HAMMOND – McNeese's chances at an outright Southland Conference title took a major blow on Saturday afternoon when Southeastern Louisiana prevailed in a defensive slugfest, 23-6 to hand the 11^th-ranked Cowboys their third loss of the season.
 
McNeese (6-3, 5-2 SLC) lost the services of quarterbacks Cody Orgeron (shoulder) and James Tabary (ankle) before the end of the third quarter with SLU (4-6, 4-4) leading 17-6. Oregeron returned in the fourth quarter to try to rally the Cowboys but the Lions were able to take advantage of a worn down defense.
 
"I feel really bad for our guys," said head coach Lance Guidry. "They really wanted to win this game. We haven't won here in a while. We weren't looking ahead. We wanted to take care of this one first then win one of the next two to share. We kind of put ourselves against the wall again."
 
With the loss, McNeese falls into at least a three-way tie for first place with Incarnate Word and Nicholls, and a possible four-way tie if Central Arkansas defeats Lamar later Saturday night.
 
"This one is going to hurt," said Guidry. "But we'll regroup and get ready for Northwestern State. We're going to have to put a good game plan together for that one and score some points."
 
The Cowboys were held out of the end zone despite having several opportunities.
 
In the game's first possession, wide receiver Kylon Highshaw had a possible touchdown catch knocked out of his hands and intercepted in the end zone.
 
Trailing 7-0 with 10:05 to play in the second quarter, McNeese attempted a wide receiver lateral pass that had Kylon Highshaw throw it downfield to a wide open Trey Conerly. Conerly got turned around, expecting the pass to the corner, and instead went to the post. Gunnar Raborn would later kick a 22-yard field goal to cut the margin to 7-3 with 7:18 to play in the first half.
 
"That's a play we worked on during the week," said Guidry. "I think it got caught up in the wind a bit and went over his (Conerly) head."
 
In the first possession of the third quarter on the first play, Tabary had a wide open receiver in Nate Briscoe 35 yards down the field but Briscoe couldn't hang onto the ball in what would've been another big play touchdown. McNeese got the ball back after Jovon Burriss forced a fumble on a punt return and Tre Roberts recovered at the Lion 18-yard line.
 
On the next play, Tabary connected with Lawayne Ross in the flats and Ross rumbled his way in the endzone for an 18-yard score that would've put McNeese up 13-10. But an illegal block against a McNeese offensive lineman negated the touchdown. Three plays later Tabary was sacked to get the Cowboys out of field goal range and was forced to punt.
 
SLU took a 17-6 lead after Julius Maracalin scored on a 41-yard run with 1:10 to play in the third quarter.
 
McNeese went three-and-out on its next three possessions while the Lions got back-to-back field goals by Jonathan Tatum on their next two possessions to make it a 23-6 score.
 
Orgeron missed most of the second quarter and all of the third after suffering an injury following a big hit. Tabary left the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury after attempting to play on it, and No. 3 quarterback Matt Keller was forced into action, taking a sack on his only play.
 
Orgeron returned to finish out the game.
 
"We had several guys go out today," said Guidry. "But we had our chances offensively. We just couldn't get things going and capitalize with points."
 
McNeese was outgained on offense 322-187 and managed just 21 yards on the ground.
 
Orgeron completed 13 of 23 passes for 98 yards and an interception while Tabary hit 8 of 21 targets for 68 yards.
 
Saturday's loss was the fourth straight suffered in Hammond.