By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Northwestern State football coach Blaine McCorkle is not about to take anything for granted.
The general assumption is that next Thursday’s season opener at Turpin Stadium against Louisiana Christian isn’t comparable with the Demons’ next outing, a Sept. 5 visit to face another historic rival, Louisiana Tech.
First things first, McCorkle said Thursday in a media session prior to the annual Independence Bowl/NSU Kickoff Luncheon at Superior’s Steakhouse.
“We’ve won one game in three years,” said McCorkle. “There is no next week. We’ve got to play this one first.”
After rebuilding a moribund Division III Belhaven program into a conference champion in his first six years as a head coach, former LSU player McCorkle has an appreciation for the lower levels of college sports. LCU is an NAIA program, one that previously competed in Division III earlier this century, but that doesn’t mean the Wildcats won’t present challenges for the Demons, who restarted from scratch when McCorkle arrived in December 2023.
“It’s a different game from level to level, there’s no question about that. But what I’ll say about LC is they’re a good football team.
“They’ve won their conference championship two of the last three years for a reason. They know what they’re doing, they’ve got a good plan, and they’ve got some really, really good players. You watch their skill positions on both sides and those kids could play for a lot of people at a lot of levels,” he said.
“By no means do we think we’re going to roll the ball out there and win the game because we’re at a higher level. Last year McNeese beat us worse (50-7) than they beat LC (54-9). We’re playing a good team. I honestly think next Thursday night will be a really good football game.”
McCorkle said the best indication of his team’s improvement going into this season is the level of competition in practice.
“Every position on the field … has some guys who have started significant games in the last two years who are now twos and threes. That’s a good thing,” he said. “That means we have competition and we’re better.”
The most apparent improvement, he said, is on the offensive line and in the secondary.
“I think those will be the most drastically different. Last year we talked about how much better our offensive line was from Year 1 to Year 2, and I think they are (again) from Year 2 to Year 3. That’s true as well in the secondary. This is the first year we’ve brought in a handful of transfers there, because we had to get the culture right before we could do that. There will be new faces in both places.”
The Demons got a familiar face back last weekend thanks to the ongoing series of court rulings providing a fifth year of eligibility for players whose careers began in 2022. Landry Huddleston, who was a standout for McCorkle at Belhaven and followed him to Natchitoches, met the revised standard and adds a high-energy special teams performer along with second-team depth at linebacker.
“He was such a crowd favorite in our locker room. As soon as talk began about the ’22 guys getting their fifth year, our players started asking, ‘What about Hud? What about Hud?’ We got clearance and when he showed up, there was lot of fun in that room,” said McCorkle.
The Demons and Wildcats haven’t played football since the Pineville institution dropped the sport after the 1968 season. LCU revived the program in 2000 and a quarter century later, the old Gulf States Conference rivals will finally collide again.
“I think there’s value in it. You play in-state schools and it gives kids a chance to play against high school rivals, and you get a good crowd,” said McCorkle. “It’s good for LC, it’s good for us, and it’s good for north Louisiana.”
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com