Calm, cool and fiercely competitive

'Matty Ice' refuses to melt when heat is on the Blue Bombers, a skill he learned in his trial-by-fire freshman year as a college QB

By: Mike Sawatzky Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017

He is 'Matty Ice' to his teammates.

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This article was published 10/08/2017 (2975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He is ‘Matty Ice’ to his teammates.

After directing seven game-winning, fourth-quarter comebacks in his last 15 regular-season CFL starts, Matt Nichols has earned his reputation as a quarterback who’s at his best when a game is on the line.

“It’s kind of a summary of my personality,” Nichols said after practice Thursday afternoon. “Any time there’s a high-level competition happening, no matter what it is, whether it’s ping pong in the locker room or whatever it is, I feel like I have the ability to focus in and get it done. That’s kind of where it came from.”

Nichols was at his competitive best again last week in Ottawa, calmly guiding the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to more late-game heroics — this time four fourth-quarter field goals by Justin Medlock, including the decisive kick on the last play of the game to beat the Redblacks, 33-30.

“I was smiling on the sidelines last week before we took the field the last time,” said Nichols, who leads the Bombers onto Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton Saturday (6:30 p.m., TSN) for a game against the 0-6 Ticats. “Everyone sees that demeanour, it just calms everyone down. It makes guys able to go out and execute.”

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols #15 during practice Wednesday afternoon at Investors Group Field. — WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols #15 during practice Wednesday afternoon at Investors Group Field.

But he didn’t develop these skills and savvy overnight.

Nichols was a lightly regarded recruit out of West Valley High School in Cottonwood, Calif., when he arrived on the campus of Eastern Washington University in the fall of 2005. He was redshirted that first year and joined the active roster as a full-time starter in 2006. The Eagles were in rebuilding mode and it was a trial by fire.

“He’s a fierce competitor. He’s a surly football player.” – Aaron Best, Matt Nichols’ former college football coach

According to current EWU head coach Aaron Best, an assistant coach for three of Nichols’ four years in college, the new QB struggled as the go-to man at first and the Eagles stumbled to a 3-8 finish.

“He didn’t throw the ball a ton in high school, so he was a very raw quarterback,” Best said earlier this week via telephone from Cheney, Wash. “If you look at his high school tape, you’re not going to be overly impressed because he didn’t throw it much and he wasn’t asked to throw it much. (But) when we threw it, you saw some natural things.

“You could see some things but we also knew that he had a long way to go before he could make all the throws in our offence. I tell you what, though, he took to coaching and he had a lot of upside.”

Nichols remembers his introduction to the starter’s role as brutally tough.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Matt Nichols (right) has been a calming QB for the Bombers, a skill he learned, in part, during his time at Eastern Washington University. — WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Matt Nichols (right) has been a calming QB for the Bombers, a skill he learned, in part, during his time at Eastern Washington University.

He recalls thowing 17 interceptions to his nine touchdown passes and trying to find his way on an offence that was also breaking in four redshirted freshmen receivers.

“Half the time I’m throwing a go route and they’re running a hitch (pattern) and vice versa,” said Nichols. “So we were just trying to figure it out on the fly. When you go through tough years like that, whether it’s the end of a game or whatever, or you lose a couple of games, I feel like you’ve been in that position or worse and you know how to handle it. My total approach, going through my injuries and tough stretches, I feel like I’ve already been there before and I know how to pull out of it. That season definitely had something to do with it.”

As a sophomore Nichols blossomed, leading the Eagles to a 9-4 record while earning Big Sky Conference offensive player of the year honours. His leadership and ability to grind his way back into games had become a big asset.

“He’s a fierce competitor. He’s a surly football player,” Best said. “When you’re competing with Matt Nichols, you’d better strap it on, because he’s going to take every inch and more, given the opportunity.

“He kinda started what (former EWU quarterbacks) Bo Levi (Mitchell) and Vernon (Adams Jr.) kinda topped off. Just a belief that it doesn’t matter where you are in the game — it’s just a matter of is there enough time on the clock?”

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
Nichols: — BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Nichols: "Any time there's a high-level competition happening, no matter what it is, whether it's ping pong in the locker room or whatever it is, I feel like I have the ability to focus in and get it done."

Current teammate and centre Matthias Goossen believes Nichols’ determination rubs off on the offensive unit. The sort of belief that contributed to the Blue Bombers scoring 13 points in less than a minute to beat the Montreal Alouettes 41-40 on July 27.

“Matt’s a great teammate — lots of confidence,” said Goossen. “What he does is amazing but what we do as a collective offence contributes to what we do. Against Montreal, that was 14 plays, that wasn’t just one play. We were grinding it out, that’s what really matters.

“When we get down late, then we’ve gotta be in that mode. But we’re not waiting for that fourth quarter, we’re trying to finish them off quick. I think every team does that.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Winnipeg Blue Bombers' Matt Nichols (15) throws the ball against the Ottawa Redblacks during first half of a CFL football game in Ottawa on Friday, Aug. 4, 2017. — THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang Winnipeg Blue Bombers' Matt Nichols (15) throws the ball against the Ottawa Redblacks during first half of a CFL football game in Ottawa on Friday, Aug. 4, 2017.

THE ICEMAN COMETH

Matt Nichols has engineered 13 fourth-quarter comebacks during his college and pro career. Here’s a brief overview of the games in which he has rallied his team from a deficit or a tie score to victory:

Eastern Washington 45, Idaho State 31
Sept. 27, 2008 – Cheney, Wash.

