NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State's football team, which has forced the most turnovers in the country while breaking nine school offensive records, welcomes McNeese's highly-ranked defense to Turpin Stadium Saturday night in the Demons' final home game of the season.


NSU and 18th-ranked McNeese, one of three teams tied for the Southland Conference lead, kick off at 6:05 p.m. in Turpin Stadium in a matchup carried on ESPN3. Thirteen Demon seniors will be introduced at 5:35 on Senior Night.

It's also Military Appreciation Night with active and former military personnel entitled to $5 general admission tickets.

"This is a heck of a way to wrap up our home schedule, against an in-state rival that is playing for the championship, on Senior Night, with us hoping to send out 13 guys in the style they deserve, with a great win," said head coach Brad Laird.

The Demons (3-6 overall, 2-5 in the Southland) own the third most prolific passing offense in the Football Championship Subdivision, averaging 326 yards per game while featuring record-breaking All-America candidate Jazz Ferguson at receiver.

The Cowboys (6-3, 5-2) rank 12th nationally with 27 sacks and have the Southland's second-best defense, allowing only 340 yards per game. McNeese is second in the conference in scoring defense, allowing just 23.1 points per game, a figure helped by four conference wins in which it has allowed 21 or less.

McNeese was upset 23-6 at Southeastern Louisiana last Saturday. The Cowboys have dropped their last two league road games, also falling at co-leader UIW 45-17 last month.

The 25 turnovers the Demons' Purple Swarm defense has forced is tied for the most in the country. NSU's plus-12 turnover differential also is in the FCS top 10, tied for fourth.

Seven of those takeaways by NSU have been collected by sophomore safety Hayden Bourgeois, whose five interceptions rank third in FCS.

Ferguson, the Demons' 6-5 transfer from LSU, is the Southland's top receiver. Last week at Abilene Christian, he caught three touchdowns, which not only tied him for the most receiving touchdowns in a game in school history, but moved him past Al Phillips (1968) for most receiving scores in a season with 11.

In addition to Ferguson breaking the receiving TDs record, he also just stands 11 yards shy of topping Nathan Black's school single-season record 944 receiving yards. At ACU, he also tied Black for the fourth most receptions in a season (52), with Ed Eagan's 73 in 2014 probably out of reach, but Eagan's No. 2-ranked total of 58 certainly in range.

Among the NSU seniors are a quartet of four-year letterman: offensive linemen Frank Boudreaux and Timmis Bonner, wide receiver Bryson Bourque, and tight end Charles Vaughn. The nine offensive seniors have started a combined 80 games, while the defenders have a combined 63 starts.

"As a walk-on, I wasn't expected to travel or play (in his first year)," said Bourque, who had a pair of touchdown catches in last week's 49-47 loss at ACU. "I got some good reps as a freshman and I've learned a lot of things from a lot of different players and it has helped me mature and shape my craft into what I am today.

"I told my family my No. 1 goal was to get a scholarship here, and I achieved that."

In last week's game at Abilene, the Demons fought back from a 20-point hole early in the third quarter. NSU, behind a school record-tying six touchdown throws by junior quarterback Shelton Eppler, was on the brink of tying the game after a touchdown reception by Ferguson with 1:34 left, but a two-point attempt was missed and the Demons couldn't cross midfield in the final half-minute.

"The physical ability, the effort and the attitude are all there," Laird said. "We need to stay focused for 60 minutes, and offensively and defensively we faltered early in the game through halftime.

"When that happens, no matter who you play within this conference you'll be in the situation we ended up being in, having to come back. We got it done two weeks ago (rallying from 18 down to win 31-28 at Homecoming over Houston Baptist) but fell a few plays short last week. I'd love to see what we could do playing 60 minutes of consistently good football."

After missing the previous two games with a concussion, Eppler came back and played like he never missed time. His six-TD outing at ACU moved him into third place for most touchdown passes in a season (20). His 2,046 passing yards this year is also No. 5 in school history.

Eppler is currently in the top 20 in the FCS in six categories, including passing yards per game (292.3), points responsible for per game (17.1) and passing touchdowns. As a team, NSU should break the school passing yardage record set back in 1998 (2,986), entering the game just 50 yards behind that mark.

Five receivers had at least 59 yards receiving at ACU, led by Ferguson's 82. Watson had 78 and a touchdown, which gives him seven on the year, which ties him with two others for fifth most in a season. His 11 career touchdowns are also tied for fifth all-time. Junior wide receiver Quan Shorts added 73 yards, senior Marquisian Chapman chipped in with 64 and Bourque had 59 yards and two scores, which are both career highs.

Defensively, the Purple Swarm forced four more turnovers. NSU ranks in the top 10 in the FCS for both passes intercepted (13, for 10th) and fumbles recovered (12, for 2nd).

"From day one, Coach (defensive coordinator Mike) Lucas has preached takeaways," Laird said. "We got four turnovers last week and we scored 27 points off of them. It changes the momentum of a game, and it almost changed the outcome of that game."

Twelve players have at least one sack for the Demons, led by senior defensive end Obi Iheoma's four. Junior defensive tackle O'Shea Jackson and senior defensive tackle Zak Krolczyk are tied with seven tackles for loss. Sophomore safety Hayden Bourgeois leads the Demons in interceptions and is tied for third in the FCS in interceptions with five.

Junior linebacker Quindarrius Whitley continues to lead the Demons in tackles with 71. Bourgeois is second with 67 and junior Ryan Reed is third with 59.

Freshman Myles Ward is second in the conference in kickoff return average (24.8), including a 58-yard return to open the game against Nicholls.

Sophomore quarterback Cody Orgeron has started the last two games for the Cowboys. Orgeron, the son of NSU legend and current LSU head coach Ed Orgeron, has completed 55 percent of his passes for 355 yards and two touchdowns.

Orgeron's top receiving target is Cyron Sutton, who has caught 32 passes for 469 yards. Orgeron's older brother Parker began the season as McNeese's top threat at receiver, but missed time with a concussion before returning to play last week.

McNeese's strength is defense, which is led by one of the best defenders in the FCS, linebacker B.J. Blunt. Blunt has 20 tackles for loss, which is tied for tops in the FCS, and his 11 sacks on the season is tied for second nationally.

Three players have at least 4.5 sacks for the Cowboys, as defensive end Chris Livings has six and defensive lineman Cody Roscoe has 4.5.

Demons' legend Gary Reasons is part of the ESPN3 announcing crew, along with Jeff Palermo of the Louisiana (Radio) Network on play by play and Taylor Varrico of KPLC TV in Lake Charles handling sideline reporting. Reasons, a three-time All-America linebacker for NSU from 1981-83, won two Super Bowl titles as a starting linebacker for the New York Giants and is in the College Football and Louisiana Sports halls of fame.

The Demon Sports Network radio broadcast team of Patrick Netherton and Tony Taglavore will call the game, starting with a 30-minute pregame show at 5:30. The network flagship station is 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches with 101-7 FM and 710 KEEL AM in Shreveport, KBUCK 105.5 FM in Alexandria and 103.1 FM KWLA in Leesville-Many as affiliates. Free audio is available at NSUDemons.com.

The Demon Sports Network broadcast stream is also available anywhere on the new Northwestern State athletics app. The free app, which is available for both Apple and Android devices, houses news, videos, schedules and in-app streaming for Northwestern State athletic events.

Northwestern wraps up the 2018 season next Thursday night at Stephen F. Austin with the biggest trophy in sports, Chief Caddo, on the line.