McNeese (0-0) at Northern Colorado (0-0)
Rankings: McNeese 17 STATS, 18 AFCA Coaches; UNC not ranked
Where: Greeley, Colorado
Stadium: Nottingham Field (8,533)
Time: 3:05 p.m. Central Time
TV: PlutoTV.com (free internet-based stream; no sign up required)
Radio: McNeese Radio Network
Live Stats: McNeeseSports.com
Twitter: @McNeeseFootball
Series: First Meeting
 
GREELEY, Colorado – The 17^th-ranked McNeese Cowboys will open up the 2018 season – its 75^th in program history - here on Saturday afternoon against Northern Colorado of the Big Sky Conference.
 
Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. central time. The game will broadcast live on PlutTv.com, a free Internet-based platform, and also on the McNeese Radio Network (92.9 The Lake and McNeeseSports.com).
 
The Cowboys, 9-2 a season ago, is looking forward to a change of scenery and opponent.
 
"It's time to hit someone other than our own teammates," said senior linebacker BJ Blunt. "We're ready for the trip and to get going."
 
Northern Colorado, 3-7 in 2017, has a new defensive coordinator that joined the program from Colorado State, so it's a bit of a mystery on what kind of defense the McNeese offense will see.
 
"We watched some film on Colorado State since that's where their DC came from," said quarterback James Tabary. "But we may just have to adjust on the fly depending on what we see."
 
 
 GAME OVERVIEW
• McNeese will open up its 75th season of football on Saturday, Sept. 1 when it visits Northeren Colorado in Greeley at 3:05 p.m. central time. The game will air live on Pluto TV (Internet-based TV platform that runs as an app on 14 differ­ent platforms including Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku, and PlayStation consoles.
• The Cowboys are coming off a 9-2 season in 2017 but were left out of the Division I playoffs despite having a better record and ranking than eight teams that earned at-large bid. McNeese was the first 9-win team from one of the top six FCS conferences to not make the playoff field since it expanded to 24 teams in 2013.
• Northern Colorado posted a 3-7 record in 2017 but ended the year on a high note by blanking Cal Poly 42-0. Its Sept. 9 game at the University of Florida was canceled due to Hurricane Irma.
• Saturday's game will mark the eighth time in the last nine years the Cowboys have been scheduled to open the season on the road. However, the 2015 opener at LSU was canceled due to continuous thunderstorms and the following game, home against Incarnate Word, became the unexpected opener. McNeese is 2-3 in road openers since 2011 with a 2-2 mark against FBS opponents.
 
TOP STORYLINES
• Head coach Lance Guidry will lead the squad for his third season, which as they say, the third time's the charm.
• The face of the Cowboys' team is the stout DWA (Defense With Attitude). Last year's defense led the FCS in three categories - rushing defense (54.5 ypg), first downs defense (150), and third-down defense (23.8 percent). The DWA also led the Southland Conference in 10 categories.
• The Cowboys return most of their offensive production from a year ago, including 87 percent of their running game (1,662 of 1,906 yards), 97 percent of the passing game (2,511 of 2,585 yards) and 56 percent of the catches (116 of 207 receptions.
• The running back stable of seniors David Hamm (805 yards in 2017), Ryan Ross (injured last season), and Benjamin Jones (141 yards); junior Justin Pratt (663), and redshirt freshman Mac Briscoe, will look to provide a punishing run­ning game that used to be the trademark for the McNeese offense.
• Senior QB James Tabary has a chance to break nearly every school career passing record as he'll enter the season with 5,547 yards (6th all-time), 44 TDs (4th), 448 completions (6th) and 768 attempts (7th). He's already the first QB in school history to throw for 300 yards or more in five games in his career and tied a single-game record with five TD passes against Sam Houston State in 2016.
 
COWBOYS IN SEASON OPENERS
• McNeese is 46-26-2 in season openers and since 1990 has posted a 17-11 record in openers. However six of those losses came at the hands of Miami (2000), Texas A&M (2001), South Florida (2006), North Carolina (2008), Kansas (2011), and Nebraska (2015).
• The Cowboys are 14-14 when opening up on the road.
• This will be the second time McNeese will open the season against a member of the Big Sky Conference. In 2007, the Cowboys defeated Portland State, 35-12, at home to begin what would eventually be a perfect 11-0 regular season campaign. The Big Sky Conference would get revenge in the playoffs as Eastern Washington ventured into Cowboy Stadium and cruised to a 44-15 first round win over the Cowboys.
• Last year, Nicholls hit a 32-yard field goal as time expired to give the Colonels a 37-35 win over the Cowboys in Thibodaux.
 
EIGHT PLAYERS ON 2-DEEP EXPECTED TO MAKE MCNEESE DEBUTS
• McNeese might have a lot of youth on its team but it's not lacking any experience.
• Of the 44 players on the two-deep, just eight will be making their Cowboy debuts on Saturday - offensive linemen Jamarus Bolding (So.-TR), Cutter Leftwich (Fr.-TR), Zack Jones (Jr.-TR), and Tre Newton (Jr.-TR); WR Nate Briscoe (Fr.- RS), DL Camron Peterson (Fr.-RS), DB John Blunt (Fr.-HS), and FS Andre Sam (Fr.-RS).
 
ABOUT NORTHERN COLORADO
• The Bears are a traditionally strong football program that joined the Big Sky Conference for the 2006 season after moving up from the NCAA Division II ranks where they won the 1996 and 1997 national championships.
• UNC returns 9 starters on offense, 8 on defense and 7 on special teams.
• The Bears run the spread offense and a 4-3 defense.
• Senior QB Jacob Knipp returns after throwing for 1,352 yards in just six games last year, completing 93 of 148 pass­es and nine touchdowns.
• Senior WR Alex Wesley reeled in 55 passes for 1,010 yards and six TDs in earning second team all-conference honors.
• Senior DE Keifer Morris, a second team all-conference se­lection a year ago, registered 63 tackles, 13.5 tackles for a loss, anda pair of forced fumbles and fumble recoveries. He ranked second in the Big Sky with nine sacks.
• UNC's two-deep features 16 seniors - nine on offense and seven defense.
• Offensive line two-deep averages 6-foot-4, 290-pounds.
• The Bears are coached by Earnest Collins Jr., a graduate of UNC, who will be entering his eighth season at the helm. Collins played for the Bears from 1991-94 and leaving his mark in the UNC record book, ranking second all-time in school history with 978 punt return yards.
• The Bears' home stadium is Nottingham Field which is a natural grass surface and has a capacity of 8,533 seats.
 
COWBOYS AGAINST THE BIG SKY
• Saturday's game will be the 29th time McNeese will face a member of the Big Sky Conference and first meeting since the 2013 FCS playoffs.
• Overall, the Cowboys have played 10 members with UNC being the 11th, and have compiled 16-12 record.
• The most familiar opponent is Montana where the two teams have split a 6-game series with four of those coming in the playoffs. The last meeting was in 2006 with the Grizzlies taking a 31-6 win in the first round of the playoffs at Montana.
• In fact, 10 of the 28 contests were played in the playoffs.
• The Cowboys' most recent Big Sky opponent was Weber State in 2013, a 43-6 win for McNeese in Lake Charles.