{"id":239739,"date":"2025-09-19T20:19:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T20:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/239739\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T20:19:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T20:19:13","slug":"the-case-of-the-missing-paddle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/239739\/","title":{"rendered":"The case of the missing paddle"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Texas State football<\/a> and Nicholls State have been dueling since 1980. But the Battle for the Paddle<\/a> came into existence in 1998, when heavy rains flooded San Marcos and the game was postponed.<\/p>\n

During that time, light-hearted jokes about needing a boat and a paddle to watch the teams play ensued, and the game had a name.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

TEXAS STATE VS. NICHOLLS STATE<\/strong><\/p>\n

When\/where:<\/strong> 7 p.m. in San Marcos.<\/p>\n

TV\/radio:<\/strong> ESPN+<\/p>\n

Texas State has won the past two Battles for the Paddle, but the Paddle Trophy the Bobcats have is a replica. The original wooden oar that was painted maroon and gold on one side and red and silver on the other hasn\u2019t been in San Marcos since 2009. Nicholls State refused to return it after losing to Texas State 38-12 in 2011, citing the Bobcats’ competitive advantage as a Football Bowl Subdivision program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ain\u2019t bringing the damn thing,\u201d former Nicholls State head coach Charlie Stubbs infamously said.<\/p>\n

MORE:<\/strong> Texas State football safety Ryan Nolan won’t stop reaching for the next level<\/a><\/p>\n

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But former Nicholls State athletic director Rob Bernardi told the American-Statesman this week that no one at the school has seen the paddle since then, either. Around the time that 2011 game was played, the Paddle simply disappeared.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just outside my office; we used to keep it in there,\u201d said Bernardi, who’s now the deputy athletic director at Louisiana-Monroe. \u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t know where it went.\u201d<\/p>\n

The history of the Battle for the Paddle<\/p>\n

When both programs competed in the Football Championship Subdivision, the competition was fierce. Neither team ever won more than three matcups in a row, and the 2010 game in San Marcos ended in a thrilling 47-45 Nicholls State victory that saw four overtimes and a game-winning 2-point conversion.<\/p>\n

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After that win, Bernardi recalled, he saw a few of his players running toward the 50-yard line. They sat down in a line and began mimicking a rowboat, eliciting a chorus of boos from Bobcats fans.<\/p>\n

During the Bobcats’ time as an FCS school, the Colonels got the best of them more often than not, winning six of the 11 matchups. Bernardi said there was a slight David and Goliath feel to the rivalry; Texas State was the larger school and theoretically shouldn\u2019t have had trouble with Nicholls State.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Bobcats break off into groups during Texas State\u2019s football practice at Jim Wacker Field at UFCU Stadium in San Marcos, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see it all the time,” Bernardi said. “For some reason, lesser opponents play really well against particular opponents. I don\u2019t think we beat them in anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

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But things changed once Texas State moved up to the FBS. FBS teams hold a significant advantage over FCS programs. They can offer more scholarships, they have larger athletic budgets, better facilities and the ability to land high-end talent.<\/p>\n

A growing divide between the schools<\/p>\n

The Bobcats<\/a> can offer up to 110 scholarships thanks to new NCAA rules while the Colonels are limited to 63. Texas State\u2019s enrollment reached 44,596 this fall \u2014 Nicholls State announced 5,483 students this past spring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The hiring of Bobcats coach GJ Kinne has only widened the gap between the two programs. Texas State is now one of the up-and-coming Group of Five teams after years of irrelevance in the 2010s. The Bobcats defeated Baylor in 2023 and have earned two\u00a0consecutive wins over UTSA.<\/a> In the past month, Kinne landed Texas State\u2019s first-ever four-star high school recruit.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t know much,\u201d Kinne said regarding the two programs’ history. \u201cI don\u2019t consider it a rivalry. We\u2019re FBS, they\u2019re FCS.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that Nicholls State isn\u2019t a good program. It has started 2025 strong, beating Incarnate Word 20-6 and giving Troy, like Texas State a Sun Belt team, a fight despite losing 38-20.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, FanDuel posted Friday a 28\u00bd-point spread in favor of Texas State. The Bobcats are supposed to win this game, while a Colonels loss wouldn\u2019t mean much for them in the grand scheme of the season.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for long-time followers, the historic stakes from the Battle for the Paddle simply aren\u2019t there anymore. Current Texas State fans are more focused on winning the Sun Belt or the I-35 Rivalry with UTSA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Bernardi said the original oar may have become a keepsake for a coach or fan who snatched it up when no one was looking. He doesn’t really know. But as the paddle disappeared, the connection and rivalry that tied Texas State and Nicholls State together simultaneously dissipated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat silly paddle created a great rivalry and a lot of memories for players and fans,\u201d Bernardi said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas State football and Nicholls State have been dueling since 1980. But the Battle for the Paddle came…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":239740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1428,1318,128276,1317,11999,1315,1316,62,9720,127252,12237,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-239739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-gj-kinne","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-division-i","13":"tag-ncaa-football","14":"tag-ncaafootball","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-texas-state-bobcats","17":"tag-texas-state-bobcats-football","18":"tag-texas-state-university","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115232818042734217","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}