Here’s the game plan on how to schedule in the nonconference to take a struggling football program and turn it into a successful one. Let’s call it the Bill Snyder plan.
First, you schedule teams that sound made up. Then you beat the daylights out of them, which gives your team confidence going into the conference season.
Emporia State has done that the last two seasons with its openers. The first two years under coach Garin Higgins, the Hornets played Western State — a team that won three games in those two seasons — and last year the plan worked accordingly, with the Hornets winning 42-0.
But eventually as a program evolves, it’s time to have your team tested early in the season, better prepping yourself for the conference season. And that’s where the Hornets will find themselves on Thursday night.
Southwestern Oklahoma State is no patsy. The Bulldogs come out of a legitimate conference, the Lone Star, and they have a legitimate chance of leaving Welch Stadium with a win.
“This will be the best first-team opponent we’ve played,” Higgins said. “They’re better than Western State, because they’re going to have better talent.”
The Bulldogs’ resume might not make them look like such a daunting opponent. They went 3-8 last year and are picked to finish fourth in the Lone Star North division this year.
But they have a new coach, who has been successful everywhere he’s been, a new offense and they return a defense that was one of the best in the conference last year. The SWOSU defense ranked first in yards per game last season in the Lone Star, and new coach Dan Cocannouer retained defensive coordinator Todd Helton.
“They’ve been good on defense,” Higgins said. “They led the Lone Star conference in yards given up last year and that says something because the Lone Star conference is an offensive juggernaut. Why fix something that’s not broke? I think they’ve done a good job and that guy’s been there for a long time. He’s got a system in place.”
The Bulldog defense should give the ESU offense a good early-season test to see whether the Hornets are as improved on offense as they believe they are. New running back La’Darrian Page and several new receivers give quarterback Andre Sloan El more playmakers than he’s ever had.
On defense, the Hornets aren’t really sure what they’re going to be facing. SWOSU ran a traditional one- and two-back offense built around the running game last season. Cocannouer coached a spread at his last stop, Edmond Sante Fe High School in Oklahoma, and he’s expected to run a spread at SWOSU. The ESU defensive coaches pulled out recruiting film of Edmond Sante Fe to try to prepare for Cocannouer’s offense.
“You never know what they’re going to do,” senior defensive end Angelo Webb said. “We watched their old film and what he usually does, but he could be at this level and want to switch some things up. We’ve kind of prepared ourselves for all bases.”
If the Bulldogs do run a spread, the Hornet defense has had good prep during the preseason by defending their own offense.
“I think we have a good offense and this year we’re going to have one of the better offenses in the conference, and going against them is going to prepare us pretty much anybody,” Webb said.
The Bulldogs brought in a large recruiting class, and Higgins said he has heard that several freshmen are expected to receive playing time. The personnel on the Bulldogs’ offense last year might not fit; however, quarterback Steve Day played for Cocannouer in high school.
Day is a four-year starter and threw for 2,561 yards and 18 touchdowns last season. He also returns his top receiver Johnathan Haggerty, who ranks second on the school’s all-time receptions and receiving yards list.
“They have a lot of question marks, and I know what he’s going through because we went through the same growing pains my first year trying to change our offense,” Higgins said. “You’ve got to go with the guys you’ve got, and you’ve got some guys who don’t really fit your system.”
Higgins has a lot of familiarity with both SWOSU and Cocannouer. SWOSU was Northwestern Oklahoma State’s biggest rival when Higgins coached there from 1994 to 2004. ESU safety Derek Lohmann’s dad, Steve Lohmann, also coached at Northwestern, and Higgins said Steve is looking forward to watching the game; however, Derek Lohmann might not play because of a hamstring pull.
ESU running back Adrian Abner’s cousin, Benny Johnson, is a starter at defensive tackle for the Bulldogs, and the two were high school teammates. Abner said they have been talking on the phone a lot the past couple weeks.
“He’s just saying how he’s going to come with it,” Abner said. “I don’t talk any noise.”
When Higgins was also at Northwestern, Cocannouer coached at the high school in town, Alva High School, from 1994 to 1996 and the two were friends.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for him,” Higgins said. “He’s a very well-respected coach and person in the state of Oklahoma. He’s done a good job wherever he’s been at. He gets the most out of his players.”
Cocannouer, who like Higgins is coaching his alma mater, has a history of turning football programs around, albeit all at the high school level.
Even though the Bulldogs are expected to finish in the middle of the pack in the Lone Star, they are still a quality opponent and Higgins said they are comparable to an MIAA team.
“I was just trying to get the best opponent we could,” Higgins said. “I wanted it to be a close game. I wanted it to be a familiar conference. Travel-distance wise, it just seemed like a good match. I’m familiar with Southwestern and then I was looking for a team that wanted to play on a Thursday night, because I thought that would be neat to do.”