… for those of you convinced that Nicholls is a better team than some of us are giving the Colonels credit for being.
After their narrow loss to Georgia, Sagarin has them at 211th nationally and ninth in the Southland Conference. Here’s their 2016 schedule. Given all that, predict their final record and where they’ll finish in Sagarin’s ratings.
Get The Picture 
I haven’t had the stomach to wade into the comments in the wake of that performance. Please tell me no one is seriously making that argument.
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It’s possible they’re better than they were a year ago, maybe a .500-ish team in their conference. That doesn’t excuse the performance, as Georgia should be able to roll a middling I-AA team.
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Pathetically, yes, they are. In fact, apparently Bill Belichick decided to send half of his team to Athens last weekend to dress out as Nicolls players (he likes the split squad games ala MLB spring training games.) That’s how good that Nicolls team was.
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Well, they did win 3 games last year, ending a 23 game losing streak, so I’d say they’re hot right now!
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Trending is the word, but yeah, I like them to win more than three. None of that changes what I thought of UGA’s performance on Saturday, or how that plays out for us the rest of the year.
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They did lose to Incarnate Word last year and play them this week ,so if they lose by 2 guess we are as good as IW.
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No they are terrible. We simply chose to not show up for long stretches in that game. Our kids still don’t know how to take care of business.
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Jt, we are not terrible across the board.
FPI has us about #31
UGA #31
OFFENSE #65 DEF #44 Sp Teams #127
So def is above average, offense is average, special teams is close to worst in NCAA.
Tenn #6
Ole Miss #12
Auburn #13
Florida #18
Mizzou #42
Sth Carol #54
http://www.espn.com/college-football/statistics/teamratings
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We’re still top 20 in Bill C.’s rankings, even though we had a 3% performance for the game (by way of comparison, the Cocktail Party last year was a 10% performance.)
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I thought John Fourcade’s nephew looked pretty good as a true freshman in his first game. If they stick with that kid, they can do pretty good with that schedule. If they throw that Tulane castaway out there with that hairdo, they may never get to 3 wins.
So put me down for they win half the games that fourcade goes the whole way in.
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Derek, I didn’t see the game (mercifully, I just listened on the radio), so I don’t know if you’re being sarcastic or not. But was that really Fourcade’s nephew?
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Yes, it was. Apparently, John’s little bro, a lesser known Fourcade who also played at Ole Miss at the same time, is his father.
I thought the kid looked good. Tough environment for a true freshman in his first start and he did pretty well especially as the game went on. If they don’t put the other guy in who fumbles and gives us 6, we may well have lost.
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Subtle.
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I’ll chime in since my alma mater is a Southland school (who lost to Nicholls last year – SHAME SHAME).
I’ll say they win 5. I think it’s year 2 with their coach and they’ve pulled in some good guys for a SLC school. The QB looks like he’ll do well for them. Still, it’s a game Georgia should have won by at least 30 points, but probably more.
For comparison’s sake, Southern – which we beat by 40+ – went 6-5 last year. I went back through all the games I’ve been to (I keep a spreadsheet because I’ve got a problem, OK?) and, well, it looks like this:
29-7 v GSU 2000
45-7 v Nwstrn St 2002
48-28 v GSU 2004
48-12 v WKU 2006
45-16 v WCU 2007
30-0 v TN Tech 2009
59-0 v Coastal Car 2011
45-14 v GSU 2012
45-6 v App St 2013
48-6 v Southern 2015
26-24 v Nicholls 2016
I think I missed one or two buy games over the last 5-6 years. I know I didn’t go to Idaho State.
Only Northwestern State is a SLC team. I have no idea how these teams did in the respective seasons, although Georgia Southern and App State were competitive at FCS level. Still, very much a “One of these is not like the others” situation on a couple of levels: 2000 GSU was the week before Donnan’s flop at SC and 2002 was Richt’s second year. Hopefully, it’s all part of The Process.
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There is not a rational comparison to be made when it comes to Georgia’s talent level vs Nicholls. I don’t know anything about any of the other teams on their schedule, none of it matters. Georgia played terrible on Saturday. Period.
Having said that Nicholls did have legitimate talent on the defensive line. I really believe at least one of those interior guys would have had a shot to get SEC offers if their season wasn’t cut short at East Miss CC last year. Not an excuse for our overall team performance, just an observation.
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Saturday is not explainable….not in my mind. I am moving on. Beat Mizzou.
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I think it’s explained by the normal tendency to “playdown” to the level of your opponent.
Clemson struggled against Troy.
Add into that the tendency to elevate your strengths and ignore your weaknesses after a big win against a ranked team.
All that’s on Coach Kirby. He has to learn how to coach em up after a big win and how to make sure they don’t don’t playdown to the level of the opponent.
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Damn, I don’t know what to make of this team’s true assessment.
I tried to find an objective computer based assessment, best I could manage was the ESPN.
Had us 75% chance losing to Tennessee and Mississippi.
64% chance of losing to Florida.
And a 60% chance of losing to Auburn.
Also, gave us a 51% chance of beating Missourri and 59% chance of beating South Carolina.
In other words, best case 8-4, worst case 6-6.
http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/fpi
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That’s not how stats work. Best case given those odds is 12-0.
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Nicholls is pretty good, but they’re no Incarnate Word!
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I have no idea how good Nichols is, or will be by the end of the season, nor do I care, but I am pretty sure they were good enough Saturday to make us look like unadulterated shit.
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10 – 1 FIREKIRBY!!1!11 HIREREBOWE!!!11111!!!
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I’ll bite. I guess that they will finish 7-4 with a Sagarin ranking of #134.
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I’ve heard all the excuses from not ready to play, to this interception, and that fumble. There’s really NO excuse for that disaster that was Saturday!
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I never heard of half of those teams on that schedule. Put me down for 8 wins. That QB has promise. They run tough and have a decent o-line. Their secondary will lose some games, but those tackles ate our lunch and the LB’s wrap up well. Going out on a limb here, but what the hell. Still should have beat them by 20 at least.
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170 on Sagarin.
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