NACOGDOCHES, Texas – McNeese appears to be playing its best football of the season right now and will look to continue to do so on Saturday when the Cowboys visit Stephen F. Austin in Southland Conference action.
 
Kick-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. at SFA's Homer Bryce Stadium. The game will broadcast live on ESPN+ but McNeese fans may want to turn down the volume on that broadcast and listen to the McNeese audio broadcast team of Tom Hoeffer and Ron Hayes on www.929thelake.com while watching the video stream.
 
The Cowboys (4-4, 2-3 SLC) are coming off an impressive outing against HBU last Saturday in a 42-27 win, a game that saw the offense light up the field with 567 yards and 42 points, both season-highs, while on defense, the Cowboys held the nation's No. 1 scoring offense to 18 points below average and total offense, which ranked No. 2, to nearly 200 yards under average.
 
McNeese, who is still searching for its first win on the road this season while trying to snap a seven-game road losing streak, defeated the Lumberjacks 17-10 last season. The Cowboys have also won at SFA in their last three visits and lead the all-time series 21-15-2.
 
LAST TIME OUT
• McNeese posted its most productive offensive output of the season with 567 yards and 42 points in a 42-27 win over HBU.
• The 567 total yards is the first time to reach the 500-yard mark since week 2 of last season against HBU (517 yards).
• Its the most offensive yards since recording 574 yards at Sam Houston State on Nov. 5 in the 2016 season.
• The 264 yards rushing was a season-high and the most since running for 342 at SFA in 2017.
• QB Cody Orgeron accounted for 383 total offensive yards (303 passing, 80 rushing) and three touchdowns (2 passing, 1 rushing).
• WRs Trevor Begue (9-121) and Cyron Sutton (6-116) became the first duo to each collect 100 yards receiving in a game since the 2016 season.
• McNeese's defense held HBU to just 30 net yards rushing, a season-low.
• DL Cody Roscoe swatted away 6 passes at the line of scrimmage to set a new school record.
• S Jovon Burriss scored his first career TD with an 11-yard fumble return.
 
McNEESE TEAM NOTABLES
• McNeese has recorded 400 yards or more in three straight games for the first time since weeks 1-3 of the 2017 season.
• The 1,479 totals yards in the last three games is the most in a three-game span since weeks 8-10 of the 2016 season when the Cowboys totaled 1,554 yards (601 at NSU, 379 vs. ACU, 574 at SHSU)
• The Cowboys have won the turnover battle in 6 of 8 games this season and are 3-0 when not committing a turnover.
• 4-2 on the year when leading at halftime and has won 47 of 54 games when leading at half dating back to the 2012 season.
• Defense has held its last five opponents to under 100 yards rushing.
• Cowboys are 3-0 on the year when not throwing an interception.
• Forced 19 turnovers through 8 games.
• McNeese has forced a turnover in 21 of the last 22 games.
 
McNEESE PLAYER NOTABLES
• QB Cody Orgeron has thrown for 1,175 yards and 11 TDs in the last four games, a 293.8 passing average... averaging 337.5 total offensive yards per game during that stretch... has thrown multiple TDs in four straight games and six times on the season... ranked 13th in the FCS with 17 passing TDs, 22nd with 1,853 passing yards and 23rd with 108 points responsible for... set a new school record with 403 total offensive yards against UCA... his 60 total plays registered at UCA was one off the school record of 61 set by Tim Leger in against Northern Iowa in 1996... his 26 completions at UCA ranks tied as the 7th-most in a game in school history... two straight 300-yard passing games.
• WR Cyron Sutton set a new school record against HBU with his sixth straight game to catch a TD pass... caught at least one pass in 17 straight games... ranked 10th in FCS with 7 touchdown catches which also ranks as the 4th-most in school history in a season... 7th in the FCS with 734 receiving yards (11th in school history), and 20th with 91.8 receiving yards per game... leads the team with 12 catches for 20 or more yards.
• RB Justin Pratt returned against HBU after missing the previous two games and ran for 100 yards for the fifth time in his career.
• DL Cody Roscoe has recorded at least one sack in three straight games and currently leads the team and ranks 5th in the league with six total sacks.
• WR Trevor Begue set career highs with 9 catches for 121 yards against HBU... he's second on the team with 6 TD catches... second on the team with 10 catches for 20 or more yards.
• LG Grant Burguillos will be making his 36th consecutive start on Saturday. The record is 52 straight held by Reggie Nelson from 1995-98.