The Eagles trailed the Bengals 31-28 with 5:05 left in the third quarter, but scored the final 17 points of the game in the 45-31 win. Nichols was 26-of-40 for 382 yards and five touchdowns in the win, including a pair of scoring passes in the final 11:35. In the fourth quarter alone, Nichols had 150 yards while completing 7-of-8 passes, including a 61-yard scoring strike to Brynsen Brown that gave EWU the lead for good at 38-31 with 11:35 to play.

Eastern Washington 28, Northern Arizona 13
Nov. 15, 2008 – Cheney, Wash.

Eastern trailed 13-0 and 13-7 at halftime, but out-scored the Lumberjacks 21-0 in the second half to close out the 2008 season with a winning record at 6-5. Nichols completed 25-of-42 passes for 346 yards and two touchdowns in the win. In the second half alone, he was 13-of-21 for 188 yards and both TD tosses.

Eastern Washington 35, Montana State 24
Oct. 24, 2009 – Cheney, Wash.

Trailing 24-14 early in the fourth quarter, Nichols helped Eastern rally for a 35-24 win, leading Eastern to touchdowns on its last three possessions of the game in the final 12:20. He was 26-of-41 for 327 yards and four TDs, including 8-of-12 for 150 yards on the last three drives. Eastern took the lead for good with 10:12 to play, then clinched the win with a 12-play, 96-yard drive that took 5:53 off the clock.

Eastern Washington 49, Northern Arizona 45
Nov. 21, 2009 – Flagstaff, Ariz.

Included in EWU’s wins in Flagstaff was a season-ending 49-45 triumph in 2009 that catapulted EWU into the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs. The Eagles let an 18-point lead slip through its grasp, but scored the winning touchdown with 3:30 left in the game on a 13-yard pass from Nichols to Nathan Overbay. That came on a five-play 74-yard drive, with Nichols completing all four of his passes for 76 yards (22, 5, 36, 13) with the other play a 2-yard loss by a running back. The Eagles led 28-10 and 35-17 in the first half, and 42-27 late in the game, however, NAU scored three-straight times to take a 45-42 lead with 5:20 left. Nichols completed 22-of-33 passes for 408 yards, no interceptions and five touchdowns as EWU wrapped-up a fourth-straight victory. Nichols became only the second player in league history to pass for more than 12,000 career yards.

Edmonton 23, Ottawa 12
July 17, 2015 – Ottawa

Nichols hooked up with Kendial Lawrence for a 63-yard TD pass and run to give Edmonton a 17-12 lead and he added two more drives resulting in Grant Shaw field goals to cap the victory.

Winnipeg 29 B.C. 26
Oct. 10, 2015 – Vancouver

Nichols had modest production in his fifth start since being acquired from the Eskimos on Sept. 2, completing 19 of 34 passes for 179 yards and one touchdown but he was hot when it mattered most. Nichols hooked up with Clarence Denmark on a 16-yard scoring play to tie the game 26-26 and directed the Bombers on a five-play drive in the final minute to set up Sergio Castillo’s game-winning 41-yard field goal.

Winnipeg 28, Saskatchewan 25
Sept. 4, 2016 – Regina

The Bombers snapped a string of 11 consecutive losses at Mosaic Stadium as Nichols, with the teams tied 25-25 tie, directed his offence on a final drive beginning with 43 seconds left on the clock. The six-play operation culminated with a 43-yard field goal by Justin Medlock with no time remaining.

Winnipeg 17, Saskatchewan 10
Sept 10, 2016 – Winnipeg

Nichols led Winnipeg to its sixth consecutive win, directing the offence on six-play, 94-yard drive midway through the fourth quarter to break a 10-10 tie. Nichols scampered 15 yards to the Saskatchewan one-yard line and called his own number on the next play for the winning score.

Winnipeg 46, Toronto 29
Sept. 17, 2016 – Winnipeg

With the game tied 29-29, Nichols guided the Blue Bombers on three scoring drives in the fourth quarter to salt away the victory. The final score was a one-yard Nichols run for a TD.

Winnipeg 37, B.C. 35
Oct. 8, 2016 – Winnipeg

Nichols threw for two touchdowns, including a 22-yarder to Clarence Denmark at 8:10 of the fourth quarter to put Winnipeg up 37-33 and caught another TD pass from Rory Kohlert after an end around play to rally Winnipeg. The winning drive covered 34 yards in two plays after a 53-yard punt return by Kevin Fogg.

Winnipeg 35, B.C. 32
Oct. 14, 2016 – Vancouver

Trailing 32-22 with just over 3:00 remaining, Nichols led two late scoring drives with Justin Medlock’s game-winning field goal coming with 14 seconds left. Nichols tied the game at 32-32 with a TD pass to Clarence Denmark with 2:22 left and a subsequent Chris Rainey fumble on a kickoff return set Medlock up for the decisive boot.

Winnipeg 41, Montreal 40
July 27, 2017 – Winnipeg

Trailing by 12 points with less than two minutes remaining, Nichols led the Blue on a furious rally that included a TD pass to Ryan Lankford with 44 seconds left, a subsequent short kickoff recovered by rookie Brandon Alexander. Nichols drove the ball to Montreal’s one-yard line before handing off to Andrew Harris to clinch the victory.

Winnipeg 33, Ottawa 30
Aug. 4, 2017 – Ottawa

Nichols finished with 319 yards passing and one major but did his best work in the fourth quarter, driving the offence four times into Redblacks territory to set Justin Medlock up for field goals of 22, 35, 40 and 38 yards. The winning book came no time left on the clock.

Sources: Steve Daniel, CFL; David Cook, Eastern Washington University