NCAAF 2021 Week 20 McNeese vs Tarleton

you just thought football was done no my friend no tarleton state the texans bring in mcneese state here in stephenville texas at tarleton memorial stadium i'm john little joined by scott garner and the rumors are true scott football is back tonight it's back but it's also cold and these two teams are not accustomed to having not only to play in these frigid temperatures but also practice in the week leading up to tonight's game but never mind all of that it's here and they're ready cold not the only thing these two teams have been fighting through this off-season for first of all any team that wanted to play football the fcs moved their championship to the spring tonight's the opener 19 more games next week tarleton finally getting to make their d1 debut mcneese has been through a ton in the last six months they have not just one hurricane but two and the last one put them back they didn't practice until november and at that it was at a local high school let's have some fun tonight tarleton state against mcneese state the texans coming to the field kickoff is next on fox sports southwest into memorial stadium john little back with scott garner the first fcs game of the year and it is cold let's take a look at the weather for today's game not what you would normally think of when you're talking about the hill country of texas but it's 27 degrees the winds out of the north to make it worse so it feels like it's in the teen sky incredible how these two teams get ready for a season and you know football usually is a hot weather sport it's turned into a cold weather sport for these two teams to start but they wouldn't have it any other way and tarleton head coach whitten todd whitton mentioned coming into the ball game that he didn't care he was going to get his players out there they were going to go head-to-head for two hours hard on wednesday thursday and they're ready to go this might be the most special year as he takes the team from division two making the jump to division one you know and mcneese was the team that he had to play his very first game in his third stint uh didn't turn out as he would have liked but he hopes things are a little bit different today and this is the first game ever for tarleton state as a division one team stephenville being a football town they're ready for it incredible look at the way tarleton's getting into it they had to wait from the fall to the spring to get their season started same story for mcneese they will also play a southland conference schedule mcneese a tradition rich fcs squad they've had winning seasons for 15 years in a row bayley raybourne to kick off for the mcneese cowboys in his junior season and for the tarleton texans kalyn horton back deep to recede there is a stiff breeze at the back of mcneese as they kick off an early flag on this first kickoff and it is returned by horton horton has a little bit of room slips through a tackle out to the 22 yard line there is a flag on the field though it's going to be offsides on the kickoff we got two flags actually we got one thrown from the goal line by the referee this probably going to be going against tarleton uh maybe an offsides against mcneese we'll see what they decide yeah let's see if we have to re-kick this thing i thought maybe the initial flag that came out might have just popped out on the the reverberation of that cannon that went off vidal jones is our referee and jones waiting for the mic to work on the play side four kicking team [Music] yeah we got to do it again so we get another opening kickoff to start the fcs season yeah and you know as if things weren't cold enough out here they they delayed things a little longer getting things going but you know this tarleton team they come in uh under the direction of todd whitten as you mentioned uh this is third stint and john for whatever reason todd brings such a a a just a feeling of toughness and a guy that can battle adversity and we'll see how tarleton comes in interesting they win the toss and they elect to receive the ball rather than defer absolutely they want to see what this offense has and it's been such an explosive offense the last few years the team's been 23 and two the offense in division two has been top three in yards per game both years if you look at the numbers almost 500 yards a game 500 in the regular season last year that was thompson the lone star conference giving up just 269 per contest tarleton has been an offensive team the last couple of years gonna be hard to operate in these conditions tonight so rayborn that first kick yeah that one didn't count we do it again this one is cleaner and we're back underway with horton letting it go over his head reborn using the wind behind his back and for the tarleton texans they turned to a new quarterback after two years of ben holmes replacing him number 11 stephen duncan big kid transfer out of western kentucky yeah he's good this is a guy that won the starting job at western kentucky in 2019 after three games though he got hurt and we didn't see him from that point but just for the mere fact that they go with him uh winning that job he went 70 of 119 completed almost 60 of his passes he's good in the pocket and he's gotten better at getting the ball out on time and duncan coming off that foot injury but completely healthy now khalil banks is the starting running back with him out at the 25 yard line as tarleton takes their first snap as a d1 program and tarleton has been a pretty good running team over the last few years trying the middle banks just not going down easily banks picking up four on the play on first down as isaiah chambers a standout defensive end to transfer from houston makes the play see them go quickly they want to go tempo mcneese and that standard 4-2 nickel quick throw to the outside and the first catch trying to swivel slip away is j.f thomas but andre sam a veteran quarterback does not let the all-american candidate get free just a gain of one well they don't waste any time get the ball in their playmakers hands on the edge jf thomas the senior 6'5 190 going up against andre sam he's the best defensive back that they have in that backfield that's a nice open field tackle right there at the line of scrimmage it'd be a great matchup to watch all game long an early third down for steven duncan and the tarleton texans may have jumped off side we'll see quick cut in cut route great coverage on tariq boston as colby richardson knocked it away yeah mazuri mapu and peterson ended up running a twist in the middle but mapu jumps early the junior transfer from the university of louisiana lafayette he and chambers and kinsey really give that defensive front uh a chance to get better and a chance to be better immediately but still it forces tarleton into a punt yeah not able to get into the neutral zone was maypiew so waiting back deep here is mason pierce and the new punter this year for tarleton is jake walrath a transfer out of utah state could be an adventure day in the kicking game but a pretty nice punt into the wind and the catch is made at the 36 yard line by mason pierce sliding onto his stomach and the tarleton texans go three and out to start this game but mcneese state gets the ball for the first time and you get a chance to see the son of coach oh up next he will run the quarterback spot coming up here on fox sportsville texas for the fcs opener welcome back in the mcneese cowboys get their first crack at it with cody orzaron the returning starter at quarterback yeah orchard on a three-year let him in the senior he's had a couple of big years under his belt again he's completed about 59 of his passes almost 2700 yards last year had a really nice season and gives it to deontay mcmahon who is a juco transfer for a one-yard gain devin hafford a cornerback who missed a lot of last year with an injury comes in for the stop you're going to see a lot of the ground game deontay mcmahon junior transfer he's new probably the best running back that mcneese has had in maybe 10 years he's that good and again he's at a butte college a transfer from butte college before second and nine order on gives a look to the sideline the offensive coordinators ronnie letzen and the head coach frank wilson spent the last five seasons at utsa skews to the offensive side as well or on putting it in the air a lot of cushion on the outside for severin foster first down and more into tarleton territory hafford forces him out yeah they run his own coverage off coverage at that he had about six seven yards of cushion as you mentioned had a chance to run away from ronnie franklin the cornerback foster the rochester minnesota college transfer 15-yard pickup into tarleton territory first down at the 47. you see that just put a move and had it had great space there to do it orgeron the ball is there right as kalyn horton the cornerback makes a hit on the intended receiver severan foster second and ten by the way if that name orgeron sounds familiar this quarterback from mcneese it should ed orgeron's son and he's a guy that again a coach's son he's smart great passer but he's much improved and he keeps getting better with each and every successive season for mcneese there's a reason for that he didn't always play the quarterback spot more on that in just a second after this second down play sojourn goes back to the ground game and a little slice off the left side for deontay mcmahon turning up yards for a gain of eight leaving a third down and short yeah ogeron was really a tennis star back in high school and was only five foot four as a freshman didn't even get into being the starting quarterback until he was a senior and mcmahon is able to roll forward and pick up the first down yeah you know he's just a great athlete and orzaron it just tells you about the the confidence that they have and had in him a great decision maker i like how mcniece is though staying with the ground game they went with the inside zone run two plays ago then ran the midline just a moment ago doing a really good job between the tackles this is going to be a tough matchup for this tarleton defensive front first down at the 36. another give to mcmahon nice little cut but he runs into his own man gets taken down from behind by jordan wells lone star conference defensive lineman of the year in 2019. incredible ball get off you talk about a guy that can dip and rip certainly a lot more talented than most d tackles you see he's not that big senior they list him six feet 275 and he's a guy that can press and shed and get to the football for the second down and long another look to the sideline by orgeron pretty nice first drive for mcneese this mcneese offensive front big and imposing another one to mcmahon and he's able to fall forward for a pickup of three needs a third down in five ronnell wilson has 214 career tackles coming into this one makes the stop from the linebacker spot and mcmahon finding either nick holliday or hayden shaw to run behind shaw that 6-3 freshman at 285 at that guard and tackle position ran behind holiday a couple of plays ago he knows where those big boys are and they're getting a good push right now it's a tough call right here third down and five they've been running the football well most teams were throwing here third down's not kind to mcneese last year there were only 33 percent this is a third and five bargeran he can scramble hits the edge has the first down cody orgeron does it with his legs boy what a weapon they ran the cross in the middle everybody was manned up but orgeron able to note it and decided to tuck it and run with it only had five yards to get found the sideline and moved the sticks that is a weapon that they'll be using all year and order on goes right to the air quick hitter to the end zone lots of contact and there's the flag intended for josh matthews the transfer out of louisiana tech and devin hafford is going to be whistled for the foul yeah he's the ex he's the starting ex that matthews with the outside release devin hafford the best cornerback that they have one of the best in the lone star conference last year so good but he ended up getting beat never did turn around for the ball and just too much contact pass interference puts it in great scoring position for mcneese all the way down at the seven yard line of tarleton state first drive for mcneese state under their new head coach frank wilson and boy have he and the cowboys had to fight through a lot this offseason just to get on the field as their athletic director called it a minor miracle after coveting the two hurricanes yeah the thing is you watch them it doesn't look like it they come out on their opening drive and while they might not be in mid-season form they've been doing a really good job i've been impressed with cody orgeron's ability to manage this first drive with all that they've had to endure and the cold weather first and goal mcmahon to the right of orgeron and instead order on's gonna keep it down to the five-yard line where he snowed under by wilson and company first time we've seen the rpo trey johnson that time the nickel did a good job of staying home and reading that from the get-go they had the receiver to the right lined up man coverage great coverage there a really good job defensively by tarleton to set up second and goal this drive starting at their own 36 for mcneese first points of the spring not yet deonte mcmahon is stopped tries to keep churning but it's forward progress eliminated at the three by chadwick thibodeaux you've got to keep flowing to the football when you're facing a guy like deontay mcmahon he just keeps those feet running runs those feet and he's not down until he's down and uh good job by the the safety to come down and get in the box and make that hit but uh third down and three tarleton stiffening here another big third down on this drive as mcneese tries to strike first in stephenville [Music] borgeron to the air has a man but it's right through the hands of pettigrew watch the flag though boy and pedigree got loose and somebody missed an assignment and that ball went right through his hands pedigree a guy that played at lsu when they ended up winning the 19 the lsc national championship pedogrew playing every game of that historic season for the tigers and for cody orgeron's dad couldn't make the connection here though we'll see who this is on big big call could this possibly be offensive pass interference as you see vitals jones the referee having a little trouble with that mic [Music] on a cold night that's not when you want to have the extra delays for sure pass interference number 83 offense declined fourth down all right so trevor beggie picks up the offensive pass interference penalty maybe get a second chance to watch this they had everybody manned up and you see that the outside backer kind of spying orzer on that time did a real good job of that harris and they just went right through pettigrew's hands does it matter though uh this is going to be declined and it sets up the field goal 21-yard try from jacob abel who is 13 for 13 last season at butler community college chip shot here with the win behind him and abel puts mcneese on the board nice opening drive for the cowboys frank wilson has to be excited about that mcneese leads tarleton early on stick with us from stephenville here on fox sports southwest winner in stephenville texas mcneese leading tarleton three nothing after the 21-yard jacob able field goal let's take a look at the scoring drive a really nice march scott really nice 12 plays 61 yards it takes about four and a half minutes tarleton doing a good job of holding in the red zone the problems mcneese had last year was putting the ball in the end zone when they got into the red zone they had 44 chances last year to score touchdowns in the red zone only score touchdowns on 19 of those possessions that's less than 50 it's one of the things they wanted to work on coming into the season and early on they do get points but not the six they wanted another chance for kalyn horton horton a dangerous return man lots of speed and hits the edge horton with good field position out to the 33-yard line that's where tarleton starts their second drive really nice cut right there you know this tarleton offense has only snapped it three times they would certainly love to answer that long mcneese drive you don't want to get into a situation where you've only got eight ten snaps and a half they need to string at least a couple of first downs together on this drive stephen duncan the new quarterback going one of two in his time on the field first time around a three and out for tarleton state khalil banks still the running back for tarleton the ball out at the 33-yard line texans really excited to see what they can do against division one competition this spring duncan goes play action on first down again a lot of cushion for bitson benson forced out by andre sam not before he gains eight yards got it sam a couple of times already again the converted safety now cornerback tariq bitsen is the number two wide receiver a little bit smaller but he caught 63 balls last year d2 all-american at adams state that's a first down for khalil banks slicing off the right side for a pickup of about three dorian pollard the middle linebacker in on the stops good job of moving the sticks for the first time go as fast as mcneese played tarleton going a little bit faster here on this drive yeah no looking to the sideline for tarleton here steven duncan pulls it down shows he's got a few wheels an awkward tackle for a pickup of three darius daniels knocks him off his pins yeah duncan looking for the quick pass to that number two inside slot receiver jf thomas he was covered up right there being pressed by ridge tahata number 19 on that defensive unit you see him uh he's a guy that has some football lineage he's really smart ignis showing blitz this time they are offsides a shot play up the sideline and it's knocked away from bitson andre sam makes the play but it was a free one for stephen duncan in the offense yeah show the blitz right off the bat i'm a little bit surprised that they didn't time that a little bit better i didn't really try to disguise it and when you when you don't disguise it a lot of guys you don't see them jump outside like that remain second down and way too early to try to time the snapchat that was only what the fifth snap we've seen out of tarleton and for mcbeast they're playing basically without a defensive coordinator their defensive coordinator grady brown left about a week ago to become the cornerback coach at houston that has got to be tough what i find interesting is they're not going to replace him right now they feel like if they bring in a defensive coordinator at this point in this spring season it would just muddy the waters a little bit too much they're going to let some assistant coaches and some gas kind of fill that role charleston across midfield for the first time the slant route just over the head of j off thomas and sam again they're on the defense you're right they're really going after andre sam early on but get a look at j.f thomas there and there's sam as well that should be a great match up thomas who is picked by some to be an all-american this season at the fcs level after a really good d2 year last year well he's long he's explosive he's been looked at by a number of nfl scouts he's really really physical too with that wide receiver spot third down it is dropped by duncan and duncan's in jail the timing of that play got thrown all off by the mesh cameron peterson chops him down and putting time for tarleton yeah bad snap right there just a mishandled snap there by duncan and i can't help but wonder if maybe the conditions might be uh getting to him a little bit but for whatever reason duncan just has not been able to settle in the first two drives a few early jitters for the western kentucky transfer pretty good punt by jake wellroth the first time around well wrath tried to pin mcneese deep hangs it in the air into the wind fair catch called for but i'm gonna let it roll out in front mason pierce has to scramble away from it and it's picked up by tavis coleman for tarleton so mcneese gets another crack at it after a nice drive their first time around 64 yards ended in a chip shot field goal cody original run and the mcneese offense did everything but put it into the purple end zone and nordstrom has come out and even though mcneese is on the road they've had to come up from lake charles i was wondering if they could even make their way through central texas over to stephenville they stayed in temple last night and that's still about two hours away from stephenville so they've had some adversity to overcome in addition to the the stuff we talked about in the off season with the two hurricanes and covet and everything else they've had some travel to overcome but i tell you i've been impressed with mcneese and cody orzeron and what they've been able to do early in this game orgeron and deontay mcmahon in the backfield they were both a big part of that first drive here midway through the first quarter mcneese up by that field goal or on the second year starter stepping up in the pocket and there's just nobody home and one receiver to that side all covered up no gain blake heel is in there on the stop yeah really good coverage they ended up going with a deep post right there to the the outside receiver orgeron looked and he was all covered up so he had to keep it orgeron second year starter started his career as a sixth string walk-on but improved rapidly now in his senior season he can play this spring and then again in the fall as well you know he's gotten so much better at his pre-snap reads and the post-snap reads as well but his ability to think critically has really accelerated his learning second and ten goes up the sideline under thrown and intercepted benji franklin not able to bring it to the ground in one piece should have been intercepted looked like he had in his hands scott what a great play by benji franklin who had terrific positioning to the inside trying to go to josh matthews up top and as we take a look at it you just can't play it any better than that i just thought that uh franklin would have that pick you know he had four interceptions last year great ball skills third down and ten as tarleton starts to make some noise defensively or geron successful on third downs on the first drive tries to do it with his legs but just runs out of real