Nov. 19, 2006

McNeese State's Southland Conference champions have drawn the University of Montana as its first round opponent in the NCAA Division I football championship.

The game will be played Saturday in Missoula with a 1:05 p.m. central kickoff time. Snow is predicted for Wednesday and Thursday up there but no snow is forecast for Friday or Saturday. Highs will be in the 30s with lows in the 20s.

"We're very excited to be in the playoffs. Anything can happen in the playoffs," McNeese coach Matt Viator said. "Our kids have worked tremendously hard. We haven't always had our "A" game but they have always given an "A" effort.

"Montana has a very good team but obviously we have a good team too. There's nothing like practicing football Thanksgiving week because it means you're still in it."

Saturday's meeting will be the fifth between the two teams. Most of the meetings have been in the post season playoffs, the last coming 2002 when the Cowboys made a run all the way to the championship game.

Three times the two teams have met in the playoffs, the Cowboys winning in 2002 (24-20) and in 1997 (19-14) and bowing in 1994 (30-28). During the regular season the two teams have split, McNeese winning in 1991 at home by a 31-3 score and Montana winning at Mizzoula 45-22 in 1990.

For McNeese, this year's post season play will be the 12th time in the last 16 years for the Cowboys to make the playoffs. They played in the championship game in 1997 and in 2001.

Other first round pairings will have Coastal Carolina at Appalachian State, Furman at Montana State, Illinois State at Eastern Illinois, James Madison at Youngstown State, Lafayette at Umass, New Hampshire at Hampton and Tennessee-Martin at Southern Illinois.

McNeese will enter the playoffs on a five game winning streak and with a 7-4 won-lost record. Montana is 10-1 and has won 10 straight since losing the season opener against the University of Iowa.