Motivation shouldn’t be an issue for McNeese State in the first year of the Lance Guidry Era.
The defending Southland Conference football champions are still stewing over the right-hand column of their 10-1 record last season, with the mood from the 34-29 second-round playoff loss to Sam Houston State carrying over to Wednesday’s SLC Media Day at L’Auberge du Lac Resort.
“We had a 10-0 (regular-season) record, but we want more,” said Cowboys junior wide receiver Kent Shelby. “We don’t want that feeling at the end of last year. I’m just ready to get it rolling.”
Shelby’s not kidding.
He said he watches replays of the game on YouTube “every day,” particularly the touchdown-saving tackle that brought him down at the 1-yard line following a 78-yard reception from quarterback Daniel Sams.
“It falls on me. I could have done a better job, run faster and scored,” Shelby said. “It motivates me to go hard and keep grinding up in the offseason.”
Though at the moment the third-and-9 connection seemed like a game-changer for the Cowboys, it was the tackle that endured the test of history as the Bearkats, helped by multiple penalties, pushed McNeese out of field goal range.
“I just can’t stop watching it,” Shelby said. “Every time I see it, I just immediately want to work out right now.”
That type of accountability is precisely what Guidry loves to see as he replaces Matt Viator, who tied Bobby Keasler for the most wins in school history (78) before taking on a reclamation project at Football Bowl Subdivision member Louisiana-Monroe.
“Coach Viator continued the tradition of McNeese winning and before he left, put McNeese back on top,” Guidry said. “It’s up to us to continue that. We’re going into a new era, but I’m not really new. I’m old and most of my staff are old Cowboys as well. There’s a representative from all of our last 11 conference championships on staff, either as a player or as a coach.”
The Cowboys were not picked to repeat their title by conference coaches and sports information directors, but they are expected to compete for it.
That distinction belongs to the Bearkats, who were picked atop the coaches poll with nine first-place votes and the SID poll with 10 first-place votes. Sam Houston made its fourth run to the FCS semifinals in the last six seasons after beating the Cowboys.
McNeese was selected second in both polls and was the only other school to receive first-place votes.
The top five was uniform in both preseason polls with Central Arkansas picked third, Lamar fourth and Stephen F. Austin fifth. The first derivation came when Southeastern Louisiana was picked sixth by the coaches and seventh by SIDs, flipping spots with Northwestern State, respectively.
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