Wilson: Don’t count us out, McNeese coach optimistic despite SLC poll showing Cowboys as fourth place pick
Jim Gazzolo, Special to the American Press
Picked for fourth, Frank Wilson says don’t count us out.
The McNeese State football coach proclaimed “the sky’s the limit” for his football team Thursday at the Southland Conference’s media day in Houston.
“I don’t want to put limits on us,” Wilson added. “We have no glass ceiling.”
The Cowboys are selected in the middle of the six-team league with 26 points. Wilson said he didn’t know that when told and added it didn’t matter.
“I like our football team,” Wilson said. “We could not be more excited about where we are and what we have done.”
Southeastern Louisiana, led by Walter Payton Award winner Cody Kelley at quarterback, was picked for the top spot in the league’s preseason poll released Thursday with 48 points and eight of the 12 first-place votes. Nicholls was selected second with 43 points and the other four top votes.
The Payton Award goest to the top player in the Football Championship Subdivision nationally.
Incarnate Word was picked third with 32 points. After McNeese, Northwestern State (21) and Houston Baptist (10) were selected fifth and sixth respectively.
“It really doesn’t make a difference where you are picked,” said Southeastern head coach Frank Scelfo. “It matters what you do on the field, in June and July.”
The league appears to be wide open as all but one of the teams (HBU) are coming off playing in the spring. Gone is spring national champ Sam Houston, which left the league with four other teams.
All programs are coming off strange seasons with COVID and all, but none more than McNeese, which also had to deal with four weather disasters.
“We were in a unique situation but it brought us closer together,” said Wilson. “Spring for us gave our community a sigh of relief. It gave us a tremendous amount of encouragement.”
It has gave the team a reason to play.
“We want to bring a conference championship to the city of Lake Charles and that community,” said quarterback Cody Orgeron. “They have been through a lot and stuck with us.”
Wilson may not want to put limits on his team, but he does have hopes that those picking the Cowboys fourth may have overlooked some of their talent.
“I think we have a chance to be a quality team moving forward,” Wilson said.
We will start finding that out Sept. 4 when McNeese hosts West Florida, the 2019 Division II national champs.
McNeese coach Frank Wilson likes the Cowboys chances as he heads into his first fall season at the helm.