estate and tarleton gets a stop as jordan wells chases orgeron out with the dime coverage that time and really good job in the secondary of being in the right spot nobody home and orgeron had to use his feet he did that on the first drive but only had five yards to get was able to scramble for the first down last time he did that not so this time this cold night tarleton able to bottle up the mcneese cowboys here early on on the punt bailey raybourne his third year as the starting punter for mcneese also had the place-kicking duties in 2019. waiting back deep kalyn horton horton looking for an opportunity that went through his hands now a pile up it looked like tarleton was able to hop on it but i'm not sure that they were able to secure it we'll see wow it's going to be mcneese football kalyn horton fumbles it it's recovered by the mcneese cowboys and the cowboys are set up inside the red zone already with a three-nothing lead boy the kicking game has certainly turned the tide if not in field position but look at this the ball i thought was going to be hopped on by tarleton it looked like for a moment they were able to be able to cover it but big niece has been really energetic going after these kids they have swarmed the football on a couple of punts and they get to it you could tell that the wind was carrying it and i thought at the very last oh if he tries to catch that it's going to be a big trouble and it turned in to be trey vondelstein the deep snapper able to jump on top of it and the first big turning point in this game goes to mcneese they're at the 15-yard line of tarleton state after the deep snapper recovers the muffed pot and a huge break you just can't give an experienced team like this early breaks in a game particularly when you're playing at home you're in your first game i know it's only three nothing but mcneese has certainly had the momentum earlier it's matthews in motion instead a give to mcmahon mcmahon piles into the line for just a couple deonte mcmahon coaches say he is just dynamic at five foot nine 180 pounds out of frost proof florida but transferred in from butte college and mcmahon has just come in and ripped this starting running back spot away from an incumbent this will be the 16th play already of the game tarleton has snapped it just eight times mcneese says really had the control and remember tarleton won the opening toss and took the ball great point off the sideline incomplete a little bit of jostling but no flag josh matthews the intended receiver devin hafford playing the coverage very tight matthew's one of the call and i think haffert is the one that got called for pass interference earlier in the quarter that time really good coverage he's good i've been impressed with the secondary play between the two teams to start these two teams are very physical uh in the back end and that's what you've got to have especially when you're going up against the guy like cody orzeron who threw it for almost 3 000 yards last year moments ago at turnover put mcneese at the 15-yard line now at third and eight trying to keep this drive alive yeah it's a big third down you can keep it a one-score game if you get a stop here and before the play stoppage on the field mcneese takes their first charge timeout time out by mcbees we'll take it too big third down on the way with mcneese up on tarleton three to nothing welcome back into tarleton state tarleton's defense trying to make another big stand after a fumble recovery by mcneese the cowboys face at third and eight 13-yard line of tarleton yeah you muff a punt and give up the possession here inside the 20 and you get a stop this would be big for the texans orgeron single coverage to the right side lobs it up what a catch josh matthews goes up to grab it and mcneese goes up nine to nothing but matthews with tremendous separation right off the line of scrimmage and orgeron able to locate it what a throw he had the wind and he knew if he could just get it close with the ability of matthews they were going to make that a touchdown and they did josh matthews the transfer out of louisiana tech one of his first targets as a cowboy ends up in six mcneese state taking advantage of the short field thanks to the muffed punt by kalyn horton cowboys with a good start in stephenville as abel makes the extra point josh matthews never had a touchdown catch in rustin but he's got one today for mcneese yeah did you watch this it was just a great release off the line of scrimmage he just lobbed it up and put it in a great spot you saw the defensive back able to get in there that's the back up corner kaylin horton the sophomore out of houston he was able to make up the ground but that throw put where only the wide receiver could get it on an over-the-shoulder catch great job by matthews who has tremendous leaping ability but didn't really need it there he just stretches out and he's able to haul it in nice catch out of baton rouge dunham high school he's really happy to have him and we take a look at the scoring drive it took just three plays and 15 yards to get in that's the conversion that you were talking about scott earlier on desperate to convert red zone opportunities into touchdowns and mcneese gets one you know they get one but it was all set up by a miscue and tarleton committing uh the egregious mistake of the the muff punt there and giving a chance for the cowboys to put in the end zone and now they've dug themselves a little bit of a hole and the problem is there's still almost six minutes to go in the quarter and tarleton still going against this stiff frigid win there's kalyn horton who not only muffed the punt but then he was also beat on the touchdown as well and horton try to make up for the miscue orton this time he'll bring it out from two yards deep there's a little wedge set up for him horton up the sideline showing off the speed out near the 40. he has tremendous athletic ability and what i love about him is when you watch him return kicks he's fearless you can't be scared back there i thought for for certain he was going to grab that ball and maybe take a knee you know for the touch back but he said no we're coming out and uh he's had so much success throughout his career doing that he's built up a ton of confidence in himself and he's given charlotte the field position number 10 of the kicking team five yard penalty is added to the end of the run it's first down means even better field position for tarleton again they're trying to find that spark scott and the offense led by stephen duncan they had it out near midfield for a third down on their last drive but then it all went awry for them well todd we're hoping that that kick return can give him a little bit of a spark we'll see what steve duncan has for us he's been off to a slow start duncan does have a rocket and completes this one against the sideline tariq bitson is forced down by andre sam as he picks up five straight mitchell he's a grand transfer out of adam state 6-3 205 smaller not blazing speed but such a great route runner and you can see the separation that he was able to generate that's a nice six yards on first down tulsa kid well traveled even started his career at oklahoma state before he went to adams state and you can see that you can see the talent given seven instead right back to bitson and bitson stepping away and down the sideline benson with the big play down near the 20. and again he's able to get away from andre sam the best quarterback that mcneese has what terrific athletic ability you give him any space and he can be explosive and we see it there what a nice play right there 26 yards on the catch and run nice turn inside but able to break the tackle and we mentioned he's not big but he is strong at the 21-yard line duncan standing tall throws a jump ball and just throws it out of bounds looking for jf thomas just had to get rid of that one that's great patience in the pocket right there though by steve duncan remember this offensive line somewhat makeshift they've got three transfers there ernest at left tackle the oklahoma state transfer perry the other tackle the northwestern state transfer nice pocket that time first time we've seen steve duncan the tarleton quarterback it really display that patience and that pocket presence not rattled by having to hold on to it for a few more ticks on second down he pulls it back looks to run duncan not much there as sam comes to pop him out about this talk about getting your your bell wrong on a 28 degree night it feels like 13 out there and he took a hit and it's just gonna keep getting colder tonight we are expecting blizzard-like conditions sometime tomorrow thankfully it doesn't look like it's going to snow until after midnight man that is a hit and he got snowed under i guarantee it around the sideline duncan looking back to the sideline on third down as tarleton tries not to waste this golden opportunity their best of their three drives to the air up top for thomas too strong thomas can't bring it in near the sideline and it's fourth down i love the mindset though by the niece they go press coverage field side and they literally dare the tarleton wide receivers to be able to to run past the dbs and jf thomas with a foot speed to do it the problem was ran out of space in the end zone and now an opportunity at a field goal this is going to be a 38 yarder for tarleton state to try to get on the board for the first time as a division one program we've got a guy from just down the road [Music] handling the field goal opportunity here in adrian guzman guzman's kick on the way into the wind that's a tough kick and good into the wind it feels like it's 13 outside i've seen acme bricks that were softer than that football and i don't know how in the world he was able to convert that was a beautiful king adrian guzman coming on and getting the ball through the uprights he's out of temple the freshman getting the surprise start today over christian hernandez who was advertised as their place kicker today how about that nice kick right there by guzman again you mentioned that of temple texas six plays 33 yards less than two minutes and again tarleton on the board but they would like to have a few more minutes expire here to get the win it shows some of their big play ability though on that drive not only the turn away from the defender by tariq bitsen they officially ruled that a 28-yard catch and run but then also it was all set up right by the beautiful return from kailyn horton i thought horton's return gave him a spark and he mentioned they needed to find the spark and they did and you know regardless of what happens in this game tonight john this has been something to behold here in stephenville with this program a long time member of the lone star conference really being turned around by coach whidden because you you look at the tarleton program and when he took it over about six years ago they were one of the worst defenses in the country and now they've become one of the best and that's what great coaches do they're able to come in turn it around and coach whitten does it old school he starts with defense and also one of the best offenses as well over the last few years the short kick brought in by jacoby skinner who touches it for the first time and skinner out across the 30. tumbles out to the 35 yard line and that's where mcneese takes over 3 32 left in this first quarter cowboys up 10-3 one nice long drive for a field goal and then a doorstep opportunity for orgeron to hit josh matthews for a 13-yard touchdown last time out there you get a chance to look at todd whitten and you're exactly right he's turned this program around and he's prepared this team for the move from division two to division one and it's something he knows a lot about he he went from division two tarleton is a second stint with tarleton up to division one taking the job at sam houston it's never an easy transition to do and we can talk about that as we go on new running back by the way in jacoby skinner but instead a throw to the outside in japan pedigree the tight end is upended you talk about a physical play by a safety coming downhill he was at full speed and turned predator around like a top and put him right in the turf my gosh look at this plate right here pettigrew trying to make a move great tackle by donovan banks who had an incredible year last year fast physical the blinn junior college transfer man yeah first year starter for marcus patton's defense second down and nine skinner with the first carry nice cutback first down and more all the way out to the 46. devin hafford makes the stop but a rip of 14. you watch hayden shaw number 78 on that play with just a terrific reach block there on the edge open the way for jacoby skinner the five nine 176 pound running back you can't do it better than i can't believe that guy's a freshman skinner the biggest play of the first half so far as that's going to be a penalty incomplete on the play the trey johnson maybe ronald wilson there a little bit early on the slot receiver mason pierce and one of the things that you notice when you watch not only the tarleton secondary operate but the mcneese secretary too they're not afraid to get in there and lay a lick they might get there a little bit early they may gamble at times and they'll give up some of those because it's about a mindset it's about establishing your will in the secondary you can't be scared he was there just a hair early you saw that no doubt a penalty but you know that's that's that may be a penalty seven out of ten times but those three times it'll pay off for them aggressive play by the nickel trey johnson now you get a look at the slot receiver mason pierce a red shirt freshman only goes a buck 45 out of pearl and texas so a new set of downs for mcneese across midfield at the 45. orange around under center for the first time rolling out skinner has a lot of space skinner dances his way to a first down they faked the fly sweep to freeze the backer opened up the right side in the flat great play call it's a flag out in the backfield here catch and run at 17 and we're checking that flag they get eric willis the senior fifth year senior out of valendale california for the extra penalty and that's another half the distance to the goal and now mcneese is right back where they were moments ago at the 14-yard line trying to open up this lead i will say this in watching mcneese it doesn't look like this is the first year of a first year head coach frank wilson has come out he has really coached this team up they look very polished given what they've had to overcome double tight ends another little waggle for orzaron throws to the end zone incomplete intended on that crosser for mason pierce trey johnson on the coverage yeah i love how kj brown who is the tight end working on the right side that time uh ended up getting chucked right there he ended up getting uh hammered right off the line of scrimmage and reroute and which sort of blew that play up and great coverage on the back end there in the end zone by tarleton tarleton's doing a good job with mcneese has gotten into the red zone of tightening up and toughening up along with scott garner i'm john little from stephenville texas mcneese out of the southland conference playing fcs independent tarleton second down for orange iran flush from the pocket argeron down the sideline scoots out of bounds for a pickup of four 36 coming up chadwick tebow thibodeaux made sure orgeron didn't pick up the first he had nobody to throw to unless he wanted to really throw back across the field i i can't imagine that that wasn't a busted play of sorts that did not look like a mid-season play uh tarleton all over it but you see the speed of origin still able to pick up a few yards with him really sneaky good athlete 175 pounds and six foot one and and coaches have said he doesn't look that fast on tape you get him down on the field and it's almost like you can't believe he's that fast on third down they go to the ground and burrowing for yardage inside the 10 and a little extra curricular after skinner is short of the first down you know in a play call like that john would lead you to believe that mcneese wanted to go for it they were thinking about going forward on fourth down we'll see what they do i don't see uh anybody coming i it looks like they they may want to go out they may be making a change here we'll see yeah really late to make a change but it does look like the field goal unit no or at least some bigger players are coming on you're exactly right scott they're going to bring on the tight ends and the fullbacks and they're going to call the timeout here i somebody would that didn't the timing of that that that personnel exchange was not good well four yard pickup for skinner it's going to leave a fourth down and two here and hey why not if you're mcneese you're already leading 10 to three you've shown that you can do a pretty good job stopping tarleton so far why not try to punch it in well you know mcneese they feel like they've got things under control they're up by seven it feels like a bigger lead than that uh only because tarleton's had some problems offensively and mcneese they've come out they've made some plays but yeah this is a club as we talked about earlier that wants to try to work on putting the ball in the end zone here they settle for a lot of field goals last year in the red zone like you said frank wilson is a first year head coach but think about this they have been they they've had a long time to get used to him as the head coach but they weren't able to really practice like other teams in the fall so the point you made earlier on about i can't believe this is under a first year head coach i mean i absolutely agree with you because it's amazing how clean they've been fourth down and two here mcneese going for it a pitch out to skinner but tarleton strings it out devin hacker changed that play and the texans take over boy they tried to load up and devon hafford coming up and showing you why he not only is a great cover corner but one of the more physical corners that they've seen at the lone star conference in a while what a play heiferd gets in there immediately as they run the old student body tall sweep into the boundary i'm surprised they went to that play given the fact that they kind of gave that away with that jumbo package before the timeout and maybe that's the spark that tarleton needed to get things going down by seven nearing the end of the first quarter on a cold night in stephenville stephen duncan back out there for his fourth possession and on first down just nothing doing for the new running back and that's going to be braylon bridges out of houston a true freshman getting a carry for the first time in his career and we knew that both of these two teams were deep at the running back position and they wanted to get some guys in not just late in the game but kind of shuffle them in earlier on second down duncan goes up top this time he has the jf thomas connection thomas a big catch 19 in a first down that's a great route run right there by thomas small window andre sam not bad coverage wasn't great coverage on the quick slant great timing between duncan and jf thomas maybe another one or two plays before the end of the quarter for the purple and white and another handoff to the freshman to the outside braylon bridges nears a first down he's a yard short pickup of nine and depending on the spot no they're going to move those chains 10 yards for braylon bridges houston klein collins high school 510 180 pounds you saw him put his foot in the ground and bounce it and he got there to the sideline in a hurry looks like the last play of the first quarter duncan not afraid to go up top down the sideline and a flag flies looking for gabe at douglas colby richardson with a lot of contact and that may give tarleton great field position heading into the second quarter i'd be an untimed down here if this goes against this goes against mcneese might be a defensive hold i i saw some pushing and shoving before the ball was thrown in a referee fidel jones [Music] you're exactly right an untimed down here to end the first quarter tarleton state so this is exactly what the texans needed that big shot of a stop on fourth down now they're starting to get the offense helmet you know it again they've had to go against the wind for 15 minutes and run another play we haven't done it long enough against the wind do it one more time fake handoff throw up the seam incomplete for jf thomas not much separation and that will bring an end to the first quarter an entertaining first quarter for the mcneese state cowboys as josh matthews scores his first touchdown in a mcneese uniform the cowboys coming to stephenville and leading early on don't go anywhere the second quarter is next 10-3 mcneese on top you're looking at the brand-new press box here at tarleton memorial stadium just opened up last year it's a cold night as we start the second quarter here in stephenville tarleton on the march trying to get this game tied up stephen duncan rolls out throws it up the sideline for gabe douglas more contact god lee i can't believe how physical it is when the ball is in the air between wide receivers and dbs in this game that time i thought richardson he was jostling but at the same time you know the wide receiver i thought he may have done more douglas may have done more pushing than the db and maybe a good no-call yes i thought it was a great no call richardson was the one that was flagged earlier on this drive to get it into mcneese territory tarleton as they're moving left to right does have the wind behind them and the wind is not insignificant this evening no 13 miles an hour out of the north and it may take a throw or two for steve duncan the tarleton quarterback to to get used to throwing with the win now that he's been going against this stiff cold wind but this is a big play in this game it's third down and 10 on the 45. it's still a one possession game you'd love to convert this colby richardson coming out of the game that cornerback spot for picnic so they replace him with chris joyce a transfer out of tulane you know he was hurt early last year here's third and ten for duncan look out backside pressure and slipping coming out of his break is gabe douglas they went right after chris joyce but that one is a miscommunication between douglas and duncan and the punting unit comes on for toronto that's the first time we've seen duncan take an absolute