McNeese St. at Tarleton St.
First let me just say that when it comes to NCAA football I specialize in the FCS. I had a terrible fall session mainly because there weren't many FCS games and dabbled way to much in FBS games. my record for the fall was 18-23 -26.65 units. Now we are back in my wheelhouse and I hope to have that record back on the positive side before the season is over. My record in 9 years of posting cfb at pregame before this past fall was 404-309 56.67% +231.84 units.
The following info was gathered from the McNeese and Tarleton team sites.
The FCS is starting a Spring season of football for most of their teams and conferences followed by the national playoffs. Only one game this weekend and then they will start full bore next weekend. We have McNeese St., a solid FCS program who will have a first year head coach, Frank Wilson, on the sidelines for them. Today will mark 448 days since McNeese played their last game against Lamar on Nov. 23, 2019. Due to the global pandemic and two major hurricanes - Laura and Delta - the Cowboys did not play any games during the fall of 2020. In fact, unlike every other FCS team playing this spring who had a fall offseason program, McNeese was without any kind of weight or conditioning program and as spread out around the region due to no housing in Lake Charles as a result of the extensive hurricane damage.
McNeese returned to Lake Charles as a team in mid-November 2020 and took up residence at a local hotel for the next 60-80 days.
Facilities on campus were too damaged to conduct any kind of training so the Cowboys held weight training and conditioning drills at a local high school until the team was able to return to its facility the second week of January.
Since the end of the 2019 football season, the Cowboys have lost 21 players to the NCAA transfer portal or those who have decided not to continue their playing career.
McNeese may have lost 21 players since the end of the 2019 season, but head coach Frank Wilson and his staff have filled those holes and strengthened the roster in the process by adding 12 transfers, most of those who are expected to make a significant impact this spring.
The current depth chart lists four returning starters on offense and three on defense while 13 new players (transfers or freshmen) are listed on offense and 13 on defense.
Tarleton St. Has been a DII powerhouse. They made the jump to NCAA Division I and the Western Athletic Conference last July and are currently in its first year of a four-year transition period. The WAC stopped sponsoring football back in 2012, making Tarleton an independent football program for the spring 2021 season. However, the WAC has announced an expansion that will bring four football-playing schools into the WAC as early as July 1, 2021 – Lamar, Abilene Christian, Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin. This move will bring football back to the Western Athletic Conference at the FCS Level.
Tarleton is looking to replace three key All-Americans from last year's offense – Zimari Manning (WR), Danial MaCants (RB) and Ben Holmes (QB). The Texans return J.F. Thomas to lead the receiving corps with 1,276 career yards on 59 catches, including 12 touchdowns. In the backfield, Khalil Banks readies to take lead of the rushing attack after appearing in nine games last year and racking up 644 yards on 112 attempts and nine scores.
Normally I would favor McNeese St. in this one but with all the problems around their program with the two hurricanes devastating their facilities I would prefer to just lay off this one and wait till next week when there will be many more games to chose from. Just too many unknown's for me. Sorry for this long post and then no official play but I just wanted to provide a little info on the game and introduce myself to the new posters. G/L