Pair of win-starved teams meet when Nicholls visits McNeese to open SLC play

In the history of the Nicholls-McNeese football series never have the teams met this late in the season with both teams winless.

McNeese has not started a season 0-4 in the last 69 years, while 0-3 Nicholls didn’t field its first varsity football team until 1972.

“You know with Lake Charles being that tough of a place to play and those type of numbers, those guys are going to be hungry. They will be well-prepared, and they will be ready to go,” Nicholls coach Tim Rebowe said.

For a pair of winless teams, the start of Southland Conference play couldn’t have come at a better time when the Colonels travel to Lake Charles to take on the Cowboys at 7 p.m. Saturday.

“It will be tough going to McNeese. Our guys are looking forward to it because of this; all their goals and all the things are still right in front of them. Team-wise and individually, some of these guys had aspirations and goals to become all-conference and all that and this is when it starts, this week,” said Rebowe.

McNeese leads the all-time series 31-16.

“One of the things that we do here, too, we like history, and we like to go back and look at things in history, but I don’t want to go too far back,” Rebowe said. “Even if you go back to the ‘90s, some of these guys (members of the Nicholls football team) were not even born.

“They don’t understand that. They will understand the rivalry. They understand how good McNeese is and how hard tough it is to play, but also, we look recent. If you look back the last six games, we’ve won four of the last six. Those are things we have to look at.”

Nicholls goes into the game after having faced the likes of Sacramento State, TCU, and Tulane.

“I like to call it the preseason part of our schedule,” Rebowe said. “No doubt, you would like to sprinkle in a win or two in those games. We knew they were going to be tough.

“I think we made some progress in some areas, and we learned some things about ourselves. I don’t know of any team that is complete at this time. It’s still a work in progress.”

McNeese goes into Saturday’s game after opening the season with losses to Tarleton State, Florida, Alcorn State, and Eastern Illinois.

The Cowboys suffered a heartbreaker in their most recent outing last week at Eastern Illinois 31-28 on a 56-yard field goal by Panther’s kicker Stone Galloway with 20 seconds left in the game.

“I think they let one slip away,” Rebowe said. “They didn’t play well when they went to Alcorn. They went on the road to Eastern Illinois, a long road trip. I thought they played well. They were up 28-14 at half and at the end of the third quarter, and they let it slip away. That old momentum got ‘em.”

McNeese outgained Eastern Illinois in total yards 467-452. The Cowboys surrendered 272 yards on the ground to EIU.

Could the McNeese run defense be an area the Colonels could exploit?

“Always, we want to run the football,” Rebowe said. “When we look at our opponents the last three weeks, we were outclassed in some areas, so it looks like we struggled in some areas. Maybe it looks like we struggled running the football and some of that, but we’ve always wanted to run the football. I don’t think that you are going in and say that because a guy did this, we are going to run.

“Obviously, you are going to game plan some things you think you will have success at – some things that we’ve been good at in the past. That’s what we are going to try to do.”

“We always talk about we have to take whatever the game gives us,” he continued. “If it takes up throwing the football to win the game or running the football to win the game, that’s what we want to do.”

McNeese is averaging only 18 points per game and 270 yards of total offense.

Directing the Cowboy offense is quarterback Nate Glantz. At Iowa Western, he was the National Junior College Athletic Association Offensive Player of the Year in 2020. He was a squad member at Iowa State before transferring to McNeese.

Through four games this season, Glantz has completed 47 of 92 passing for 551 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

“I think he is getting comfortable. He understands their offense,” Rebowe said of Glantz. “He can pull it down and run it. He has a couple of carries in him. He got some weapons out back.

“We just have to do well up front. We have to put some pressure on him up front, which our front seven has been doing a pretty good job against good competition. I think we will continue that this week.”

The weapons out back include running backs D’angelo Durham and Coleby Hamm. Durham has rushed for 258 yards on the season and Hamm 140. Hamm had a 72-yard run against EIU on his way to 131 yards against the Panthers.

“They are in the mold of the running backs McNeese has had the last couple of years,” Rebowe said of the duo. “They feature a couple of those backs. Hamm had the big run last week, but they want to feature Durham.

“Again, they will try to get their ground game going because they are going to want to keep the ball out of our hands. Our defensive front will have to have good fundamentals, gap responsible this week and try to get eleven hats on the ball.”

Top targets for Glantz include Jon McCall and Makhi Paris. McCall has 11catches for 169 yards and two touchdowns on the season. Paris has 10 catches for 142 yards.

“McCall is back from last year. We know him well. We recruited Makhi Paris last year out of New Orleans. He’s a freshman. He’s going to be a really, really good one. We have to make sure where No. 8 is,” Rebowe said.

The McNeese defense is led by linebacker Micah Davey, who has 59 total tackles through four games.

“He’s been there a couple of years,” Rebowe pointed out. “He’s out of Baton Rouge. I think he’s really grown into the position. He’s one of the top guys in the country in tackling. He can go from sideline-to-sideline. They will bring him on some blitzes. He will rush the quarterback.

“I don’t think you totally game plan away from certain people, but we have to make sure we know where No. 48 is.”

A pair of defensive backs have topped 20 tackles so far this season. Boogsie Silvera has logged 27 tackles and Johnquai Lewis 24.

“Lewis is a really good football player. He’s played a number of different positions in their back end,” Rebowe said.

McNeese only has two interceptions and four sacks on the season.

“They don’t get a lot of turnovers, but they don’t turn the ball over a lot, either” said Rebowe.

Avoiding a slow like in the first three game, Rebowe said, will be a major factor for the Colonels against McNeese.

“I think what it’s going to take for us to win is we have got to have some good things happen to us early and understand it is going to be a hard-fought, four-quarter game,” the Nicholls coach said. “I think third downs are going to be key for us on both sides of the ball. We need to convert some third downs, and I think they’ve given up some third down (conversions).”

A win Saturday by either team would take the sting out of the early losses.

“I think if we go and not look too far ahead of yourself, the guys are smart,” Rebowe said. “If we can go on the road and steal a victory and then you look at coming home the next two weeks, you put yourself right back in this conference race.

“I think the psyche is huge. I think those guys are still working hard, they’re still hungry. They want some feel-good. They want to come back on a Sunday and Monday and practice because they work too hard for that not to happen.”