On Saturday, the McNeese Cowboys football team made its way to Lorman, Mississippi to play Alcorn State as both teams looked for their first win. It was a low-scoring affair with multiple turnovers by McNeese as the Braves grind it out with a 17-3 win.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
McNeese kicked off to the Braves to start the game. Jarveon Howard ran the ball for 51 yards to the McNeese three-yard line, then found paydirt the next play to give Alcorn State the lead less than one minute into the game.
Cowboys quarterback Nate Glantz completed his first two passes but McNeese would punt back to the Braves a few plays later.
Alcorn’s offense their next possession took the ball down the field for 82 yards in 14 plays. Howard capped off the drive with his second touchdown of the day from 10 yards out. The Braves were up 14-0 early in the second quarter.
The next four drives resulted in punts by both teams. McNeese would put up their first points of the game late in the first half. The Cowboys took 1:16 off the clock as Glantz four out of five passes for 48 yards. Garrison Smith cut the deficit to 11 as he made the 51-yard field goal attempt with 34 seconds left.
McNeese received the ball to begin the second half but Glantz was intercepted on 4th & 2 by Geoffrey McKelton.
Glantz turned the ball over to begin McNeese’s next drive after he got strip-sacked and the ball was recovered by Alcorn State. Alcorn wouldn’t do anything with the ball but Glantz threw another interception on the following McNeese possession.
The Cowboys drove down the field and went for another field early in the fourth quarter. Smith would come back on the field to kick from 43 yards out and missed after Glantz’s pass to Jonathan Harris fell incomplete on 3rd & 15.
Alcorn State extended their lead late in the fourth quarter with a Noah Kiani 41-yard field goal. Howard carried the ball four times on the drive that lasted seven minutes for 21 of the Braves’ 50 yards on that drive as McNeese was down by two touchdowns with 3:10 left in the game.
The Cowboy offense would punt one last time before Alcorn kneeled to bleed out the rest of the clock as McNeese remained winless on the season in a 17-3 loss.
BIG NUMBER: 3
McNeese quarterback Nate Glantz was responsible for all three of the Cowboys’ turnovers on Saturday night as the team dropped to 0-3 on the young 2023 season.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jarveon Howard
Howard carried the ball a majority of the time in Alcorn State’s 17-3 win with 16 attempts for 98 yards and the game’s two touchdowns on the night. He also caught a couple of passes for nine yards. As a team, State ran the ball 45 times for 240 yards.
UP NEXT: The McNeese Cowboys will make their final stop on this three-game road trip next Saturday to play Eastern Illinois. Kickoff at O’Brien Field is set for 2:00 p.m.