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Despite what the thermometer says this week, we are finally at the starting gate for the 2024 college football season!
Last weekend in Dublin, Ireland, the AP Preseason #10 Florida State was defeated 24-21 by a clearly better team from Georgia Tech. That opening game loss puts a damper on FSU’s 2024 revenge tour after the team was snubbed for one of the four College Football Playoff spots at the end of last season.
Beginning later this week, it’s finally time for some college football in Louisiana
Louisiana is well known for its talented football players and competitive college football teams. The Bayou State features five of its universities with football teams competing in the upper division FBS group.
LSU remains a member of the now 16-team SEC. Tulane plays in the American Athletic Conference. Louisiana Tech competes in Conference USA. UL-Monroe and UL-Lafayette participate in the Sunbelt Conference.
The state of Louisiana also features six FCS college football teams as well. Those schools include Grambling State and Southern University of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The four Southland Conference entries from Louisiana are McNeese State, Nicholls State, Northwestern State, and Southeastern Louisiana University.
Let’s also welcome the state’s newest college football team.
Centenary College in Shreveport will resume playing college football on Saturday, September 7 for the first time in nearly 60 years. The Gents will participate in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference within NCAA’s Division III.
Let’s take a brief look at each team’s 2024 schedule and outlook:
LSU Tigers – The AP Preseason #13 Bayou Bengals must replace three big portions of its offense from last season’s 10-3 team. Heisman Trophy quarterback Jayden Daniels (selected by Washington in the NFL with the #3 overall pick) plus first round wide receivers Malik Nabors (NY Giants) and Brian Thomas, Jr. (Jacksonville Jaguars) leave a big void.
For decades, LSU’s calling-card has been its usually-ferocious defense. Last year’s defensive performance was simply atrocious.
The Tigers allowed almost six yards per offensive play. After the season ended, Head Coach Brian Kelly cleaned out the defensive coaching staff and spent a lot of money replacing them for this year in 2024. We’ll quickly learn if the problem had been the defensive schemes and/or, perhaps, a few overrated recruits.
LSU opens play this Sunday night at 6:30PM on ABC with a game in Las Vegas against AP Preseason #23 Southern Cal. Other tough games on the LSU schedule this year include home games against #6 Ole Miss, #5 Alabama, and #16 Oklahoma. A road game at #20 Texas A&M should be a dandy, too.
If LSU finishes with no more than two losses this fall, they should be lock for the new 12-team FBS playoffs at season’s end.
Tulane Green Wave – The Greenies received five votes for the AP Preseason Top 25, but they won’t mind proving it on the field once again. Coming off two great seasons (12-2 and 11-3), Tulane’s head coach Willie Fritz accepted an offer from the University of Houston in the Big 12 Conference. He was replaced by Jon Sumrall – coach of Sunbelt member Troy University.
Tulane’s 2024 schedule is highlighted by hosting #18 Kansas State on Saturday, September 7 followed by a road game at #16 Oklahoma the next week. Another ten win season for the Green Wave could be their ticket to a financially lucrative bowl game.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs – Coming off three straight 3-9 seasons, the faithful fans in north Louisiana are ready to see improvement on the football field this season. Coach Sonny Cumbie enters Year #3 in Ruston and must survive two road “payday” games at #24 North Carolina State (September 14) and a late season cash grab in Fayetteville (November 23) to play the “Woo-Pig-Sooees” (Arkansas Razorbacks).
In case you might have been hoping to come to Ruston on a weekend during October to watch the Bulldogs play a home game, you’re out of luck again in 2024.
The fan-unfriendly scheduling by Conference USA features Louisiana Tech playing on four successive mid-week games (including three straight TUESDAY night games?) during fall’s greatest month for watching outdoor football. I railed about this issue last season (click here). This is embarrassing for the university’s football program, students, alumni, and supporters to have their team playing all four of its October games without a single one being played on a weekend where the most fans may be able to attend.
As a 1981 alumnus, I was a bit shocked to see another year of “October surprises” for the Bulldogs again this year. It’s time to (politely) let the school’s new President Jim Henderson hear your thoughts. Louisiana Tech needs to leave this diminished “JV” league (C-USA) and do whatever it takes to cut a deal to join the Sunbelt Conference.
UL-Monroe Warhawks – After sending former coach Tommy Bowden packing after last year’s 2-10 debacle, the Warhawks handed the coaching reins to Bryant Vincent (last year’s offensive coordinator at the University of New Mexico).
