Two teams in separate divisions, and coming off two quite different but equally strange seasons, meet for the first time inside Cowboy Stadium at high noon today.

It really isn’t a showdown but more of a showcase for two programs trying to make a statement.

West Florida, the defending Division II national champion and top-ranked team on that level, comes to Lake Charles for a season-opening battle against McNeese State.

The Argonauts, in their fifth season as a program, won the title in 2019 but opted out last year due to COVID-19. The NCAA didn’t play a postseason so they are still the champs.

“I guess you could say that,” said UWF head coach Pete Shinnick said of being a defending national champion. “That may put a target on our backs in our division, but I don’t think McNeese is thinking about that.”

The Cowboys are coming off a spring season that saw them finish 3-4, the first time they posted a losing record since 2005 when Hurricane Rita struck. That year McNeese went 1-3.

“We are excited to play,” said McNeese head coach Frank Wilson. “We want to get back to a sense of normalcy.”

The same can be said for the Argonauts.

“We are itching to get back out there and prove ourselves again,” UWF defensive back D’Anthony Bell told Flofootball.com.

McNeese is trying to get back to where it once was, an elite program in the Southland Conference with playoff hopes every fall. The league has shrunk to six football-playing teams, but that doesn’t matter to MSU.

“We have unfinished business,” sixth-year Cowboys quarterback Cody Orgeron said. “I want to go out with a championship for this city.”

Temperatures for the game are forecast to reach the mid-90s with the heat index hitting triple digits. McNeese hopes its two midday scrimmages will help them be ready for the day.

“We have worked hard to make that a benefit,” Wilson said.

Just because they are from a lower division the Argos are no pushovers. They have a 52-17 record all time and are 9-1 in playoff games.

“They are a very, very talented football team,” Wilson said. “They are as good as any FCS-level team in the country. We won’t take them lightly.”

The Argonauts are led by sophomore quarterback Austin Reed, who threw for 40 touchdowns and 4,089 yards in 2019. He had six TD passes in the national title game, throwing for 523 yards. He is the early front-runner for the Harlon Hill Award as the top player in D-II.

“He is a great quarterback,” said McNeese defensive back Colby Richardson. “We are looking forward to the challenge. First we don’t want them to catch the ball then if they do we want to rally around them fast.”

Reed lost two 1,000-yard receivers but has Rodeny Coates (36 catches, 471 yard 5 TDs) and Ka’Ron Ashley (26-429 6) back.

However, the guy on Shinnick’s mind is Cowboys defensive end Isaiah Chambers. The all-American led the nation in sacks last spring with 7.5.

“We have to know where he is at all times,” Shinnick said. “We have to find out where he is lining up. They got other good players on the line and on defense, but it starts with him.”

The McNeese offense has new weapons to counter with, including speedy receiver CeeJay Power, a transfer from Louisiana Tech. Stephon Huderson, a running back from Tulane should improve the offense for Orgeron, who threw for 951 yards and seven touchdowns over the last three games in the spring.

There is also a new offensive line for Orgeron to work behind. In all, McNeese has added 40 fresh faces to the team since last fall.

“We have upgraded at positions we have lost,” Wilson said.

Today we start finding out by how much.