smash on the backside as leighton earns that left tackle had a hard time mirroring that defensive end duncan taking quite a hit stephen duncan so far in this one six of 12 through the air for 60 yards on the punt jake walrath this time with the win behind him gets it away mason pierce waiting back calls for the fair catch and makes it at the six yard line tarleton will take that mcneese up by a 10-3 score when you look at this just a blow right there first time we have seen that that was mason kinsey a transfer from the citadel one of three defensive linemen that mcniece has that start that did not start their career here they've had a ton of transfers and it's the defensive line that lost all four starters last year and they're hoping that these transfers can help isaiah chambers bookends the other side they're really excited about him as well but they love this kid cody orgeron throwing a touchdown in this one after 24 touchdown tosses last year what a great kick right there to force mcneese to start inside their own 10. starting field position by far for the cowboys and a give to skinner who showed a lot on that last drive and skinner is able to pick up four right up the teeth of the texans defense been really impressed with mcbees this cowboy offensive line they don't do a lot of power encounter they do a lot of inside zone stuff with their rpo game but the center whitehead a lot of experience coming back their big leader though is kindle dirt their left guard he's the the guy on the offensive line that really helps him out 10-3 advantage for mcneese trying to get out of their own end bourgeois on the straight quarterback draw trying to pop through the other side and he has close to a first down but he falls down at the 16-yard line just shy of it leaves a third down one quarterback power right there all the way coleman the left guard the junior transfer out of coffeyville college six two three hundred pounder good job mcneese going quickly skinner running tough for a first down needed one picked up four the cowboys moving into the wind may rely a little bit more on that running game yeah the running game's been good frank wilson had mentioned that they may do a little bit more running tonight than what you normally might see especially they've got the seven point lead here deep in their own territory against the win for the first time you see coach wilson there four years as the head coach at utsa after a nice stint as the running backs coach at lsu and that's sort of how he built the relationship of getting pedigree the tight end orgeron is blasted as he got rid of that one somehow to dante hargrove tarleton covers that one up for a loss of one josh kemp making the stop really nice open field tackle and we've seen tarleton do a good job of that and that's what this tarleton defense is about it's about simplicity legal shift by the offense two players in motion number six of the offense never reset before the snap penalty is declined second down to take a loss of one instead of making it first down 15. but marcus patton is the defensive coordinator for the texans and the one thing that they changed when coach whitten took it over about five or six years ago was taking a lot of the complex stuff out of what they do they want to try to keep it simple be good at what they do don't expand it too much and get players thinking rather than reading and reacting and playing downhill on this play orgeron gives it off but there is just nothing on the inside of that tarleton line skinner goes down for no gain and and what they say what patton says is his key is pretty simple tackle be tough and fly around other than that yeah keep it simple and that's what this game goes back to blocking and tackling you can x's and o's at all you want but those teams that can block and those teams that can tackle are the best teams and you've seen tarleton deny make some great one-on-one tackles i love how they're flowing to the football here's third down orgeron little happy feet has a man over the middle but it is dropped incomplete josh matthews had it in his hands but it falls to the turf would have been good for a first down what a throw by orzaron and it looked like matthews trying to catch that ball with his body rather than his hands that ball should have been caught but i'll tell you what the ability to extend plays like orgeron has he had a chance to make a play there and again you see the ball getting in too tight to the wide receiver instead of getting those hands out he tried to cup it against his body and matthews just could not make the grab hit matthew's right on the six and tarleton it's another big stop tries to keep field position in their favor punt by bailey raybourne into the wind here horton is back deep says get away from it remember he muffed one earlier this one rolls to the 43-yard line not a bad punt into a pretty stiff breeze and we have not seen a 40-yard punt going from right to left as we see when you're going against that win it's just almost impossible tonight mcneese holding on to a seven point lead in stephenville first division one game for tarleton under 12 to play in the second welcome back in always have a good contingent of the military the rotc that show up to games here at memorial stadium mcneese with a 10-3 advantage but this has been a long road upward for tarleton to get from division two to division one stephen duncan on the sideline we heard that they wanted to get cameron bursting into the game the senior and bursting is in there to lead this drive no lying by the head coach as he hits jf thomas with his first pass to pick up a four person the senior with great relationships with all of these guys has been in the system a while and obajo california knows the system and he's got a strong arm here's the thing about bursting he needs this opportunity because he can't play in the fall he is out of semesters this spring they wanted to get him in so bursting back to the air up the right sideline it's bobbled and dropped to reek boston had it fall through but richardson never gave up and made it just tough enough on bits yeah richardson's back after he got hurt earlier he tweaked a leg earlier but he's back in there made a nice play there your vocal leader in that secondary and able to make up the ground just enough to try to break that pass up at the very last bits and had his hands on it though absolutely richardson just not giving up and you see just after one play bitson has to come out he knows the receiver downfield on the pass number 61 of the offense five yard penalty second down chavion chambers the right guard that ended up getting down field so even if that pass was completed it would not have counted javon chambers is a pretty fun story five foot nine 300 pounds not the prototypical d1 size right no yeah he's only six feet they list him they list him at six five nine 285 doesn't have you know you like linemen that have the long reach uh he doesn't have that but boy he's he's got a high motor four-year starter on this team oh they love the kid second down and 11. right back to the air taking the shot play and just incomplete over that left hand of jf thomas man these one-on-one coverage uh opportunities by the uh corners have been really good as you take a look at cameron burst and he was the backup last year to ben holmes and got into six games he did you see that they're they're using him uh a lot of timing routes from the get-go a lot of quick passes quick throws not a lot of decision making right here and just trying to see if bursting can hit the home run they're down 11. as tarleton tries to pick up a first down on this drive bursting to put it in the air again testing the wheels against the sideline it's intercepted rich to hayda picking it off rich tejada with the interception the freshman steps in front of that pass there is a flag down as well but for now mcneese has the football after the interception by the freshman well we mentioned that bursting had not really had to make any decisions that time he ended up rolling and had to make a decision and make an outrageous mistake roughing the passer number 40 defense 15 yards from the previous spot it's automatic first down that's isaiah chambers that's your defensive end that star studded in the grad transfer out of the university of houston who saw a lot of time in the american conference just a shove there after bursting had let that ball go [Music] he wasn't finished no he wanted to go block after the interception was thrown so the ridge tejada interception is wiped off the board tarleton moves the chains well that's a break too huge break because it really didn't affect the play at all as the handoff goes to braylon bridges and how about braylon bridges the freshman wasn't even on the depth chart coming into this one but he's being trusted as the number two back in today's game yeah and bridges he's got a lot of talent a guy that has really worked his way into getting this time and we'll see how he finishes up after week one second down quick toss to the flat roberson trey roberson he's got the quickness and roberson picks up seven on the play sam and mccoy combine on the stop when richardson came downhill and he was the guy that got there first that cornerback but robertson was able to shake him and he's got great hands but what about the explosiveness he was able to make the move and then get vertical in a hurry great quickness right there by dre robertson here's third and three following his blockers nicely bridges breaks out bridges inside the tent but he fumbles and coming out with it is corey mccoy what a break for mcneese break for mcneese a mistake in the red zone the flag came out maybe for a crack back block a blind side block we'll see after the the turnover but man ball security is so important particularly on a night like tonight when it's cold you said it scott it feels like it's in the teens out there and that one gets punched away from the freshman checking the flag but doesn't look like it might be post possession lidale jones has been busy as a fumble covered by the defense during the return it's a personal foul for a legal blind side block by number one of the defense it's half missing goal from the spot of the foul it's first down and tarleton's good drive gets thrown off by the fumble yeah it was a great run right there by the youngster look at the patience behind the block but just did not have it high and tight lost the ball mcneese ends up taking it over the tarleton state band in attendance of course here in stephenville braving the tough night from a recovery made by corey mccoy there to give it back to mcneese after the texans were driving it means state with a 10-3 advantage and starting off with the ground game again moving into the wind and the ground has been pretty kind to mcneese in this one has been again it starts with that offensive line and it's anchored by uh matt sherida on that left tackle position and karon coleman and left guard big strong tackles and guards they've got big lyman and they've got terrific push deep backfield as well aj carter at transfer from arizona state with his first carry and carter bobbles it did he actually hold on to that a football somehow for a two-yard pickup looks like he did out to the 15. and tarleton this might be texan ball they are saying they think it is but it all i i didn't see the officials rule that way it looks like it's third down i'd love to get a replay of this the initial bobble we've seen some bobbles we've seen some drops that you don't ordinarily see but again we got out of the ordinary conditions tonight with temperatures in the 20s oh wow high and tight it usually doesn't mean against your helmet taking that a little too literally there young man so third down and five for mcneese cody ogeron's going the whole way at quarterback started from last year hoes around with a lot of time and he can do a lot of this ogeron finds the edge in a first down just when you thought he had been cut off ozeron gallops for eight and a new set of downs or on quickly becoming the leading rusher on this team here in this game with that scamper what a nice job by cody orgeron we've seen him run for a first down he almost did it twice on a scramble at that time he does move the sticks seven carries for 32 and give him nine out to the 24 yard line mcneese scored first on a chip shot field goal added to it with a touchdown toss to josh matthews turrets have fought back with a field goal of their own old scoring in the first quarter here in stephenville and another opportunity for aj carter this time carter with a little better handle on it and rumbles for six dj harris in on the stop the nice ram play as the hvac comes over to get the end but uh i love watching nick holliday work at that right tackle position number 79 the sophomore 6'5 320 really blocks well through the echo of the whistle does a really nice job this offensive line you can tell they've worked a lot with the sled because they put screws to screws and they they just keep going until they hear that whistle stoppage on the field for an injury as you see eric willis the fifth year senior defensive end trying to get off the field they had to stop it for him for a moment well it's trying to jump off whatever that was williston got a great year last year an overachiever a walk-on big motor 6-3 and 225 at wanddale california they don't want to miss him second and four another give to aj carter just plunging forward for three third down and one coming up see mcneese trying to control the ground game they've they've run it more effectively tonight they're over 90 yards on the ground tarleton has rushed it for just 40 in this game and they really felt like the ground game would be the difference they're going right back to it and to pick up the first down aj carter stumbles for a pickup of two you know carter a good story six feet tall 218. he's going to come out here but he's out of louisiana small town many louisiana went to arizona state for the first couple years transferring back to mcneese and helping bolster that backfield obviously with the transfer portal becoming so popular at the division one level you see a lot of transfers in every program but you know with the cobin taking hold of the country and the ncaa coming out with the edict that you know players can come back next year even if they've run out of time makes it tough for uh high school seniors to find a spot deontay mcmahon grabs the toss but then byron broussard grabs him the first year starter transfer from abilene christian with the tackle they try to get it on the edge they've had some success with that deontay mcmahon the mute college transfer being really denied a big play as they they just kind of forced them to the sideline it's a four yard pickup orgeron to the air here orgeron makes you defend the whole field as you run sideline to sideline just chucks it away third down yeah dion cormier the intended target i guess they had three guys around him talton's done a good job of covering in the secondary for the most part tonight really limiting order and i know he's your leading rusher for mcneese but they've limited him somewhat you look at what he's done through the air just four of eleven 48 yards this tarleton defense has covered well they've got three guys that are transfers in they play a lot banks and broussard at safety i think they've did a good job tonight too third down again bergeron sees some late pressure uses that ball fake well but he rolls forward just shy of the first down only picked up three when he needed six should be punting time here as byron broussard makes his second tackle of this series and i thought zack hopkins probably made that play because he set the edge he forced orgeron back inside whereas a lot of times you see guys get a little too aggressive defensive ends lose contain that time hopkins didn't and he made orzer on scamper to the middle of the field into the teeth of that defense to force the punt defense has done a nice job of not letting this game get away when there have been turnovers no question about it haley raybourne onto punt again and this time into the win this is not a good one off the side of his foot but it's going to take a nice little roll it runs into one of his own guys at the 26 but devin or rather uh that is uh corey mccoy for mcneese picking it up and tarleton will have it back trying to figure out a way to tie this game still 10-3 mcneese [Music] a lot of spirit from the purple and white despite the score tarleton in their first game as an fcs independent hanging around against coach wilson's mcneese cowboys carlton has it back with plenty of time to spare here late in the first half but that is dropped they're going to say it was down khalil banks fumbling but evidently after he was down by contact at the 29. yeah we've seen a number of balls hit the carpet tonight that ordinarily again you would not see kind of a combination of it being the first game these two teams haven't played a game in over a year and we saw an old-fashioned power play there and ball just ended up getting mishandled like a good call looked like it did come off the turf rain skinner is in as the running back now as steven duncan's back in a quarterback goes to the air a lot of jostling again no call on the pass intended for jf thomas but there's no doubt tarleton wanted a flag to come out third down that was a good no call that time i thought richardson did a really good job getting in position right there uh you know there's some hand fighting and there has been uh both sides both cornerbacks both sets of cornerbacks defensive backs have established the physical play and just can't throw a flag on every play but that time not a good no call a lot of shot plays for tarleton in this one they need another one on third and eight duncan facing five-man pressure and there's a lot of contact again but thomas pulls it down and has the first down out to the 42. wow what a what a wrestling match between richardson and thomas tonight unbelievable by the former basketball player j.f thomas who had richardson all over him the offensive line did a good job of picking up the pressure and somehow thomas is able to hold on with richardson all over him what a play we are right back to play duncan takes another shot down the right sideline looking for tariq bitson bitson brought it in but was forced out when he was in midair by the coach's son quad wilson the son of the head coach frank wilson good heads he play by the freshman from san antonio to prevent a big play yeah bits in the gathering likes to run a lot of drag routes combo routes things like that and he's been a big part of the tarleton package so far tonight second down and duncan gives it to skinner for the first time skinner finds some space out past the 45 yard line and near midfield six yard carry macy may pugh the transfer from louisiana lafayette in on the stop what a great block by kendall dirt that junior from atta scotia 6-9 320 on dorian pollard on that kickout block on the linebacker really allowed that play to happen his dad at tarleton hall of famer james dearth in fact he's uh on a poster outside the stadium third down four throw out in the flat that's a first down and more for roberson dre roberson throwing on the brakes corey mccoy forces him out the game is seven into mcneese territory great pre-snap read by duncan they go zone coverage with some off coverage that time but steve duncan able to find roberson almost uh immediately great job off the play action pass tarleton averaging 45 points a game over the last two seasons not a great start offensively today but trying to crank it into gear another throw to that left side jf thomas pulls it in and has seven maybe eight yards down to the 37. tarleton only gave up 14 sacks the whole year last year last two plays though some pressure being put on duncan and he's fortunate that they're running some hot routes and some quick routes that he can get the ball out quickly second and two duncan wants to take a shot up the left seam for thomas again and that one's just overthrown they are really working that left side against andre sam and it's third down too yeah and three straight plays i mean three straight plays they have brought pressure and that time pollard came from the backside and got to duncan he had to let that thing go didn't really have a chance to step into it like he likes to but raheem skinner the running back he's got to be able to pick up the blitz and keep pressure off of his quarterback duncan big third and two handoff to skinner he burst for a first down buries the head for four with three minutes left in the first half tarleton down by seven but in a good position the problem is last time they were in this spot there's a fumble a big turnover that probably took points off the board yeah that was a great read option look looked like it was a straight give all the way anyway but nice job by the offensive line they give tarleton a new set of downs got a chance to tie this ball game going into the break new set of downs duncan faces pressure again but finds roberson in the flat with room to run roberson ranging for eight yards down to the 25. first time they've gone stream pass to the right side just a quick pass on the edge to allow the other wide receiver to be a blocker and that time tarleton takes advantage of the off coverage near side and on second down a give to skinner skinner finds a place to cut and picks up the first i'll tell you the play calling is starting to really get in the groove for tarleton yeah and he's small but he's thick and i just thought he made a great read right there reading the defense and a great cut skinner able to pick up a few extra to move the sticks tarleton ready to go again skinner ready to carry it again inside the 20-yard line goes for another four yards as we hit the two-minute mark of the first half yeah the one thing that you notice kind of a common denominator among banks and skinner and the other max is the fact that they keep their feet moving they might get hit but it's going to take more than one defensive player to bring him down running back by committee continues the freshman braylon bridges is in for skinner on second down duncan goes to bridges bridges oh he was a step away from taking it to the house but it's first and goal the tackle made by cordell williams they run that wham play they bring the h back and it was a good box to run against that nickel coverage that nickel formation and tarleton