NORFOLK, Va. — McNeese State scored 17 points in the fourth quarter to force overtime and then sniffed out the fake PAT to beat Norfolk State 38-37 this weekend. Cowboy Head Coach Bubba Jameson was happy to see his offensive game plan work to near-perfection.

“We opened up … with our passing game, which seemed to surprise them given we scored on the first play of offense if I recall correctly. From there we worked the passing game which made their secondary respect the pass game, which then opened up our run game.”

He credited his team with staying focused and working together even after being down 24-14 in the third quarter.

“Really the biggest key was all our guys were on the same page. We had a few stalled drives, but our guys managed to adjust.”

He congratulated the defense for not giving up despite allowing Norfolk State to stay in the game all the way until the end.

“The defense was getting into their own head. We decided to simplify the defense a little which helped. We also reminded them to stay focused and stick to their assignments.”

Coach Jameson also praised the Norfolk State’s Coach Ricardo for a well-fought game.

“The game looked like it was over when they returned that kickoff to the house, however we drove the field in the last minute to send it to OT. In OT their coach decided to go for two. I give him a ton of credit for it. It was a ballsy move on his part and didn’t work out for him. Our defense stepped up when they needed to, to win the game. Huge props to our defense on that play.”

Coach Ricardo faced a tough situation coming in, having been selected as the first head coach in Norfolk State’s fake history. He spoke to the way his new players responded to the difficulty of getting up to game speed.

“The few days I had with my team before this game were crucial to getting the basics of the playbook down and the players came out and executed it very well. The defense also did a phenomenal job helping us get a good field position almost every drive and even had the score of their own. Heck of a game by all sides of the ball.”

Ricardo was proud of the way the Spartans fought all game long and also talked about the decision to go for two at the end of overtime.

“The players really came out inspired and they really played their hearts out to win the game. It means a lot to have the players try to win for you and play like they did. They scored the touchdown and we wanted the win so bad we tried to take matters into our hands so we went for it and shout out to the McNeese [middle linebacker] for splitting the gaps and stopping the run on the conversion attempt.”

McNeese State is now 3-0 on the season as they prepare for conference play. Norfolk State is only 0-1 so far but looks to be an early favorite as a contender in the Mid-Atlantic this year.