Photo by: Ryker John Emnace

Nicholls Offensive lineman Mark Barthelemy (75) gets set before a play

The Nicholls State University football team faces off against the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas on Sept. 9, at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

The Colonels enter the game following a 38-24 loss against Sacramento State in their season opener. Nicholls recorded 293 total yards.

Quarterback Pat McQuaide led the team in passing yards with 196 and Collin Guggenheim led the team in rushing yards with 74.

TCU, who reached the College Football Playoff National Championship last season, is coming off a 48-45 loss to Colorado University. 

Going into last week’s game, the Horned Frogs were ranked No.17. The loss dropped TCU out of the Associated Press top 25 poll.

In the loss, TCU recorded 541 total yards, 262 of which were rushing yards. Running back Emani Bailey led the team with 164 rushing yards and Trey Sanders led the team in rushing touchdowns with three.

TCU quarterback Chandler Morris threw for 279 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. Morris also ran for 30 yards and a touchdown.

The Colonels defense allowed 441 total yards in their game against Sacramento State. They allowed quarterback Kaiden Bennett to throw for 221 yards and two touchdowns. 

The lone turnover forced by the Colonels came in the third quarter when Louisiana Tech transfer linebacker Kershawn Fisher returned an interception 38 yards, which led to a 3-play touchdown drive.

TCU allowed 565 total yards against Colorado, including 510 passing yards and four touchdowns. The TCU rushing defense had four sacks, seven tackles, and one forced fumble.

Head Coach Tim Rebowe’s message for the team was “improvement” and “execution” going into this game.

“We gotta show steady improvement from game to game. We have to be able to do the things we can do,” Rebowe said. “We gotta put our guys in the right position to make plays, and hopefully we can go out and make those plays.”

Rebowe said there was improvement on both sides of the ball during practice.

“The guys on the team keep saying that they got some things that they wanna fix, the things done defensively, and I know that these guys are gonna try to show that improvement in this game,” Rebowe said.

Pat McQuaide says the teams’ mindset going into the game is to focus on themselves more than the opponent.

“We get an opportunity to go to Fort Worth against a great opponent, all respect given, but this week is about us,” McQuaide said. “It doesn’t matter who our opponent is, we’re just trying to get ourselves better and get ourselves right to execute at a high level.” 

The Nicholls Worth will have continuing coverage of this game, and all games this season, so stay tuned for that.