Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Northwestern State Football – Cautious Optimism in 2025
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Northwestern State Football – Cautious Optimism in 2025
Coach Blaine McCorkle knew the job as head coach for the Northwestern State University Demons football team was going to be a very big challenge.
He arrived in early 2024 after completing a successful turnaround at Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi. Belhaven went 24-7 during his final three seasons at the Blazers’ head football coach.
Coach McCorkle was quite aware that moving to Natchitoches, Louisiana last year to lead the Demons football team was going to be tough.
It was.
His Northwestern State University Demons football team posted an 0-12 season in his debut in 2024.
The team is on a 20-game losing streak entering the 2025 college football season.
That losing streak has been filled with unexpected sadness and drama
The last win for the Demons came on November 5, 2022 with a 41-14 road victory at Texas A&M – Commerce (now known as East Texas A&M). The 2022 season for fifth-year Brad Laird ended with two rather lopsided losses against nationally-ranked FCS opponents as the Demons finished with a 4-7 record.
NSU’s 2023 football team was predicted to finish in fifth place in the eight-team Southland Conference. They finished in last place.
A surprising 0-5 start turned even worse on October 12, 2023.
That’s when Demons starting defensive back Ronnie Caldwell was found dead after being shot several times in an off-campus apartment.
His non-football playing roommate and another Northwestern State football player were later arrested.
The university, the former head football coach, and Caldwell’s off-campus apartment complex were named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Caldwell’s family. A district judge dismissed Northwestern State’s portion of the suit a year later in November, 2024.
NSU quickly canceled the upcoming weekend’s road game at Nicholls State. The football team needed time to grieve the loss of a beloved teammate.
The Demons then resumed playing football a week after the funeral.
A demoralizing 37-20 loss to Southland Conference rival Southeastern Louisiana led to Northwestern’s abrupt cancellation of the remaining four football games on the 2023 schedule.
Head coach Brad Laird (a former quarterback for NSU) resigned on the same day that the football season was canceled. He is now the head football coach at Natchitoches Central High School in the same city.
Northwestern State’s new football coach had a very tall order in 2024
NSU’s abrupt end to the 2023 season led to some early speculation as to whether the football program would even continue.
The school moved quickly and hired 49-year old Blaine McCorkle as the Demons’ new head football coach.
The former LSU long snapper-turned-coach had posted an incredible turnaround story at Belhaven College. He went 2-8 in his first two years at the Jackson-based private school prior to rolling off 7-3, 8-2, and 9-2 seasons.
His optimistic outlook and desire to build a successful program in Louisiana seemed to be just what Northwestern State’s football program needed.
Many players from the Demons’ 2023 team left the football program ahead of the coaching change.
The new head coach needed to inject some confidence and a new enthusiasm into the football team.
He also needed some football players – a lot of them.
Coach Blaine McCorkle held walk-on tryouts in February, 2024 attempting to locate a few potential football players on Northwestern State’s 9,000 student campus.
The questions swirling around the 2023 tragedy and abrupt end to the football season made for a hard sell in recruiting top high school and college transfer players.
Coach McCorkle has been selling patience and hope for the future – to his players, assistant coaches, and, of course, the Northwestern State football supporters.
The Demons’ football program has been around since 1907. The school’s overall record still shows a 60% winning percentage – despite struggling through many losing seasons in the past two decades.
Coach McCorkle’s 2024 roster of 100 football players last season was very young and rather thin – especially on defense.
The 2024 Northwestern State football season finished with a disappointing 0-12 record and extended the Demons’ football misery to two straight seasons without a win.
NSU was the only FCS (small college) team in the country to go winless in 2024. Their only company in “The 0-12 Club” last season was FBS (large school) member Kent State.
The Demons were shut-out four times in 2024. The offense scored just 144 points for the entire season (12 points per game).
Northwestern State’s defensive struggles were even worse. They gave up an incredible 45.4 points per game.
Losing games by an average of more than 33 points per game brought an 0-12 season record in 2024.
A very talented high school quarterback is coming aboard in 2025
Bossier City’s Airline High School has produced a long history of talented quarterbacks.
Northwestern State head coach Blaine McCorkle offered a football scholarship to Airline’s talented quarterback Ben Taylor after his junior year in 2024.
That turned out to be a very smart move.
Ben Taylor’s senior season produced an 11-1 record before the Vikings fell in the second round of the Louisiana high school playoffs.
Taylor finished his high school career as Louisiana’s #2 all-time passing leader with 12,374 yards. His senior year produced an incredible 4,357 yards and 47 touchdown passes.
The 6’1” 180-pound quarterback received a number of other college scholarship offers last year but never wavered from his year-long commitment to Coach Blaine McCorkle and Northwestern State.
Ben Taylor will join several other talented incoming freshmen and a new crop of college transfer players (mostly on the defensive side of the ball) trying to reinvigorate the Northwestern State football program this season.
That’s the good news. The NSU Demons’ 2025 football schedule appears rather tough.
Northwestern State will play five of its first seven games on the road this fall.
The 2025 season begins at home in Natchitoches with a Thursday night, August 28 game against Alcorn State University. The Braves posted a 6-6 record in 2024 and will present a formidable season opening test for the Demons.
A three-game road trip takes Northwestern State to face Big Ten member Minnesota (8-5 in 2024), at Cincinnati Bearcats of the Big 12 (5-7 last season), and a trip to Prairie View A&M Panthers of the SWAC (5-7 in 2024).
The remainder of the Demons’ 2025 schedule includes a road game at Southeastern Louisiana (7-5 last year) and a home game against defending Southland Conference champion Incarnate Word of San Antonio. The Cardinals went 11-3 last year and advanced to the FCS playoffs quarterfinal round.
