Playoff opener on road just another business trip as Colonels face Southern Illinois

If ever a team was ready to open the playoffs on the road, it’s the 2023 Nicholls Colonels.

The Colonels, champions of the Southland Conference, played six of their 10 regular-season games away from home on the road to taking on Southern Illinois University at 2 p.m. Saturday in Carbondale, Ill., in the opening round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

“The road thing is just a mentality. A lot of people talk about the travel and all that other stuff, but it’s really no different than being at home,” senior Nicholls receiver David Robinson Jr. said. “The football field is going to be the same over there, nothing’s going to change. The weather might be a little colder this weekend but that’s just another factor that we are not really worried about. We’re just going out there to play the same game we just played.”

The game the Colonels just played was last Thursday at Southeastern Louisiana when Nicholls defeated the Lions 21-16 to gain the outright Southland title. The win was the fourth in a row against SLC competition.

Prior to the start of Southland play, the Colonels opened the season with a home loss to Sacramento State, a ranked team from the FCS. Following that came road losses of 41-6 to TCU and 36-7 to Tulane.

That dropped Nicholls to 0-3, but the experiences of those games helped to prepare the Colonels for what was to come down the road.

“It truly starts back to us playing Sacramento State at home and going on the road playing TCU and Tulane. Those are tough environments. Credit to our AD (Jonathan Terrell). A lot of people were worried when we started 0-3, but I feel that’s really what has helped us to play good on the road – playing those big teams on the road in those big stadiums with the big crowds. I wouldn’t want to be on the road with anyone but this team,” said junior running back Collin Guggenheim.

“I think it really helped us further in the season to play those big teams. It helped us throughout the season to be able to prep for them and just being able to play that competition was good moving forward throughout the season,” sophomore linebacker Eli Ennis said.

“I feel like we got a lot of experience playing those bigger schools,” junior defensive back Tyler Morton said. “The experience and all the things we went through, the adversity we had to face to be who we are now as a team. I feel like that really helped us.”

After the 0-3 start, the Colonels were back on the road to open Southland Conference play at McNeese.

Nicholls gave up numerous scores over their first three games with mistakes but turned the tide by creating four turnovers in a 31-10 win. Morton factored in two of the turnovers with an interception and a forced fumble.

“It got us started on a good note. We came out strong and we knew it was McNeese. It was a good spot to get the conference started,” said Morton.

“I think McNeese is a really tough place to play. They have a lot of wins at home. It’s been a tough environment to play in ever since I’ve been here,” Guggenheim said.

The next road game was at Texas A&M-Commerce. After allowing a long early touchdown, the Colonels blanked the Lions the rest of the way in a 27-7 win to move Nicholls to 3-0 in the Southland and 3-3 overall. The 3-0 mark equaled the best start for the Colonels to open SLC play since their 2019 title. The victory also marked win No. 50 for Tim Rebowe as Nicholls coach.

“That was the first time I ever played at Commerce since they’ve been new to the league. We didn’t know what to expect. I thought they had a good atmosphere. It was their homecoming so to kind of go in there and kind of mess it up for them a little bit. I was proud of the way our guys played that game. We finally showed what we can do as an offense that game. It was kind of our coming out party.”

The next road game had the Colonels playing at the University of Incarnate Word. Both teams were unbeaten in Southland play with the Cardinals being ranked No. 4 in the country in one poll.

Nicholls fell behind 10-0 before scoring 24 points in the second quarter on the way to a 45-32 triumph that left the Colonels alone in first place in the SLC.

A 23-yard Gavin Lasseigne field goal got Nicholls on the board. Less than a minute into the ensuing possession, a hit on the quarterback by Ennis led to a Quinton Sharkey interception to set up a 19-yard touchdown pass to Lee Negrotto to tie the game.

“I was just doing my job. It just put me in position to make a play,” Ellis said of his big hit.

Guggenheim capped a 69-yard drive with a 5-yard run to give Nicholls its first lead of the game. Later in the quarter, Robinson hauled in a 34-yard pass to eventually set up a 6-yard Guggenheim run to stretch the lead to 24-10.

“That was a playoff game right there,” Robinson said. “We knew we had to win it. Our mentality was to not back down and not falter when we went down 0-10.”

“I think that just kind of speaks of what this team is. We are resilient,” said Guggenheim. “Our guys were battle tested and we knew how to battle in times like that. I think credit goes to our leadership with that. Just the way we prepared for the season back in the summer and summer workouts and just doing the extra reps. That’s why you do it, for games like that.

“I think we were just a little battle tested earlier in the season and we were ready to take our opportunity. I thought we did a great job of battling back. A lot of teams, they might go down when you’re down 10 points, especially to a good team, and they were a great team.”

“When the score was 10-0, we really didn’t get down because we knew what we had to do, and we had to fight. It was a good team we were facing. We just fought hard and just kept playing our brand of football and came out with the W,” said Morton.

After beating Lamar at home the following week to clinch no worse than a share of the Southland title and an automatic bid to the playoffs, the Colonels won at rival Southeastern Louisiana 21-16 to win the River Bell trophy and finish SLC play with a perfect 7-0 mark.

Nicholls held the Lions to 113 yards rushing and 105 passing. After SLU scored a touchdown on its opening possession of the game, the Lions reached the red zone five more times in the game. The Nicholls defense forced SLU into field goal attempts each time, connecting on three and missing two.

“Anytime you can win at Southeastern, it’s a good day. Especially with how big that rivalry is with the River Bell. Just being able to bring back all three trophies (the NSU trophy, Southland championship trophy, along with the River Bell). It’s the first time we’ve done that in program history, the first time we got to go undefeated in the Southland. Just having all those accolades with the team and being able to do that, it’s a great accomplishment,” said Guggenheim.

“Being the first undefeated team (in conference) here. I know they have a few other conference championships. Those were some big wins leading up to that, being able to go 7-0 and having that undefeated title, that was nice,” Ennis said.

All of which led Nicholls to its playoff journey.

After all the experiences Nicholls has under its belt, the Colonels are looking to take a professional approach to the Southern Illinois game.

“We knew we would probably have to travel this Saturday, so it’s nothing new to us. It’s the same schedule, the same thing we do pretty much every other week,” said Ennis.

“We know how to win on the road. We know how to get our ready,” offered Morton. “It’s not really a big thing that we need the fans or need we the outside people to get us going. We have our own thing within us that’s real good.”

“It’s a business trip at the end of the day,” Guggenheim said. “Our guys, they do a great job of traveling, just from the preparation to the logistics, just the way we do our meetings and how we get settled in. I think our guys have done a good job of getting into the routine and excelling in it. It starts, literally, from the time you get on the bus, to the time you get home. Credit goes to these seniors and the leaders we have on this team for keeping these group of guys together. That’s a big hats-off to them.”