You may notice something different about Army’s FCS opponent this year. A familiar regional Patriot League or MEAC school did not fill the spot. Instead, the Black Knights got a seemingly random school from Texas as their opening FCS opponent.
Who the Heck is Tarleton State?
The Texans have an intriguing tale, featuring one of the FCS’s most meteoric rises. Although the school has a rich football history dating all the way back to 1904, Tarleton State has only played as a four-year institution since 1960. In sixty years since, the Texans went from the junior college ranks to the NAIA to Division II and then onto the Western Athletic Conference. Yes, that WAC.
Tarleton State moved up from the NAIA to the NCAA’s Division II in 1994. A successful 25-year span ensued, during which the Texans made the Division II playoffs five separate times. Then, in 2019, Tarleton State made its most daring move yet. The Texans accepted an invitation to the WAC. While the WAC did not sponsor football at that time, the move proved to be a smokescreen for something bigger.
Tarleton State Football made noise quickly once it got up to Division I. Competing as an FCS independent during the 2021 pandemic spring season, the Texans did the unthinkable. They dominated New Mexico State, 43-17, outgaining the Aggies 501 yards to 241 in arguably the most shocking upset of that entire spring campaign. In just two years, Tarleton State had shown that it had become a force to be reckoned with at the FCS level.
Heck of a TEAM WIN by the Texans today 🔥 pic.twitter.com/laMuVQ7Ovx
— Tarleton State Football (@TarletonFB) August 24, 2025
The aforementioned smokescreen began to dissipate in 2021 when the WAC announced its return to college football. The move laid the groundwork for an unprecedented plan to jump the entire football conference from the FCS to the FBS. Through 2021 and 2022, Tarleton State and the rest of the WAC combined forces with the Atlantic Sun Conference for a football-only alliance. The WAC then announced plans in late 2022 to petition to make the whole conference an FBS league. Alas, the NCAA denied this motion.
Even so, Tarleton State’s FBS ambitions can hardly be called a secret.
The Texans have parlayed a growing student body and four straight winning seasons at the FCS level to an attractive membership profile, potentially targeting Conference USA. But C-USA picked Missouri State and Delaware ahead of the Texans during the most recent round of realignment. With the conference not immediately replacing Louisiana Tech after their departure for the Sun Belt, it is unclear when Tarleton State’s FBS ambitions will come to fruition. All other factors aside, however, C-USA seems to have a little room if they want to add a team.
Friends, Tarleton State is a program on the rise. This year’s FCS opponent may lack familiarity, but the Texans are well on their way to becoming an FCS power, and they will surely become an FBS school soon enough.
Go Army! Beat Tarleton State!!!
The 2022 Tarleton State Football Media Guide was indispensable to my research and could be found here.
Cover image via @TarletonFB.
