BATON ROUGE, La. - Running back
Collin Guggenheim capped his big night with a 67-yard touchdown run to pull the Nicholls State University football team to within two points of nationally-ranked LSU early in the second half, but the Tigers countered with the game's final three touchdowns as the Colonels fell 44-21 in front of 100,242 fans Saturday night at Tiger Stadium.
The game was the first meeting between the two schools as LSU (1-1) celebrated 100 years at Tiger Stadium. But the Colonels (0-2) did their best to spoil the party by keeping the game close through the first half with the score 23-14 at the break.
But after Guggenheim's career-long rush on the second play of the third quarter, LSU's Garrett Nussmeier tossed three of his six touchdown passes on the night to put the game away.
Nicholls finished with 295 yards of total offense with 150 coming on the ground. The offensive line was physical all night, allowing Guggenheim to rush for 145 yards, his 10th career 100-yard game, and two touchdowns on 25 carries. With all-league running back
Jaylon Spears sidelined with an injury,
Marquese Albert chipped in with 13 yards and
Corey Warren Jr. added 11.
Pat McQuaide had an efficient night throwing the football, completing 12 of 16 for 113 yards. He tossed a handful of completions in the first half to keep the offense on the field which resulted in back-to-back 13-play touchdown drives.
Quincy Brown was his top target once again as he finished with five catches for 48 yards.
Jackson Dufrene followed with four for 41 yards.
Despite allowing LSU to move the ball in the air, the Nicholls defense was stout against the run again with only 64 yards rushing allowed on 21 carries. Last week at Louisiana Tech, the unit gave up just 2.7 yards per carry.
Eli Ennis cracked double figures again with 11 tackles and
Ethan Lee totaled 10.
However, also like last week, Nicholls spotted the opposition two points to start the scoring after snapping the ball out of the back of the end zone on a punt attempt. LSU then used a 51-yard return by Zavion Thomas on the kickoff to set up Nussmeier's first TD pass for a 9-0 advantage.
Nicholls answered with the first of its two touchdown drives, fueled by a fourth-down conversion in LSU territory when McQuaide found Brown for a 10-yard catch. The two linked up again for 14 yards before Guggenheim muscled through the defense for a 2-yard score, making the count 9-7 LSU.
The Tigers went back up 16-7 on a Kyren Lacy 32-yard TD catch early in the second.
But Nicholls responded with another lengthy drive which ended on the play of the night. After
Terry Matthews caught three passes for 36 yards, the Colonels dug deep in their playbook with a trick play. From the Tiger 18, Guggenheim received the snap out of the wildcat and tossed it backward to Brown near the sideline. Rolling left, Brown fired a perfect pass over a defender to a diving Lee Negotto for a touchdown.
The two-point deficit quickly evaporated again with LSU's third touchdown pass of the night. But after having to punt the ball away with a minute to go in the half, Nicholls carried some momentum into the locker room when the Tigers missed a 39-yard field goal on the final play, keeping the score 23-14.
After Guggenheim's big touchdown run to start the half, LSU's defense clamped down by allowing just 70 yards the rest of the game. The Tigers also picked up a fumble recovery after taking a 30-21 lead and pushed their lead to double figures for the first time with another TD pass.
With the loss, Nicholls saw its losing streak against FBS opponents extend to 11 games.
UP NEXT
Nicholls will head out to California for a return matchup with Sacramento State on Sept. 14. Kickoff is slated for 8 p.m. central.
