The scoreboard didn’t deliver the result the Northwestern State football team wanted a week ago, but the Demons came away from their rivalry matchup with McNeese believing they had taken another step forward.
Now they have a chance to turn that progress into a win on Homecoming.
NSU (0-7, 0-4) welcomes Nicholls (2-5, 1-3) to Turpin Stadium on Saturday for a 2 p.m. kickoff on ESPN+. The game caps a week-long Homecoming celebration on campus and will air locally in Natchitoches on 100.7 FM KZBL.
The Demons are coming off a heartbreaking 24-21 loss to McNeese, a game in which five turnovers and explosive plays proved costly. Despite those setbacks, the offense produced 374 yards of offense, its second-highest total against an FCS opponent this season, while the defense limited the Southland Conference’s top rushing attack to just over 100 yards on the ground.
The defense also recorded nine tackles for loss, its highest total in a game since 2022, and forced two turnovers. It was the second time this season the defense had two or more takeaways in back-to-back games.
Head coach Blaine McCorkle believes the performance gave his team, especially the defense, a much-needed confidence boost entering another rivalry matchup.
“Hopefully it gives them the confidence boost they deserve,” McCorkle said. “Sometimes you have to prove to yourself that you can do it, stop buying the lies and go out and perform. I think that game gave them a really good look in their eye. They were eager to get back to work and put in a new game plan against Nicholls. I think we’re in a good spot coming out of last week.”
That confidence has shown up on the offensive side as well, where quarterback Zach Wilcke and a diverse group of playmakers have helped the Demons become more productive in recent weeks.
Since taking over as the starter Sept. 19, Wilcke ranks second in the Southland with 1,127 yards of total offense and is tied for second with 10 touchdowns, including nine passing and one rushing. Only Stephen F. Austin quarterback Gavin Rutherford has produced more total offense and touchdowns during that span.
Wilcke has spread the ball around, with four players recording more than 200 receiving yards this season and seven different players catching a touchdown pass. Joseph Moreland is among that group, ranking third on the team with 221 receiving yards and second with 21 catches, both career highs.
“I know for me personally, and I think I can speak for a lot of the guys on the team too, that my confidence has continued to grow each week,” Moreland said. “You can see it on the field. Even though the scoreboard wasn’t what we wanted, we came out of that game with really high confidence in how we produced and that is going to help us moving forward to keep playing faster and more carefree.”
The challenge now is sustaining that progress against a Nicholls team looking to snap a four-game losing streak. The Colonels have been held without a touchdown since Sept. 26 and scored just 20 total points over their previous four games before falling 56-0 to No. 2 Stephen F. Austin last week.
McCorkle, however, cautioned against judging Nicholls solely by its recent results.
“I think they’ve got a solid football team,” he said. “They’ve struggled a little bit the past few weeks but you look at the film from earlier in the year and they’re fast, physical and run around well. They’re well coached defensively and sound on that side of the ball. They’ve got two good, big running backs. Overall they’ve done a good job, just had a rough couple weeks, which everybody is going to have a rough week against Stephen F. Austin right now.”
For the Demons, establishing the line of scrimmage against the run will be a key part of the challenge. They will look to build on last week’s defensive performance while maintaining the physicality and discipline that helped limit McNeese’s ground game.
“We want to have the mindset of punch them in the mouth first and don’t let up,” defensive end Braden Woods said. “That’s going to start with a good week of practice. We need to be ready to stop the run and we need to play as one, play as a unit, and I think that’s what we’ll do this weekend.”
Saturday’s matchup also brings a familiar rivalry back to Natchitoches. Nicholls is making its first trip to Turpin Stadium since 2022, when the Demons scored two touchdowns in the final 94 seconds, recovered an onside kick and pulled out a dramatic 36-33 victory.
That game remains Northwestern’s most recent Southland Conference home win. The Demons will look to make it two straight home victories over the Colonels while attempting to snap Nicholls’ run of success in the Battle for the NSU Trophy. The Colonels have won eight of the previous nine meetings.
For McCorkle, the focus remains on continuing the incremental progress the team has made throughout the season and giving that work a chance to pay off.
“We’ve got to keep building on what we did last week and what we’ve done every week,” McCorkle said. “I feel like every week we’ve gotten a little bit better and keep chipping away. If we continue that and the guys buy in, believe, work hard and have a good attitude, I think things will work out good for us.”