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McNeese State will be hard pressed to improve on last year’s regular season. The playoffs are another matter, but the Cowboys will have to get back there first.
McNeese State won its first 11 games and took the Southland Conference title in 2007, only to lose to Eastern Washington in the opening round of the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) national playoffs.
“Of course, winning the conference is our goal, but we also want to get past the first round in the playoffs,” said Cowboys senior offensive lineman Eman Nagahvi, who was named All-Southland Conference last season. “We have to take them one game at a time and each one is a little piece of the puzzle.”
McNeese was picked as the favorite to win the Southland Conference again in 2008 in the league’s preseason poll. But head coach Matt Viator and his players talk as if they derived little satisfaction from 2007, seemingly soured by its unexpectedly abrupt ending.
“We will have to be better. We started talking about this back in January,” Viator said.
“Our non-conference schedule is better and I think that the entire conference will be better. ... The players understand that preseason polls are based on what you did the past year. They understand the challenge.”
While it may be true that the previous season’s results figure into the polls, there’s also the matter of the players who are coming back.
Quarterback Derrick Fourroux, who was 125-of-218 passing for 2,054 yards and 16 touchdowns a year ago, returns behind center. Fourroux also was the Cowboys’ second-leading rusher with 550 yards.
Back at receiver and kick returner will be Steven Whitehead, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second week of last season. Now a senior, Whitehead was the Southland Conference player of the year in 2006, when he led McNeese with 48 receptions for 609 yards and accounted for an average of 131 all-purpose yards per game.
And while the Cowboys lost 2007 leading receiver Carlese Franklin, they still have Quinten Lawrence, who finished with 645 yards receiving and a team-leading 6 touchdown catches last season.
Returning defensive standouts include linebacker Allen Nelson, who led McNeese with 102 tackles.
Meanwhile, McNeese expects to remain solid on special teams with the return of Blake Bercegeay, who was 8-of-13 on field goals and averaged nearly 40 yards on punts.
McNeese State will be hard pressed to improve on last year’s regular season. The playoffs are another matter, but the Cowboys will have to get back there first.
McNeese State won its first 11 games and took the Southland Conference title in 2007, only to lose to Eastern Washington in the opening round of the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) national playoffs.
“Of course, winning the conference is our goal, but we also want to get past the first round in the playoffs,” said Cowboys senior offensive lineman Eman Nagahvi, who was named All-Southland Conference last season. “We have to take them one game at a time and each one is a little piece of the puzzle.”
McNeese was picked as the favorite to win the Southland Conference again in 2008 in the league’s preseason poll. But head coach Matt Viator and his players talk as if they derived little satisfaction from 2007, seemingly soured by its unexpectedly abrupt ending.
“We will have to be better. We started talking about this back in January,” Viator said.
“Our non-conference schedule is better and I think that the entire conference will be better. ... The players understand that preseason polls are based on what you did the past year. They understand the challenge.”
While it may be true that the previous season’s results figure into the polls, there’s also the matter of the players who are coming back.
Quarterback Derrick Fourroux, who was 125-of-218 passing for 2,054 yards and 16 touchdowns a year ago, returns behind center. Fourroux also was the Cowboys’ second-leading rusher with 550 yards.
Back at receiver and kick returner will be Steven Whitehead, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second week of last season. Now a senior, Whitehead was the Southland Conference player of the year in 2006, when he led McNeese with 48 receptions for 609 yards and accounted for an average of 131 all-purpose yards per game.
And while the Cowboys lost 2007 leading receiver Carlese Franklin, they still have Quinten Lawrence, who finished with 645 yards receiving and a team-leading 6 touchdown catches last season.
Returning defensive standouts include linebacker Allen Nelson, who led McNeese with 102 tackles.
Meanwhile, McNeese expects to remain solid on special teams with the return of Blake Bercegeay, who was 8-of-13 on field goals and averaged nearly 40 yards on punts.
