McNeese State appears to be building itself on an old-school identity in a digital football world.
The Cowboys got the job done the smashmouth way in Saturday night’s home opener, rushing for 379 yards and adding a defensive touchdown for the second consecutive week to beat Prairie View A&M 48-16.
“It was a good night,” said Cowboys head coach Matt Viator. “We wanted to get the win, obviously. We wanted to play a lot of guys. And we wanted some things to work on next week in the off week. And we do.”
Derrick Milton led the way with three touchdowns and 109 yards on 12 carries. Kelvin Bennett added 95 yards and a score on 16 attempts, Dylan Long piled on 72 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries and Daniel Sams scampered for 73 yards on nine carries.
“I feel like we know whoever is in the game can make a play,” Milton said. “Any time KB’s in the game, Junior’s in the game, Nate’s in the game, we all know we something can happen. That’s a very confident feeling.”
It’s one thing to have four running backs and a quarterback capable of scoring from any spot on the field. It’s quite another to have a defense capable of doing the same.
The Cowboys defense is 2-for-2 scoring in games this year with linebacker Deonte Thompson’s 7-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the first quarter putting McNeese up 20-3 and setting the tone for the rest of the game.
“I thought we had good energy to start,” Viator said. “But any time you score on defense, that changes the whole mentality wherever you’re at in the game.”
Thompson was given the early Christmas gift by cornerback Jermaine Antoine, who drilled Panthers quarterback Jerry Lovelocke on a blitz to force the fumble.
All Thompson had to do was scoop the ball up and stroll into the end zone.
“We work on scoop-and-score every day, so it’s second nature to me,” Thompson said. “I was trying to get my name in the newspaper.”
The defense scored last week on a 98-yard Aaron Sam interception return.
McNeese extended its lead to 34-3 before the Panthers climbed within relative striking distance thanks to a pair of short Lovelocke touchdown runs in the second half.
The Cowboys rotated three quarterbacks with Sams getting the start. He went 3-for-9 for 21 yards with an interception in the end zone.
Tyler Bolfing was sharp, completing 7 of 8 throws for 117 yards including a 19-yard touchdown strike to Ernest Celestie.
Injury-plagued junior Will Briscoe got his first real taste of game action, though it did not go as well as hoped. Briscoe’s first pass attempt was a deep ball that was picked off, and his second possession in the game ended with him taking an 8-yard sack on an all-out blitz.
Viator said the only major negative for was the loss of cornerback Ja’Len James, who suffered a leg injury and had to be carted off the field after a horse-collar tackle by Lovelocke. James was attempting to return a fumble, but the play was blown dead as an incomplete pass.
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