2015 McNeese State Cowboys football team
The 2015 McNeese State Cowboys football team represented McNeese State University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Cowboys were led by tenth-year head coach Matt Viator and played their home games at Cowboy Stadium. They were a member of the Southland Conference. They finished the season 10–1, 9–0 in Southland play to win the Southland Conference title. They went undefeated 10–0 in the regular season. They received the Southland's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs where they lost in the second round to fellow Southland member Sam Houston State.
2015 McNeese State Cowboys football | |
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Southland champion | |
FCS Playoffs Second Round, L 29–34 vs. Sam Houston State | |
Conference | Southland Conference |
Ranking | |
STATS | No. 7 |
FCS Coaches | No. 9 |
2015 record | 10–1 (9–0 Southland) |
Head coach |
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Offensive coordinator | Tim Leger (9th season) |
Defensive coordinator | Lance Guidry (3rd season) |
Home stadium | Cowboy Stadium (Capacity: 17,610) |
2015 Southland Conference football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team | W | L | W | L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 7 McNeese State $^ | 9 | – | 0 | 10 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 3 Sam Houston State ^ | 7 | – | 2 | 11 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Central Arkansas | 7 | – | 2 | 7 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Incarnate Word* | 5 | – | 4 | 6 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Northwestern State | 4 | – | 5 | 4 | – | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lamar | 4 | – | 5 | 5 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stephen F. Austin | 4 | – | 5 | 4 | – | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nicholls State | 3 | – | 6 | 3 | – | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Abilene Christian* | 3 | – | 6 | 3 | – | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SE Louisiana | 3 | – | 6 | 4 | – | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Houston Baptist | 0 | – | 8 | 2 | – | 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Previous season
The Cowboys finished the 2014 season with a 6–5 overall record and were 4–4 in conference play. They were ranked in both FCS polls from the preseason polls through the twelfth week. Their highest ranking was Number 5 in the Sports Network poll and Number 4 in the Coaches poll in weeks four through six. The Cowboys dropped out of both polls following a season ending loss to the Lamar Cardinals.
Schedule
Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
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September 5 | 6:30 pm | No. 14 (FBS) LSU* | No. 25 | SECN | Canceled[a] | ||
September 12 | 6:00 pm | Incarnate Word | ASN | W 43–6 | 12,804 | ||
September 19 | 6:00 pm | at Stephen F. Austin | ESPN3 | W 28–14 | 12,018 | ||
September 26 | 6:00 pm | Mississippi College* | No. 25 |
| W 37–0 | 10,436 | |
October 3 | 3:00 pm | at Nicholls State | No. 23 | CST[1] | W 37–7 | 6,192 | |
October 10 | 6:00 pm | No. 20 Southeastern Louisiana | No. 22 |
| CST | W 21–7 | 13,110 |
October 17 | 6:00 pm | at Central Arkansas | No. 15 | ESPN3 | W 28–13 | 10,527 | |
October 24 | 6:00 pm | Northwestern State | No. 12 |
| CST | W 47–27 | 9,806 |
October 31 | 2:00 pm | at Abilene Christian | No. 10 | ASN | W 15–13 | 3,567 | |
November 7 | 6:00 pm | No. 7 Sam Houston State | No. 9 |
| ESPN3 | W 27–10 | 10,501 |
November 21 | 6:00 pm | at Lamar | No. 3 | ESPN3 | W 20–14 | 9,808 | |
December 5 | 7:00 pm | No. 6 Sam Houston State | No. 3 |
| ESPN3 | L 29–34 | 13,493 |
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- ^[a] The game between LSU and McNeese State was canceled due to inclement weather. The game was delayed due to lightning after 5 minutes of play during each team held the ball for one drive and no one scored. Both schools' athletic directors decided not to reschedule the game, thus declaring it a "no contest". LSU did agree to pay McNeese State its promised fee of $500,000.
- Schedule Source:[3]
Game summaries
@ LSU
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Incarnate Word
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@ Stephen F. Austin
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Mississippi College
See also: Mississippi College
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@ Nicholls
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Southeastern Louisiana
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@ Central Arkansas
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Northwestern State (Homecoming)
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@ Abilene Christian
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Sam Houston State
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@ Lamar
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FCS Playoffs
Second Round–Sam Houston State
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Ranking movements
Week | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final | |||||||
STATS FCS | 25 | RV | RV | 25 | 23 | 22 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | |||||||
Coaches | 23 | 23 | 21 | 17 | 15 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 5–T | 2 (1) | 2 (2) | 2 (1) | 9 |
References
- "Southland Conference Announces Week Five TV Selections". Southland Conference. September 21, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
- "2015 Football Schedule". McNeese State University Department of Athletics. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
- "2015 LSU Tigers Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
- "Blame it on the rain: Cowboys–Tigers washed out". McNeese State University Department of Athletics. September 5, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
- "Incarnate Word (1–1) –vs– McNeese State (0–0)". McNeese State University Department of Athletics. September 12, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
- "McNeese (2–0, 2–0) –vs– Stephen F. Austin (0–3, 0–1)". McNeese State University Department of Athletics. September 19, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
- "Mississippi College (2–2) –vs– McNeese (3–0)". McNeese State University Department of Athletics. September 26, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
- "McNeese State (4–0, 3–0) –vs– Nicholls (0–4, 0–2)". McNeese State University Department of Athletics. October 3, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
- "Southeastern Louisiana (3–2, 2–1) –vs– McNeese State (5–0, 4–0)". McNeese State University Department of Athletics. October 10, 2015. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
- "McNeese State (6–0, 5–0) –vs– Central Arkansas (3–3, 3–1)". McNeese State University Department of Athletics. October 17, 2015. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
- "Northwestern State (1–6, 1–4) –vs– McNeese State (7–0, 6–0)". McNeese State University Department of Athletics. October 24, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
- "McNeese State (8–0, 7–0) –vs– Abilene Christian (2–6, 2–5)". McNeese State University Department of Athletics. October 24, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
- "Sam Houston State (6–3, 5–2) –vs– McNeese State (9–0, 8–0)". McNeese State University Department of Athletics. November 7, 2015. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
- "McNeese State (10–0, 9–0) –vs– Lamar University (5–6, 4–5)". McNeese State University Department of Athletics. November 21, 2015. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
- "Sam Houston State (10–3) –vs– McNeese State (10–1)". McNeese State University Department of Athletics. December 5, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2015.