By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Northwestern State football coach Blaine McCorkle told the Demon Quarterback Club lunch crowd Wednesday that he’s seen some predictions picking NAIA power Louisiana Christian to beat his team in tonight’s 7 p.m. season opener at Turpin Stadium in Natchitoches.
The Wildcats have won their Sooner Athletic Conference championship twice in three years, and return 18 of 22 starters from last year’s 8-3 team under third-year coach Ben McLaughlin.
The Demons are still recovering from having their 2023 season halted with four games to go, and a complete rebuild since McCorkle stepped into the rubble that December. Northwestern was winless in his first season, and 1-11 last year, breaking an overall 17-game skid in its opener but missing three last-minute chances to do any better last fall.
Maybe this isn’t a typical NCAA Division I (FCS) against NAIA matchup, but McLaughlin isn’t buying that rationale.
“If anybody’s picking us to win they’re trying to fire up Coach McCorkle and his guys,” he said, laughing. “Now I have supreme confidence that our guys are going to play to win the game. If they were going to play the Dallas Cowboys, I’d expect our guys to feel that way.
“You can’t get on that bus to beat a Division I team. To win any game, especially a big game like this, you’ve gotta win a half, and to do that, you’ve gotta win a quarter, and to win a quarter, you’ve gotta win a few drives, and to do that, you’ve gotta win some plays.
“We’re telling our guys go up and have fun. Enjoy the atmosphere, the ESPN cameras, and every snap, try to whip the guy in front of you. If you can beat him more than he beats you, you can win some plays and you can win a game. Just go play football.”
Against a lot of Demons who they’ve seen before, in high school. Both teams have rosters filled with Louisiana products.
“A lot of these guys have been high school teammates or opponents of their players. We’re saying, ‘you probably beat him some in high school, so know that you’re just as good as a lot of their players are individually,” said McLaughlin.
“We all know the Division I offensive linemen are a different size, and there’s a lot (of NSU advantages) that’s common sense, but our players are really good too. They believe they’re going to win a lot of reps, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
In the grand scheme, both coaches want to see their teams play well. A loss would obviously be a disaster for the Demons, but not necessarily for the Wildcats, who have been pounded in their last two season openers by NSU’s Southland Conference cousins Houston Christian (70-7 in 2024) and McNeese (54-9 last fall, in a game that was 17-9 midway through the second quarter).
“If we win this game, and it’s the biggest win in school history, and we lose the rest of them, this season is a failure. If they beat us by 50 and we win the rest of our games, it will be the best season in school history,” said McLaughlin. “Keep this in perspective. I want our kids to play to the standard we want to play, and if we’ve played our tails off, I can sleep well.”
The Wildcats have an extra edge. New defensive backs coach T.J. Hersey has been alongside McCorkle for the past six years, as a player at Division III Belhaven and for the past two years as a graduate assistant coach with the Demons.
“Blaine recommended him and any time a coach vouches for a player he’s been around four seasons as a player and then as a graduate assistant coach, you know it’s a home run. It will be a cool experience for him to be a full-time coach across the field from the man who coached him and gave him his first job,” said McLaughlin, who did not back away from acknowledging Hersey’s insight has been extremely beneficial in game preparation this week.
“Yes sir, that’s exactly right, yes sir,” he said.
The Demons have developed a young but pretty experienced roster, with 56 returning letterwinners, most second and third-year players. But only seven have started at least a full season.
The Wildcats, however, return 10 offensive starters from a unit that averaged 36.5 points and have eight defensive starters and their punter/kicker back, along with a dozen other veterans.
Among other players: Centenary transfer running back Obadiah Butler, who averaged 110 rushing yards in conference games last fall, and 2024 Shreveport-Bossier Journal high school Player of the Year Brandon Henderson, a receiver from Woodlawn High.
“We’re an anomaly right now. We’ve got a lot of old guys, which is rare in college football these days,” said McLaughlin. “We’re one of the few old teams around, so that’s nice. On paper, this could be a team that can take another step in the right direction. Everybody celebrated last season, and they earned it, but we’re not talking about that any more.”
Along with reviving a series dormant since 1968, tonight’s game is a financial windfall for LCU with the guarantee check it gets for visiting the Demons, just like the ones each of the last two years from HCU and McNeese.
“I thank Coach McCorkle so much, because this allows us to function financially in a way that makes our kids feel they’re a real college football program. We take this (revenue) and pour it right back into them to make their football experience at Louisiana Christian University. That is the Number 1 reason we’re doing this,” said McLaughlin.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com