McNeese Gets by Northwestern, 24-21

Cowboys stay in the race for 2nd place in the Southland Conference.

In what many expected to be a ‘get right’ game for the McNeese Cowboys, things still feel very off, even despite a win.

Going into the game, the Cowboys had questions in a number of areas, with two of the keys being quarterback play and the run defense, and after another lukewarm outing, those questions still linger.

Jake Strong played another up and down game, largely bolstered by a 3rd quarter that saw him connect with Kevin Rideau, a freshman out of Westlake who had caught only 2 passes for 9 yards in the previous six games.

In this one, Rideau caught another 2 passes, only this time for 101 yards and touchdown.

With wide receiver performances from Jamaal Levi and Solo Lewis, who also each have a had a breakout game, as well as consistent play from Smiley Edwards and Curtis Deville, the lack of a dynamic offense has been frustrating because we’ve seen glimpses.

Glimpses.

So, that was it basically. An explosive four minutes to start the 3rd quarter after going into half-time down 7-3 against an opponent that hasn’t won a game since Week 1 of last season. That puts the Demons on a 17, now 18 game losing streak, but at times it felt like the Cowboys were doing everything in their power to break it.

As far as the run defense, it was better, only giving up 140, but the Demons still out-gained McNeese on the ground, though McNeese’s defense did force 5 turnovers, with 4 of them being fumbles. And the Cowboys needed all 5 of them to win, having given up two costly first half turnovers of their own.

McNeese’s running game also got a new star, with Hutch Swilley leading the way. Prior to this game, Swilley hadn’t seen much action except for the Texas Wesleyan blowout. Against the Demons, he took 14 carries for 70 yards and a touchdown. Omari Wiggins still carried the load with 16 total carries for 50 and a touchdown, but it was a much more even split.

Interesting things i thought while thinking about this game

The last three games, the Cowboys have ‘exploded’ in the 3rd quarter, with two of the three being crucial to the outcome. Even in the blowout loss to LSU, McNeese put up 14 points, and that was in back to back drives with a breakout run/catch respectively by Jamaal Levi (who then only touches the ball twice against the Demons for 3 yards…make it make sense!).

So, what is Viator saying at half-time that gets the team fired up, and how do we get that kind of play all four quarters from the offense?

That said, SFA might be running away with the Southland Conference, but the way things are going after today, McNeese could control their fate for 2nd place. It would require winning out, but the hardest part of their schedule was very much in the front.

The problem is a result like this. A win is a win is a win, and that’s the most important thing.

But problems still feel far from solved, and with an Incarnate Word road game looming against a Cardinal team that lost a close one to Lamar last week and beat UTRGV this week, solutions need to come quickly or Homecoming might feel a little Hollow(een).