Jim Gazzolo, Special to the American Press

After finishing its spring football season with two games against nationally ranked teams on their own level, McNeese State will open the fall taking on a pair of 2019 national champions.

The Cowboys will kick off their fall campaign on Sept. 4 with a home game against West Florida, winner of the last Division II title in ’19. The Argonauts went 13-2 during their championship run but did not play either last fall or this spring, opting out due to COVID-19.

According to sources, West Florida was one of the schools approached by Southland Conference officials about moving up to the Football Championship Subdivision level and joining the league recently, but turned down a jump up at this time.

After facing one champ in the opener, the Cowboys will hit the road for back-to-back trips to Baton Rouge, where they will play LSU the 2019 Football Bowl Subdivision national champ. The Sept. 11 game will pit McNeese quarterback Cody Orgeron against his father Ed, the head coach at LSU.

“That will be a lot of fun, to be standing on the turf at Tiger Stadium in front of 110,000 people and have my dad on the other side of the field will be great,” said Cody Orgeron. “I’m looking forward to that.”

It will be the first meeting between the teams since their 2015 opening-week game was wiped out by rain. That game was cancelled early in the first quarter with no score.

The following week the Cowboys will go back to the state capital for a game against Southern University, a Southwestern Athletic Conference team rumored to be on the SLC wish list.

Southern and McNeese played before a crowd of more than 20,000 at Cowboy Stadium in 2019, with the Cowboys winning 38-24.

After that McNeese will start a unique conference schedule, which will feature home and away games against three opponents — Incarnate Word, Southeastern Louisiana and Northwestern State.

“This is an exciting time with the shape of the new Southland Conference and we’re excited to be playing football back in the fall,” McNeese Athletic Director Heath Schroyer said. “We’re looking forward to extending the nation’s longest fall season winning streak.”

McNeese had its 15 consecutive season win streak snapped with a 3-4 spring.

Conference play will open with a trip to San Antonio against Incarnate Word, which beat McNeese 48-20 in this spring’s home opener. The Cardinals will return to Lake Charles on Oct. 23.

After three consecutive home games that includes the league opener at UIW, the Cowboys will return home to host Southeastern on Oct. 2 in the first of two matchups with the Lions. McNeese will make a return trip on Oct. 30 to Hammond.

The Cowboys came up short of a comeback, 25-20, at Hammond this spring.

After a bye week, McNeese will be at Northwestern State on Oct. 16 and play the Demons at home on Nov. 20 to close out the regular season. McNeese beat Northwestern State 21-7 this spring.

Single games against Nicholls State on Nov. 6 and at Houston Baptist Nov. 13 round out the schedule. McNeese upset then-No. 13 Nicholls this spring 43-31, in which Orgeron threw for a career-high 354 yards and four touchdowns.

HBU played in the fall.

“There’s a lot of excitement about Cowboy football and rightfully so,” Schroyer said. “The spring season really helped us learn a lot about ourselves, play competitive teams and get ready for the first true football season under coach (Frank) Wilson. I couldn’t be more excited about the direction of Cowboy football and for the first kickoff.”

All home games are expected to be played in the afternoon, just like the spring season. The light standards are not expected to be fixed until the 2022 campaign, Schroyer said.

Begue transfers

Trevor Begue, the top receiver on this spring’s team, will apparently not be part of the fall roster. Begue entered the NCAA transfer portal Tuesday, making his announcement on social media.

Begue tweeted:

“McNeese Family,

“Thank you for any amazing 5 years. Thank you to all the coaches, trainers and administration who have helped me out along the way.

“To my teammates, thank you for pushing me to be the best player that I can be day in and day out. After much thought and consideration, I have decided to enter the transfer portal as a graduate transfer with one year of eligibility remaining.”

The loss of Begue hurts an offense that found its game over the its final three spring contests, throwing for 951 yards and seven touchdowns during that span.

Begue is ninth all-time in receptions at McNeese with 102, and 14th in yards at 1,471. He is also fifth in program history with 15 TD catches.

“Trevor is a great friend of mine and I wish him well,” Orgeron said. “He is a great receiver. He was my favorite guy to throw to over the years.

“You want him to do what is best for himself and his family.”2021 McNeese State football fall schedule