Nicholls football faces the second-toughest schedule among FCS according to national website

Nicholls has the second-toughest schedule among Football Championship Subdivision programs, according to TheAnaylist.com.

TheAnaylist.com’s conclusion is based on the winning percentage of each FCS’ Division I opponents from the 2022 season. Opponents from sub-FCS levels were not included in the percentages.

Colonel opponents went a combined 83-53 for a winning percentage of .610. Only Harvard, with an opponents’ winning percentage was higher at .648.

“It’s interesting to note that we have the second-toughest (schedule in FCS), in our preparation for the season it will be any different,” ninth-year Colonels coach Tim Rebowe said.

Rounding out the top five were Elon at .606, Cal Poly at .585, and Campbell at .583.

Nicholls opponents for 2023 include Sacramento State, Texas Christian, Tulane, McNeese, Houston Christian, Northwestern State, Texas A&M-Commerce, Southeast Missouri State, University of Incarnate Word, Lamar, and Southeastern Louisiana.

“I have to start with our conference,” said Rebowe of the Colonels’ 2023 slate. “Our conference is good year-in-and-year-out. I think it will be a competitive conference again. We have four new coaches in the league, so that will be a little bit of a different aspect as well. We have a chance to be competitive with it.

“You look at our non-conference schedule, we play Southeast Missouri. We went there last year, and they will return the trip this year. They could be a good, Top-25 football team. Sacramento State was in the Top 10 in the FCS last year, they will come to us this year. We will go ahead and play Tulane and TCU. We have some tough, non-conference games that we have to play. Hopefully, we will have a little success leading in those and it will lead into our conference games.”

A number of factors, Rebowe said, come into play concerning team’s schedule and perceived toughness, some of which can be pure circumstance.

“A lot of these were set up years ago,” explained Rebowe. “The TCU game was set up five or six years ago. It just so happens to be that they played for a national championship last year. You can’t control some of those things that happen.”

Houston Christian, with a winning percentage of .508 at 60-58, comes in as the highest-ranked team among Nicholls FCS opponents with a No. 42 ranking.

Defending Southland Conference champion UIW, which sported a 12-2 overall record a year ago, has the lowest ranking among 2023 Nicholls foes with an opponents’ winning percentage of .381 at 43-70.

Nicholls, meanwhile, posted a 3-8 record in 2022.

“I thought we were close in some games last year. There were some games that could have gone the other way. We will have to build on that this year,” Rebowe said. “Again, I can’t control who UIW plays. I know G.J. Kinne did a fantastic job with that group last year. He had a lot of fifth- and sixth-year guys coming back and he took advantage of his schedule. He made a run in the playoffs. He did a tremendous job.

“He’s moved on. Now, he’s at Texas State, so they have a whole new staff over there (at UIW). So, it’s a whole new ball game.”