taking big time advantage of it and now mcneese wants to call a time out to talk about things yeah there's no doubt this isn't a time saving time out scott this is try not to let him score time out time out on the field we take it too with mcneese up on tarleton by seven mcneese head coach frank wilson trying to edge his defense to keep tarleton out of the end zone he's up 10-3 on tarleton with a minute and a half to play here in the first half john little back with scott garner and as tarleton's really gotten it going and they're looking for their first touchdown in their division one history where do you think they go for offense well we'll see what uh this is the 13th play of this drive to me by far the longest of the game a lot of success with the ground game and here's skinner on the cutback ryan skinner closer to paydirt down to the three and zach perry who is a division one transfer of northwestern the arlington heights product doing an amazing job on the longest drive of the game their best drive skinner big cut back he's got the score and the tarleton texans have scored a touchdown for the first time as a division one program [Music] by far the best this texan offense has looked tremendous rhythm tremendous timing a great job by duncan to manage the offense but most importantly they got tremendous production out of the offensive line at that time the tight end sloan selman with a terrific block there right in front of just a terrific run christian hernandez tries to tie it up and he does we're deadlocked at 10 apiece after a grinding drive by the tarleton texans it took him a long time to get going in this game offensively scott that get something going and get knocked back get something going but finally the ground game gets it done how about rodney clemons clemens 6-4 225 pound sophomore at a quartz hill california a terrific run by raheem skinner and obviously a guy that runs hard he's small he's thick but he he's a one cut guy he doesn't dance he doesn't try to bounce when he shouldn't in that time it was about the offensive line and the ground game to get this ball game tied it's really what tarleton was trying to do earlier in the game they just couldn't quite find the rhythm 15 plays 73 yards a lot of it on the ground for tarleton state raheem skinner who had three touchdowns on the ground last season his first year in a purple uniform gets the honors to break the seal here in the spring of 2021 and again yeah we're playing live six days after the super bowl we've got more football for you this year yeah you've seen head coach todd whitton talking to dave douglas right there but one of the things that coach wooden had mentioned coming in is the fact that over the course of the last five to six years in his third stint as the head coach of this texan program just the toughness and getting this team ready to go week in and week out that's a team that they want every regular season game the last two years and it's hard to do it's hard to go from one of the worst teams defensively to one of the best one of the ways he does it is every day in practice putting the good guys against the good he calls it good on good they run their their top guys against their top guys they might have an injury or two throughout the season doing that but it really helps the toughness jason pierce takes it out from the five-yard line and runs into a purple wall right around the 24. and that's where mcneese state takes over 59 seconds to play in the half mcneese has spent their time out so it's going to be interesting to see if frank wilson puts the pedal to the middle offensively we're not here in a tie ball game going into the win ordinarily in a time ball game you've got a minute left and you're a team that's not afraid to throw the ball you've got a quarterback who can run it would be a time to try to let's let's take a chance the first play or two i would be surprised if they did that i would be i would not be shocked to see this ball handed off and to see both of these two teams going to the locker room in a hurry cody ozeron the senior quarterback for mcneese we understand his dad ed o'giron the head coach of lsu the national champion is here in stephenville tonight as well anybody who's anybody in uh football is here in stephenville tonight this is where the college football is happening this is the only game going on in fcs right now and uh you know john it's it's amazing you walk around stephenville before the game and there's just a buzz about even with this weather that we've got with the blizzard conditions on the horizon this town talking about tarleton state football going division one and continuing the success that they've built the last several years the lay of game makes it a first and fifteen no time off the clock but more running for aj carter he has been a top runner since coming on carter gets the penalty yardage back and more bursting out for an eight-yard gain on first down but the clock runs and once again mcneese has no timeouts after they got that 21-yard touchdown from orgeron to matthews to take the ten nothing lead they've given up ten points straight but also they've gone turnover on downs punt punt they've done really virtually nothing against this texan defense that's really stiffened after digging themselves the early hole the touchdown came on a short drive after a fumble aj carter cutting off the line and carter rolls forward close for a first down with only 12 seconds to play in the first half carter hustles back up he wants another shot at the end of the first half but it looks like the veteran head coach frank wilson is going to be content with taking a tie on the road to the break we are bundled up tightly here in stephenville tonight a 25 degree evening and the score is bundled up as well here at halftime 10 to 10 our score mcneese and tarleton after two quarters nothing decided in his first fcs game of the year stick with us on fox sports southwest we've got more college football coming up cozy stephenville texas is the place to be tonight welcome back into the first fcs game of the spring season in 2021 in fact it's the first game college football in the spring since the 90s the 1890s a long way yeah i know john littlebeck with uh good to have you with us with the with scott here and scott tell me about this first half because uh you know it's just been a great transition to division one for this tarleton team to get on the scoreboard but you see they made the jump to the ncaa division one in july of 2020 and they've been working through this four year for transition period and it's tough for them to you know have to wait this long for football but finally it's here the one thing that i notice is that when i look at the quality of play tonight this is a division one game yeah we have division one players all over the field tonight i've been so impressed not only with the quarterback play but the offensive lines i think have been good we've seen some great one-on-one tackling the speed of the game is certainly division one uh you know that not to say that division two is anything inferior but uh this is not gonna be uh your 1800s tarleton state that we're gonna be seeing from uh from this point forward it's the first of four years of provisional membership for tarleton as they transition to fully fledged d1 ivy league is the only fcs conference to not play in the spring and one other one joined them last week but a 16-team bracket 11 teams automatically qualify normally it's a more expanded bracket than that but they're condensing it down championship game is going to be played in frisco by the way in the fcs at toyota stadium on may 16. i love that right in everybody's backyard around here and i love the fact that you take a look at the schedules that these teams have constructed and given the fact that these 10-10 our score as we get ready to start the third quarter here at stephenville texas a cold night that means a little bit more of a sparse crowd but nate make no mistake stephenville is excited for football and you know lon riesman the athletic director at tarleton told the star telegram hey this week we're just pretending we're the green bay packers he's pretending this is lambeau this is just normal for us but you know both sides have looked ready to play despite it being a really cold night they don't care they're on the field for the first time in more than a year well you know check back in about 12 hours it will look like lambeau field once that blizzard moves in but boy this this tarleton state fandom uh they're so excited about football at the division one level and they should be i i i watch this and you know as a former texan myself i watched this ball game tonight and i just can't believe how far this program has come in such a short time from juco to naia four-year institution back in 61. took a long time to get to the d2 level and now d1 joining the whack and lookie lookie they've got some bunk mates from texas that are going to be joining them in the whack as well abilene christian long-time lsc member themselves lamar sam houston state stephen f austin a team that they beat by the way yeah as a division one opponent and then southern utah too absolutely and that's going to help the wac get football back something they have not had since several years ago when they ended up dropping it and the overall addition creates a 13-team conference not enough football teams for two divisions but for other sports like the men's and women's basketball the baseball the softball things like that they'll be able to create two divisions so you can keep the play more centralized during the regular season then go to one site for conference tournaments you know what helps all of these teams like tarleton and lamar and abilene christian they're not only moving to division one john but they're moving into a conference that already has that branding yeah the whack the whack everybody knows the whack they're bringing football back it's not something that you're having to start from the ground level to market and down the line maybe a five-year plan says dr james hurley the president at tarleton they may try to make the jump to fbs and look at it down the line as a conference that's going to be the highest level of college football and back to the level where the whack was before they disbanded football well look they've got an upgraded stadium you've got brand new are we going all the way until the yeah okay i see 53 okay thanks axe to play texas tech texas a m those should be big time games for this program and you go from 36 scholarships at the division two level to now 59 scholarships and look at the attendance the attendance at tarleton state since 2015 has doubled wow the winning has helped but you make that move to division one it's a game changer more than 8 000 fans a game they've added on here to memorial stadium you've seen the establishing shots of this gigantic stadium and it's not the way that it used to be this used to be the roadside basically they built a new home side over that roadside and it's two-tiered it's beautiful you got a few luxury suites here and then you also have the former home side which serves as the roadside these days they can pack 12 000 in here when we're not talking about social distancing and i remember coming to the campus uh back when dr ron newsom and i were doing games i remember coming to the campus this must have been 15 years ago and even back then how much it had changed in such a short time you know they put a lot of money into it making facility upgrades the student center things like that this is really becoming a destination for students and athletes alike where they really want to land after seeking some shelter from the cold during the halftime back in the concourse about ready to start the second half that's where i want to be right there the heater i was wondering if those haters were hey if they're in the tents goodness that is the place to be exactly a great place to watch a game from in that north end zone and you see the tarleton state fans really excited about making this jump to division one started out as a ten nothing lead for mcneese tarleton state has since tied it up and we're ready to go to the second half teams are on the field mcneese gets the ball to start the second half and try to rip back some momentum from this tarleton team that's feeling good after tying it up dangerous return man jacoby skinner waiting back skinner man runs right into consternation he is pushed back hard by zach hopkins nothing doing zach hopkins has had a really good game for tarleton already and uh you you see a rather big niece you see that hopkins the the red shirt junior uh the kind of talent he has the blinn junior college transfer so a chance for mcneese and cody ogeron to try to retake control of this game we just haven't made enough in this one about how proud the lake charles area must be of this cowboy football team for even being back on the field after those two hurricanes came through devastated that area back in the fall yeah and hats off to cody orgeron he could have easily said you know what i i think i'd like to leave and go somewhere else he's decided to stay and make this his home and keep it his home he's very proud to play here gives it to mcmahon on first down and coming off the bottom of the pile zach hopkins who also made the special teams tackle a three-yard pickup on that play so cody ogeron in the first half though inaccurate at times tarleton's defense has made it tough they have the secondary play has been above average tonight and you would expect it to be given the fact that it's so hard to function through the air given these frigid conditions moving into the wind right now they'll have the wind in the fourth quarter on second down orgeron goes to the air and laying out but dropping the football another drop by josh matthews second time he's had it in his hands and dropped it in this one third down i've been a tough catch for matthews the louisiana tech transfer a lot of times he finds himself in double coverage but tonight he's had some space to make some grabs big third down coming up now for big niece they don't want to start this half going three and out after giving up the touchdown going into the break oh no doubt about it trying to rip back some momentum on third and six oh gerand a nice pocket good soft spot oh and a lick it was dropped again by josh matthews but a huge hit by ronald wilson and it draws not one but three flags if you are an official in the vicinity of the stadium your flag was thrown on that one ronnelle wilson absolutely laid out matthews with a helmet to helmet hit i'm sure that's going to be a targeting penalty they'll probably use a booth review to kind of look at it but i thought initially that the flag would come out and we saw four of them rydel jones is the referee you're exactly right a fourth has shown up as well wilson in the right place but not doing exactly the right thing well it feels an incomplete pass there's a personal foul targeting number one of the defense 15 yard penalty previous play is under review yeah they'll look at it that's ron l wilson you want to be physical in the secondary but at the same time you want to be smart too and josh matthews having that ball dislodged they pulled him from the game and they need to just to check him out make sure he's okay that by the way is the most vicious hit we've seen tonight ronald wilson was really excited to play in this game he's a guy that's been here for five years came on his visit uh you know under uh coach witten as we get a look at it here it does lead with the helmet but also tries to reach out with the arms what do you think scott looking at it here just to get a second glance at it i thought initially that there was no question i think there's no doubt that they made the right call on that that's a and even a worse look there for tarleton but you know the point is that wilson's been a team leader this would be a big loss for them if he was ejected well you look at wilson and hafford at that cornerback spot trey johnson eric willis these are guys these are the cornerstones of this tarleton defense that came here when the defense wasn't any good coach whitney was trying to build it and those players that i just mentioned had the faith to sign here to play here and boy have they certainly proven themselves and proven that they can be guys you can count on wilson told a local tv station that he was ready to explode coming into this game it was a surreal feeling and talking about it now but his knees kind of weak well he's hoping that his night doesn't end early because of a targeting penalty you know he's bulky he's a pivotal senior player on this team this is a pivotal season for him the abilene texas native who had 82 tackles last year seven of those for a loss they lose you know you lose your mike linebacker it changes things completely khalid johnson from terrell would probably come up to to play for him if he should be ejected here at further review ruling of targeting is confirmed number one of the defense has been disqualified wilson still in there and trying to be a vocal leader for his team he doesn't have to leave the sideline but he must leave the field and on one hand we've seen it a couple times we know it was an legal hit there is no doubt about that on the other hand you feel for the senior playing in his first division one game a moment he's been waiting for for five years you know before they had targeting i mean that that was not only a legal hit but a lauded hit you know defensive coordinators all around the country would want a player that would uh levy a lick like that but you've got to be careful these days khalid johnson does come in to play that spot and that one is fumbled unless it was picked out of the air which it was not jordan wells got right in there and dislodged the football on the shovel pass what a play by the end good call right there by the official no doubt that ball was passed forward i thought for a minute that ball might get intercepted there was so much congestion in there the whole tarleton team came off the field thinking it was third down or something they're back out there now let's get a look i think they thought that it was a turnover good point but no it's still a great play by jordan wells but just an incomplete pass a handoff to mcmahon and after mcmahon early on had some things going in the running game i tell you the tarleton defense has made some key adjustments even without ronald wilson out there to start stopping the running game of mcneese one of the big adjustments that i see is that they're turning it up defensively they are swarming that football right now i don't know what todd whitton told them in the locker room but they have come out and they are ready to go here's a third down in ten cody orgeron and mcneese trying to figure out a way to make a third down oh geron has some time now running out of it flagged down orgeron completes one and it's right at the sticks caught by josh matthews good to see him back in the game that's enough for the first down but we're checking the flags after the game obtained probably going to be holding in the interior of the line there were two blitching linebackers that they were trying to keep off of orgeron i don't think they did it cleanly 71 offense 10 yards from the previous spot it's third down cameron coleman got calling for that coffee bill transfer junior transfer 6-2 300-pounder big strong a guy that can move but that time they got it for holding watch 71 right here and he just gets beat to the inside you'd never want to get beat to the inside a pretty easy call john jordan wells has been getting repeated penetration and coleman was left relegated to hold him wells a home record here's third and 20. ogeron trying to find somebody running out of time and out of options bryson collins runs him out of bounds and a big stand to start the third quarter for the texan defense and i just thought it was a great play by bryson collins a backup linebacker in there for harris right now out of san diego i didn't get over anxious did not try to get orger on and make a sensational play he was patient he made the solid play forced him to the sideline and forces mcneese into a punt got just got to contain cody back deep kalin horton he's had a big kick return in this one but did muff a punt earlier there's bayley raybourne rayborn's punt straight up into the air it's a short one fair catch called for and horton ranges over to make the grab even though it was into the win so mcneese and tarleton tied up at 10. the defense gets a stand for tarleton the texans have scored 10 straight now we'll see what the offense has this tarleton defense really setting the tone when the second quarter began you look back at what tarleton was able to accomplish after giving up the touchdown they end up forcing the turnover on downs second quarter punt punt and then the half ended so they didn't do hardly anything this mcneese team really had a hard time moving the football in that second quarter putting points up back on as the running back is raheem skinner had six carries for 28 and the only touchdown in the first half and this is a flea flicker it bounces back to stephen duncan duncan steps up anyway looking deep for benson and it's broken up what a one-on-one play by colby richardson what great arm shown by duncan and i'll tell you why we've seen some great plays in that defensive secondary colby richardson has broken up at least two that have been really important tonight how many times do you see a flea flicker with the ball bouncing and still no pressure on the quarterback to disrupt the rhythm it's a great point that is the second breakup of stephen duncan's passes nine of 20 so far this time skinner with the call but trips over his own lineman and it's a third down and long he couldn't get around the center austin whitehead now mason kinsey pushing the defensive tackle and disrupting that nice bull rush right there by kinsey didn't allow himself to get reached and disrupted the timing of that run it looked like it was going to be a power to the middle and it forces tarleton to convert on now third down at 11. steven duncan a six foot six redshirt junior transfer out of western kentucky his first year as a starter at tarleton goes up top he's got a man it's under thrown but taking it away is tyrique bitson tariq vincent with a huge take off the helmet of colby richardson leighton ernst ended up