McNeese closes book on great 2013 season

LAKE CHARLES – McNeese State closed the book on the 2013 football season on Saturday night following a 31-10 loss to Jacksonville State in the second round of the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs.

It was a season that exceeding everyone’s expectations outside the McNeese football circle.

“Raise your hand if you thought we’d go 10-2 this season,” said head coach Matt Viator in the postgame press conference following Saturday’s game. “These kids did a great job and worked really hard all year.”

McNeese (10-3 and 6-1 in SLC play), which finished with its eighth 10-win regular season in school history and second under Viator, was picked for a third place finish in the Southland Conference in preseason polls. And if it weren’t for Southeastern going unbeaten in league play, a feat that has only happened five other times since 1995, McNeese would have walked away with its 14th conference championship.

The 2013 season saw the team break or tie 27 team or individual records whether they were school, conference or national, single-game or season marks.

Two more were broken on Saturday night when quarterback Cody Stroud became the school’s all-time career leader in pass completions with 627 as well as the single-season record holder with 28 touchdown passes.

Stroud is responsible for 13 of those records.

The senior from Montgomery will leave as one of the greatest statistical quarterbacks in school history. During his time, he threw for 7,632 yards (3rd all-time), 7,388 total offensive yards (3rd all-time), 59 career touchdown passes (3rd all-time), 1,059 pass attempts (2nd all-time), to go along with his career record in completions, consecutive games with a touchdown pass (18), and the number of 300-yard passing games (4).

He also set a single-season record in touchdown passes, consecutive pass attempts without an interception (142) and consecutive pass completions (14). He tied a record with his five touchdown passes thrown against West Alabama and with the help from backup quarterback Tyler Bolfing, set a new single-game record with 406 passing yards in a game, also against West Alabama.

Stroud threw for 2,935 yards this season – the second most in school history.

As a team, the Cowboys had one of, if not the most explosive offensive performance in school history in 2013.

The team set a single-season record by scoring 520 points on the year and scored 50 or more points in five games, another record.

The Cowboys opened up the season with the biggest non-playoff win in school history when they whipped South Florida 53-21. Two national records were set in that game – the most points scored by a FCS team against a BCS automatic qualifying team and the widest margin of victory in that same category.

Also in that game, newcomer tight end Nic Jacobs put his stamp in the record book by setting a new school record with two touchdown catches by a tight end while his 78-yard touchdown catch and run tied a school mark for longest tight end touchdown grab.

Senior wide receiver and kick returner Diontae Spencer made his mark as the greatest kick returner in a single-season in school history.

Spencer set a new record with 853 kickoff return yards, a record that stood for 28 years. He tied a FCS record while setting a school and conference mark with three kick returns for touchdowns (2 kickoff, 1 punt) at Stephen F. Austin and set a school single-game record while tying a season and career mark with two kickoffs returned for scores.

His 365 all-purpose yards against SFA set a new single-game school and Southland record. Spencer also set a school single-game record early in the season against Arkansas-Pine Bluff with a 40.5 kickoff return average (minimum of four KORs).

Spencer became the ninth player in school history to reach the century mark in career receptions when he grabbed seven on Saturday night to give him 101 in his career while his 1,496 career receiving yards ranks him 11th all-time.

Running back Marcus Wiltz became the first McNeese rusher since 2009 to run for 1,000 yards in a season and his 1,287 yards this year ranks as the fourth most ever in a single-season.

Defensively, the Cowboys returned three pass interceptions for touchdowns while the unit recorded more interceptions (14) and quarterback sacks (23) than it did in 2012.

Guy Morgan, who missed Saturday’s playoff game due to a knee injury, set a new school record when he returned an intercepted pass 98 yards for a touchdown at Central Arkansas.

Newcomer kicker Ryan Rome set single-season school records with extra points made (59) and attempted (62).

The Cowboys have a lot to look forward to in 2014 as the bulk of this 10-3 team returns.