Videos and Photos taken by Mike from CFB Campus Tour.
No, college football season is not over. As discussed in Part I of a 2-part series, the FCS spring season got underway this past weekend with a contest between Tarleton State and McNeese.
The CFB Campus Tour was live there. We cap the series and the thrilling contest.
In the Bag?
Tarleton State was in an outstanding position to secure its first-ever FCS victory. Up 31-17 with under eight minutes left, all that stood in its way was McNeese quarterback Cody Orgeron. He turned out to be quite the obstacle.
Orgeron, son of LSU head coach Ed Orgeron, spent the remainder of the game terrorizing the Texans’ defense with both his arm and his legs. Even with Orgeron’s dual-threat heroics, McNeese still needed its special teams unit to pitch in with its own huge play.
McNeese went into ‘hurry-up’ mode late in the fourth quarter. It was able to cut the Texan lead to seven when Orgeron connected with wide receiver Mason Pierce for the 26-yard touchdown. With only 2:46 remaining, McNeese head coach Frank Wilson called for an onside kick.
It successful and recovered by the Cowboys. Following Wilson’s gutsy call, Orgeron came up big yet again. With just 35 seconds remaining, he found wide receiver Trevor Begue for the game-tying 21-yard score.
It was an incredible sequence of events that left the home crowd in Stephenville absolutely stunned. From up 14 with under three minutes to play to now having to fight to escape with a win in overtime, it was high drama inside Tarleton Memorial Stadium.
60 Minutes Not Enough
In the first overtime, neither team was able to get into the end zone. McNeese kicker Jacob Abel hit a 21-yard field goal, which was followed by a 37-yarder from Tarleton State’s Adrian Guzman.
The second overtime produced the same result for Tarleton State. Guzman, this time, kicked a 45-yard field goal to move in front, 37-34.
With the game being more than four hours long at this point and a McNeese victory in sight, Orgeron closed out the show. He took a designed quarterback draw play to the left side and ran it 19 yards for the game-winning Cowboy touchdown. What a moment it was.
Check it out:
Final score: McNeese 40, Tarleton State 37. For a game which started off 10-10 at halftime to end with such mesmerizing playmaking was a sight to behold. Fortunate to be there in person, it was truly a classic battle and easily the best football game of the 2021 calendar year.
If this is a preview of what the FCS spring season has to offer, we are all in for quite a treat. So if you weren’t tuned in to see this spectacular game, well then you truly missed out on something special. Never let it happen again!
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The CFB Campus Tour will be hitting three games during Week 2. On Friday, we’ll be at Northern Iowa for its contest with South Dakota State. The next day, we’ll be at North Dakota for the Fighting Hawks’ opener with Southern Illinois. The weekend concludes on Sunday as reigning national champion North Dakota State hosts Youngstown State.
Let us be your tour guide for this unique spring season until we reach the FCS Playoffs in late April — not a tiny rigged 4-team playoff like FBS either. An actual playoff bracket with 16 teams.
There’s usually 24 during seasons with full FCS participation. Still, the FCS will crown a legitimate champion ON THE FIELD. No undefeated conference champions will be left out in the cold in the FCS.
How does that sound to fans of Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina? Pretty good, we’re guessing.
That’ll wrap things up for Week 1. We’ll see you again this coming Friday from the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Hopefully, we’ve convinced you to join in on the FCS fun. You don’t want to miss the next best college football game of 2021…do you?