Payback for McNeese offense
<p class="p1">In its first practice after getting dominated by the defense in the first scrimmage of fall camp, the McNeese State offense made the defense pay for what head coach Lance Guidry deemed less-than-stellar play Monday at the A.I. Ratcliff Practice Fields.
<p class="p1">After practice, the defense had to run sprints, deemed “poodles” by the Cowboys staff.
<p class="p1">In Cowboy lingo, a poodle is the opposite of a pitbull, and every time the defense gives up a big play, a “poodle” is added to its after-practice regimen.
<p class="p1">“They didn’t play up to their own standards,” Guidry said, clearly speaking in his second role as defensive coordinator. “They’re the ones who wear the DWA on their chests. We had some young guys that got beat on some things, but we also had some older guys that gave up some, too. That’s part of it. You have to get more turnovers than touchdowns.”
{{tncms-inline account="TylerAmPress" html="&lt;blockquote class=&quot;twitter-tweet&quot;&gt;&lt;p lang=&quot;en&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot;&gt;Jovon Burris rocking a DWA jersey today&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Tyler Nunez (@TylerAmPress) &lt;a href=&quot;https://twitter.com/TylerAmPress/status/1029021008655671296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&quot;&gt;August 13, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;" id="1029021008655671296" type="twitter"}}
<p class="p1">But as a head coach, he couldn’t help but be uplifted at the way the offense responded after failing to get into the end zone during Saturday’s scrimmage.
<p class="p1">Once again, both James Tabary and Cody Orgeron proved to be proficient in different ways, with Tabary as a pocket passer and Orgeron being more adept under pressure with his ability to use his feet.
<p class="p1">On top of that, receivers were catching tough passes all day, many of which were taken to the end zone for touchdowns in drills all morning, prompting Guidry to say it was the best the offense as looked since camp began more than a week ago.
<p class="p1">“The offense came with it on their mind today,” said McNeese cornerback Darion Dunn. “The defense was playing a little lackadaisical today. But we can’t take days off like that. We have to be DWA and bring it every day.”
<p class="p1">The Cowboys will likely be back in full pads Tuesday after practicing in shells Monday, and if recent history (or the defense, for that matter) has anything to say about it, athletes on the defense will be back to its usual form with a high energy practice to remind the offense why they wear those letters “DWA” on their jersey.
<p class="p1">For the second straight week the Cowboys were voted in the Top 25 of a Football Championship Subdivision poll, this time by the coaches of the division.
<p class="p1">The Cowboys were voted No. 18 with 187 voting points, leaving them right where they left off in the poll at the end of last season.
<p class="p1">The announcement came a week after the STATS preseason poll voted on by media members nationwide placed the Cowboys at No. 17.