# McNeese Cowboys football

The McNeese Cowboys football program is the intercollegiate American football team for McNeese State University located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and are members of the Southland Conference. McNeese's first football team was fielded in 1940. The team plays its home games at the 17,410 seat Cowboy Stadium in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

## History

On August 31, 2013, McNeese opened their season by defeating the South Florida Bulls, 53–21. It was the largest margin of victory (32 points) by a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, formerly I-AA) team over a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS, formerly I-A) team since the NCAA split Division I football into two divisions in 1978.
McNeese State football played some of their original games at a stadium now named Lake Charles Boston High School Cougar Stadium.

## Championships
### Southland Conference champions

* 1976, 1979, 1980, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2015

### Division I-AA championship games

* 1997, L 9–10 to Youngstown State
* 2002, L 14–34 to Western Kentucky

## Bowl games

The Cowboys have participated in seven bowl games.
| Season | Bowl | Opponent | Result |
| 1947 | Cajun Bowl | Southern Arkansas | T 0–0 |
| 1951 | Cosmopolitan Bowl | Louisiana College | W 13–6 |
| 1962 | Golden Isles Bowl | Howard (AL) | W 21–14 |
| 1971 | Grantland Rice Bowl | Tennessee State | L 23–26 |
| 1976 | Independence Bowl | Tulsa | W 20–16 |
| 1979 | Independence Bowl | Syracuse | L 7–31 |
| 1980 | Independence Bowl | Southern Miss | L 14–16 |

## Rivalries
### Central Arkansas

The two teams have met 13 times on the football field with Central Arkansas leading the series 7–6–0. Due to conference scheduling requirements, the most recent game was played in 2019.

### Lamar

The two teams have met 40 times on the football field, with McNeese State holding a 28-11-1 agreement with the two universities and Verizon Wireless.

### Louisiana

The Cajun Crown was the name of the rivalry trophy between Louisiana and McNeese State.

### Northwestern State

McNeese State leads the series with Northwestern State 48–23–1 through the 2021 season.

## Notable former players

Notable alumni include:

### NFL

* Don Breaux - Denver (1963) and San Diego ('64-'65); also coordinated Washington Redskins (1981–1989, 1990–1993, 2004–2007) and various teams
* Tom Sestak - AFL Buffalo Bills (1962–1968)
* Leonard Smith - St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals (1983-1988), Buffalo Bills (1988–1991) (College Football Hall of Famer)
* Stephen Starring - New England Patriots (1983–1987), Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1988)
* Buford Jordan - New Orleans/Portland Breakers (1984–1985) USFL, New Orleans Saints (1986–1992)
* Kavika Pittman - Dallas Cowboys (1996–99), Denver (2000–2002), Carolina (2003)
* Zach Bronson - San Francisco 49ers (1997–2003); St. Louis (2004)
* Kerry Joseph - Seattle Seahawks (1999–2002)
* Keith Ortego - Chicago Bears (1985–1987)
* Flip Johnson - Buffalo Bills (1988–1989)
* Bryan Hicks - Cincinnati Bengals (1980–1982)
* Jimmy Redmond – various teams (2001–2006)
* Luke Lawton - various teams (2005–2010)
* B. J. Sams - Baltimore Ravens (2004–2007); Kansas City Chiefs (2008)
* B. J. Blunt - Washington Redskins (2019)
* Diontae Spencer - St. Louis Rams (2014), Pittsburgh Steelers (2019), Denver Broncos (2019–2021), New York Jets (2022-2023)
* Adam Henry - Assistant coach: Oakland Raiders (2007-11), San Francisco 49ers (2015), New York Giants (2016-2017), Cleveland Browns (2018-2019), Dallas Cowboys (2020-2021), Buffalo Bills (2023-present)

### CFL

* Kerry Joseph - Ottawa Renegades (2003–2005), Saskatchewan Roughriders (2006–2007, 2014), Toronto Argonauts (2008–2009), Edmonton Eskimos (2010–2013)
* Diontae Spencer - Toronto Argonauts (2015–2016), Ottawa Redblacks (2017–2018)

## Future non-conference opponents

Announced non-conference opponents as of January 8, 2025.
| 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 |
| Louisiana Christian | Tarleton State | Alcorn State | South Dakota | at LSU |
| at Louisiana | at Alcorn State | at Tarleton State | | |
| Weber State | at LSU | at South Dakota | | |
| at Utah State | | | |