Nicholls, Southeastern get opening-round home games in NCAA FCS playoffs

Nicholls earned its way into the NCAA Division I football playoffs for the third straight year by edging Southeastern Louisiana 28-27 Thursday night to claim the Southland Conference title and automatic berth.

The Lions will join them in the postseason.

Not only are both area teams from the Southland Conference are part of the field of 24, they will both open the tournament at home.

Nicholls (8-4) will play host to North Dakota (7-4) at Manning Field at John L. Guidry Stadium while  Southeastern (7-4) will welcome Villanova (9-3) to Strawberry Stadium in the opening round on Saturday.

Both games will kick off at 3 p.m. Central time.

The Colonels are hosting a first-round game for the third straight year. They lost to South Dakota in 2017 and defeated San Diego last season.

Southeastern is in the NCAA field for the first time since its last conference championship season in 2014, the second of back-to-back postseason trips and conference titles under Ron Roberts.

If Nicholls wins, it will meet No. 1 seed North Dakota State on Dec. 7. A Southeastern win would send the Lions to No. 6 seed Montana for the second round.

North Dakota State (12-0), which has won seven of the last eight FCS titles, is not only the overall No. 1 seed but the only unbeaten team in the field.

James Madison (11-1) is seeded second, followed by Weber State (9-3), Sacramento State (9-3), Montana State (9-3), Montana (9-3), South Dakota State (8-4) and Southland co-champion Central Arkansas (9-3).