HAMMOND, L.a. (WGNO) — It’s not everyday you will see a LSU head coach at a SLU game. Yet, the Tigers interim head coach Ed Orgeron was at Strawberry Stadium to watch his son Parker Orgeron and the rest of the 20th ranked McNeese State team take on Southeastern Louisiana. The Lions won 31-24.
“Coach Guidry is doing a great job with Parker and Cody, both of my sons are playing here (McNeese State). It’s an unfortunate situation that our guys didn’t get to play the game today. What a beautiful day, but we took advantage of the situation,” said Coach Orgeron.
Orgeron had 5 receptions for 67 yards.
But, that didn’t compare to Brandon Acker during the Lions final drive. In the 4th Quarter, the game was tied at 24. With :47 seconds left, quarterback Justin Alo launched the ball to Acker. The ball was tipped, but Acker was able to hold on for an 82 yard touchdown.
“Unbelievable play, if that’s not on ESPN top plays, I don’t know what should be,” said Lions head coach Ron Roberts.
Alo finished with 339 yards passing, three touchdowns, and one interception. Acker caught five for 168 yards. But this game was a tale of two halves. In the first, the Cowboys shut out the Lions offense. After the break, the Lions scored 24.
“We have still yet to play our best football. We’re just looking to get over that hump. I think tonight was a good stretch for us and to go into next week’s practice. I believe we can get another W on the road. We can prove to our teammates and coaches that we can do it and keep this streak rolling,” said Alo.
The Lions defense stopped McNeese on all four 4th down conversion attempts. The defense also forced four turnovers. Yet, Coach Roberts said his team can do better overall.
“We didn’t play as well as we liked, first half we had 3 turnovers, we made some big mistakes, some of the stuff we’ve been doing but tonight was different, we were able to overcome them. I’m real proud of the way our kids fought. We played hard. We’re still just in a big growing process as a football team, we’re not where we want to be,” said Roberts.
The Lions will look to keep this momentum going in hopes of getting their first road win of the season on Saturday.