http://www.theadvocate.com/stories/091902/spo_schief001.shtml
Joseph Schiefelbein: Maybe McNeese beat SWAC twice
By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN
[email protected]
Advocate sportswriter
They are two teams separated by a mere two-hour drive on Interstate 10. They are two teams who cherish their different brands of successful football.
And they are two teams which have never met -- and may never meet -- on the same stretch of green grass.
Late last week, Southern University, four-time Southwestern Athletic Conference champion in the 1990s under Pete Richardson, backed out of a two-year deal to play McNeese State, which has five Southland titles in the last 11 years.
After agreeing in principal to a two-year series and setting a date for the historic first meeting (Sept. 6, 2003, in Lake Charles), Southern officials declined to sign the contract and sent McNeese a letter saying the deal was off.
The timing looks awfully suspicious.
First, McNeese, ranked second in the latest Division I-AA poll, clocked two-time defending SWAC champion Grambling 52-20 on Aug. 31. Then, Southern lost for the third straight time to Northwestern State 30-20 on Sept. 7.
And then, less than a week after the Northwestern game, Southern begs out of the McNeese deal that's been in the works for years?
The timing makes Southern look like it's ducking the big boys, even though Richardson said Wednesday, "I don't mind being beaten."
True, Richardson, for all his success, has absorbed his share of big losses and he's a competitor.
But there can't be any coincidence that trips to the woodshed have led to series coming to a close.
Northwestern State has beaten Southern each of the last three meetings, including by 17 and 10 points, to even that series at five games apiece. And Division I-A Tulane, in a two-game contract, posted 41-7 and 37-19 blowouts on the Jaguars.
Richardson said after both games this season that Southern likely would not re-sign with either school. But since the letter eliminating McNeese, Southern Athletic Director Floyd Kerr said one of either the Tulane or Northwestern series could be extended.
Southern no longer plays Florida A&M in what was the longest running nonconference series in black-college football. Though the Jaguars won the final meeting 17-14 in overtime in 2001, FAMU (leading the series 33-24-1) had won the previous four meetings, including thumpings of 65-18 and 33-3.
Of course, to continue all those series -- No. 15 FAMU, No. 10 Northwestern and No. 2 McNeese as well as Tulane -- in addition to a nine-game conference schedule is way too much.
But ending the Florida A&M series -- even with ancillary problem issues like seating for Southern fans and film exchange -- creates a huge void in the black-college football world.
And losing out on the McNeese series is a big loss for I-AA fans across the nation, Southland and SWAC fans across the region and co-workers and friends across the state.
Plus, backing out of the series -- a meeting between some of the elite in each conference -- looks like another concession that the Southland, whose members compete for the national title, is far superior to the SWAC.
Since 1990, the Southland holds a 44-14 edge over the SWAC. And in the last three seasons the SWAC is 1-12 against the Southland. (In the only SWAC victory, Grambling rallied from a 12-0 deficit to beat Nicholls State 37-28 last season, when the Colonels finished 3-8 and Grambling 10-1.)
Southern officials claim the SWAC's move to a nine-game format for next season doomed the McNeese series. But as of late last month, McNeese was already figured in. That, along with a meeting at Nicholls, gave Southern 11 of its 12 games, for next season.
Now, Southern is looking for two nonconference games, with a season opener at Orlando, Fla., in the works as one of those.
McNeese should have been the other foe and was until a week or so ago.
Southern's letter only confirmed the obvious. All the writing was already on the McNeese scoreboard after the Grambling game: 52-20.
Joseph Schiefelbein: Maybe McNeese beat SWAC twice
By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN
[email protected]
Advocate sportswriter
They are two teams separated by a mere two-hour drive on Interstate 10. They are two teams who cherish their different brands of successful football.
And they are two teams which have never met -- and may never meet -- on the same stretch of green grass.
Late last week, Southern University, four-time Southwestern Athletic Conference champion in the 1990s under Pete Richardson, backed out of a two-year deal to play McNeese State, which has five Southland titles in the last 11 years.
After agreeing in principal to a two-year series and setting a date for the historic first meeting (Sept. 6, 2003, in Lake Charles), Southern officials declined to sign the contract and sent McNeese a letter saying the deal was off.
The timing looks awfully suspicious.
First, McNeese, ranked second in the latest Division I-AA poll, clocked two-time defending SWAC champion Grambling 52-20 on Aug. 31. Then, Southern lost for the third straight time to Northwestern State 30-20 on Sept. 7.
And then, less than a week after the Northwestern game, Southern begs out of the McNeese deal that's been in the works for years?
The timing makes Southern look like it's ducking the big boys, even though Richardson said Wednesday, "I don't mind being beaten."
True, Richardson, for all his success, has absorbed his share of big losses and he's a competitor.
But there can't be any coincidence that trips to the woodshed have led to series coming to a close.
Northwestern State has beaten Southern each of the last three meetings, including by 17 and 10 points, to even that series at five games apiece. And Division I-A Tulane, in a two-game contract, posted 41-7 and 37-19 blowouts on the Jaguars.
Richardson said after both games this season that Southern likely would not re-sign with either school. But since the letter eliminating McNeese, Southern Athletic Director Floyd Kerr said one of either the Tulane or Northwestern series could be extended.
Southern no longer plays Florida A&M in what was the longest running nonconference series in black-college football. Though the Jaguars won the final meeting 17-14 in overtime in 2001, FAMU (leading the series 33-24-1) had won the previous four meetings, including thumpings of 65-18 and 33-3.
Of course, to continue all those series -- No. 15 FAMU, No. 10 Northwestern and No. 2 McNeese as well as Tulane -- in addition to a nine-game conference schedule is way too much.
But ending the Florida A&M series -- even with ancillary problem issues like seating for Southern fans and film exchange -- creates a huge void in the black-college football world.
And losing out on the McNeese series is a big loss for I-AA fans across the nation, Southland and SWAC fans across the region and co-workers and friends across the state.
Plus, backing out of the series -- a meeting between some of the elite in each conference -- looks like another concession that the Southland, whose members compete for the national title, is far superior to the SWAC.
Since 1990, the Southland holds a 44-14 edge over the SWAC. And in the last three seasons the SWAC is 1-12 against the Southland. (In the only SWAC victory, Grambling rallied from a 12-0 deficit to beat Nicholls State 37-28 last season, when the Colonels finished 3-8 and Grambling 10-1.)
Southern officials claim the SWAC's move to a nine-game format for next season doomed the McNeese series. But as of late last month, McNeese was already figured in. That, along with a meeting at Nicholls, gave Southern 11 of its 12 games, for next season.
Now, Southern is looking for two nonconference games, with a season opener at Orlando, Fla., in the works as one of those.
McNeese should have been the other foe and was until a week or so ago.
Southern's letter only confirmed the obvious. All the writing was already on the McNeese scoreboard after the Grambling game: 52-20.
