NSU Challenge

The NSU Challenge is an American college football rivalry game^[1] played annually between the Nicholls Colonels football team representing Nicholls State University and Northwestern State Demons football team representing Northwestern State University.^[2] Both universities are members of the Southland Conference. The NSU Trophy, which is a wooden trophy enscripted with NSU goes to the winning team.^[3][4] Although Nicholls has changed their athletic brand name from Nicholls State to Nicholls in 2018, thus not going by NSU anymore in athletics, the rivalry is still called the NSU Challenge.

NSU Challenge

Nicholls Colonels Northwestern State Demons
Sport	Football
First meeting	October 6, 1973 Nicholls State 3, Northwestern State 0
Latest meeting	November 15, 2025 Nicholls 26, Northwestern State 21
Trophy	NSU Trophy
Statistics
Meetings total	52
All-time series	Northwestern State leads, 29–23
Largest victory	Nicholls State, 58–0 (2007)
Longest win streak	Northwestern State, 9 (1980–1988)
Current win streak	Nicholls, 2 (2024–present)

120km
75miles

Nicholls

Northwestern State

   

Locations of Nicholls and Northwestern State

History

The first game in the Nicholls–Northwestern State series was played in 1973.^[5]

Game results

Nicholls victories

Northwestern State victories

No. Date Location Winner Score 1 October 6, 1973 Thibodaux, LA Nicholls State 3–0 2 October 12, 1974 Natchitoches, LA Nicholls State 7–0 3 October 11, 1975 Thibodaux, LA Nicholls State 23–10 4 October 9, 1976 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 20–8 5 October 8, 1977 Thibodaux, LA Nicholls State 10–6 6 October 28, 1978 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 28–18 7 October 27, 1979 Thibodaux, LA Nicholls State 27–24 8 November 8, 1980 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 21–14 9 November 7, 1981 Thibodaux, LA Northwestern State 31–17 10 November 6, 1982 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 38–6 11 November 5, 1983 Thibodaux, LA Northwestern State 24–21 12 October 11, 1984 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 19–0 13 November 9, 1985 Thibodaux, LA Northwestern State 20–14 14 November 8, 1986 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 28–13 15 November 7, 1987 Thibodaux, LA Northwestern State 31–28 16 October 15, 1988 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 27–12 17 November 4, 1989 Thibodaux, LA Nicholls State 21–15 18 September 15, 1990 Natchitoches, LA Nicholls State 19–7 19 November 16, 1991 Thibodaux, LA Northwestern State 16–10 20 November 14, 1992 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 44–6 21 October 9, 1993 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 35–21 22 September 17, 1994 Thibodaux, LA Northwestern State 35–3 23 October 7, 1995 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 34–14 24 October 12, 1996 Thibodaux, LA Nicholls State 19–17 25 September 27, 1997 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 19–0 26 October 24, 1998 Thibodaux, LA Northwestern State 28–26 27 October 2, 1999 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 42–17 No. Date Location Winner Score 28 October 14, 2000 Thibodaux, LA Northwestern State 27–21 29 October 20, 2001 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 47–14 30 October 24, 2002 Thibodaux, LA Northwestern State 21–14 31 October 25, 2003 Natchitoches, LA Nicholls State 40–30 32 October 21, 2004 Thibodaux, LA Nicholls State 40–14 33 November 5, 2005 Natchitoches, LA Nicholls State 31–24 34 October 21, 2006 Thibodaux, LA Northwestern State 9–0 35 October 6, 2007 Thibodaux, LA Nicholls State 58–0 36 October 11, 2008 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 36–28 37 November 14, 2009 Thibodaux, LA Nicholls State 28–21 38 November 13, 2010 Natchitoches, LA Nicholls State 37–7 39 September 24, 2011 Thibodaux, LA Northwestern State 34–0 40 October 27, 2012 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 27–26 41 October 12, 2013 Thibodaux, LA Nicholls State 33–21 42 November 15, 2014 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 48–21 43 October 31, 2015 Thibodaux, LA Northwestern State 37–21 44 October 29, 2016 Natchitoches, LA Nicholls State 31–14 45 October 7, 2017 Thibodaux, LA Nicholls State 14–10 46 October 6, 2018 Natchitoches, LA Nicholls 28–10 47 October 12, 2019 Thibodaux, LA Nicholls 45–35 48 March 6, 2021 Natchitoches, LA Nicholls 31–24 49 October 30, 2021 Thibodaux, LA Nicholls 42–21 50 October 1, 2022 Natchitoches, LA Northwestern State 36–33 51 October 9, 2024 Thibodaux, LA Nicholls 20–0 52 November 15, 2025 Thibodaux LA Nicholls 26–21 Series: Northwestern State leads 29–23 Game scheduled for October 14, 2023, was canceled.[6]

See also

• List of NCAA college football rivalry games