2026c).

Here are the contenders’ remaining SAA games, according to the conference’s schedule pages:

  • Maryville: Southwestern (Nov. 7) and Millsaps (Nov. 14), both at home (SAA, 2026e)
  • Berry: Centre (Oct. 31), at Millsaps (Nov. 7), Sewanee (Nov. 14) (SAA, 2026f)
  • Millsaps: at Southwestern (Oct. 31), Berry (Nov. 7), at Maryville (Nov. 14) (SAA, 2026g)

Based on those schedules and the tiebreaker rules, here is how the scenarios look, if Trinity wins its last three games and finishes 6-1 in the league:

  • If Maryville loses either remaining game, Trinity would win the automatic bid. Berry and Millsaps still play each other, so at most one of them could also finish 6-1, and Trinity beat both of them head-to-head.
  • If Maryville wins out but Berry loses a game, Trinity and Maryville would tie at 6-1, and Maryville would win the bid on its Oct. 17 head-to-head win.
  • If Maryville and Berry both win out, Trinity, Maryville and Berry would tie at 6-1. Trinity beat Berry, Berry beat Maryville and Maryville beat Trinity. By our reading, the points system would leave all three tied, which would send the bid to the D-III NPI rankings.

If Trinity loses a game, it would need help, possibly a lot of it. An at-large bid is the other route, and we can’t project that with any confidence. Note that these scenarios are our own reading of the SAA’s published procedure, not an official conference breakdown. In short, Trinity doesn’t fully control its path to the automatic bid. The Tigers need to win out and get help from Southwestern or Millsaps, or end up on the right side of the NPI.

Our take

Trinity has a track record in this league. The Tigers won four straight SAA titles through 2024 and went 28-1 in league play over that stretch (SAA, 2026b; SAA, 2024). In our opinion, a defense allowing about 12 points a game gives this team a real chance to win out. But can an offense that has leaned on its running game do enough at Centre? And will Trinity get the help it needs from Maryville’s last two opponents? Saturday’s game against Sewanee is the first step.

References

  • D3football.com. (2026). D3football.com Top 25, 2026 preseason. https://www.d3football.com/top25/2026/preseason
  • Southern Athletic Association. (2024, November 17). Berry, Centre, Trinity share SAA football title; Vikings earn AQ to NCAA’s. https://saa-sports.com/news/2024/11/17/berry-centre-trinity-share-saa-football-title-vikings-earn-aq-to-ncaa-s.aspx
  • Southern Athletic Association. (2026a). 2026 Trinity University (Texas) football schedule. https://saa-sports.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=2650
  • Southern Athletic Association. (2026b, August 13). Tigers of Trinity tabbed as 2026 football favorite. https://saa-sports.com/news/2026/8/13/tigers-of-trinity-tabbed-as-2026-football-favorite.aspx
  • Southern Athletic Association. (2026c). 2026 football standings. https://saa-sports.com/standings.aspx?path=football
  • Southern Athletic Association. (2026d). 2026 Centre College football schedule. https://saa-sports.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=2644
  • Southern Athletic Association. (2026e). 2026 Maryville College football schedule. https://saa-sports.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=2645
  • Southern Athletic Association. (2026f). 2026 Berry College football schedule. https://saa-sports.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=2643
  • Southern Athletic Association. (2026g). 2026 Millsaps College football schedule. https://saa-sports.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=2646
  • Trinity University Athletics. (2026a). 2026 football schedule. https://trinitytigers.com/sports/football/schedule/2026
  • Trinity University Athletics. (2026b). 2026 football cumulative statistics. https://trinitytigers.com/sports/football/stats/2026
  • Trinity University Athletics. (2026c, October 24). #15 football holds off Millsaps for key SAA road win. https://trinitytigers.com/news/2026/10/24/fb_mc.aspx

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