SHSU debacle more than ‘same old, same old’ for McNeese
Published 8:31 am Monday, October 13, 2014
Some readers have wondered why there were no pictures from McNeese’s game at Sam Houston State in Sunday’s paper. It’s not that none were taken, it’s just that they were immediately incinerated.
The same fate is going to befall this column, which will self-destruct 30 seconds after you finish reading. As for how you choose to erase it from your memory, it’s every man for himself.
McNeese’s 38-22 loss to the Bearkats was a disaster from multiple angles. There wasn’t one aspect of the game where the Cowboys weren’t outperformed, whether it was on the field or on the sidelines.
To their credit, everyone involved in the debacle pointed the finger at themselves. But that will do little to assuage a fanbase that has already grown deeply cynical with the familiar patterns of McNeese football — perform well against FBS opponent, get annhiliated by a chief competitor for a conference title, and if there’s a playoff berth … you’re familiar how the sentence ends.
As familiar as the plotline may have appeared on Saturday, the answer to how everything fell apart so badly is more complex than “Same old Cowboys.”
It starts with Sam Houston State coach K.C. Keeler, who is already proving himself to be the best in the Southland Conference just halfway through his first season. Granted, his resume should have told us that going in. You don’t end up 100 games over .500 and playing for three national championships by accident.
The transformation shown by his team from where it was just a month ago is remarkable. Any evidence of a team that was wiped off its home turf by a Division II opponent was absent thanks to the benefit of two bye weeks since that 47-21 loss to Colorado State-Pueblo.
Keeler had a lot of work to do with a team that ushered in a slew of underclassmen and transfers this season. The Bearkats schedule beat them up early, but they’ve had sufficient time to fix the leaks. That was most evident up front. Though Sam Houston quarterback Jared Johnson made one “hero ball” throw that could have brought McNeese back into the game, it was pretty clear he’s now getting rid of the ball much quicker than someone who had been sacked 24 times going in.
Keeler’s also proving to be an adept psychologist — by talking up McNeese as a national title contender in the week leading up to the game, he’s now assured that a team in need of a confidence boost will feel it can beat anyone left on the schedule.
McNeese can be forgiven for not realizing what it was getting in to when there hadn’t been much indication such a thing was possible.
But while the version of the Bearkats that appeared on the field Saturday looked every bit capable of running the table in conference — they miss Southeastern Louisiana in the new unbalanced schedule, which increases those odds — that doesn’t mean McNeese was not capable of beating them on a good day. Or even on a mediocre day.
That has ultimately been the frustrating pattern to the Cowboys four losses against FCS teams in the last two years. It never comes down to the other team making bigger plays to pull out a hard-fought game, but their never being challenged due to McNeese looking downright incompetent at times.
The Cowboy offense struggled most of the day, and much of it was of their own doing. Four false starts. A snap that traveled 24 yards behind the quarterback. Misfired passes to open targets that had nothing to do with pressure.
Last year Diontae Spencer could single-handedly change games on special teams. Saturday, the Cowboys returned three punts for minus-9 yards.
You could even argue McNeese put itself in a bad position with its decision on the coin toss.
The Cowboys chose to defer and kick with the wind at their backs to start the game, which normally makes sense. But in a system where your throwing quarterback plays in the second and third quarters, why elect to send him into a fairly significant wind?
The Bearkats were able to blitz away because they never felt any threat of being beaten deep. Does the outcome change if Tyler Bolfing had a drive or two with the wind at his back and a chance to keep the defense honest? Maybe not. But it is another example of McNeese making life harder on itself, and all of those things add up when you face an evenly-matched foe.
A couple weeks ago, Cowboy players made it known that a national title is their aspiration. Now, a playoff berth is no sure thing. At the most McNeese can afford one more slip-up and even then help may have to come from elsewhere.
Perhaps the only solace from Saturday is that Sam Houston provided a vivid demonstration of how a team can bounce back from an embarassing loss and re-establish itself as a contender. But without the benefit of another bye week, McNeese will have to do it on the fly.
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Alex Hickey covers McNeese sports. Email him at ahickey@americanpress.com