Football Casts Aside Cajun Curse, Wins in Thibodaux for the First Time Since 1999

To say that Nicholls State University's John L. Guidry Stadium has been a house of horrors for Texas State since the turn of the millenium would be an understatement. Five different Bobcat teams tried their hand at winning the Battle for the Paddle in Thibodaux, including the infamous 2005 team led by Barrick Nealy that advanced to the 1-aa Playoffs Semi-Finals, and all failed. That's why, despite the fact that Nicholls is in the midst of its worst start since 2001, a 34-28 triumph in the bayou tastes especially sweet.

As the two teams kicked off in front of a very sparsely populated crowd--official attendance was 3,583, but KTSW's Brant Freeman and Bill Culhane estimated that around a third of that number were actually at the game--the Bobcats looked a bit sluggish to start. An early 'Cat drive was stalled inside the Nicholls red zone, producing only a field goal. The offense wasn't able to get anything going after that until the 2nd quarter. That's when the defense started forcing fumbles, and the offense woke up in response. DeMarcus Griggs, Karrington Bush, and Woody McClendon all reached the end zone in the 2nd, with two of those touchdown drives starting in the red zone due to Nicholls fumbles. After the second quarter explosion, the Bobcats held on despite scoring only 10 points in the second half to break the hex in Thibodaux.

So what really broke the hex? Some particularly superstitious (or sarcastic) fans may point to bad karma emanating the new Nicholls mascot that has been drawing some mixed reviews among Colonel fans and outsiders. However, Bradley George, Karrington Bush, DeMarcus Griggs, and, yes, the Bobcat defense would all probably disagree. George put in another solid performance as he threw for 233 yards and three touchdowns, with Griggs being a major recipient of those passes. George's only mistake was a lost fumble on a sack where he took too long to get rid of the ball. Karrington Bush exploded for 163 rushing yards and a touchdown, although unfortunately his status for next week is unknown as he was injured once again on Saturday.

Finally, while the Bobcat defense had a tough time putting the clamps down on a Nicholls triple option offense that is always aggravating to defend, they came through in the clutch with three fumble recoveries that led to 17 points for Texas State. At the same time, it was worrying to watch the defense let Nicholls back into the game in the 4th quarter once again. Granted, the Bobcats probably should have been up 41-21 at the time of the final Colonel touchdown, as the Southland Conference referees appeared to have mistakenly ruled a Karrington Bush touchdown as a fumble out of bounds for a touchback. NSU's final touchdown also did come off of another K-Bush fumble on the play that made him leave the game with an unspecified injury. Nevertheless, one has to think that Brad Wright and Fred Bliel will be emphasizing playing with intensity for 60 minutes on all sides of the ball this week in practice.

Texas State will take the momentum and the Paddle gained from Saturday's rivalry win back to San Marcos, where they will prepare to face a winless Northwestern State team this week in Natchitoches. However, this game still has much meaning for both teams. Texas State will look to avenge a controversial overtime loss to NSU in San Marcos last year while keeping their conference title hopes alive, while Northwestern State will look to defend Turpin Stadium on Homecoming and spoil Texas State's season. KTSW will be airing the 7 pm kickoff on 89.9 FM, ktsw.net and txstatebobcats.com, pregame coverage starts at 5:30 pm.

-Will Butler, KTSW Sports Director/Blog Editor