Photo by: Bert Miller

Nicholls football helmets lined up on the grass

The Nicholls State University football team travels to Commerce, Texas this Saturday to face off against the Texas A&M University-Commerce Lions in the Lions homecoming game.

Game time is set for 4 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.

Quick Facts

• Nicholls 2-3(2-0)
• Commerce 1-5(1-1)
• Nicholls leads the series against Commerce 1-0 
• Nicholls won 12-10 win over the Lions at home last season.
• Nicholls tied with UIW for second place in the Southland Conference
• Commerce is in fourth place in the Southland
• Nicholls is tied for fifth in the FCS in Turnover gained with 14
• Tyler Morton is tied for second in the FCS in interceptions with 3 and second in the FCS in interceptions per game with 0.6

The Colonels look to open conference play 3-0.  The win would mark the second time they have done that under head coach Tim Rebowe and it would be Rebowe’s 50th win, something no Nicholls coach has done.

TAMU-Commerce comes into the game after a loss to conference opponent UIW 28-11 last week. 

Nicholls comes into this week’s game after an unexpected second bye week after their game against Northwestern State University scheduled for Oct. 14 was canceled after a tragedy occurred for the Northwestern football team.

Nicholls quarterback Pat McQuaide is as positive as he can be about the bye week, given the circumstances surrounding it.

“I think the bye week did some good things for us, it let us practice more,” McQuaide said. “Obviously when you get time off you get guys back, we had some guys return from injury late in the week last week, so getting more and more practice with them is always a good thing.”

Commerce is led by junior quarterback Josh Magana who has thrown for 749 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions, two of which came in last week’s game.

The Lions struggled on offense last week with their only offensive points coming from a field goal in the first quarter.

Commerce may have struggled a bit last week, but Nicholls edge rusher Kershawn Fisher said the defense is not underestimating the Commerce offense.

“We just stick to what our defense has built on and run to the ball, keep our alignment assignments, stay on our keys, and make sure play hard with passion,” Fisher said.

Their defense held up however as they only gave up 14 points before an interception return for a touchdown made the score 11-14.

One of the leaders responsible for the Commerce defensive performance last week is defensive back Daryion Taylor.

Taylor leads the team in tackles with 44, tackles for loss with 4.0, and pass breakups with 2.

Taylor has added two interceptions to his stats, including one last week against UIW.

Taylor may jump off the page from a statistics standpoint, but McQuaide focuses on the defense as a whole instead and praised the Commerce defense’s ability to play as one.

“Their defense plays together, they play really hard,” McQuaide said. “It’s a tough opponent, they’re 1-1 in the conference so they’re just as much in the race as anybody else.”