By Cody Stark
This is the time of year every team in the Southland Conference hopes to get to dating back to spring football practice.
All that hard work and sweat has paid off for Stephen F. Austin and McNeese State. The Lumberjacks and Cowboys were the final two teams standing at the end of the regular season and both are hosting Football Championship Subdivision playoff games today.
McNeese State has grown accustomed to being in the postseason on a regular basis, but SFA is making its first trip since 1995.
Only two years removed from an 0-11 season, the Lumberjacks went 9-2 in 2009 and split the SLC championship with the Cowboys by going 6-1 in league play. SFA received the conference’s automatic bid to the playoffs thanks to a 16-13 victory over McNeese.
The Jacks welcome Eastern Washington to Homer Bryce Stadium today for a 2 p.m. kickoff.
Bearkat fans might remember the Eagles out of the Big Sky Conference. During Sam Houston State’s remarkable run to the FCS semifinals in 2004, quarterback Dustin Long guided the Kats to 21 unanswered points on the road in the fourth quarter to stun Eastern Washington 35-34 in the second round.
The Eagles and Lumberjacks both come into the contest on a roll. SFA has won three straight, while Eastern Washington (8-3) has rattled off four victories in a row.
But neither of those teams are as hot as McNeese State (9-2) right now. After dropping their SLC opener to SFA, the Cowboys went unbeaten the rest of the way.
At the same time the Jacks and Eagles are kicking off, McNeese will battle New Hampshire (9-2) at Cowboy Stadium. This marks the 14th time the Cowboys have been to the playoffs and sixth this decade.
Cowboys Stadium is one of the toughest places to go on the road and win at, but McNeese State better come to play. Two years ago when the Cowboys last made the playoffs, Eastern Washington cruised to a 44-15 victory in Lake Charles, La., in an opening-round upset.
Head-scratching move — It’s old news, but the fact that Nicholls fired Jay Thomas as head football coach is still a little shocking.
Thomas broke the news in an interview following the Colonels’ 45-30 upset over Southeastern Louisiana on Nov. 19.
“I was totally surprised by it,” Thomas told the Houma (La.) Today newspaper. “I planned to stay in Thibodaux a long time. My wife teaches at the university and both my girls were born there. I wish the next guy, the next staff, the best of luck.”
Thomas has had a lot to deal with since taking over the Nicholls program in 2004.
There have been several hurricanes that have come through Thibodaux, La. There was an academic scandal stemming from the previous staff, and the program has been hit hard by budget cuts, not to mention a lot of turnover on the coaching staff.
Thomas had some assistant coaching positions that needed to be filled this season, but with the university in a hiring freeze, he didn’t fill those spots until about a month before the season.
Despite missing some games when hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit in 2005, Thomas guided the Colonels to a share of the Southland Conference championship with a 5-1 league mark and 6-3 overall finish.
While Nicholls was only 27-35 in his six seasons as head coach, its going to be tough for the Colonels to find a quality candidate to take over the program.
After all, the new coach is going to have to deal with all those same problems, while trying to earn the trust of the locker room.
