The 1987 FCS national championship
Northeast Louisiana wins the I-AA title
Program outlook
Program outlook
In 2012, ULM trailed #8 Arkansas by 21 points and won in overtime. Kolton Browning accounted for 481 yards, the Warhawks shocked the whole sport, and north Louisiana had its Saturday. That was thirteen years ago.
Since Sep 21: L 35-52 at South Alabama; L 0-24 vs Louisiana Tech; W 21-14 at Troy; L 21-35 vs Southern Miss. 1-7 this season.
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The Shock in Little Rock is the most important fact about ULM football, and not only because nothing since has come close to it. It matters because it is proof — verifiable, scorebook-permanent — that a program on the smallest budget in its league can walk into an SEC stadium and walk out with the result. That proof sits behind every ULM season whether anyone mentions it or not. The 1987 FCS national title predates the FBS era, but that too belongs to the canon: a north-Louisiana school that won a championship before the sport reshuffled the tiers.
Bryant Vincent's second season in 2025 went 3-9 (1-7 Sun Belt) — a step back from the 5-7 first year that started 5-1 before collapsing. Vincent is also carrying an interim athletic director hat, an unusual dual role for a coach at a program asking him to do more with less. The smallest budget in the Sun Belt is not a metaphor; it is the operating condition every roster decision gets made inside.
The 2026 question in Monroe is whether Vincent can build a team that wins more often than it loses, or whether ULM's modern identity stays defined by a single extraordinary Saturday. A bowl trip would be the program's first since the 2012 season. A winning record would be proof the Warhawks can do it for sixty games, not just sixty minutes.
The 2026 season opened rough: ULM is 0-3, and its home opener against SE Louisiana on September 19 — lost 38-35 as 9.5-point favorites — put the Warhawks on the wrong side of the exact kind of result the Shock in Little Rock made them famous for pulling off.
On the field
ULM plays underdog opportunism — a scheme built around doing more with less, creating confusion, and staying in position for the upset. When the Warhawks are at their best, they run a ball-control offense that shortens the game and keeps them close long enough for the play that changes it. The 2026 roster is thin but the scheme is built for the role: a program that earns its wins the hard way, one disruptive Saturday at a time.
ULM has won 34% of its games since 1965 — 49% at home, 23% on the road.
168-322-3 all-time · 58 seasons · 1965–2026
Home
103-106-2
Away
63-213-1
Neutral
2-3
3 g
1960s
30%
1970s
43%
1980s
36%
1990s
32%
2000s
39%
2010s
24%
2020s
The CFP era
13 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.
Trajectory · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program quality
AP rank (inverted)
CFP appearance
Swipe left for earlier seasons
ULM’s 2014–2026 record is 44-107.
Bryant Vincent
Bryant Vincent is in year 3. The methodology is taking shape.
Era Bryant Vincent · 2024–presentPrev: Terry Bowden (2021–2023)OC: Jesse MontaltoDC: Troy ReffettPrev DC: Earnest Hill (2024–2025)
3
years · era
ULM and Arkansas State, meeting by meeting
Arkansas State leads the series 26-9-0 (since 1974); in the last 10 meetings, ULM is 1-9
2025: ULM won 28-16. After this game, Arkansas State led 26-9-0.
Last 25 meetings: ▲ ULM won, ▼ Arkansas State won, by how much
Each step is one meeting: up when ULM wins, down when Arkansas State wins, flat for a tie. Counts every game in our records since 1974. Tap the line for any season.
Moments in ULM history
- UL Monroe 56, Louisiana 50Sep 23, 2017
- UL Monroe 21, James Madison 19Oct 5, 2024
- UL Monroe 31, Liberty 28Oct 16, 2021
On this date, Nov 4, 2017: UL Monroe 52, App State 45
What this program never forgets
Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.
2012
The Shock in Little Rock
ULM stuns #8 Arkansas 34-31 in overtime, rallying from 21 down
Moment of the year · 2026
Won 21-14 at Troy
Week 8 of 2026. Won as a 13.5-point underdog — the result the market didn't see coming. It turned on one snap in Q4 — Aidan Armenta to Darrion Gilliam, a 65-point win-probability swing.
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Ladder finish
Season standing · 2026 · 1-7
Season standing · 2026 · 1-7ULM is 1-7 — below .500 in FBS.
Below .500 in FBS play. The rebuild bar.
FBS sub-.500
Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Conference
Sun Belt standing · 2026
13th in the Sun Belt
ULM is 13th of 14 in the Sun Belt at 1-3. The path to the title is steep — the focus is on bowl access and rivalry wins.
| # | Program | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louisiana Tech | 4-0 |
| 2 | James Madison | 4-2 |
| 3 | Georgia Southern | 3-1 |
| 4 | App State | 2-2 |
| 5 | Arkansas State | 2-2 |
| 6 | Coastal Carolina | 2-2 |
| 7 | Louisiana | 2-2 |
| 8 | Marshall | 2-2 |
| 9 | South Alabama | 2-2 |
| 10 | Southern Miss | 2-2 |
| 11 | Troy | 2-2 |
| 12 | Georgia State | 1-3 |
| 13 | UL Monroe | 1-3 |
| 14 | Old Dominion | 1-5 |
Coaching history
Coaching history
- Hired Bryant Vincent
- Terry Bowden departs
- Hired Terry Bowden
- Matt Viator departs
- Hired Matt Viator
- Todd Berry departs
- Hired Todd Berry
- Charlie Weatherbie departs
Coordinator lineage
ULM’s offense and defense, by coordinator
FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.
Offense2014–2026
2014–2015 · Steve Farmer2016–2019 · Matt Kubik2020 · Eman Naghavi2021 · Rich Rodriguez2022–2023 · Matt Kubik2026 · Jesse Montalto
Defense2014–2026
2014 · Troy Reffett2015 · Travis Niekamp (co) / Adam Waugh (co)2016–2019 · Mike Collins2020 · Scott Stoker (interim)2021 · Zac Alley2022–2023 · Vic Koenning2024–2025 · Earnest Hill2026 · Troy Reffett
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customs
Rituals
Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.
2012 Arkansas Upset
since 2012
more
ULM upset #8 Arkansas (34-31 OT) in 2012 — one of the most-iconic G5 upsets of the BCS era. The win + the Todd Berry era + the Sun Belt G5 ascent narrative made the 2012 season program identity. ULM's Sun Belt run + the multiple bowl appearances + the 1987 FCS championship retroactively elevated.
1987 FCS National Championship
since 1987
more
Northeast Louisiana (now ULM) won the 1987 NCAA Division I-AA national championship. The championship is the program's only national title + opened the path to FBS reclassification. The 2007 program rename (from Northeast Louisiana to University of Louisiana at Monroe / ULM) was the institutional identity reset.
Cultural identity
Bowls
Recent postseason (2012): 0-1
Most recent: 2012 Independence Bowl — loss 14-45. Last 5 postseason: 0-1.
2012 LThis page may include content derived from public news sources, social media, and fan communities. We relay these sources as-is — we are not reporting them. Sources may be summarized or quoted imperfectly; for anything that matters, go look at the original source directly. The original source may also be wrong. Text written by our model says so in a line beneath it, and it can get facts wrong. All analysis is editorial opinion, not professional reporting. Data sources · About this site