FOOTBALL GOLD: McNeese – Creating Consistency in the Quest for Hardware

by Matt Dye

It’s been a long road for McNeese football fans. The university brought back Matt Viator last season, the winningest coach in school history, to right a ship which hasn’t seen a season better than middle of the pack since he left. 

Last season started rough, with a 1-5 record and a bit of bewilderment, but the team was making progress, and the Cowboys won four of their final six games, culminating with a big win over rival Lamar.

Viator went right back to work in the off-season, hitting the transfer portal hard while also keeping a large amount of the talent he’d already been cultivating, making this 2026 McNeese squad an interesting prospect in terms of a return to glory.

“I think we’re heading in the right direction,” Viator said, noting that once you get past the transfer portal and the NIL deals, coaching is the same. “It’s about relationships. It’s about trust. None of that is any different. The players are as good or better than they’ve ever been.”

As far as what he hopes to see in his second season back, Viator makes it clear. 

“We need to have better balance. There were games we threw the ball well, and then we didn’t throw the ball as consistently as we needed to. At the beginning of the season, we didn’t run the ball well, and then we led the conference in rushing at the end of the season. We need better consistency, and we’ve tried to work on that.”

Consistency might be the key word, as Jake Strong returns to lead the Cowboys at quarterback. This is a bigger deal than you may realize given that the Cowboys haven’t had a returning quarterback since Cody Orgeron in 2019. This consistency in leadership is one of those unwritten variables that should have a big impact on McNeese’s success in being able to get the fundamentals right.

Joining him on offense is Tre’Vonte Citizen, a former standout at Lake Charles Prep who started his college career at Miami before coming back to McNeese. But the past is just prelude, as Citizen is team first, stating that there’s no “personal accolades” that he’s going for.

His fellow leader on defense, Javon Davis, echoes these statements. “I’m trying to finish the season with a bang with my guys. I haven’t won any type of hardware at McNeese, so that’s the goal. I need some type of hardware. Winning the conference, a ring. After 5 years, I want to try to restore that.”

The path to restoration starts with a tough opponent, as last year’s conference champion Stephen F. Austin comes to Navarre Stadium on August 29th to open the season in the Hall of Fame game.

The Cowboys do have the benefit of opening the season with three home games, also facing Texas Wesleyan and pesky Tarleton State to start. Then it’s almost all conference games for the remainder, with their next opponent, up-and-comer UTRGV.

The one non-conference match-up through the rest of the season comes as the Cowboys head to Baton Rouge to face LSU on October 3rd. 

That LSU game starts a rough stretch, as the 2nd half of the Cowboys’ season sees five of their next six games on the road before finishing at home against Lamar.

There’s no delusion on this team’s face, no facades or shows of false bravado. These men know that there’s real work to be done in a conference that has had a different champion the last three seasons. 

Prediction: 8-4…but it’s the Southland, so who knows.