getting beat i believe by chambers the defensive end chambers putting all kinds of pressure on duncan duncan still able to step into that throw and make it but what a grab by bitson to pluck it off the top of the head of the defender for a big play they go right back to the air to ray roberson with the short catch this time but it stays ahead of the chains as mason kinsey makes the stop on the play and tarleton really doing what mcneese was able to do on their first couple of drives when this ball game began we're seeing tarleton now controlling the tempo controlling how things are going steve duncan really managing the game quite well wow 34-yard catch by bitson there now they're inside the 25 out of a tackle skinner skinner to the inside and a first down to the 13. you look at all of the position groups that tarleton is putting on the field offensive linemen backs tight ends wide receivers the running back combination of banks and skinner trinity look at skinner breaking a tackle nice cut gets vertical and now he's close to the 10 yard line another shot to the end zone bits and high points it he's got it touchdown tariq vinson with two huge catches on this drive and tarleton has their first lead joyce the tulane transfer trying to cover bits and bits in a groove right now with steve duncan back-to-back throws to perhaps your best wide receiver and tariq bitson who's a one-for-one guy the adams state transfer making two tremendous catches on this drive to give tarleton their first lead as a division one player welcome into stephenville bitson making his name known and the extra point fired through tarleton has scored 17 straight to go up by seven on mcneese look at this plate right here tremendous timing round duncan going to bitson with a guy draped all over him great catch with his back to the end zone new dynamic duo in stephenville 11 plus one duncan plus bitson equals six tarleton texans up 17-10 a six-play drive 60 yards and really coming out for bits and on that drive that's a nice algebraic equation it may remind some former uh tarleton players of some defensive schemes that might have gotten a little bit too technical too complicated they've simplified things and boy they are hitting on all cylinders right now and mcneese desperately looking for a spark to get back in skinner races to the outside or rather that's pierce but he is cut down hard beautiful play made by donovan banks on the special teams and the tarleton texans have turned it up in every facet they have and teams that are dominant in special teams and on defense are really good teams and i love to watch this tarleton state team and you look at tarleton by the numbers last year this tarleton team only gave up 269 yards a game only 98 on the ground per contest that is a dominant defense that's how you win every regular season game and they've continued to build on that cody ogeron through a touchdown pass to josh matthews the only touchdown for mcneese they're just trying to get something going on trying to go underneath to pettigrew but it's red like a book the texans are there at every turn every turn indeed and i'm watching eric willis that backup defensive end of it a great year last year the walk on really skinny in high school he's gotten into the weight room he was on a b line right at orgeron to make him get rid of that football in a hurry and right now tarleton since they scored that touchdown it has invigorated this unit and they are putting big time pressure on the mcneese offense the offensive line is under assaults right now wow and keeping it ogeron he goes down hard bryson collins the backup linebacker playing his debut at tarleton with the tackle for loss we've seen collins with wilson out harris trey johnson they're doing a really good job at that linebacker spot and now it's third down and long and the problem that you have now look at that penetration this tremendous ability by collins so we talked about just being able to tackle in space great job getting him down third down 14. little screen pass going nowhere to josh matthews another huge hit collins does it again wow rather than hopkins zekk hopkins the blinn transfer the cuero native that tall ranging defensive it's almost like some of these guys can't get blocked now something some guys have a hard time pressing and shedding and getting off blocks i'm wondering if hopkins is even getting blocked charlton texans to a man have started playing with more effort look at they they tried to run the screen and you talk about blowing it up and getting to the point of attack it's a defense that's well coached and they are aggressive defensive coordinator marcus patton has turned this thing around there's a flag down and the play clock expired unless there was a timeout called play game offense number 38 five yard penalty fourth down now the blue and gold didn't call the timeout there so before mcneese it just adds insult to injury and makes this punt into the wind even tougher here so do they get a delay call and they got charged with a timeout charge timeout welcome to stephenville there it is there is the time out nice well hey i'll tell you what you look at mcneese and i know that uh this is a this is a better mcneese team than what we saw last year but this mcneese team they gave up 37 sacks last year and you look at frank wilson the first year head coach it's something that they've got to shore up and i'm a little bit surprised given as big and strong and athletic as this mcneese offensive line is they average over 300 pounds that offensive front they've been giving up some big plays in this third quarter to a tarleton defensive front and it looks like wilson is a little stunned at how all of a sudden tarleton's being so aggressive they're being aggressive and they own the tempo right now this is as this is really about as good as again we did not see this in the first half from tarleton rayborne gets it away but straight up into that wind and this is going to hit short not even at the 35 yard line takes a lateral bounce i mean it's going nowhere that's only a punt of 22 yards and tarleton takes over in great position not only are you having to punt into a stiff cold wind but then you factor in a miss hit on top of that and tarleton state is less than 35 yards away from making this a two score game and they were down by two scores early they were and they were turning the ball over it just didn't look like a very good d1 debut for tarleton they looked a little nervous they looked a little on edge but there is a groove now for the purple and white it looked like they were playing in 20 degree weather or something down there to start well it is 20 degrees believe it or not here in the hill country of texas and there's also a blizzard warning or i saw i saw some ice on branches coming into town steven duncan back in at quarterback and somehow that ball pops to skinner and skinner is going to make a lot out of this raheem skinner pushing the pile before his forward progress is stopped for seven you know the only negative thing that has happened to tarleton is getting wilson ejected with that targeting foul on the the first defensive series for tarleton state you look at this play and boy the brakes are just going their way right now that was not by design i promise you but they're still able to make seven out of it maybe they'll call it again second down three and another gift to skinner doesn't normally go down on the first hit or the second but still there is enough penetration for a two-yard loss as mcneese decides they have had enough of raheem skinner interesting call right here because midway through the third you've got a chance to take a two score lead it's third down at six ordinarily a passing down if they want to make this four down territory they could hand the ball up they've had success on the ground duncan pulls it back throws it underneath roberson can't get free picks up one maybe two now they'll give him three colby richardson on the tackle now it is fourth and three yeah charleston do we'll throw the hook zone here uh given that they've got the point we've already seen a long field goal that was made earlier by uh the temple native in frigid conditions but they're gonna go for it there's the fourth and three going right to the air flagged down roberson has the first down and more i thought it was stopped i don't think everybody was set no i don't think so either prior to snap a false start on the offense not all players were set number 22 was moving prior to the snap that's five yard penalty remains fourth down now you got a deeper field goal opportunity but a fourth and eight yeah this would be this will be a long field goal in in warm conditions but it looks like they're going to try it adrian guzman freshman kicker comes on as steven duncan comes to the sideline talking to coach whitten about that fourth down play but this is going to be a 50-yard field goal see if tarleton tarleton has too many on the field and they have not enough now it's just right plenty of time to snap it adrian guzman from 50 with the win behind him he's got the leg it's no good adrian guzman plenty of distance on it but just inaccurate and tarleton can't take advantage of the excellent field position had the leg didn't completely stay behind he kind of wrapped his leg a little bit got around it hooked it and uh boy mcneese averts disaster because tarleton would set up with a short field on the 34 of mcneese on first and ten and the the texans don't come up with points that's a big miss it's a big miss it's a big win as well for mcneese getting strong there to turn things around head coach todd whitton in his fifth year of his third stint yeah three different stits at tarleton as the head coach 1996 he was the head coach for one year and then a second stint that was a lot longer from 2000 to 2004 a couple playoff appearances in d2 now back after back to back playoff appearances here moving the team to d1 aj carter with the first down carry for mcneese three-yard pickup and trey johnson spills him johnson doing a good job of getting to the edge they try to bounce at that time can't quite turn the corner that's just sort of how it's gone here in the early goings of the third quarter for mcneese aj carter the transfer out of arizona state he's gotten a lot of the running back snaps as this game's gone on he's trying to calm things down after tarleton took control another give to carter carter bursting past the 40. and bounces down one yard shy of the first down another tackle for zach hopkins it's a nice play mcneese going back to the ground where they're having good success tonight you look at the rushing yards and mcneese with 116 yards on the ground coming into the drive compared to tarleton's 91. scott garner i'm john little d1 debut for tarleton state mcneese back on the field after 488 days without playing on third down carter tries to pick a hole he may be short he's brought down by chadwick thibodeaux right now and that spot is a big negatory for mcneese if he doesn't get it this would be a really interesting call for first year head coach frank wilson that was just a simple inside zone run nothing fancy and tarleton got enough penetration and got the linebacker phil to be short of the first down and looks like coach wilson wants to go for it he's gonna call a timeout to talk about it another review huh so mcneese waiting until there was a review and see about the spot of this ball if there were any of the camera angles that can tell us whether or not it was short of the first down we'll take a break tarleton leads 17-10 pending a review it's either fourth down a little better spot for mcnays after further review the ruling on the field of the runner being short of the line of gain is confirmed it's fourth down so it was a good call ends up that aj carter was short and on fourth down and one the punting unit comes on for mcneese that was a good call to at first look get a second look at it here and ended up getting stood up by chad thibodeaux that strong side linebacker who kind of doubles as a defensive end thibodeaux really getting his nose in there a little pressure this time much better punt from bailey raybourne fair catch called for and going down to a knee horton pulls it in at the 23-yard line so tarleton up 17-10 trailed 10-nothing early but since then has clawed back with 17 straight stephen duncan number 11 there the quarterback the touchdown pass to tariq bitsen the go ahead score it's interesting that the troubles that the texans had on the ground sort of were erased on that touchdown drive right before the half but still you look at the numbers of mcneese with 122 yards on the ground compared to tarleton's 91 but tarleton has almost double the number of yards because tarleton has 160 in the air mcneese has less than 50. we haven't seen khalil banks in the backfield in a while another drive for true freshman braylon bridges out of houston offset to the left of duncan [Music] duncan to the air roberson he's been open all night he's taken down after a quick two-yard pickup to the 25. nice little hitch there to roberson who's got great hands and again if he's able to turn up field he's a good one to get yards after the catch those yak yards but they rallied with the football very quickly out of that zone coverage roberson's freshman year last season five catches for 50 and a score he might have that in this game tonight [Music] duncan back to the air on second down he looks so comfortable back there but just overshoots roberson trying to go up the seam to the slot receiver third down and from his vantage point thank goodness he did because he had corey mccoy coming over from that safety position who had three picks second most on the team last year and he had an idea of trying to pluck that one out of the air stop it just there's a man down for mcneese right in the middle of the field it's like a calf cramp for andre sam how do you get a cramp on a 20 degree night i'll get that man a banana get him some potassium andre sam the junior two-year letterman again the the best defensive back that they had a converted safety really as good as they get really smart made some great plays tonight he's physical and the guy that you know could have easily gone into the transfer portal um the guy they lost a couple of the transfer portal in fact darian dunn who went to texas and uh colby burton who ended up going to louisiana monroe but from monroe but sam ends up staying here and he's been a a great mainstay for this secondary for mcneese the mcneese corners have played fairly well tonight really holding their own against the outstanding outside receivers for tarleton third down and eight for duncan and the tarleton offense and duncan goes back to the air comes back right on the hitch catch is made by gabe douglas now a matter of the spot it's right on it they're going to give him the first down at the 33. he sat down right at the stick scott yeah and i thought leighton earnest the left tackle did a really good job on ernest grayson who got off the you watch grayson on the left side earnest does a good job of taking him where he wants to go because grayson got an early start out of the shoot was almost offside and they're able to move the sticks on that blade first down from the 33 now a back shoulder throw incomplete for gabe douglas as he goes after the junior out of denton ryan about an hour and a half away actually grew up in shreveport but did his high school work at denton ryan then on to kilgore college second down we've seen chris joyce over there at that nickel spot and ridge tahata tahata a freshman who started for mcneese at that nickel position who's had a couple of brothers that have played big time college football anthony tajada with tcu and riley tejada with baylor tejada had his interception wiped out the penalty here comes the heat but a throw underneath through oberston roberson making man miss the spin out past the 40. and he's close for a first down give him nine before darius daniels finally lassos the tough to catch dray roberson roberson out of the yml academy in fort worth terrific hands but i love what he can do after the catch he shook not one but two guys that almost got in there there's the first one and able to spin off a second one to get very close to first down yardage that changes everything on third down and a sneak opportunity for six foot six duncan and duncan surges forward right there at the sticks again it's going to depend on the spot but it looks like another first down for tarleton already leading by seven here in the third quarter that's four almost five feet that they needed on that sneak but the center blackhead doing a really good job that northeast oklahoma juco transfer with a nice push down there well duncan six almost seven feet so it works out duncan back to the air roberson they're wearing out his hands this time a catch for just a gain of one but stephen duncan six foot six junior originally from charleston south carolina holds all the ashley ridge high school passing records first ever fbs recruit to add for ashley rich as he went to western kentucky and was in line to start probably in the fall of 2020 but elected to graduate as there's a time out on the field another man is down but elected to graduate early you see colby richardson there hopefully he's going to be okay but duncan graduating early from western kentucky transferring here to tarleton he's going after not one master's degree he's going after two while he's here because he's got two years of eligibility left i love it and you know he's he's really the future of this team uh western kentucky you know they went nine and four he started the first three ball games in 2019 got the medical red shirt uh had an injured foot he had a foot problem back then and uh we see the numbers on uh duncan tonight 17 of 30 as you mentioned 170 yards he's got a 115 rating here but he's done a good job and i think as this game has gone along he's managed it better the timing's been much better we've seen him hook up with tariq bitson on a couple of big plays especially on that touchdown drive that throws the jf thomas on the timing stuff a lot of rpo stuff but he's big and he's strong and he's really solid you can see why coach wooden was so impressed with him coming into the season yeah no doubt about it as you get a look there at colby richardson after andre sam just went out richardson the junior out of new orleans mcmain high school kind of the walking wounded on the back end yeah mcneese and they are able to get andre sam back in but these are key spots remember richardson was hurt early last year and he went down earlier in the game and came back carlton's been trying to pick on the edges all game those home run balls finally started to stick a few of them in the second half second down and long and back to the ground here's braylon bridges bridges for a quick five out to the 49-yard line before being pushed back third down four upcoming for tarleton is enos lewis the boundary safety makes the stop bridges banks skinner they've got a slew of running backs and i love how they're using them tonight bridges has what six carries now skinner with 10 banks with three really spreading the wealth and the one thing that they like to do is to keep their backs fresh as they get into the fourth quarter of games third and fourth duncan back to the air going up top down the sideline and a flag comes in incomplete for tariq bitson but that one-on-one matchup with chris joyce joyce never looked back i'm not sure if the contact warranted a flag but i know that when he didn't turn his head around that there was about a 90 chance that the flag was going to come out notice how the official in front of the play didn't throw it but the one behind it did pass interference number five of the defense 15 yards from the previous spot it's first down take another look here you watch this again i didn't think that the contact was um all that egregious but when you don't turn around you're just inviting a flag to be thrown another first down for tarleton state texans move the sticks on the seventh penalty for 70 yards on mcneese all the way down to the 37 of mcneese [Music] duncan wearing out roberson again roberson getting vertical down to the 27 he's near another first down a yard short yeah just making cornerbacks and outside linebackers make plays out there safety dropping down in the box on that play and uh great read great pre-stat breed by duncan a great play call to make their players make plays roberson with nine catches already and a late handoff here but bursting through the holeless bridges bridges with the cutback the quick feet the score oh making something out of nothing braylon bridges the freshman scampers for 27. we saw three tremendous moves right there by bridges who looked anything but like a freshman on that last run what a great cut got past the first wave and then made a great read and then got vertical just like that boy he's going to be a really nice addition and is a nice addition the klein collins high school product out of houston texas the freshman uh getting some much deserved high fives there and some love from his teammates extra point goes it doesn't look like he's 160 pounds dripping wet he's a smallish guy but he ran for over 2 000 yards as a senior last year here he uses the patience the vision the burst and tarleton goes up by 14. [Music] after tarleton state drives for yet another score maybe their most impressive drive of the game converting a couple third downs by stephen duncan and then after that a 27-yard touchdown run by bridges it all adds up to 24 unanswered for the texans in their d1 debut it is a takeover scotland yeah i had a 73-yard touchdown drive right before the half to tie the ball game at 10 and this one right here gives them a 24-10 advantage a 77-yard drive 10 plays and it takes 331 off the clock and mcneese needs a burst in the worst way and in this case they're not going to get it mason pierce snowed under tarleton's just played more and more solid and found their footing as this game has gone on and they have looked like the better team as the game's going on well tarleton i love their mindset coming out of the locker room i think that was the biggest difference a lot of coaches will tell you that the most important segment of any football game the four minutes going into halftime and the four minutes coming out of math yeah and i thought the offense for tarleton going into halftime the final four minutes really set