Two teams with seemingly more talent than wins meet tonight at Cowboy Stadium. For the loser, the season is over. For the
winner, there is still something left to play for even if it requires the help of others to achieve the goal of postseason
play.
McNeese (4-3, 1-3 Southland) finds
itself in a must-win situation due to a pair of one-point conference
losses. The Cowboys
are one narrow play away in each game — and there are several to
choose from — from entering tonight with a comfortable 6-1
record.
“McNeese
is a very talented football team,” said SFA coach J.C. Harper. “You
don’t beat Middle Tennessee on the road if they’re
not. They have had some injuries to maybe change some things. I
like to think we’re good at throwing the football. We’ve got
to be better at not turning the ball over.”
SFA (3-4, 2-1) has a number of close
losses to top-notch competition to thank for its predicament. The
Lumberjacks have lost
to a pair of top-five teams in the Football Championship
Subdivision — No. 4 Montana State (43-35) and No. 5 Sam Houston State
(51-43) and Football Bowl Subdivision Texas State (41-37).
“They were right there in all those games,” said McNeese coach Matt Viator. “They’ve got a good football team.”
As is usually the case under Harper, the Lumberjacks bring a powerful offense to the table.
SFA leads the nation in passing with an average of 425.1 yards per game. Quarterback Brady Attaway’s favorite target is Walter
Payton Award candidate Cordell Roberson, who has only been held under 100 receiving yards twice this season.
“You have to tackle. That’s the main thing,” Viator said. “Any time you throw it 60 times, you’re going to complete passes.
Even if you only hit half of them you complete 30 balls. The key is you have to tackle them and not allow yards after the
catch, which we didn’t do (last week against Sam Houston).”
The Cowboys are trying to rebound from back-to-back losses and keep their playoff hopes on life support.
“Games like this kind of take care of
themselves as far as (not) having to reiterate how big it is. They
understand that,”
Viator said. “What (we’ve been) trying to do is have good
practices and give them the confidence they need to compete at the
highest level we can get. It’s one of those things that’s
unexplainable at times.”
Viator said he expects to have running back Javaris Murray in the lineup. He missed last week’s game at Sam Houston State.
McNeese has lost three straight to the Lumberjacks. The Cowboys haven’t lost four consecutive games to any conference opponent
since Northwestern State took five in a row from 1985-89.