Football Thursday in the Southland
Nicholls State and Southeastern Louisiana will play for the River Bell Trophy Thursday night in the Toyota Game of the Week on the Southland Conference Television Network. Coverage begins at 6 p.m. with kickoff scheduled five minutes later.
Southeastern lost 41-10 to Stephen F. Austin last Saturday to drop to 6-4 overall and 4-2 in Southland play. The Lions remain in contention for a share of the Southland Conference race with a victory. However, they would need Stephen F. Austin to lose at Northwestern State and McNeese State to lose at home to Central Arkansas. Nicholls snapped a seven-game losing streak last Saturday with a 28-21 victory against Northwestern State. The Colonels are 2-8 overall and 1-5 in the conference.
This will be the 19th meeting between Nicholls and Southeastern. The Colonels have a 10-8 edge in the series after a 35-28 win last year. Nicholls has won eight of the last nine games dating back to 1981, though lost to the Lions, 17-13, in their last visit to Strawberry Stadium in 2007.
Nicholls (2-8, 1-5 Southland)
at Southeastern Louisiana (6-4, 4-2 Southland)
Southland Conference Television Network
Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009; 6 p.m., CST
Strawberry Stadium; Hammond, La.
Series: Nicholls leads 10-8 Last Meeting: 2008, Nicholls 35-28
Nicholls Game Notes
Southeastern Louisiana Game Notes | Southeastern Louisiana Twitter | Live Stats
Southland Conference Twitter | Southland TV Network Twitter | Free Streaming on SLC NOW
Nicholls Notes: The Colonels ended their seven-game losing streak with a 28-21 victory over Northwestern State last Saturday ... they had not won since Sept. 12 against Duquesne ... Nicholls did not commit a turnover for the second consecutive week ... RB A.J. Williams rushed nine times for 94 yards and a score ... QB LaQuintin Caston finished with a career-high 197 yards passing and three TDs, while completing 5-of-8 passes ... WR Antonio Robinson caught two passes for 115 yards and a TD ... freshman WR Mike Barba finished with three catches for 84 yards and two TDs ... LB Garrick Spain recorded nine total tackles and forced and recovered a fumble ... Colonels are sixth in the FCS in net punting, averaging 37.91 net yards per punt ... P Patrick Dolan is sixth in punting with his 43.20 yards per punt ... Nicholls averages 188.9 rushing yards per game to rank 13th in the FCS ... twenty-one seniors will be playing their final game for the Colonels.
Southeastern Louisiana Notes: The Lions could not recover from a 28-0 halftime deficit and lost its first home game of the season in a 41-10 defeat to Stephen F. Austin last Saturday ... had Southeastern won it would remained in first place ... SFA outgained the Lions 512-199 in total offense ... WR Andre Cryer had a team-high 56 receiving yards on four catches and WR Simmie Yarborough caught his team-best 12th TD of the season ... QB Brian Babin, who has been battling shoulder soreness for the past month, completed 15-of-28 passes for 141 yards ... LB Mark Newbill recorded 17 tackles to lead four Lions with double-digit tackle totals ... SLU ranks 12th nationally passing (273.0), 22nd in scoring (31.4) and 24th in total offense (385.9) ... Lions are 10th in net punting (37.91) ... Simmie Yarborough ranks 22nd with 81.51receiving yards per game and 20th in scoring (8.2) ... Babin ranks 21st in passing efficiency (142.88) and 26th in total offense (239.7).