Nicholls State Colonels Football TV Schedule, Channels, Times
How to watch live stream Nicholls Colonels football game today, tonight, or tomorrow? What channel & time?
The Nicholls Colonels compete in the Southland Conference, and every game on their 2026 schedule streams on ESPN+ — all nine league contests plus the three non-conference dates, two of which come against FBS opposition. There is no cable package for Colonels football, so a single subscription covers the season. Tommy Rybacki enters year two after opening his tenure with a Week Zero upset of fifth-ranked Incarnate Word in Thibodaux, and Nicholls goes back to the same well this year with another Thursday night season opener. Six games are set for Manning Field at John L. Guidry Stadium, and the season closes on a Thursday as well with the River Bell Classic.
| Nicholls Colonels TV Schedule 2026 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Game | Time ET | TV |
| Week 1 (Thu, Aug. 27) | vs Mississippi Valley State (Week Zero) | 7:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 2 (Sat, Sept. 5) | @ Kansas State | TBD | ESPN+ |
| Week 3 (Sat, Sept. 12) | vs UTRGV * (Family Day) | 7:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 4 (Sat, Sept. 19) | @ Sam Houston | 7:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 5 (Sat, Sept. 26) | vs Lamar * (Hall of Fame Game) | 4:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 6 (Sat, Oct. 3) | @ Houston Christian * | 7:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 7 (Sat, Oct. 10) | BYE WEEK | — | — |
| Week 8 (Sat, Oct. 17) | vs Stephen F. Austin * | 4:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 9 (Sat, Oct. 24) | @ Northwestern State * | 3:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 10 (Sat, Oct. 31) | @ McNeese * | 3:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 11 (Sat, Nov. 7) | vs East Texas A&M * (Homecoming) | 4:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 12 (Sat, Nov. 14) | @ Incarnate Word * | 3:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 13 (Thu, Nov. 19) | vs Southeastern Louisiana * (River Bell Classic) | 7:00 PM | ESPN+ |
* Southland Conference game. Home games are played at Manning Field at John L. Guidry Stadium in Thibodaux, Louisiana.
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Which Nicholls Colonels games are worth watching in 2026?
The season ends the way it should: the River Bell Classic against Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday, November 19, one of the oldest and most heated rivalries in Louisiana football, played for a brass bell and staged on a night of its own at the end of the regular season. Before that, Nicholls gets two swings at the FBS. September 5 takes the Colonels to Manhattan to face Big 12 member Kansas State at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, and two weeks later they head to Huntsville to meet Sam Houston, the program that made the jump from the Southland to Conference USA and is now well established at the higher level.
Week Zero is becoming a Nicholls tradition. The Colonels open at home on a Thursday night for the second straight year, this time against Mississippi Valley State, after starting the Rybacki era with an upset of a fifth-ranked Incarnate Word side in the same slot last August. The conference stretch that will define the season comes in late October, with back-to-back road trips to Northwestern State and McNeese — two Louisiana rivals in eight days. Homecoming falls November 7 against East Texas A&M, and Stephen F. Austin visits Thibodaux on October 17 as the defending Southland champion.
