No.1 Sam Houston State proves too much for the Colonels

Nicholls State won the coin toss and elected to kick. Fortunately for them, Christian Boutte intercepted the ball on the opening drive. The ball hit the oppositional receiver’s hands allowing Boutte to catch the deflection.

Both teams exchanged a pair of punts as neither offense could get much of anything going in the 1^st Quarter. It looked like the game would fall into a defensive pattern as Chase Fourcade fumbled the ball on a quarterback draw play. The Bearkats would recover the ball in Nicholls’ half.

Sam Houston would continue to struggle with their offensive woes and would have to settle for a 41-yard field goal to put the first points on the board. The Bearkats would take a 3-0 lead.

The Colonels would get the ball on the 35-yard line on the following kickoff due to the ball going out-of-bounds. Trying to capitalize on a good field position now, Nicholls decided to go for it on a 4^th & 1 at midfield but was unsuccessful. The Bearkats would drive down the field after the turnover to score the 1^st touchdown of the day. Javin Webb would rush it in for Sam Houston to bring the score to 10-0.

Nicholls State struggled with stopping the Bearkats’ offensive unit as they continued to move the ball down the field ever since the 1^st successful field goal attempt. Sam Houston would score another touchdown on a 68-yard drive. Remus Bulmer would run it in for the Bearkats to put them comfortably ahead 17-0.

The Colonels found a little rhythm on the following drive as they drove all the way down the field but had to settle for a field goal. However, McKey would kick just left of the posts still leaving the score at 17-0.

The Bearkats would capitalize on the missed field goal attempt by scoring another touchdown on an 80-yard drive. Jeremiah Briscoe found plenty of room for his receivers to work with as he threw a 40-yard bomb that later set up a touchdown pass on the following play to Derrick Dick. The Bearkats would expand their lead to 24-0 going into halftime.

Nicholls State came out of halftime fired up and it showed as C.J. Okpalobi found the end zone on a 16-yard rushing touchdown. The Colonels would move the ball 75 yards on 13 plays to bring the score to 24-7.

Sam Houston would respond with another 78-yard drive and finished it off with a touchdown reception by Deon Hutchinson for 1-yard. The Bearkats would extend the lead to 31-7.

Nicholls would come back with a touchdown on the following drive on a trick play that resulted in a 25-yard rushing touchdown by Chase Fourcade. The Colonels marched down 75 yards on 10 plays before finding the end zone. Sam Houston State still holds a comfortable 31-14 lead going into the 4^th Quarter.

Jeremiah Briscoe took complete control of this game as he had plenty of time and room to throw the ball the entire game. He threw his 3^rd touchdown of the day from 2 yards out to Deon Hutchinson. Hutchinson caught his 2^nd touchdown of the day to help the Bearkats expand their 38-14 lead.

Nicholls State would get one last shot at the scoreboard and they would be successful as Fourcade found C.J. Bates on a 7-yard pass to bring the score to 38-21. The Colonels would fall short to the Bearkats as they found themselves playing from behind the whole game. The final score would remain 38-21.