ULM could definitely use some spark in its offense to become more competitive.
The Warhawks will play “payday” games in Austin against the Texas Longhorns (September 21) and then visit Auburn on November 16. Key home games at Malone Stadium in Monroe will come against Sunbelt foes James Madison (October 5), Southern Miss (October 12) and the season finale against the Ragin’ Cajuns of UL-Lafayette (November 30).
A 6-6 season might even earn the Warhawks their second (ever) bowl game at season’s end.
UL-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns – The “Won’t you come back, Billy Napier!” song may be playing a lot in Lafayette this football season. The Cajuns have posted successive 6-7 seasons in 2022 and 2023. Their former football coach is currently at the University of Florida. Supporters in Lafayette might roll out the red carpet as an enticement to return home in 2025 if Coach Napier stumbles with the Gators again this season.
The Ragin’ Cajuns 2024 football schedule looks fairly soft with only one “money” road game at Wake Forest on September 28. A winning record in 2024 is a must for the current head coach Michael Desormeaux (a former assistant to Billy Napier) to remain in Lafayette.
Now, let’s cover Louisiana’s FCS schools!
Grambling Tigers – Coming off a 5-6 record in 2023 which included a season-ending 27-23 loss to arch-rival Southern University, the G-men will have a new head coach as Mickey Joseph will patrol the sidelines in 2024. Joseph played collegiately at LSU and was most recently an assistant coach at the University of Nebraska. He will now lead Grambling in the upcoming new season in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
The Grambling Tigers kick-off this Saturday night in Lafayette against the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns.
Grambling will end the season against Southern University in their annual battle in the Superdome on Saturday, November 30.
Southern University Jaguars – Louisiana’s other member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Southern is coming off a 6-5 season in 2023. Senior defensive back Horatio Johnson is one of the nation’s premier defenders and will likely play in the NFL next year.
The Jaguars will open 2024 with a road game in Lake Charles against the McNeese Cowboys of the Southland Conference.
Southern University’s season ends in the Superdome against Grambling in the game which also features the famous “Battle of the Bands” halftime show!
Northwestern State University Demons – The Demons 2023 football season was filled with tragedy after one of the team’s players was killed near the campus in mid-season. The football team later suspended play for the year and forfeited its remaining games in 2023.
A new head football coach, Blaine McCorkell, was hired. He worked wonders at Division III Belhaven in Jackson, Mississippi and hopes to do the same thing at Northwestern State.
The Demons’ 2024 schedule begins Thursday night, August 29, with a game at Tulsa against the Golden Hurricane. Homecoming will feature Lamar University coming to Natchitoches for a game on Saturday, October 26 at 2PM.
Southeastern Louisiana Lions – Coach Frank Scelfo is entering his seventh year in Hammond. After a 9-4 campaign in 2022, last year’s 2023 squad lost its first six games and finished a disappointing 3-8.
Southeastern’s schedule this year starts on Thursday night with a tough road game down I-55 South in New Orleans against Tulane. The Lions’ homecoming game will be Saturday, October 19 at 4PM against returning Southland Conference member Stephen F. Austin.
Nicholls State Colonels – The defending Southland Conference champs finished 6-4 in the regular season in 2023 but lost in the first round of the FCS playoffs to Southern Illinois.
This year, Nicholls State will open the season with three straight road games. The 2024 opener comes this Saturday night at 7PM in Ruston against Louisiana Tech. The Colonels then travel to LSU the following week on September 7. Then, it’s off to California to play another difficult FCS playoff team, Sacramento State, on Saturday, September 14. Ouch!
McNeese State Cowboys – This Lake Charles-based football team has nowhere to go but up in 2024. Coach Gary Goff’s team posted a disappointing 1-10 record in 2023. Their lone win came via forfeit by Northwestern State in October.
The Cowboys will play one “money” road game at Texas A&M on September 7. With another difficult Southland Conference schedule still ahead, McNeese football fans want to see the Pokes move back up the ladder of respectability during the 2024 season.
And don’t forget Centenary!
Centenary College Gentlemen – The revived NCAA Division III football program at Centenary College in Shreveport gets underway with a Saturday, September 7 at 7PM home opener on the school’s campus against Hendrix College of Conway, Arkansas.
Head Coach Byron Dawson is a Shreveport native from Evangel High School who played college football at LSU.
Best of luck to the Gents and all of the Bayou State’s college football teams in 2024!