The Colonels fell in their road matchup against the Cardinals 24-17 to begin the conference slate on Saturday.
Nicholls dropped to 1-1 in conference, and Lamar improved to 1-0.
Breaking Down the Game
The Colonels (1-5) deferred to the second half, putting the Cardinals’ (4-1) offense on the field first. On the first play of the drive, quarterback Aiden McCown threw an 85-yard pass to Blake Thomas for the touchdown, giving them the lead less than a minute into the game.
The Colonels answered back with an 11-play drive resulting in a rushing touchdown for quarterback Deuce Hogan, tying the game at seven apiece with 9:10 in the first quarter.
The Colonels forced a punt before Shane Lee took a handoff 75 yards for the touchdown. Nicholls ahead 14-7 with 3:59 in the quarter. Lee had a breakout performance, finishing the game with 109 yards on only three carries.
Both teams punted. The Cardinals’ offense used the pass to get down to the goal line. McCown finished the drive with a 3-yard rushing score, making the score 14-14 with 7:22 in the second quarter.
Sophomore superstar running back Miequle Brock Jr. got hurt on the ensuing Colonels’ drive and did not see much action throughout the rest of the game.
After the Colonel’s punt, McCown connected with Jayden Boyd on a 57-yard pass that set up a Ben Woodard field goal to take the lead 17-14 with 2:24 in the half.
Lamar got the ball back, attempting to score, but Anthony Rodgers III came up with a huge interception at the end of the half, keeping the score the same at halftime.
The first points of the second half came with four minutes in the third by way of a Gabe Showalter field goal, evening the score at 17.
The score would stay that way until late in the fourth quarter when the Colonels punted. The reigning conference special teams player of the week, Kyndon Fuselier, returned it 88 yards for a touchdown to take the lead 24-17 with 3:36 remaining in the game.
On the following drive, the Colonels had a few positive plays but ultimately came up short, allowing the Cardinals to kneel the clock out and win the game with a final score of 24-17.
Unprepared for the Air Raid
From the opening play, the Colonels looked stunned by Lamar’s ability to push the ball downfield, giving up an 85-yard passing touchdown. The Colonels allowed 237 yards of passing offense, including multiple passes of more than 50 yards. The Colonels’ secondary will have to get back to their old selves moving ahead as they face more conference opponents.
Inefficiency
The Colonel’s inability to convert 3rd downs continues to hurt them. They went 4-17 on third downs tonight. That is lower than their season average of 25% which is still near the bottom of the FCS.
The Colonels will need to convert third downs at a higher rate to give themselves more chances to score and their defense more time to rest.
Improvements
The Colonels’ offense performed better in this game than it had in previous weeks. They scored the most points they had since week 1 at Troy with 17. They produced 348 yards of total offense, including 175 rushing yards.
The Defense, with the return of Joe Mason Jr., was much improved against the run, only allowing 2.8 yards per carry and 100 total rushing yards. In the three games without him, they were allowing an average of 263 yards a game.
The Colonels look to improve on their mistakes and maintain the positive aspects as they head into a bye week before continuing conference play.
