Maine owes Cowboys debt of gratitude (11/28)

Posted November 28, 2008 at 1:27 am
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By ALEX HICKEY
AMERICAN PRESS

One must assume University of Maine football coach Jack Cosgrove opened his Thanksgiving dinner with a benediction in honor of the Central Arkansas Bears, without whom a playoff bid for his own Black Bears likely would have been impossible.

With an 8-4 record, Maine is the worst team to qualify for this year’s Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Despite being ranked 20th in the polls, the Black Bears will travel to No. 3 Northern Iowa to take on the Panthers in Saturday’s 16-team first round.

Had McNeese State beaten Central Arkansas last Saturday, the Cowboys would have finished the regular season with an 8-3 record. And McNeese entered the game ranked 14th in the country, which is a spot naturally in line for facing a No. 3 seed — even though the playoff committee doesn’t necessarily pay attention to that kind of thing.

At any rate, it seems clear that even if Texas State earned the Southland’s automatic bid, the committee had left an at-large spot warm for the Cowboys. There’s no way an 8-4 Maine team would have jumped an 8-3 squad McNeese into the postseason.

There is a counter-argument, of course. Maine still did manage to jump 10-2 Liberty and 8-3 Jacksonville State into the playoffs, and both of those teams had some sour grapes to go with their turkey this week.

McNeese was more qualified for a spot than either of those teams, though. Jacksonville State, led by a certain former LSU quarterback who couldn’t keep his head screwed on, only beat one FCS team with a winning record. Had McNeese topped Central Arkansas, it would have been their third victory against a winning FCS team this year. Maine only has two such wins.

Liberty is justifiably miffed over not getting invited to the playoffs after winning 10 games. But the Flames had no Division I-A teams on their schedule (FCS, if you insist) and lost a game to 4-8 Presbyterian. You know, the Blue Hose. Really, that’s their name.

Considering that was the chief competition for a bid, there’s no way McNeese would have been trumped with an 8-3 record. You easily could have been spending this weekend in Cedar Falls, Iowa, instead of with the in-laws.

However, knowing McNeese was that close to a bid is not to say that what happened in Conway, Ark., was a choke job. It was clear that the Bears were the best team in the Southland Conference this season in terms of talent. It’s not that they weren’t beatable. It would just require a flawless effort by the Cowboys.

Unfortunately for McNeese, there were plenty of lapses in execution. Against teams like Nicholls State and Texas State, those types of lapses meant three-point losses. Against a team like Central Arkansas, it meant losing by nearly three touchdowns. That’s the difference in talent between the Bears and the others, shouting out loud and clear.

Clearly, McNeese fans would be justified to lament the loss to Central Arkansas because it is now clear what would have been had the Cowboys won. But the losses to far more beatable teams like the Colonels and Bobcats are the ones that will sting the most during this elongated offseason.

Something to be thankful for

Thinking about what could have been isn’t the most pleasant Thanksgiving activity. Instead, be thankful that you aren’t Northwestern State coach Scott Stoker. Make that former Northwestern State coach Scott Stoker, who was given the bird — and we don’t mean a turkey — when the Demons fired him on Tuesday after a 7-5 season.

Consider this: had Sam Houston State beaten Texas State last Saturday, Stoker and the Demons would have earned the Southland’s automatic bid and headed to the playoffs this weekend.

And all it would have taken was a little bit of guts from Bearkats coach Todd Whitten to make it happen. On the final play of regulation, the Bearkats scored a touchdown to make the score 42-41. After seeing his defense surrender 42 points, Whitten decided it would be easier to stop the Bobcats in overtime than advance the ball 3 yards for a 2-point conversion, so he elected to kick a PAT for the tie.

There’s no guarantee a 2-pointer would have worked, but when you’ve got nothing left to play for other than ruining your rival’s season, who cares? Had Whitten done the gutsy thing, Stoker might still have a job.

Talk about an early lump of coal in your Christmas stocking.

ALEX HICKEY covers McNeese State athletics. E-mail him at ahickey@americanpress.com

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