A Southland Conference battle in Week Zero will be nationally televised by ESPN2, the conference officially announced Wednesday.
The Incarnate Word (UIW) Cardinals are scheduled to visit the Nicholls Colonels at Manning Field at John L/ Guidry Stadium in Thibodaux, La., on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025, which is Week Zero this season. The game will kickoff at 1:00pm ET/ noon CT and it will be televised by ESPN2.
“This is a monumental moment for the Southland Conference and a powerful testament to the rise and national impact of our football programs,” said Southland Commissioner Chris Grant. “To open the season on ESPN2 with two championship-caliber teams is more than just a game — it’s a showcase of what makes Southland football special: gritty, passionate, and unapologetically Southern. The culture, pride, and pageantry of our league will be on full display for a national audience, and we couldn’t be more fired up.”
The UIW-Nicholls contest will be the first college football game on American soil this fall. The Kansas State-Iowa State football game in Dublin, Ireland, will be the first game to kickoff, as it is slated for noon ET on ESPN.
Other Week Zero contests this season include Tarleton State at Portland State (3:30-4pm ET, ESPN2), Fresno State at Kansas (6:30pm ET, FOX), UC Davis vs. Mercer (7:00pm ET, ESPN; in Montgomery, Ala.), Sam Houston at WKU (7:00pm ET, CBSSN), North Carolina Central vs. Southern (7:30pm ET, ABC; in Atlanta, Ga.), and Stanford at Hawaii (7:30pm ET, CBS).
Below is more info on the Week Zero UIW-Nicholls contest from the Southland Conference:
This highly anticipated match-up features the league’s two most recent champions—and two of its most dominant programs in recent history. Nicholls claimed the Southland title with an unbeaten record in 2023, while UIW went undefeated in conference play last season to capture the 2024 crown. Since 2018, the Colonels and Cardinals have combined for seven Southland titles. Nicholls earned championships in 2018, 2019, and 2023, while UIW claimed the crown in 2018, 2021, 2022, and 2024.
UIW Head Coach Clint Killough enters his third season at the helm with an impressive 19–5 record, a Southland title, and an FCS Playoff appearance already on his résumé. On the opposite sideline, Tommy Rybacki will make his head coaching debut for Nicholls after spending the past 10 seasons as the Colonels’ defensive coordinator under longtime head coach Tim Rebowe.
The broadcast will be a historic one, marking the first in-conference Southland game ever aired on a national linear television network.
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Let’s increase more FCS game on television airwaves.
I don’t disagree with the new Dr. Z on more FCS games getting exposure, but it felt like back in 2015 that when they rolled out North Dakota State and Montana in 2015, the week zero games were going to highlight competitive games like the NFL does with the Thursday night opener. While this was a classic nailbiter classic (maybe my friends in Fargo don’t agree so much, but it was a great game), you can’t expect that every time out of the gate.
It seems like they whiffed on this one for sure with a so-so conference/season opener. UIW will be in the top 25 to start the year, but not Nicholls State and if ESPN wanted to work something out here, maybe they should have stepped in to get that Bozeman v. South Dakota State game we all debated on here not long ago to capture some attention when there isn’t a lot of football being played that day.
Well, teams have to agree to move these games
I’m not at all saying they would with the clock counting down on the season’s start, but the missed opportunity is on ESPN that they didn’t see this coming, first of all. If they had approached it at the end of the 2024 season, I am sure both would have leapt at the opportunity to be in the national spotlight. They could still have it if they really wanted to.
I don’t remember all of the timeline when that UM/NDSU game was set up, but Brent Musburger played a big part in it, so you can’t tell me it can’t be done and any of the schools at this level would want that exposure.
Come on, John, don’t just take up the con on this issue because you want to argue about a basic point.
You are right that both schools need to agree, but all the advertising and hardly an competition on the air on week 0? If the worldwide commissioner of sports wanted to make it happen they could.
I really enjoy Brent Musburger when he did NFL Today on CBS & College Football on ABC/ESPN.
“You are looking live”