McNeese's No. 6 ranked Cowboys tackle Southern Utah on the road on Saturday

Kickoff is 6 p.m. (MT)

Sept. 20, 2007

McNeese State takes its No. 6 ranked football program into Utah on Saturday, the Cowboys to play Southern Utah in Cedar City in a game that will carry a 6 p.m. (MT) start.

All action can be listened to over Cajun Radio 1470 AM and 1290 AM as well as over KEZM (1310 AM).

McNeese is 2-0 on the season with wins coming over Portland State (35-12) and Division I Louisiana-Lafayette (38-17). Southern Utah is 0-3 and its losses have been to No. 2 ranked Montana (37-17), No. 6 ranked Southern Illinois (44-10) and to No. 2 ranked Division II North Dakota (37-10).

This will be the sixth game in the series between the two teams. McNeese, which has a 3-2 edge, won last year's meeting by a 30-27 score in Lake Charles. Most of the principals in that game return for this season's outing.

Cowboy quarterback Derrick Fourroux ran for three touchdowns and passed for another while completing 11 of 25 passes for 194 yards. Tailback Jamie Leonard, who clipped off 134 yards in last week's win over Louisiana-Lafayette, netted 124 yards on 16 carries against the Thunderbirds and Steven Whitehead caught five passes for 83 yards.

Southern Utah quarterback Wes Marshall completed 19 of 28 passes for 177 yards and two tds while running back Johnny Sanchez ran for 161 yards and two scores.

It was a 69 yard td pass from Fourroux to Carlese Franklin in the final eight minutes of play that provided the winning points.

Thus far this season Fourroux and Leonard have been the offensive leaders for the Cowboys. The quarterback has completed 23 of 44 passes for 342 yards and three scores while Leonard has run for 223 yards.

Backup tailback Kris Bush has scored four tds, two in each game, while Whitehead leads the team in receiving with nine catches for 115 yards. Defensively, Bryan Smith leads the nation in quarterback sacks with 4.5 and in tackles for a loss with seven while linebackers Trey Bennett and Allen Nelson have 21 and 18 tackles, respectively.

Marshall has been the top offensive performer for Southern Utah in its three games this season, rushing for 206 yards and completing 49 of 95 passes for 497 yards.

After this game the Cowboys will return home to host South Dakota on Sept. 29.