Opponent Preview: Nicholls
10/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Stephen F. Austin Game Notes 
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Stephen F. Austin returns to Homer Bryce Stadium this Saturday, October 10th, hosting Nicholls at 3 p.m. The Lumberjacks enter the weekend at 0-5 on the year and 0-3 in Southland Conference play with the Nicholls coming in at 0-4 and 0-2 in conference play as both teams are seeking their first win of the season.
Nicholls is coming off a 37-7 loss against McNeese State in Thibodaux last week in the Colonel's home opener. Nicholls heads to Nacogdoches looking to end a 22-game losing streak, a skid that began with a 55-41 loss to the Lumberjacks at Homer Bryce Stadium in 2013, as the Colonels are averaging 4.2 points and 233.5 yards per game.
In 2014, SFA defeated Nicholls 42-20 in Thibodaux, ending a 12-game road losing skid. The 'Jacks rushed for six touchdowns in the game, led by a 202-yard, three-touchdown performance from Gus Johnson. Zach Conque threw for 291 yards and rushed for 51 as well, scoring three rushing touchdowns as well to lead the Lumberjacks to the win.
SFA fans unable to make it to Homer Bryce Stadium Saturday will still have plenty of option for keeping up with every Lumberjack touchdown. The game against Nicholls will be streamed live online through ESPN3 as well as the WatchESPN app, giving SFA fans across the world access to the game. Rob Meyers will once again broadcast the game live on radio at Q107.7 FM as fans can listen online at Q1077.com. Live stats will be available through SFAJacks.com with in-game Twitter updates available @SFA_Football.
Head coach Clint Conque has been quite successful against his alma mater as the Lumberjacks’ head man is 7-2 (.778) all-time against the Colonels. Conque spent two seasons at Nicholls, earning first team All-America honors in 1983 before beginning his coaching career as a graduate assistant for the Colonels in 1984. A 2005 inductee to the Nicholls Hall of Fame, Conque was selected to the Colonels’ Silver Anniversary team in 1997.
Head Coach Clint Conque Press Conference Transcript
On recapping the Sam Houston State game:
“I was very encouraged with the effort and focus of our players. The frustrating part was it seems like we plugged one leak then sprang another. Good teams take advantage of that and we didn’t have a great day covering punts, two of them went for touchdowns. The third one we were able to get them out of bounds and keep them to a field goal attempt, which they missed. Still, that was field position that we gave up. When you look at the scrimmage stats on defense, they hit some things, we hit some things, and we both missed some opportunities, but that’s football. I’ve said this before, conference games tend to get very tight. We know each other, we recruit a lot of the same kids and understand each other’s philosophy. More than likely its going to come down to a handful of plays that will be magnified. We’ve had some huge momentum swings go against us this year. We had a scoop and score from the goal line, a blocked field goal, two punt returns, and we just have to endure them and learn from them. The kids are frustrated by the outcome but you’re certainly encouraged by what you see with the effort. Now we’ve just got to improve our effort in all three phases.”
On Loren Easly being named National Freshman of the Week:
“It’s very exciting for Loren. That’s a great honor and he would definitely give credit to the offensive line and the blocking downfield from his receivers. Loren’s a very talented young man. He had a significant injury his senior year and a lot of people had fallen off on him. We actually talked about gray-shirting him but he made a lot of progress this summer and prepared himself. I think we did the right things with him as far as rehabilitation, I’ll give the credit to our athletic trainers and our strength coach and he rest of their staffs. Coach Moses tempered his reps and certainly due to the injuries to Joshawa West and Fred Ford, it’s given him some opportunities here to take advantage. He’s a big strong kid who can run and we’re really excited to see what he’ll do for us the rest of this next three years.”
On the play of the defense:
“I thought our defense really played well Saturday, holding one of the most prolific teams in the country at our level to just two offensive touchdowns. I give credit to coach Matt Williamson and his staff for that. As far as the cornerbacks are concerned, they played spotty. Sam Houston helped us out by dropping a few long balls when we were clearly beat. But we did play better and I thought Tarrin Mitchell tackled very well. Trevon Smith got his first start and he’s got some experience and learning he needs to do at the position. We should get Tre Rosser back this week after he hyperextended his elbow at TCU, and another starter in Hipolito Corporan is getting better and is probably listed as questionable this week. We still have Demundre Freeman who hopefully is starting to get some of his confidence back. Overall I thought we tackled better, but we still missed some big ones, especially in the fourth quarter. Our body of work was much better and offensively we moved the ball but we put our defense in some tough situations as they had a number of possessions that started in our own territory.”
On what to expect against Nicholls:
“It’s going to be a big night in the stadium and it’s an opportunity to play at home in front of our fans against a very athletic team. They’ve played a pretty tough schedule as well. They’ve got two running backs that gave us fits last year. The quarterback two years ago put up some pretty big numbers against us as he’s a duel threat and his passing looks to be improved. They’ve got a little speed at receiver and I think they’re offensive line is young. Defensively they’re athletic and I think we’ll have our hands full. It will be an exciting opportunity to get the monkey off our back, but we know that we’re going to have to earn it as they are in the same boat as we are looking for that first win.”
On the attitude of the team:
“It’s human nature to be disappointed with the first half of the season, but we still have another half to play. We play at home this week and then play a top-20 team the next week on the road. Then we have Homecoming and a trip to Conway (Arkansas), which is a tough place to play but a great environment. After that is Senior Day against HBU and then the battle for Chief Caddo. There’s still a lot to play for the second half of the season. Mathematically we could still have a winning season but you can’t get to six until you get to one, and this gives us the next opportunity to do that.”
-SFA-
