NATCHITOCHES – In the south there isn't a much better combination than country music and college football.
 
With the Top of the Boot Music Festival taking place on Friday and Saturday nights, featuring 10 different country music artists, on the Northwestern State campus, the Demon football team looks to make its own noise when another set of Cowboys comes to Turpin Stadium.
 
NSU (0-6, 0-3) returns from its bye week on Saturday to face rival McNeese (2-4, 1-2) in a noon kickoff, as part of a busy weekend on campus. The game will air on ESPN+, with a live radio broadcast available locally on 100.7 FM KZBL.
 
For the Demons, the extra week provided an opportunity to evaluate their tendencies, get healthy and reset before the final stretch of the season.
 
"We got a lot of work done but it went fast," head coach Blaine McCorkle said. "We got a lot of self-scout done in all three phases looking for our own tendencies and things like that. Got a little jump start on preparation for McNeese and got some bodies healed and rested up. It was a good week. We got a lot done and hopefully that will show some good results for us."
 
McCorkle views the break as more than a chance to recover. With six games remaining on the schedule, he challenged his team to approach the remainder of the season with a fresh mindset.
 
"It's a new season," McCorkle said. "Felt like in a lot of ways last week was a mini preseason for us and now we're approaching things like we're 0-0 and let's go see what we can do with this new season and make the most of it."
 
That reset comes as the Demons look to build on some encouraging signs from their most recent outing, a 42-14 loss at No. 13 Lamar. NSU avoided turnovers for the first time this season, a significant step for a team that has emphasized eliminating the mistakes that have undermined its efforts.
 
The Demons have also found greater consistency through the air since Zach Wilcke took over as the starting quarterback Sept. 19. Wilcke ranks second in the Southland Conference in total offense at 276.7 yards per game during that span, while his seven touchdown passes are second in the league.
 
As a team, Northwestern State ranks fourth in the conference in passing and has thrown just four interceptions, tied for the fewest in the league, on more than 200 attempts. Wilcke has been picked off only once in more than 115 attempts over the past three games.
 
Wide receiver Amaaz Eugene, who had a career-best 108 receiving yards at Lamar and displayed the latest big-play ability from the receiver room, said the focus now is turning those improvements into a more complete offensive performance.
 
"It's really about being ready when the play comes to you," Eugene said. "There are plays during practice where the ball might not come to you but in the game anybody has the potential to get the ball and everybody has big-play mentality and ability."
 
That mentality has carried into practice, where the Demons have emphasized finishing plays and sustaining their effort throughout the game.
 
"The object of practice this week is to finish," Eugene said. "Coach (Tyson) Wachenheim told the receivers every time you catch a ball, finish the play in the end zone. Coach McCorkle has started practice with our march period so we can start fast and then added it at the end of practice to help get us used to finishing fast. Just putting everything together quarter by quarter and play by play."
 
The challenge Saturday will be doing that against a McNeese team that McCorkle believes is more talented than its 2-4 record might suggest. The Cowboys are 1-2 in Southland play, but their schedule has provided a difficult test.
 
"You can really throw all their losses out because of who they've played and see that this is a really good football team," McCorkle said. "The staff was breaking down some film last week on them and I asked them who that we've already played do they remind you of the most and they all said, without hesitation, Louisiana Tech. From a talent standpoint they are big, have long bodies, are fast and physical."
 
McNeese's ground game presents a particularly significant challenge. Running back Omiri Wiggins leads the Southland with 396 rushing yards and an average of 66.0 yards per game. He has broken off two touchdown runs of more than 70 yards this season, helping the Cowboys average 174.8 rushing yards per game, second-most in the conference.
 
For Northwestern State's defense, limiting those explosive plays begins with sound tackling and execution up front.
 
Defensive lineman Kemarion Ivory leads the Demons with 3.5 tackles for loss after recording a career-high two stops behind the line of scrimmage against Lamar. He said tackling was a major point of emphasis during the bye week.
 
"We have to make tackles," Ivory said. "That was one of the things we really focused on during the bye week. One of those fine-tuning detail things. We haven't been making tackles and those plays this year as much as we need to."
 
McCorkle said the Demons have faced talented opponents throughout the season, but their approach cannot change based on the opponent or outside expectations.
 
"We're not unfamiliar with playing really strong and talented teams. We've done that a lot," McCorkle said. "But it continues to be about us and putting the best version of us out there that we can. We'll have plans in all three phases. We did a better job two weeks ago at Lamar of not beating ourselves early. That's really what it comes down to for us. Our guys see it that way and aren't letting all the external factors influence their approach."
 
With a fresh week of preparation behind them, the Demons will look to translate that work into a more complete performance against their in-state rival and begin the second half of their season on a stronger footing.