the tone for the rest of the game they got the game tied and then coming out of the break the tarleton state defense they were flying around leaving hit after hit and they forced the the back-to-back punt in fact we've seen three straight punts by the mcdees offense and it all started with the big hitting one of which led to an ejection on a targeting valve but nonetheless it was a mindset and it's the defensive intensity that has continued that momentum swing and then eventually the touchdown by braylon bridges the true freshman we also saw enos lewis the starting boundary safety for mcneese come out of the game hopefully he's going to be okay but it's time for mcneese to right the ship it has been a rough six months for mcneese a rough six months for lake charles hurricane laura coming through hurricane zeta as well a rainmaker destroying their football field mcneese started out with a 10-0 lead trying to regain some momentum and a first down run here for jacoby skinner first time we've seen skinner in the backfield in the wild pick up a four yeah kobe skinner not big fast and a guy that is a good kick returner too he can break the tackle he can find some holes skinner had 244 yards last year not a big play guy and i like that mcneese is not abandoning the ground game even though they're down by two scores here now plenty of time to go here two minutes left in this cold third quarter another chance for skinner but this time tarleton is the wiser and getting off off the back of the bot at the bottom of the pile blake heal along with several of the other defensive linemen and we have now seen five straight punts by mcneese going back to the start of the second quarter and uh if they don't do something here it'll be a three and out and tarleton could take this thing into the fourth quarter with a two score lead skinner's been limited so has orgeron to his right before a third down and six tarleton state calls a time out i mean niece was having some success on third down early on in this game but now they're just five of 13. and again that's a down that i want to say last season or last year but it was last season 2019 33 just not gonna get it done you know uh as far as that third down conversion rate and that's something that the new coaching staff really wanted to improve coming into this year and mcneese tonight just five of 13 as we talked about last year again they had a hard time they were just 67 of 202. tarleton a little bit better than that at 43 both teams would love to improve in that category but certainly mcneese this i think is the biggest third down to the game you do not want to go three and out at this juncture not after just going down by two touchdowns third down a long five here for mcneese they need the 33 for a first or on with four receivers and he uses his legs arjuron slides for a first down out to the 39. one of the best plays by the offensive line for mcneese in a while tarleton brought pressure both linebackers came through a gaps but it was picked up and orgeron found a little hole and was able to scamper for the first orgeron keeps on the zone read here but he's ripped down big play by trey johnson the nickel back yeah but i thought hafford really made the play he sets the hard edge and then they get the great play from the inside by trey johnson that nickelback coming over to make that tackle limited to a two-yard run if that edge isn't set or drawn might be able to turn the corner you're always looking out for the lineman aren't you tarleton texans call timeout as there is or rather there's an injury timeout eric willis was down but he's able to come off under his own power remember remember this is the first game for both teams after 488 days they both played on the same day november 23rd 2019 was the last time they were on the field so it's been a long time since they've been in real game action we've seen a few knicks a few cuts so far hopefully no big injuries though eric willis you see that defensive end right there the senior out of lawn dale california [Music] a little gifty there he's a good job with zack hopkins rotating into that defensive end position tonight second down eight for mcneese tarleton not afraid to play press coverage and bring pressure just one safety back orgeron throws the stopper out left side good connection to josh matthews knew just when to throw it to the back shoulder because franklin really i thought had good coverage i thought that was a great route run a great pass maybe the best buy orger on this half and then matthews making a really good catch quick gain of 10 and they go quickly skinner into the line not much there for him just a pickup of one before he's ripped down oh there's a man down yeah that looks like it's coleman the guard yeah the left guard karon coleman is not getting up quite yet coleman is a big protector of cody ozeron tell you what that tells you a lot about tarleton and what they think they can do against a team like mcdeez who again they're not the mcneese that we saw five ten years ago uh it's been what five years since they they won ten games in a season last year they win seven year before that six and they've had kind of a revolving door at that head coaching position and frank wilson trying to change that but you watch tarleton their db's matching up and playing press coverage going man and pressuring orgeron that tells you hey tarleton thinks not only is it better but they think they can dominate and they're doing it right now yeah the ones be ones here their ones are better than your ones that's what they're saying and here's the thing for mcneese i know you mentioned they're not the dominant program of old and it absolutely will take that but 15 straight winning seasons that's nothing to shake your head at that's the most in fcs currently 15 straight it's not since 2004 when they went 4-7 that mcneese has failed to be on the top side at the end of the season and you know they're seven and three the last 10 years in openers and so a couple of those losses were against nebraska yeah and kansas so they're not playing you know the soft programs to start exactly when you factor out the fbs programs season openers without fbs they've won nine of their last 10 but here they trail by 14 on the road second and long quarterback draw for ogeron he's able to wrap himself forward for a couple zack hopkins making yet another play from that defensive end spot third down long coming up for mcneese when you watch tarleton football and you compare what we've seen tonight with what tarleton was putting on the field five six seven years ago i watch a play like that with a player like orzeron on the draw and how players are just swarming it on the defensive side really nice job by the texans oh no doubt about it and the tarleton texans dominate the third quarter taking it from a 10-all halftime nodding to a 14-point lead at the end of three they've done it through the air they've done it on the ground it looks like the texans night so far in stephenville stay with us on fox sports southwest texas under a winter storm warning well here in stephenville ewrath county they're issuing a purple storm warning fourth quarter score tarleton up 24-10 on mcneese and mcneese faces a big third down as we head to the fourth quarter welcome back in john little with scott garner and our entire fox sports southwest crew it's great to have you with us cody orgeron the son of ed orgeron and at quarterback on third down pocket forms finds his tight end over the middle the lsu transfer jamal pettigrew with a big catch for a first down gain of 11. nice dig right there by jamar pettigrew and cody orgeron when he has had time he has been able to go through his read progressions and make the throws and i thought the offensive line did a really good job out of the timeout of pass protecting back to the air orgeron off balance but throws it up anyway just a little strong for matthews as the heat came quick matthews by the way never open on that that time they did get pressure but you look back look at the nice pocket in a a good blitz pickup by jacoby skinner the running backs for mcneese have had problems at times picking up the blitz at that time jacoby skinner the two-year letterman the junior running back doing a good job of making certain that pockets stayed clean 35-yard line of tarleton big drive for mcneese to try to chop the lead in half skinner the back he gets the handoff straight ahead spinning picks up six yards and darion williams on the stop and the key for any player in any sport is balance but jacoby skinner doing a really good job of keeping his balance off of the cut and picking up a little bit extra you see him kind of taking a hard hit there it hurts a little more on a night like tonight with the frigid temperatures but that's a really nice run kobe skinner really the third back of the program last year playing more of a starters role this season third down four orgeron pulls it down throws it up the sideline did skinner get a foot in yes first down to the 24-yard line a five-yard pickup and what a great find right there by orgaron to keep his eyes downfield amid pressure keeping the play alive and just dumping it out to his running back to move the chains going tempo another one for skinner cutting back and forth gaining positive yardage to try to keep the pressure on the tarleton defense but it's in this area of the field where the tarot and texans have stiffened a couple times while you watch this and orgeron able to keep the play alive and as the defender came off of his man to put pressure on the quarterback he's able to find the running back they got just enough got the foot in that that uh right foot to move the sticks second down eight from the 23. you know the way ozrun steps away from pressure and has the balance off both feet looks like a tennis player i'm just saying tennis state champion back in louisiana second and eight orgeron has to scramble out tries to keep it alive throws it away good coverage on that side of the field by devin hafford the former all-american second team all-american back in 2018 at that cornerback spot a great decision by orgeron to just throw that football away showing his nice strong arm threw it into the vicinity of the wide receiver out of bounds and put a lot on it moving to his left really good athlete orgeron as we mentioned tonight eight of 19 now just 73 yards through the air he just has not been able to get those explosive plays in the passing game that they were accustomed to seeing it they had problems in their first scrimmage uh this spring the passing game had gotten better with each successive game but it's not really where they wanted here's third and eight from the 23. orgeron finds a man up the middle soft catch right hand to left right in the middle of the field by markel cotton to set up first and goal what a catch by markel cotton orgeron throws against his body cotton got hit helmet to helmet maybe another targeting foul coming up but what a throw by orgeron and a better catch by cotton magnificent that is the first catch of his career he redshirted last year a freshman out of franklinton louisiana byron broussard and donovan banks were both there on the hit that's where the flag comes down it may mean even better field position for mcneese this this drive kind of reminds you of that 15 play drive that tarleton had right before the half this may be even bigger than that one it would make it a one score game if they should score referee tonight vidal jones part of the southland crew so they're going to review this play to see if donovan banks should be ejected you remember earlier first drive of the third quarter ronald wilson the outstanding tarleton linebacker was ejected for a targeting call and now you got donovan banks going under review thankfully it looks like mark hill cotton is none worse for wear so if this is upheld tarleton will have lost its starting mic and it's starting free safety and this is very close to being a one-score game and you look at this last play i just thought it was magnetic rolling to your right throw it back across your body and almost a one-hand catch right there by markel cotton the redshirt freshman but he kind of tipped it to himself and he knew the hit was coming but he was able to secure it and make the catch man i just love the way he caught the tip of the football cradle cup that hand around the very tip the edge of the football showing some great ball skills at a huge moment that was third down eight and i thought for a moment the way that ball was i thought maybe that was pedigree pettigrew's got those tremendous hands and the tremendous ball skill uh cotton almost looked like a tight end over the middle there he's six foot two instead of pettigrew six foot seven doesn't quite have that exact wingspan but certainly looked good there now the play goes under review they're looking at this donovan banks hit to see whether or not it was a helmet to helmet targeting [Music] either way it's first and goal it's either first and goal with the four or first and goal at the two after review there is no foul for targeting is first down mcneese so a legal hit by donovan banks and byron broussard and now the mcneese cowboys are first and goal at the four it's a big break right there because you lose banks that would be a big loss to a back end that's already lost one due to ejection mcneese two for three in the red zone one touchdown one field goal one turnover on downs and on first down skinner going absolutely nowhere zech hopkins there along with bryson collins filling the hole it's a loss of one you know tarleton's been doing that they've been walking those linebackers up on the line of scrimmage as they go too tight in with a wing over there i wouldn't be shocked to see maybe a play-action fake here on this second down at goal play aj carter was the running back rather collins in there zach hopkins hopkins let's see number 41 has had a tremendous game injured all last year with that shoulder and he's kind of making up for lost time tonight had a seven and a half sack season at blinn back in 2018. still second and goal ozeron rolls it out he tucks it not even thinking about passing sprint to the end zone cody orgeron finds six for the first time this year an amazing reach block by the wide receiver trevor beggie on the cornerback you just can't do it better than that we talked about begging and his ability to catch them all he had 55 catches coming in but that time a great block on the edge to allow orgeron to get into the end zone virtually untouched borger on three rushing touchdowns last season the full year as a starter his first here cuts the tarleton lead down to eight pending the extra point [Music] extra point fired through and we've got a brand new ball game nearly in stephenville mcneese not going anywhere as they put it in the hands of number eight mcneese back on the [Music] board [Music] tarleton state holding on to a 24-17 lead here over mcneese but mcneese getting back in it to cody ogeron [Music] bergeron scoring from five yards out to cap off a really nice drive a 16 clay drive on this cold cold night 27 degrees is all it feels like it's in the teens with the winds coming out of the north and you see the ball falling off the tee for the first time for haley raybourne big touchdown right there longest drive of the game 16 play drive 77 yards it takes five and a half minutes off the clock and it gets mcneese back into this game and they're gonna force tarleton to respond here right when the cowboys needed it for sure kalyn horton ranging over taking it from the one looking to make people miss makes the first man miss not the second he's pinned back at the 17. a big special teams play coming from mcneese and courtesy of mason caldwell yeah horton's had a really good game watch that reach block there on the edge i just thought trevor beggie did an amazing job of blocking out in front on kalyn horton that sophomore backup cornerback that was the key to that play what a great job by beggie and orgeron gets a chance to warm up just a little bit cody orgeron is going to get a chance to play against his dad on september 11th by the way as lsu is going to host mcneese in the fall season how cool is that that will be fun that will be a lot of fun braylon bridges is the running back here for stephen duncan the quarterback and tarleton back at their own 17 and before this play flags fly yeah hit zero there play game number 11 of the offense five yard penalty first down you know tarleton was so good in the third quarter a couple of really big touchdown drives one of them it was kind of the tariq bitson show the other one they were kind of showing off those new legs of braylon bridges what do you want to see from tarleton here well you'd like to see at least one if not two first downs here they don't have to score for this to be a successful drive but they're going against the wind and they're backed up deep in their own territory that's a great point tarleton failed to score against the win in the first half little zone read and here comes duncan the big man rumbling out past the 20. andre sam on the tackle sam on the tackle and he got a great block by bridges the running back from the back side to allow him to get free that's a nice play and a nice run of five on first down and it's gonna leave a second down just about five actually picked up ten remember that was a first and fifteen so yeah bigger part now duncan getting out and rumbling there duncan in his first start a little consternation on the handoff finally gives it to bridges bridge is able to finally pick up one on the play leaves it third down and four but that's a couple times where the snap's been there but duncan cold hands or whatever the case may be hasn't been able to cleanly handle yeah you've got a freshman running back who seems to be having some problems here hasn't looked like a freshman until you know a couple of these stumbles at the mesh point and you don't want that right now with a game of the balance call it a third and three duncan going to the air and roberson with yet another grab the career day continues for the sophomore dre roberson and that has been a bread and butter play and it's all set up by the run game with the play action pass off the rpo it brings the linebacker up it puts the wide receiver in man coverage against the inside leverage great throwing catch another gift to bridges bridges breaking tackles keeping the hand on the ground isn't running like a 180 pounder bridges very close for the first down to the 44. love his toughness love his vision there's a lot to like about this guy bridges who has brought it in this essentially his first collegiate game here in tarleton's first game as a division one participant but a nice cut back there takes a little bit of a hit breaks the ankle tackle and then lowers the helmet to finish off the run it's very five yards is added to the end of the run it's first down it's hard to teach young running backs to finish off runs they've got to do it time and again in practice it's got to be drilled repeatedly what a great job right there by the young man bridges plus five yards because of an illegal substitution penalty on mcneese and you see bridges numbers in his debut he has the 27 yard touchdown run nine carries total for 83. some great production and he has been solid he and banks skinner this is going to be a very strong trio as this season here in the the mid to late winter and spring continues well they come off of tacking it on to the end of the play it's just declined instead in a first down for tarleton pulling it back duncan and his receiver stumbles tariq bitson had beat his man but bits and falls down it could have been a huge play yeah you don't see that happen very often especially with a guy as talented as bitson who just stumbled as you mentioned got the outside release had his man beat on the fly route and duncan put a ball right where it looked like he was going to be had he not stumbled we have not seen j.f thomas in quite a while the outstanding wideout is on the sideline and he hasn't been out there give to bridges again bridges tiptoeing that sideline and staying inbounds as long as he can does it for a nine-yard game love to watch this back they run kind of an inside buck sweep where they bring both guards and what a great job by the young running back bridges to tiptoe to get the extra they say he went out of bounds just shy of moving the sticks but how big has the run game been on this drive let's watch this bag uh you see the the guards pulling and i just thought that the running back did a great job to keep his ballots and on third and one bridges gets the carry again makes the little wiggle in the middle picks up two first down and not only did he pick up two but you don't see guys that can bounce it to the outside that adept in being able to read see a hole get to the hole now as he did and i thought that was a bad call because i don't think he stepped out of bounds i wish they would have gone to the replay on that well thankfully tarleton picks up the first down anyway at the 45. another give to bridges bridges patient bridges cutting bridges diving for the first down and he's also over a hundred in his tarleton debut trent winbush comes up with a stop and i'll tell you what what a great job right there by tarleton state you look at what they've done and jonathan beasley and scott carey the two co-offensive coordinators what a great play call they went right back to that bug sweep the same play that got on the first down great job on the play call 12-yard pickup raheem skinner comes in to give young bridges a break and a one-yard gain for raheem skinner who has had his moments a touchdown earlier in this one as well love to watch great running backs what a nice cut and then great acceleration and then again they just finishes off that run he's going to be good it's hard to imagine that braylon bridges is a freshman at 510 180 out of houston klein collins high school he has been tremendous tonight and how about 12 carries 106 yards with the touchdown on his uh college debut night and time is ticking off tarleton with a one score lead zipping over the middle what a throw in cape douglas drags it in at the 15-yard line duncan putting it on a rope a frozen one on a frozen knife point a bullet to douglas and he got sam again and single coverage on the back side they run the pose and they haven't covered that yet they've been running that repeatedly and mcneese has