• After spending most of the first half of the season on the road, the Nicholls State University football team begins a stretch of four home games in its final five contests as the Colonels host UIW on Homecoming. The Cardinals bring a Top-10 ranking to Thibodaux while Nicholls will try to notch a second consecutive win. The game will air at 3 p.m. on ESPN+ and can be listened to on ESPN Radio New Orleans 100.3 FM.

• The Colonels picked up their first win of the 2022 season with a thrilling 19-17 victory at Houston Christian University. A back-and-forth affair saw three made field goals in the final quarter with Gavin Lasseigne's 52-yarder putting Nicholls ahead he delivered a 43-yarder as time expired for the victory. Quarterback Leonard Kelly logged his first career start after Kohen Granier was sidelined with an injury, and he threw for 217 yards on 20 of 31 passing. The offense was able to run the ball for the second straight week as Julien Gums and Collin Guggenheim each rushed for over 80 yards. Defensively, Nicholls allowed 3 of 12 on third down for the game and had a shutout in the first half. The victory was the eighth consecutive in the series against HCU.

• UIW had one of the more impressive starts with a win over a nationally-ranked program and an FBS win, but fell in its league opener at Southeastern three weeks ago. Since then, the Cardinals seemed to have gotten back on track with home wins over McNeese and Lamar. Led by former Colonel quarterback Lindsey Scott Jr., UIW features one of the top offenses in the nation as it ranks No. 2 in total offense and scoring. Scott is averaging 363.2 yards passing per game with an impressive 74.1 completion percentage and has 27 touchdown passes with only two interceptions. 

• Saturday's game will be the 10th meeting between Nicholls and UIW but it will be the first time they play as a nonconference game. The contest was previously scheduled as a nonconference matchup before UIW decided to stay in the Southland, so it remained as a non-league game in order for every team to have a six-game schedule. Nicholls holds a slim 5-4 advantage in the all-time series but UIW has won the last two, winning both games in the Fall '21 season as they claimed the league championship.

1st - Third-year sophomore Leonard Kelly made his first career start at quarterback at HCU last weekend and led the Colonels to a 19-17 victory. Kelly threw for 217 yards on 20 of 31 with three of his completions coming on the game-winning drive. Before the start, Kelly had only appeared in four games and had four total pass attempts. 

4 - Kicker Gavin Lasseigne made a career-high four field goals at HCU, highlighted by the game winner as time expired. Lasseigne was good from 27 and 21 yards in the first half, but misfired on a 30-yarder. After the Huskies took a 14-13 lead in the second half, Lasseigne made a career-long 52-yarder to put Nicholls back on top. HCU answered with a field goal before Lasseigne kicked a 43-yarder as time expired for the win. 

22.7 - Redshirt freshman Jaylon Spears has made an impact on special teams as his 22.7 yards per kick return ranks 30th in the FCS. His longest return was a 46-yarder in the second half at HCU last weekend, and his second was a 45-yard return in the home opener. For the season, Spears has 16 kick returns for 363 yards.

80+ - With Leonard Kelly making his first career start, the offense leaned heavily on three All-Southland performers - running backs Julien Gums and Collin Guggenheim, and receiver KJ Franklin - as each finished with 80-plus yards of offense. Gums rushed for 84 yards while Guggenheim totaled 82 yards and had the Colonels' lone touchdown. Franklin was Kelly's top target as he registered a career-high 8 receptions for 82 yards.    

3,000 - As the program's all-time leading rusher, running back Julien Gums will be looking to become the first 3,000-yard rusher in school history as he enters this weekend with 2,925 yards. After averaging just 10 carries per game through the first three this season, Gums' upped his production to nearly 90 yards rushing over the last three contests. 

LASSEIGNE RACKS IN AWARDS
Kicker Gavin Lasseigne earned a sweep of the weekly special teams honors as the junior from Raceland received three awards following his performance against Houston Christian.

- Lasseigne made a career-high 4 field goals, hitting a 52-yarder in the fourth quarter before making a 43-yarder as time expired for the 19-17 victory.
- He was named Stats Perform FedEx Ground National FCS Special Teams Player of the Week, becoming the first Colonel to win the award since kick returner Keenan Canty in 2014.
- Lasseigne was also the first Colonel this season to earn any weekly honor as he was named Southland and Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA) Specialist of the Week. 


TEXAS TIM
Head coach Tim Rebowe, a native of Norco, Louisiana, has enjoyed success in his coaching career against teams from Texas. With half of the SLC programs hailing from the Lone Star State, Rebowe has played 40 games and has a 27-13 record.

- The record is helped by an eight-game winning streak against Houston Christian and a five-game streak vs. Lamar. 


THE SCOTTS
Saturday will pit a pair of brothers against each other with Lindsey Scott Jr. (UIW) and Logan Scott (Nicholls) taking the field.

- The brothers were teammates for the Colonels the last two seasons as Lindsey was the starting quarterback while Logan played defense and special teams.
- Lindsey threw for over 3,700 yards and 34 touchdowns in his two seasons in Thibodaux and rushed for over 1,500 yards with 15 scores.
- Along with both brothers playing Division I football, their sister Leah competed in the triple and long jumps for the Louisiana Tech track program. 


FRESH MEN
While several true and redshirt freshmen have made an impact this season, no unit has had more rookies see the field than the linebackers.

- Projected starters Hayden Shaheen and Quinton Sharkey have missed most of the season with injuries, and redshirt freshman Kylin White and true freshman Kaiden Jones have stepped in as the starters and rank third and second, respectively, on the team in tackles.
- True freshman Alex Villavaso has seen significant time and recorded two sacks in the win at HCU, earning Southland Defensive Player of the Week.

𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗘coming Week #geauxcolonels
#uNit pic.twitter.com/lE7z44WKYw

— Nicholls Football 🏈 (@Nicholls_FB) October 13, 2022