LAKE CHARLES – Holding down its top five ranking in both FCS polls for the second straight week after a 61-7 win over Arkansas Tech on Saturday, the McNeese Cowboys now turn their attention to the start of Southland Conference play when they host Nicholls on Saturday.
And despite what the records are, history shows that when the Cowboys and Colonels meet up, there will be no lack of a competitive game.
"Obviously it's different with what they're going through right now," said McNeese coach
Matt Viator about the head coaching change a couple of weeks ago. "With Coach (Charlie) Stubbs being sick and Coach (Steve) Axman coming in, who has a great reputation in the business and if you look at his resume, he's had some great jobs and great success coaching guys like Troy Aikman and people like that."
Stubbs resigned two weeks ago citing health concerns and Axman, who last coached the sidelines in 2011 as the offensive coordinator at Idaho, was hired in an interim role.
"I have seen improvement (Nicholls' play) from the North Texas game to the Central Arkansas game, no question," said Viator. "It was 14-6 when Central Arkansas scored right before the half to go up 21-6 then got a couple of turnovers in the second half and the game kind of got out of hand. It was very competitive for the first half.
"Nicholls is Nicholls. And the time I've been here and going back to, my best recollection of Nicholls is 2008 when they came in here and beat us."
That loss ended up being the mark that prevented McNeese from winning its fourth-straight conference championship. Nicholls (0-5, 0-1) also entered that contest in 2008 winless with a 0-4 record while the Cowboys were ranked No. 11 in the polls and had a 4-2 record.
A similar outcome happened in 1998 but with more of a dramatic ending when the Colonels scored on a 45-yard pass with eight seconds remaining to beat the Cowboys 31-30 and keep McNeese from winning the league title that season.
"It's conference," said Viator. "They're gonna know a lot of what we do and we're gonna know a lot of their players. That always makes for interesting competition."
McNeese held its position in both the FCS Coaches poll and Sports Network Top 25. The top 10 remained the same with North Dakota State topping the list followed by Eastern Washington, Coastal Carolina, McNeese, Villanova, New Hampshire, Montana, Jacksonville State, South Dakota State and Northern Iowa to round out the top 10 in the coaches poll.
The Sports Network Top 25 is nearly the exact same as the coaches poll for the exception of New Hampshire being ranked No. 4 followed by McNeese at No. 5 and Villanova is sixth.
The only other Southland Conference team ranked is Southeastern Louisiana which is 11
th in both polls.
FCS Coaches Top 25 1. North Dakota State (26)
2. Eastern Washington
3. Coastal Carolina
4. McNeese State
5. Villanova
6. New Hampshire
7. Montana
8. Jacksonville State
9. South Dakota State
10. Northern Iowa
11. Southeastern Louisiana
12. Youngstown State
13. William & Mary
14. Chattanooga
15. Montana State
16. Southern Illinois
17. Bethune-Cookman
18. Eastern Kentucky
19. Fordham
20. Tennessee State
21. Richmond
22. Illinois State
23. Missouri State
24. Charleston Southern
25. Northern Arizona
The Sports Network Top 25 1. North Dakota State (26)
2. Eastern Washington
3. Coastal Carolina
4. New Hampshire
5. McNeese State
6. Villanova
7. Montana
8. Jacksonville State
9. South Dakota State
10. Northern Iowa
11. Southeastern Louisiana
12. William & Mary
13. Montana State
14. Chattanooga
15. Southern Illinois
16. Fordham
17. Bethune-Cookman
18. Youngstown State
19. Eastern Kentucky
20. Richmond
21. Tennessee State
22. Illinois State
23. Albany
24. Delaware
25. Indiana State
