In the first home game of the season and in the 19th meeting of the two teams, the Southern University Jaguars (1-4 overall, 1-1 Southwestern Athletic Conference) lost their fourth game of the season to the Nicholls State University Colonels (4-1 overall, 1-0 Southland Conference), 21-13.
In their last meeting, Southern defeated the Colonels 21-14, which was back in 1997. Five years later, the Colonels turned the tide and turned on their offense.
Nicholls State rushed 60 carries for 264 yards against Southern and only passed once during the game for 33 yards. NSU quarterback Josh Son did most of the running gaining 77 yards rushing with one touchdown. Fullback Colt Colletti was two yards short of reaching the century mark rushing for 98 yards for the Colonels, as Nicholls ran back to Thibodaux with another victory Saturday.
“Son played extremely well, especially running that option”, said Jaguars head coach Pete Richardson. “They gave us fits on it sometimes, but we did make plays when we had to keep them out the end zone.”
Southern’s offense failed once again to get the ball moving in scoring fashion even though they had 23 first downs to the Colonels’19. The Jags also had 204 passing yards to NSU’s 33.
With 7:28 left in the first quarter of the game, and with Nicholls being denied a touchdown in their first drive, the Jaguar Nation seemed to get anxious as starting junior quarterback Quincy Richard drove the Jaguars from the Southern one-yard line to the Nicholls’ 45-yard-line, only to have a pass intercepted by Colonels’ linebacker James Miller. Nicholls matriculated off of the take-back by scoring off a five-yard touchdown run by Son.
The Jags finally got on board at the end of the second quarter with a Colby Miller field goal attempt the end the half putting the score at 7-3. In the beginning of the third, the Jags got another kick from Miller, bringing them within one.
On Nicholls next drive, runningback Travis Felder rushed ten yards for another touchdown, and that is where the Colonels’ defensive “rush” came in. In the middle of the fourth quarter, Miller’s punt was blocked and Colonels’ defensive back Chris Thompson returned it for another touchdown.
“That punt block in the end was really detrimental for us”, Richardson said.
Backup quarterback Kurvis Sharp failed to get the Jags going, but the last minute heroics of quarterback Thomas Ricks failed to get Southern another mark in the win column. Ricks rushed for one yard to bring Southern within eight, but that is where the scoring ended.
“We lost our starting quarterback, we brought some young individuals in…and they made some mistakes, but they hung in there,” Richardson.
By the end of the third quarter, the Jaguar Nation had had enough, as a majority of the 17,863 in attendance began to depart the stadium and get back to tailgating in memoriam.
Runningback Kenneth Peoples led the Jags in rushing Saturday night with 57 yards and wide-out Kentrell Plain led in receiving with 74 yards.
Receiver Michael Hayes grabbed four passes for 27 yards and was denied a touchdown at the end of the third quarter that could have put the Jaguars in contention for a win.
“…I thought I was in, but the striped shirt said I was out, so I guess it wasn’t a touchdown,” Hayes said.
Safeties Randy Williams and Herman Hartman collected 11 tackles apiece for the Jags and defensive linebacker Kenneth Johnson had nine tackles with a sack for a loss of nine yards.
Southern’s defense continued to work in overtime as they had to defend Nicholls for 67 snaps (plays) in the game. But they still had not worked as hard as they had to in their loss against Jackson State. In that game, the Jags’ defense had to take 93 snaps-practically unheard of in collegiate play.
“We are going to have to play. We know we have some glaring deficiencies on our defense, especially with injuries”, Richardson said. “We have to look forward to our conference play…and hopefully we have to get some of our people back that are hurt. We are going to have to get some of our offensive people back on that line.”
There may be those who are doubtful of the offense of Southern, but Hayes is reminded of a season that paralleled their current situation.
“I think we still can have a good offensive football team. Because in 2000, we started 1-4 and at the end of the season it ended up being the best offense football team I’ve ever been on,” Hayes said.
