McNeese_Cowboys_football

McNeese Cowboys football

McNeese Cowboys football

Intercollegiate American football team

The McNeese Cowboys football program is the intercollegiate American football team for McNeese State University located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and are members of the Southland Conference. McNeese's first football team was fielded in 1940. The team plays its home games at the 17,410 seat Cowboy Stadium in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Quick Facts First season, Athletic director ...

History

On August 31, 2013, McNeese opened their season by defeating the South Florida Bulls, 53–21. It was the largest margin of victory (32 points) by a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, formerly I-AA) team over a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS, formerly I-A) team since the NCAA split Division I football into two divisions in 1978.[2]

McNeese State football played some of their original games at a stadium now named Lake Charles Boston High School Cougar Stadium.[3]

Championships

Southland Conference champions

  • 1976, 1979, 1980, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2015[4]

Division I-AA championship games

Bowl games

The Cowboys have participated in seven bowl games.[5]

More information Season, Bowl ...

Rivalries

Central Arkansas

Main article: Red Beans and Rice Bowl

The two teams have met 13 times on the football field with Central Arkansas leading the series 7–6–0. Due to conference scheduling requirements, the most recent game was played in 2019.

More information Games played, First meeting ...

Lamar

Main article: Battle of the Border (Lamar–McNeese State)

The two teams have met 40 times on the football field, with McNeese State holding a 28-11-1 agreement with the two universities and Verizon Wireless.[6]

More information Games played, First meeting ...

Louisiana

Main article: Cajun Crown

The Cajun Crown was the name of the rivalry trophy between Louisiana and McNeese State.[7]

More information Games played, First meeting ...

Northwestern State

Main article: McNeese State–Northwestern State football rivalry

McNeese State leads the series with Northwestern State 48–23–1 through the 2021 season.

More information Games played, First meeting ...

Notable former players

Notable alumni include:

NFL
  • Don Breaux - Denver (1963) and San Diego ('64-'65); also coordinated Washington Redskins (1981–1989, 1990–1993, 2004–2007) and various teams
  • Tom Sestak - AFL Buffalo Bills (1962–1968)
  • Leonard Smith - St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals (1983-1988), Buffalo Bills (1988–1991) (College Football Hall of Famer)
  • Stephen Starring - New England Patriots (1983–1987), Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1988)
  • Buford Jordan - New Orleans/Portland Breakers (1984–1985) USFL, New Orleans Saints (1986–1992)
  • Kavika Pittman - Dallas Cowboys (1996–99), Denver (2000–2002), Carolina (2003)
  • Zach Bronson - San Francisco 49ers (1997–2003); St. Louis (2004)
  • Kerry Joseph - Seattle Seahawks (1999–2002)
  • Keith Ortego - Chicago Bears (1985–1987)
  • Flip Johnson - Buffalo Bills (1988–1989)
  • Bryan Hicks - Cincinnati Bengals (1980–1982)
  • Jimmy Redmond – various teams (2001–2006)
  • Luke Lawton - various teams (2005–2010)
  • B. J. Sams - Baltimore Ravens (2004–2007); Kansas City Chiefs (2008)
  • B. J. Blunt - Washington Redskins (2019)
  • Diontae Spencer - St. Louis Rams (2014), Pittsburgh Steelers (2019), Denver Broncos (2019–2021), New York Jets (2022-2023)
  • Adam Henry - Assistant coach: Oakland Raiders (2007-11), San Francisco 49ers (2015), New York Giants (2016-2017), Cleveland Browns (2018-2019), Dallas Cowboys (2020-2021), Buffalo Bills (2023-present)
CFL
  • Kerry Joseph - Ottawa Renegades (2003–2005), Saskatchewan Roughriders (2006–2007, 2014), Toronto Argonauts (2008–2009), Edmonton Eskimos (2010–2013)
  • Diontae Spencer - Toronto Argonauts (2015–2016), Ottawa Redblacks (2017–2018)

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of December 3, 2023.[8]

2024 2025 2026 2027 2028
Southern at Louisiana at South Dakota South Dakota
at Texas A&M at Utah State
at Tarleton State Weber State at LSU
Alcorn State
at Weber State

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "McNeese State Athletics Style Guide" (PDF). January 17, 2023. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  2. [2]
    Auman, Greg (September 1, 2013). "Division doesn't matter this time". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved February 21, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  3. [3]
    "Groundbreaking held for Cougar Stadium renovations". kplctv.com. 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
  4. [4]
    http://wilson.engr.wisc.edu/rsfc/champs/Southland.txt [bare URL plain text file]
  5. [5]
    http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2022/Bowls.pdf
  6. [6]
    "Verizon Wireless Announces Lamar-McNeese State Rivalry Series - LAMARCARDINALS.COM - Lamar Cardinals Official Athletic Site". lamarcardinals.com. Archived from the original on 2014-10-24.
  7. [7]
    "College Football Rivalries". www.1122productions.com. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  8. [8]
    "McNeese State Cowboys Football Future Schedules". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
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