yet to really cover that play well they're trying to guard against getting beat to the outside but they just keep hammering the post and it's paying dividends tarleton inside the 15 trying to score again and pulling it back bridges on the rpo up the sideline roberson roberson making men miss roberson angling for the end zone and he's down at the one yard line what a play by duncan and roberson how about an rpo where you're rolling out left and then you throw it to the left what looked like it was a lateral patch it's first and goal snapped to duncan duncan trying to sneak but he's short i want to go back to that last play on that i'm not sure that was in the lateral there it might have been what a great throw right there right down the line by steve duncan uh look at this they run the play action fake pull it and then throw it i think that's that's a lateral ball if that's ball's not caught it's a fumble and they get down close to the goal line second and goal at the one to give wow and here it is bridges leaning in for his second score braylon bridges picks his way for six and tarleton back up by two touchdowns is there anything better than seeing an offense clicking and how the flow of the game and how the game is called is just a thing of beauty that was a drive the championship teams and programs are made of you give up the touchdown and then you come back and you just roll it right down the field on a drive that began on your own 17 after a less than stellar kickoff return and you punch it in to regain the two score advantage doing it on the ground and i'll play action pass great job man a lot of bridges on that drive and the tarleton texans are feeling it incredible response to go up by 14 in stephenville tarleton state feeling it up 31-17 on mcneese john little back with scott garner high above memorial stadium just how about the response from this tarleton team and how about the response from braylon bridges you know the play callers put it in the hands of the freshman to lead them down the field and he responded too how good was he they just did so many good things on that drive that you just you don't see freshmen do at this level big kickoff here as skinner races over he fumbles it and is able to recover it at the 20-yard line so it's where mcneese takes over because it was a response drive by cody ozeron and mcneese it was a big play for them to get in the end zone and here's the second touchdown of the game just tough running by the young man yeah and you just look at that toughness there between the tackles he showed that he showed the nimble footing on that first down run where he was tiptoeing on the sideline that they marked out of bounds i still don't think he went out of bounds but he did so many good things on that drive i love the fact that tarleton as you mentioned responded but i don't know what was better what's been more invigorating the defensive intensity coming out of the locker room to start the second half or that drive that was just a thing of beauty that response those two were almost one in the same and it's all built up to a d1 debut for tarleton leading mcneese southland conference power here's o'jaran looking for anywhere to go with the football and just has to heave it away over the head of jamal pettigrew second down boy his numbers do not look good 9 of 21 91 yards a touchdown he's got a 95 quarterback ready hasn't all been his fault because in the second half tarleton said you know what we're going to play man coverage we're going to lock you up we're going to bring pressure see how you handle it they had a hard time handling it and ogeron just has not been on his game uh not all been his fault though orgeron back to the air they need a lot of big plays in a hurry and argeron gets bottled up brought down for no gain and you say why is he taking the sack i mean he's he's scrambling out he's got his eyes downfield nobody's open there's not a single guy downfield that was open marcus patton you saw him there the defensive coordinator in his fifth year dialing up an incredible second half to hold mcneese to seven i'll say this they better hope that somebody locks him in for a long-term deal and they need to keep him he is fantastic patton's turned this defense around here's third down or gerrard trying to make a play racing to the edge ozeron trying to find beggy but short hops him at the 40-yard line fourth down for mcneese and a big three and out for this tarleton defense man they are flying around the football yeah it took them several drives to to get into it to find the flow to find their rhythm but they found it and man they have not looked back i love the physical nature of this tarleton defense they have hit now that they they've suffered the the targeting foul a couple of targeting penalties one was not rule to targeting after they looked at the replay but hey sometimes you have to do stuff like i don't mean that you have to play illegal but you have to have that physical presence that physical nature and you have to have that physical mindset to win these big games snap back to bayley raybourne raybourne with the win behind him it's brought in by horton he called for a fair catch still gets spilled over no penalty flags yet but tarleton up by 14. 35 to play in the fourth quarter tarleton with the ball and a two touchdown lead welcome back into stephenville the fcs debut for the tarleton texans going very well for todd whitton he's been the head coach for 11 seasons 10 seasons previously as a d2 head coach now officially a d1 head coach and mcneese right as we come back has to take a timeout of their own things didn't look right defensively for the cowboys who started out so well in this one and i want to just heat praise on mcneese as much as we can because i mean they're a squad that they've been through the ringer not only the two hurricanes but you know dorms were uninhabitable at the lake charles community you know they couldn't have players staying on campus so they were sent off campus until the middle of november and when they moved back in scott they didn't even move back into their dorms at their homes their apartments they moved back into a hotel they did and when you have to overcome adversity like that it's tough it's tough to get going i i can't believe that they came out and played as well as they did to start this ball game john just making the trip through the ice of central texas and getting here i thought was a feat in and of itself they had a good start but tarleton has really come on since the second quarter look you're on fox sports southwest tarleton up by two touchdowns new quarterback again cameron burstin and burstin gets a little more time here in the fourth quarter after getting one series back in the second time to try to grind the clock away in the handoff to raheem skinner goes for one it is and this is the kind of drive where you want a quarterback to manage the game i would not be shocked to see bursting trying to take this play clock inside of five with every success each successive snap here can you run when the opposing team knows you're gonna run that's what great teams can do and they've had enough ground game tonight you look at the rushing yards for tarleton they've run for almost 200 yards tonight 171 to be exact they've worn out they know they're going to run can they line up and do it here's skinner again picking his way oh what a play in the backfield on the ground mason kinsey who has had splash play after splash play for mcneese with a big stop third down it is third down and tarleton sing just a clustered box there everybody lined up eight nine guys in the box they know they're gonna run here i would not be shocked to see mcneese call the timeout if tarleton doesn't get a first down here tarleton facing a third and ten you see burst in there getting a little bit more time a senior he is out of eligibility at the end of this semester he cannot play in the fall that's why tarleton wants to give him as much time as they can there's 110 percent chance they're gonna run this football there it is right to the edge here goes skinner skinner backing his way across the 45 and he picks up seven not enough for the first down andre sam trips him up fourth down now and we'll see about that timeout remember mcneese had to spend one at the beginning of this drive that's not when you wanted to spend one if you were big niece because the clock was stopped at that point surprise they're gonna hold on to it here they've got one left but they can afford to have time run off this clock down two scores i'm shocked that they're not calling it here they've got one left but most would burn it here and save the time but good job good job by cutting it back to the middle of the field rather than toward the boundary there it's a good point wall wrath on to punt he hasn't had to do that in a while they come after him and that one lands well short out of bounds near the 35-yard line so tarleton bleeds some clock the mcneese state defense does its job now with 408 left it's a tall task for the cowboys can cody orgeron find a way to lead them back or will it continue to be the night of the tarleton texans just to file through and decide not to play in the fall but to play in the spring instead to endure over the winter months get here through covent and everything that both these schools have been through it's been a really fun night right now it's tipping the way of the texans ozeron back to the air chased dumps it underneath and through the hands of his running back skinner second down yeah that's the kind of night it's been tonight for mcneese they just have not been able to make any plays after that first quarter and again with just 403 to go you just almost have to play perfect football from this time from this point forward to have any shot has not been a perfect night for cody orgeron's mcneese state cowboys no seven game season for them ogeron back to the air stepping forward again the crosser this time his running back mcmahon is popped by devin hafford who has had a day in his re-debut if you will for tarleton you know hafford had four tackles last season and that's because he got injured in a season opener last year but he's got a tremendous work ethic one of the top three players and maybe in the nation at that quarterback spot that works as hard as he does most cornerbacks can't tackle real well that's not halfard halford goes at 210 rare size for a cornerback third and six prayer picked intercepted for the tarleton texans benji franklin takes it away orgeron might have gotten hit late the flag came out but he was throwing off his back foot and when he did i thought uh oh let's see what happens here and tarleton may have their first takeaway of the game just depends on that flag in the backfield that would certainly seal it with 321 to play officials taking a look it's been a busy night for vidal jones our referee call on blake heal takes off the interception for benji franklin and hope stays alive at least for now for mcneese old dominion transfer just a sophomore and we've seen the officials pull that flag out at a time or two against orzaron uh get some hits that weren't really all that bad and not bad but a good two steps good two steps but we saw original get shoved earlier maybe a step after and they were real protective of it orgeron hangs in there hits peggy over the middle but he can't control it to the ground oh i thought beggie had brought one in but bryson collins they brought a flag in i think for a target i didn't think that was even close to targeting and now there's some words being exchanged down there tempers running hot late in this one how about collins what a hit man this secondary i love watching tarleton play from that really all three phases in three levels of their defense have really turned it up since the second quarter another big hit and beggie laid there on the ground for just a little while hopefully he's going to be okay he had really high pointed the ball pretty well i thought he was about to bring it down the seasons were the highlights of the second and in the second half too man love to watch these guys fly around collins doesn't even start exactly he's stepped up today what's this hit i just don't see it targeting now maybe it was something afterwards maybe standing over peggy perhaps maybe it but i'll say this big niece they've been taking hit after hit and if there was some talking going on after the hit if they were trying to rub it in a little bit i i can see big niece getting upset about it but sure this tarleton defense is playing with an edge and that's what great defenses do man they are fun to watch tarleton opens up with three division one programs in fact they play an fbs program next week in new mexico state [Music] is [Music] all right so it really comes down to whether this was a targeting or not i thought there was a lot of shoulder there on first thought but you know well look this is the third one that we've seen tonight yes against this uh hard-hitting tarleton state secondary they are as physical as you will see tarleton state still up by 14. yeah so they review it and no foul for targeting let's look at it again yeah just a hit to the chest really with a shoulder right yes might have clipped him a little bit with a face mask but not enough to warn the targeting but i'll say this we've we've looked at now two potential targeting that have been ruled not targeting that's how physical this tarleton secondary has been playing ogeron can get out and boogie and orgeron picks up a first down franklin escorts him out that stops the clock as well with 258 to play tarleton state has scored outscored mcneese 31-7 since mcneese got out to a 10-nothing lead you're levying hits so hard that they're throwing flags for targeting it's not even close all the way over the middle great catch bringing it in for the score mason pierce cody orgeron leads a big drive and pierce with the first touchdown catch of his career got a chance to make it a one score game again and a half with an extra point still 2 46 to go this game is not over but what it's probably done is it's ensured that steve duncan probably comes out for this last drive perhaps for tarleton able to hold on to their timeout as well which was absolutely huge and this one to try to cut it down to a seven-point game and had they used it there would probably still be about 320 on the clock rather than 246. [Music] extra point fired through and mcneese with a response drive to get back within one score you know and that's what we're talking about the fight of these mcneese players they've had to fight all fall through hurricanes through covet and now they're trying to fight back here and hey listen restaurants made throws he's only 11 for 27 tonight for 121 yards but he's made a couple of touchdown throws he's got a rating of 102 but when he's had time and they haven't brought pressure with a blitz he's been able to function back there he's been able to to execute but when he's been forced out of the pocket not so much tonight there's the scoring drive five plays 65 when they had to have it did it in a minute 22 26 yard touchdown pass from the warzeron going up the middle to mason and pierce was in there because trevor beggy looked like he got a little banged up on the hit that was originally called targeting yeah remember they had brought out cameron burst in the number two quarterback uh to lead this squad and we'll see what tarleton elects to do here will steve duncan reemerge for the fans that have come out tonight they deserve a medal i agree completely unless you're in the heated section then you know i mean you're living in the lap of luxury if you're in the town where's the heated section if you're in the tents you're in the lap of luck that's the heat so it's it's 40 degrees there rather than the the 28 that you're having to contend with otherwise exactly it's almost too hot in this booth i could use a little air conditioning as a timeout is called before the onside kick attack don't say that so you're complaining it's too hot these people are sitting in a 13 degree windshield you're complaining it's hot man what a night though what a night for tarleton uh you know what a night for mcneese just to get back on the field like we talked about their interim athletic director heath troyer also the men's basketball coach saying it's just it's just a minor miracle to get back on the field and what's happened there at uh the the lake charles campus and you look at their future schedule coming up here in a couple weeks they've got a break and then they're right into southland conference play seven southland teams are playing and you see the schedule there uh they're gonna play excuse me six southland teams are playing they're gonna play each one meanwhile for tarleton state they get right back after it going to new mexico state but they may have not have to leave the state for that one more on that in a moment yeah the aggies are not able to play in practice over in new mexico are they then a lot of home games six of the eight at home let's see what mcneese does it looked like raybourne was thinking onside kick and now he does squibb it forward and this is a really tight one did mcneese get it back sure looked like they did yes they did bailey raybourne executes running after his onside kick and the cowboys stay alive in stephenville are you kidding me they get the onside kick and mcneese hanging in there being down 14 not once but twice in this game and they've got a chance to tie and they've got plenty of time here with 245 to go unreal now the officials looking it over of course it's got to go 10 yards before mcneese touches it and i i think it touches the tarleton player first yeah and the problem is you've got one guy for tarleton right there going out where was there but everybody else kind of standing around and you know if this were a basketball game uh you know you would hear the the coach said hey met ball's loose you got to get out on the floor and get it when that ball is loose on an on side kick you've got to get on the carpet and get that thing and you only had one purple jersey down there so the officials taking a look making sure this should be mcneese ball [Music] you care to explain that john well i i i think that the bottom line is here that it's mcneese football right he said a lot but i'm not sure what he said let's try it again they're going to take a look at it for a review so that's that's the bottom line is they're going to give this another look so does mcneese touch it first i don't think so i didn't even think that was oh was it kicked maybe by the left foot look at this look at this is the left foot kicking for mcneese i don't think so he goes off the face mask instead i'm not certain if you'll have a more discernible shot at it than the one we just looked at but i think it was pretty conclusive that it's going to be mcneese ball i i do too and plenty of time too looking at 2 45 to play 31-24 game it's been a busy day for not only the referee vidal jones but also jim campbell our replay official oh maybe another look here certainly off charleston first don't you think they want to make contact with the receiver as soon as he makes contact with the football if the ball were touched by mcneese then it would be dead there no doubt about that one so mcneese takes over they are not dead yet they've been down by two touchdowns twice mcneese coming back with a 26-yard touchdown pass from cody orgeron hitting mason pierce then coming up with the onside kick a brilliant play by bailey raybourne and now orzaron trying for a little bit more magic a free rusher but a nice drawn-up screen mcmahon off and running inside the 30 into the 25-yard line what a time to pull out the screen a great call against the defense who's been bringing repeated undisclosed pressure pretty much every down in the second half to start drives and on third downs and they do it again and it feeds right into orgeron and the cowboys hands you can't execute a middle screen better than what we just saw 31 yards all the way down to the 25 yard line and now mcneese basically in scoring territory with 217 left inside give mason pierce pierce a speedster but it's red well by tarleton a two yard gain to the 23. hard to believe this was a game with six minutes ago just four minutes of clock time ago that saw tarleton go to its number two quarterback and the tarleton state texans have their backs against the wall here they've got to come up with yet another stop in the red zone to get it done tonight second down and eight at the 23. orgeron with the give mcmahan plunging forward mcmahon with the hard running down to the 18 yard line leaves a third down three yards to go again the one time out left for mcneese needing a touchdown and the extra point to tie it time of the essence here the ground game has been beneficial for you've not done an uh overly great job through the air but with 110 to go it's two down territory here tarleton's defense has been so good all night would not be surprised to see orgeron roll out here third down here's the rollout by orgeron eyes up field nobody's open just throws it away fourth down everything turning out and unfolding as we expected with orgeron rolling out to get on the edge the problem is he didn't have an option to run and nobody was open downfield and it's been problematic for mcneese tonight that's happened a time or two and it's gotten mcneese into some trouble and now the game comes down to this it all comes down to this and mcneese uses a timeout their last one to talk about this all-important play it's a frigid night in stephenville the fcs opener d1 opener for tarleton can mcneese spoil it wilson's team look dead in the water but credit them for hanging around and hanging around and making some plays here to make it really fun at the end yeah and tarleton just could not put the game away they went to their number two quarterback with six minutes to go ended up going three and out remember on that one drive where they were just trying three runs yeah three straight runs everybody knew they were going to run and so that stop was so huge for me because it kept them in the game and they didn't burn the timeout earlier like we thought they would and they're able to use it right here on this fourth down play this is a big one right here with 54 seconds to go since they recovered the onside kick four plays in 38 yards the big one the quick screen the hitter in the middle to deontay mcmahon and