• The Nicholls State University football team will play its first road game of the early season, taking on Kansas State on Saturday, Sept. 5. The Colonels played during Week 0 and opened up with a 44-10 victory over Mississippi Valley State while K-State will be making its season debut under new head coach Collin Klein. The game will kickoff at 6:00 p.m. and will air on ESPN+.

• The Colonels got off to a rocky start in Thursday's opener but managed to put together a stellar rest of the half, leading 37-0 at the break against Mississippi Valley State. The defense came up with three interceptions, one forced fumble that went into the end zone for a touchback, and the special teams recovered a botched kickoff return right before halftime. On offense, Ean Rodrigue threw for touchdown passes of 59, 74, and 21 yards while Tamaj Hoffman rushed for the other two scores. Damondrick Blackburn added a rushing TD early in the third before MVSU scored the game's final 10 points in the fourth quarter. 

• Kansas State and Nicholls will be squaring off for the second time, with the first meeting coming in 2019. In the previous matchup, K-State got off to a blazing start by scoring touchdowns on its first four possessions. But the Wildcats missed a field goal before the break and Nicholls carried that momentum into the third quarter, scoring a touchdown on its opening possession. With the game still at 28-7 in the fourth, K-State capped a 97-yard drive with a TD pass and then returned a fumble for a touchdown to put the game away. Each team scored one more touchdown as the Wildcats won, 49-14.

• Nicholls will be seeking its fifth win over an FBS school since 2000, looking to end a 13-game drought against the FBS. The last FBS win came in Kansas, against the Jayhawks, in a 26-23 overtime victory. Over the last 10 seasons, six of the FBS opponents have been from the Big 12 and SEC and the Colonels pieced together some strong showings. Most recently, Nicholls played No. 18 LSU for the first time ever in 2024 and trailed 23-21 early in the second half before the Tigers scored 21 unanswered points. Prior to the win at Kansas, the Colonels were a 55-point underdog at No. 9 Georgia in 2016. Nicholls led 14-13 midway through the third before falling 26-24. Then a year later, the Colonels tied Texas A&M at 14-all with 12 minutes remaining before the Aggies scored a touchdown and added a late field goal for a 24-14 win. 

A WIN OVER KANSAS STATE WOULD...

... end a 13-game losing streak against FBS schools, with the last victory coming in 2018 in a 26-23 overtime win at Kansas.
... even the all-time series against the Wildcats at 1-1. The Colonels first played Kansas State in 2019 and lost 49-14.
... be the program's fifth FBS win since 2000 -- Arkansas State, 28-22 ('01), Rice, 16-14 ('07), Western Michigan, 27-23, ('13), Kansas, 26-23 OT ('18).
... put Nicholls at 2-0 for the first time in a full season since 2007, which also included an FBS win over Rice. The Colonels started 3-0 in the 2021 spring season.
... give second-year head coach Tommy Rybacki his first road win, snapping the program's 10-game road losing streak.

BY THE NUMBERS

2 -- Jordan Smith caught two touchdown passes in the win over MVSU, which were the first of his career. Smith scored the first TD of the game, going 59 yards for a 7-0 lead. Then right before halftime, he made a diving catch for a 21-yard score. He is the first Colonel since 2024 to have two TD catches in a single game (Christian McNees at Southern, 10/5/24). 

3 -- The Colonel defense recorded three interceptions in the opening win over MVSU, all in the first half. Nicholls is coming off another outstanding showing as it recorded 15 interceptions last season, ranking seventh in the FCS. Nicholls ranked third in the FCS in 2024 with 19. 

4 -- Nicholls has four wins over FBS schools since 2000. Although the Colonels have lost the last 13 matchups, they led in the fourth quarter at Troy last season and had competitive showings at Louisiana Tech and LSU in 2024. 

6 -- The Colonels came away with six turnovers against MVSU -- three picks, two fumbles and a botched kick return.  In 2025, Nicholls finished 17th in the FCS with 21 turnovers gained.

16 -- In the win over MVSU, a total of 16 Colonels had at least one reception. Greg Donaldson and Karaaz Johnson had three catches each, while Donaldson had a touchdown grab and Jordan Smith hauled in a pair of TDs as well. 

79 -- The Colonels allowed just 79 yards passing in their season debut against the Delta Devils. Last season, Nicholls ranked ninth in the FCS with 166.3 yards passing per game. Twice in 2025, the defense allowed less than 100 yards passing.

264  -- Making his sixth career start, Ean Rodrigue threw for a career-high 264 yards and three touchdowns in the opener against Mississippi Valley State. His TD passes went for 59, 74 and 21 yards and were all in the first half. 

516 -- Nicholls piled up 516 yards of total yards in the season opener against MVSU. It marked the first 500-yard game since 2024 when the Colonels totaled 657 yards against the Delta Devils in a 66-0 victory. The offense had two 500-yard games in 2022. 

LAST MEETING
Aug. 31, 2019
Kansas State -- 49
Nicholls -- 14

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Nicholls State University football team fell behind early in the first half at Kansas State before going on to drop the season opener, 49-14, Saturday night in front of 51,189 fans at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. (FULL RECAP)

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