Orgeron sparks Cowboys to win over UCA and back into first place

LAKE CHARLES – Cody Orgeron knew his time would come one day. His patience paid off when on Saturday, the sophomore started under center for the first time in his collegiate career in the biggest game of the season for McNeese, and led the 14th-ranked Cowboys to a 23-21 win over No. 13 Central Arkansas.

It was McNeese’s Homecoming and a homecoming for the Orgerons as well as the family was in attendance witnessing Cody’s first start.

“It’s a blessing,” said Orgeron. “I give all the glory to God. Things like this just doesn’t happen without Him. It’s my first start on a night where LSU is off so my family is able to be here. It was a great night.”

With the win and a loss by UIW, McNeese is back in sole possession of first place in the Southland Conference standings.

Orgeron drove the Cowboys for a touchdown on their first two possessions as well as scores on four of the first five drives to help McNeese build a 20-7 lead through the first 1 ½ quarters.

“That was very important to do that,” said Orgeron about a TD on the opening drives. “We had to come out and hit them in the mouth off the bat. Coach Guidry said it was going to be a dog fight the whole game.”

He finished the night completing 13 of 21 passes for 135 yards and rushed for another 16 yards along with a 16-yard first quarter score to make it a 14-7 game.

“This was a good team win. A solid team win,” said head coach Lance Guidry. “I thought it was a win just like Nicholls. I thought both sides of the ball played well enough, not perfect, especially on defense where we gave up a touchdown on the very first play. It wasn’t schematic, we just misjudged the ball with two guys.

“Our motto all week was doing things by any means necessary. Having a warrior’s mentality and sometimes the devil will whisper in your ear that you can’t weather the storm. But a warrior’s mentality, he says that I am the storm. And that’s what out kids kept saying on the sideline.”

McNeese caught some tough breaks throughout the course of the game, but also reaped the benefits of some breaks.

After Orgeron led McNeese (6-2, 5-1 SLC) down the field for a 10-play, 75-yard drive in 4:21 to go up 7-0 after a David Hamm 1-yard run, the Bears (5-3, 4-2) tied things up 7-7 when quarterback Luke Hales connected with Jakari Dillard on a 75-yard catch and run after two Cowboys defenders leaped early to knocked the ball away and it settled in Dillard’s hands in strike.

Orgeron put the Cowboys back up 14-7 following a 16-yard run then Gunner Raborn his the first of three field goals on the night with a 34-yarder to make it a 17-7 lead with 2:46 to play in the first quarter.

Raborn added a 33-yard field goal midway through the second quarter to put McNeese up 20-7 but the Bears came back after holding the Cowboys to a three-and-out series, and pulled to withing 20-14 when Hales completed a 24-yard pass to Brandon Myers with 4:07 to play in the half.

Things nearly turned tragic for the Cowboys late in the quarter.

With 47 seconds to play, the Bears punted the ball away to the Cowboys but McNeese returner Cyron Sutton attempted to field the ball off a bounce to keep it from rolling deep in McNeese’s territory. Sutton got a hand on the ball but couldn’t handle it off the bounce and UCA recovered at the 9-yard line and setting the Bears up to go into the break with the lead.

But on the next play, Colby Burton intercepted his second pass of the half with a pick in the end zone and stealing back the momentum from the Bears.

McNeese ran out the clock to take a 20-14 lead into the half.

“The first thing I did was run to Cyron Sutton and told him ‘man, calm down’,” said Burton. “I ran on the field and told the defense, I don’t know who’s going to make the play but somebody is about to make a game-changing play. I played the fade. I don’t know who he was throwing the ball to but I saw the ball and grabbed it.”

UCA took the lead with 13 seconds to play in the third quarter on a 39-yard Carlos Blackman run to give the Bears a 21-20 lead. And after McNeese managed just 30 yards of offense on its first three possessions of the third quarter, Orgeron began a march that resulted in what would end up being a game-winning, 24-yard field goal by Raborn to put the Cowboys up 23-21 with 7:27 to play.

“Last week (at UIW), I went 1-for-2,” said Raborn. “I really hadn’t been hitting the ball well. This week I’ve worked on contact and keeping my head down. Honestly when I kick, I don’t think of anything. I just go back to my fundamentals and have faith in God that it goes through.”

On the drive prior to the go-ahead field goal, Orgeron completed all four of his passes in the series as the Cowboys got a break on a defensive pass interference call that put the ball at the 5-yard line. A holding penalty backed the ball up to the 15 and McNeese could only get to the 7-yard line before Raborn’s kick.

UCA had two more possessions to try to retake the lead but a 43-yard missed field goal with 5:11 to play spoiled the first drive while McNeese’s defense held the Bears to a three-and-out on the next drive to force a punt with 2:19 to play and the Bears with three timeouts remaining.

But Orgeron and Hamm used their feet to pick up enough first downs while forcing UCA to use its timeouts, and was able to run the clock out for the win.

“This is probably the biggest win at home since beating Sam Houston State in 2015,” said Guidry. “That’s a really good football team we just beat. I know their quarterback is young, but he’s really good, and they have a very powerful running back that doesn’t go down easy.”

Hamm led the Cowboys with 59 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown while Sutton and Trevor Begue each hauled in five passes on the night with Sutton bringing in a team-high 76 yards.

As a team, McNeese accumulated 294 offensive yards while UCA posted 402.

Hales completed 13 of 33 passes for 290 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions for the Bears while Blackman finished with 86 yards rushing and a score.

McNeese will hit the road for the next two Saturdays, beginning next week at Southeastern Louisiana with a 2:30 kickoff.

GAME NOTES:
• Punter Alex Kjellsten set a new single-game record for punting average with a 51.7 mark on the night, breaking the record of 51.6 set by Don Stump against Louisiana Tech in 1981.
• McNeese won its 11th straight game at home.
• The win was the 100th Southland Conference home victory.
• Quarterback Cody Orgeron became the first, first-time starter to lead the Cowboys to a score on his first drive since Daniel Sams in 2014.
• Linebacker BJ Blunt recorded his eighth sack of the season on the night while DE Chris Livings recorded his sixth on the year and now has 18.5 in his career to tie him for fourth on the school’s all-time sack list.
• Colby Burton is the second Cowboy to pick off two passes in a game this season. Darion Dunn intercepted two passes against HBU in the second week of the season.
• McNeese is 2-0 against FCS ranked opponents on the season.
• This is the fourth time in the 12-game series that the game was decided by 5 or fewer points.
• With the win, McNeese claims the Red Beans and Rice Bowl trophy and evens the all-time series at 6-6.