Under fire a year ago, the McNeese State defense is now fueling the rebuild in the early going of this season.

While the Cowboy offense struggles to find its footing, the defense has put its best foot forward over the first two games. That has led to a 1-1 start.

“Defense, for the second week in a row, played a very good game,” said McNeese head coach Gary Goff. “It’s not perfect and we still have some things to clean up, but I’m very, very pleased with that side of the ball.”

Last Saturday it was the McNeese defense that held Southern to one score in a 21-7 victory, forcing three turnovers. 

Sophomore safety Boogsie Silvera led the way with a fumble recovery and interception in the end zone to go along with his career-high 10 tackles. 

“We changed our attitude and our culture,” said Silvera. “The coaches came in with a mindset of finishing strong. We all have bought into that.”

The differences from last season are amazing, while granted a small sample size. 

In 2023 McNeese allowed 38.1 points a game, most in the Southland Conference. The Cowboys also gave up 249.2 yards a game on the ground, second most in all of the FCS. 

They had just nine sacks and struggled to get turnovers. This season things have been much better in the early going.

The Cowboys are allowing just 16.5 points a game through the first two, and only an average of 130 on the ground. Take into consideration that 19 of the 33 points allowed have come off of turnovers and the difference is staggering.

Defensive coordinator Tony Pecoraro, who took a lot of heat last season and said he was “embarrassed” by the numbers allowed, is happy with the start.

“So far it’s been good,” Pecoraro said. “We have been able to attack everybody and gotten some big play out of people.”

Before the season started Pecoraro said he was excited to see how the new group of players they brought in worked with the ones who remained. He also said he was glad to get a chance to try and fix what went wrong the year before.

Now he sees it paying off.

“We are playing well together as a team,” Pecoraro said. “Depth on this team has helped and some of the young guys who had to play last season have learned and stepped up.”

Most importantly, the lessons from a year ago have helped bring the Cowboys to where they are now.

“It was tough but we went through it,” said Silvera.”We learned how to keep fighting and to finish.”

The finishing part is the most interesting of all. Last season McNeese allowed 103 points over the 10 fourth quarters they played. 

Over the first two games this season the Cowboys haven’t allowed a point in the second half of either contest.

In the offseason, McNeese hired Josh Brown as co-offensive coordinator to bring in some new eyes and ideas.

“That has worked out great,” Pecoraro said. “It always helps to get a different look at things.”

Pecoraro was even named the Defensive Coordinator of the Week on the FCS level by 

Our Coaching Network. The Cowboys allowed Southern just 198 yards of total offense and 1.7 per run attempt on 37 tries. The score came after a turnover as well.

The McNeese defense will get its biggest test of the season when the Cowboys travel to Texas A&M on Saturday.