mcmahon setting it up for mcneese in a position where they could think about going to the end zone but orgeron hasn't pulled the trigger toward the end zone yet now it's fourth and three you got to get three mcneese now out of timeouts down by seven need the 15 for a first down orgeron rolling out again orgeron throwing on the run it's brought in great catch by beggie first down to the 12-yard line whitney stays alive they get it to baggy who was supposed to be kind of a bigger part uh than what we've seen i believe that's his first catch uh in the game that stops the clock and then tarleton's going to stop it and call timeout that's his first catch of the game john he had 55 catches last year big part of the offense last year but perhaps tarleton really focusing on him today he hasn't been able to get free but when the game is on the line they go to the short-handed senior and was there a question when they go to begga he's been sure-handed you watch this play again they get him matched up against the linebacker and he's able to make that grab what a throw right there by orgeron on the move and he hasn't been great on the move tonight but when he's been able to step in and as he's running and and get good extension on those throws he's been almost on the money every time and it has set mcneese up here with 46 seconds to play time really not a consideration here that they can still run the football if they want they can do a whole lot certainly they'll have four downs to try to put in the end zone here the fans here that have braved the bitter cold deserve to get some entertainment all the way to the end and that's exactly what's happening the student section excited to try to preserve a tarleton victory but it's not going to be easy in these last 46 i think just for the mere fact that they were down by 14 not once but twice and they have been able to hang in there and make this thing again they've got a chance to tie this game with a minute to go and what a victory for mcneese they want to finish it off here and from a tarleton standpoint what a what bitter disappointment this would be should they give up the touchdown here everybody's out of timeouts the running back to aj carter that orgeron wants to throw or run to the back of the end zone just lofts it way over the head of josh matthews second down great coverage right there out of the zone they run zone coverage with two high safeties and cover it really well tarleton has been good running zone tonight they've been impactful when they get in man coverage putting pressure on orgeron we'll see what they do here on this second downplay i know this when they have not brought pressure it's when orgeron's been able to operate and he's executed the best three coaches in three seasons for mcneese four coaches in the last five they're running they're going man here with one high safety they're gonna put pressure on the orgeron on second down pressure holds up to the end zone it is cut trevor peggy oh my goodness what a catch an incredible throw and niece can tie it with the extra point their best wide receiver waits until the final drive of the game to make his presence known he moves the sticks on a crucial pass to the sideline and now on a brilliant catch in man coverage the field side what a throw to the wide side of the field by cody orgeron and mcneese has battled back with less than a minute to go taking advantage of fielding the onside to potentially tie the game two touchdown throws by cody argeron in the last three minutes of this game and now the all-important extra point to try to send us to a tie game and the extra point is good it's 31 all with this 35 seconds left in regulation and that man is fired up i can't believe with six minutes to go in the game that mcneese continued to fight like they did on the road in 20 degree temperatures what a catch by beggie and that was not bad coverage and that is a very tough throw to make and orgeron put it right on the money they executed that was a tremendous job by the knees what do you think turned around for cody orturan because his numbers were just you know that looked like they had been just frozen by this frigid night did not look good at all but it seems like maybe he gets a little bit better when the game's in scramble mode and it's been in scramble mode for the last eight minutes or so here's what i see he's a winner he doesn't care what the score is he's going to come out and fight every single down it's very hard to find guys like that one very hard to do that one hand that is a one-handed grab by beggie you know it's not like you know the game plan has changed there hasn't been there haven't been great adjustments going on down there i just see a will to win and a will to fight by mcneese and for this team to do that in this situation in this stadium on the coldest opener perhaps any team in these parts has ever played in for them to do this quite a a tribute to their program at least since the 1890s that's what we discovered early that's the last time we played in the spring rayborn pops this kick up this is a little bit of trouble tarleton fields it finally and horton goes down at the 18. so not good starting field position for tarleton only 32 ticks left and no timeouts i would not be shocked to see a knee taken right here by tarleton state they don't need anything bad to happen here they they need to see overtime so there is an offside penalty that will be added to it but still that only takes it out to the 23-yard line horton was hoping for a lot more of course mcneese playing for overtime i do say one thing are you surprised at all that frank wilson didn't roll the dice and go for two and try to win the thing in regulation maybe if he had a timeout he might have a timeout to call to set up the play conservative coaches never want to put the outcome of a game on one play uh if he feel and there's the victory formation we talked about uh however 20 degree night uh you're lucky to be in it you've made a long trip do you think you can are you better than your opponent on the road do you think that you can execute enough to prove victories do you have enough gas in the tank what a game the first college football game the first fcs game in the spring in more than a hundred years so of course we're going to overtime in stephenville don't go anywhere 31 all ot is next seeing the coin toss of overtime the two quarterbacks meeting at midfield tarleton has won the toss elect to play defense and so mcneese wants to go to the end zone to our right that's with the wind behind them this cold 15 mile an hour north breeze as the winter storm bears down on whatever kind of country you want to call this we're having a debate on twitter is it big country is it hill country is it north central texas whatever it is we've got a winter storm warning in effect and we're playing right up to the wire with mother nature to go to overtime here in stephenville great to have you with us i'm john little with scott garner scott just quickly your thoughts on the rocks and rolls and turns and twists of this game it's been a fantastic if this is any uh indication of how division one life will be for tarleton state this is going to be a fun ride for texan fans uh i know texan fans are a little nervous right now and probably a little bit disappointed to blow a 14-point lead with six minutes to go but hey we knew mcneese was going to be tough tonight welcome to division one right that's it you want to play great teams like this tradition-rich southland program mcneese you're going to have to play the full 60 and sometimes beyond that 60 with a little plus sign next to it i knew that orgeron was going to be good and i knew he would be a winner but he really showed it tonight when you're a coach's son in particular you know how to fight you know those battles you've been taught this from birth essentially and uh man this has been a good game it certainly has each team gets a crack at the 25 until we have a winner ogeron with a handoff to mcmahon mcmahon bursts for at least eight give him eight down to the seven seventeen and mcneese taking advantage of what appears to be somewhat of a fatigued defensive front seven here for tarleton state they were flying around earlier uh not so much lately second down same place same results inside the ten it's first and goal chadwick thibodeaux having to make the stop how much do you think it has to do with l wilson being ejected for targeting earlier in this game it factors in for sure they're going to go right back to it but before the play procedure on mcneese i'll say this always an advantage in overtime to be the team that starts on defense first so tarleton with a little bit of an advantage but this ground game has been good for continue to keep the hand the forearm on the receiver when the ball is in the air you can do a lot of that chucking uh prior to the ball being put in the air but once it goes in the air you got to be careful i do like franklin's physical nature he always seems to be in the right place but sometimes you've got to know when to release remember benji franklin he had that interception that got wiped off thanks to the roughing the passer penalty and kept things alive for mcneese and another new set of downs and a little bit closer for mcneese i almost had a chance at an interception and then i thought for a moment that the wide receiver might make the grab ball down to the five yard line for the cowboys trying to strike first here in ot mcneese has scored the last 14. or gerard to the air has a man but it's through the hands of severan foster he had a sliver of a step it's second down has had a nag for being able to put the ball right where it needs to be when you think a guy's not open and he gets just a little separation objeron hunts it out he finds it and he's able to put the ball on the spot where he needs to hasn't always done that tonight but it seems lately the last three or four drives without the pressure he's been able to kind of zone in on that second and goal from the five you know they're rolling him out to avert that pressure mcmahon the running back with the call a flag comes down as mcmahon is down to the one but what's the flag all about did they have enough men on the line it came from the referee and that generally uh indicates either participation or it could be a legal procedure legal formation perhaps say let the play go [Music] yeah a lot of things have drifted mcneese's way to get into this position they played perfect in the last five minutes it looked like charlie zeno got out of there just a little bit quick out of that tackle position takes it back to the 10. second down goal for the cowboys cowboys led early 10-00 tarleton tied it up niece hasn't led since looking for the pylon lunges i thought he lost the ball and there is a beanbag down as well as if he lost the football right up against the sideline he better hope he didn't lose it out of the end zone and the officials are talking about just that as orgeron had it extended out in his left hand trying to reach for that orange pylon it'll come back to the spot where the ball was fumbled great play call tarleton they're not disguising their man coverage and when they go man the wide receivers ran as vertical as you can with a condensed field in the red zone and they're just rolling the quarterback out hoping that he can beat everybody to the end zone because when you're playing zone you've got guys that can ride into the ball there's nobody there when you're playing man coverage that's an excellent point he's scott garner i'm john little on a frigid february evening third and goal from the three motion for matthews low snap throw for matthews incomplete ozeron just inaccurate franklin on the coverage boy that is a tough throw and a big fourth down coming right here from the three-yard line and the kicking unit is coming on right now for mcneese the tarleton defense does their job backs against the wall big stop and it's the problem that we talked about the outset of the broadcast about how mcneese the last couple of years has just had a hard time punching it in the end zone when they get into the red zone they were at 33 last year that's way low they've got to get better at that and they've got to settle for three jacob abel the new kicker this year out of the hold of mason caldwell the snapper is trey vondenstein and delay of game and this by marching it back five yards might give mcneese a little better look at this basically an off kilter extra yeah point penalties declined well that is a tough throw right there and really good cover you you can't cover better than that uh without getting a penalty called on you it was right it kind of you would call that three quartering a post in basketball went right around the edge right there that really good technique this tarleton defense that the defensive backs are really well coached abel did not miss a field goal last season at butler community college to give mcneese the lead and it's true these cowboys have come back from 14 down to force overtime now they have the advantage so the tarleton texans get the ball at the 25 a touchdown wins it for the texans and stephen duncan a field goal sends us to a double ot raise your hand if you thought with six minutes to go in the game and tarleton up by 14 they would find themselves down in the game not me not me my friend but 17 straight points by mcneese state has turned this thing around still at different times during this game great performances mcneese the cowboys picking themselves up by their bootstraps when they were left for dead and orzaron leading them back to now an advantage in ot and now we get a chance to look at steven duncan yeah and we were to the point the game where tarleton's up by 14 with six minutes ago and todd whitton has gone to his backup quarterback and this game has gone to overtime and they're 25 yards away you put in the end zone you've got your first win at the division one level what feeder freshman running back braylon bridges is the man gets the call bridges has had a big game over 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns and even with a small stature he just keeps pushing scott i love watching this young kid a freshman what a job he did to extend the game to 14 points on that touchdown drive he did everything ran inside ran outside tiptoeing on the sideline getting physical between the tackles he has been super tonight second down five another handoff to bridges and this time bridges is walled in by a bevy of white shirts no gain on the play third down five as mason kinsey leads the charge and all of a sudden now you're looking at third down and five and if you're not careful uh the game may rest on the foot of the former temple wildcat standout guzman on third down duncan to the air pulls it back duncan throws up against the sideline and throws behind his intended receiver the running back bridges coming out of the backfield and i thought duncan was very close to passing the line of scrimmage as he kind of took that football and ran and i thought he was going to run for it he had a shot at it but instead he has made this a very long field goal try of 37-38 yards should they elect to kick it there is a man down on the field you see for mcneese i think your party it's going to be uh yeah it should be about right 27 37 38 yards man down for mcneese and we'll go ahead and take a quick timeout while they attend to him and a field goal opportunity coming up next for tarleton to try to force double field goal time for the tarleton texans here in overtime to try to force a second ot from straight on a 37-yard try by adrian guzman he's been good from 38. missed from 50 this direction snap and holder perfect the kick is on the way and it is good we play on in stephenville 34 all oh what a gig on a night when the wind chill is in the lower teens and that football is as hard as a brick down there to be able to kick that thing from that distance and be as consistent as he's been tonight he missed one but he was close he also made one earlier a big muddy kick right there he's able to get it up over the line sneak it inside that left up right to force another ot and this time it will be tarleton having the football first and i just wonder if steve duncan doesn't want that that third down play back where he was scrambling and ended up having some room in the middle stepped up and decided to throw it at the very last moment only to throw it incomplete to the sideline when it looked like he might have been able to tuck it and run with it stephen duncan the quarterback for the tarleton texans 21 of 36 for 220 and a score in this one the touchdown went to tariq bitson his other favorite receiver today has been dre roberson he has been without j.f thomas [Music] for the majority of this game [Music] so another first down for the texans the running back is braylon bridges the freshman again duncan heaves it up the middle benson can't bring it to his body bits and versus joyce and joyce wins the battle and he's down got his hands on it matched up with the linebacker and it looked like bitson landed on him i bet joyce has the wind knocked out of him here might be the case bitson has made some acrobatic catches in this one including the one down the sideline for the touchdown and duncan really didn't step into that throw and get good extension on that throw he's kind of falling backwards with a little pressure coming to him but still put it on the spot where he needed to tarleton trying to retake the advantage after leading by 14 twice and i thought really yeah he'll kind of landed on it but i thought really um duncan should have stepped into that throw had plenty of time to step into it sometimes when you get uh pressure repeatedly onto you almost uh you're almost functioning as if you're taking it for granted that you're gonna have pressure rather than actually feeling in the pocket learning experiences on both sides tonight a back and forth game in duncan the western kentucky transfer he's played at the conference usa level played in three games in 2019 to start got injured won that job at western kentucky and he's been really good tonight here's second and ten and duncan back to the air this time going right side to miscommunication with his receiver gabe douglas who dug in and duncan threw it long third down 10 for tarleton he's getting in a troubling position if you're the texans mason kinsey continues to that that high energy defensive end who didn't play last year really adding depth to this team the transfer from the citadel number 52 defensive end continues to beat ernst leighton ernst that oklahoma state transfer at that left tackle spot putting pressure on the quarterback duncan three receivers right on third down lots of pressure and the screen pass underneath bridges is red like a book isaiah chambers the transfer from houston he comes in and rips down the freshman to make it fourth down he was besieged on that one just pressure from all over they had the right play call called just couldn't quite execute it into the boundary too much swarming going on and rallying the football on the defensive side was a great play call tarleton state now forced to kick it from 45 to try and break this 34 time and again adrian guzman is the kicker the freshman out of temple two for three today from 45 this one away the distance is there and it's good as well tarleton hanging on leading by three and needing a stop from their defense to win it what a gig by the former temple wildcat he's and temple has been made several runs in the postseason as of late getting to the state title in two of the last uh three or four seasons and he makes another money kick the former temple wildcat banging it through a couple of big time kicks here in overtime on a night when i guarantee you nobody wants that job as a kicker no this certainly can't be that normal punch on the football so the tarleton texans have gotten back in it and now retaken the lead after giving up a lead of 14. thanks to two cody orgeron touchdown passes in the final three minutes of regulation including a one-handed grab by his buddy trevor beggie can't imagine that dignity would not go back to the ground would not start on the ground they've had a lot of success to start drives running that football aj carter is the running back but it's arjun instead and he drifts his way for a good seven yards rolling down to the 18-yard line they show spread formation that time just to try to get the linebackers spread out a little bit run quarterback power and pick up seven big yards there's a numbers tonight for cody oceanron a lot of that coming in the final five minutes of regulation a touchdown wins it for mcneese on the road ozeron right back to the run to the 15 to the 10. arjuron wins it on the road cody orgeron walks it off and the mcneese cowboys come back from the dead to take down tarleton and so did that the tarleton texans had gone to their back up quarterback with six minutes to go in regulation only to see the cowboys score a touchdown recover the onside then punch it in again before triple zero's hit to send us to overtime and the cowboys coming back to battle and win the game having been down 14 not once but twice to secure an opening victory cody orgeron responsible for all five touchdowns tonight for mcneese leading his team back and he needs a moment three touchdown passes two touchdown runs and now he just looks entirely spent and he looks like his father's son doesn't he he does striking resemblance there what a night he has had and the father ed orgeron in attendance tonight here in stephenville a unbelievable victory for mcneese and a very very disheartening defeat to tarleton state who uh really at times of the second half not only better than mcneese simply dominated him yeah and that was the part that certainly got me is that tarleton looked like they had broken the will of mcneese but mcneese says no no the will is here for cody orturan and for the rest of this team to pick up the victory an incredible win for the mcneese cowboys so for scott garner i'm john little saying so long from stephenville texas where mcneese has defeated tarleton 40-37 in double ot this has been a presentation of fox sports southwest at tarleton state university good night and stay safe [Music] you

Channel: Wally the Bronco Too

Views: 50,661

Rating: 4.8685446 out of 5

Keywords: McNeese, Tarleton

Id: 9aXZE-WNldk

Length: 210min 28sec (12628 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 16 2021