The Northwestern State season finale comes at home on November 20 against long-time rival Stephen F. Austin.
A humongous 7’6” 320-pound trophy recently renamed as “The Chief” (honoring the local Caddo Nation tribe) will be on the line when the Demons host the Lumberjacks.
When will the NSU Demons break their 20-game losing streak?
The last Southland Conference football title for Northwestern State came in 2004 as the 9-4 Demons lost an opening round game in the FCS playoffs at the University of Montana.
Coach Blaine McCorkle isn’t thinking about conference titles or FCS playoffs just yet.
A series of tough early season tests lie ahead. The second half of the 2025 season may provide a few more winnable games.
The Southland Conference media representatives recently predicted the Demons will finish 9th out of ten teams in 2025.
That 10th place team, though, represents a college football newcomer.
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley plays its inaugural season of college football this fall as it joins the Southland Conference.
Sadly for Northwestern State’s football fans, the Vaqueros from Edinburg, Texas are not on the fall football schedule.
Keep the faith, Demons supporters!
Here’s hoping that NSU’s losing streak ends soon. College football fans in Natchitoches deserve to have a few opportunities to sing the Demons’ fight song (a rather catchy tune) in celebration this fall.
“Go, ye Demons, take the field
Northwestern Demons never yield
So fight, Demons, win tonight
Victory is on our side
(Go, Fight, Win!)
Purple and white shall ever reign
Filling the air with battle strain
So Demons forever stand
And fight for dear old Demonland!”
The post Northwestern State Football – Cautious Optimism in 2025 appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.
View all episodes
By SwampSwamiSports.comCoach Blaine McCorkle knew the job as head coach for the Northwestern State University Demons football team was going to be a very big challenge.
He arrived in early 2024 after completing a successful turnaround at Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi. Belhaven went 24-7 during his final three seasons at the Blazers’ head football coach.
Coach McCorkle was quite aware that moving to Natchitoches, Louisiana last year to lead the Demons football team was going to be tough.
It was.
His Northwestern State University Demons football team posted an 0-12 season in his debut in 2024.
The team is on a 20-game losing streak entering the 2025 college football season.
That losing streak has been filled with unexpected sadness and drama
The last win for the Demons came on November 5, 2022 with a 41-14 road victory at Texas A&M – Commerce (now known as East Texas A&M). The 2022 season for fifth-year Brad Laird ended with two rather lopsided losses against nationally-ranked FCS opponents as the Demons finished with a 4-7 record.
NSU’s 2023 football team was predicted to finish in fifth place in the eight-team Southland Conference. They finished in last place.
A surprising 0-5 start turned even worse on October 12, 2023.
That’s when Demons starting defensive back Ronnie Caldwell was found dead after being shot several times in an off-campus apartment.
His non-football playing roommate and another Northwestern State football player were later arrested.
The university, the former head football coach, and Caldwell’s off-campus apartment complex were named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Caldwell’s family. A district judge dismissed Northwestern State’s portion of the suit a year later in November, 2024.
NSU quickly canceled the upcoming weekend’s road game at Nicholls State. The football team needed time to grieve the loss of a beloved teammate.
The Demons then resumed playing football a week after the funeral.
A demoralizing 37-20 loss to Southland Conference rival Southeastern Louisiana led to Northwestern’s abrupt cancellation of the remaining four football games on the 2023 schedule.
Head coach Brad Laird (a former quarterback for NSU) resigned on the same day that the football season was canceled. He is now the head football coach at Natchitoches Central High School in the same city.
Northwestern State’s new football coach had a very tall order in 2024
NSU’s abrupt end to the 2023 season led to some early speculation as to whether the football program would even continue.
The school moved quickly and hired 49-year old Blaine McCorkle as the Demons’ new head football coach.
The former LSU long snapper-turned-coach had posted an incredible turnaround story at Belhaven College. He went 2-8 in his first two years at the Jackson-based private school prior to rolling off 7-3, 8-2, and 9-2 seasons.
His optimistic outlook and desire to build a successful program in Louisiana seemed to be just what Northwestern State’s football program needed.
Many players from the Demons’ 2023 team left the football program ahead of the coaching change.
The new head coach needed to inject some confidence and a new enthusiasm into the football team.
He also needed some football players – a lot of them.
Coach Blaine McCorkle held walk-on tryouts in February, 2024 attempting to locate a few potential football players on Northwestern State’s 9,000 student campus.
The questions swirling around the 2023 tragedy and abrupt end to the football season made for a hard sell in recruiting top high school and college transfer players.
Coach McCorkle has been selling patience and hope for the future – to his players, assistant coaches, and, of course, the Northwestern State football supporters.
The Demons’ football program has been around since 1907. The school’s overall record still shows a 60% winning percentage – despite struggling through many losing seasons in the past two decades.
Coach McCorkle’s 2024 roster of 100 football players last season was very young and rather thin – especially on defense.
The 2024 Northwestern State football season finished with a disappointing 0-12 record and extended the Demons’ football misery to two straight seasons without a win.
NSU was the only FCS (small college) team in the country to go winless in 2024. Their only company in “The 0-12 Club” last season was FBS (large school) member Kent State.
The Demons were shut-out four times in 2024. The offense scored just 144 points for the entire season (12 points per game).
Northwestern State’s defensive struggles were even worse. They gave up an incredible 45.4 points per game.
Losing games by an average of more than 33 points per game brought an 0-12 season record in 2024.
A very talented high school quarterback is coming aboard in 2025
Bossier City’s Airline High School has produced a long history of talented quarterbacks.
Northwestern State head coach Blaine McCorkle offered a football scholarship to Airline’s talented quarterback Ben Taylor after his junior year in 2024.
That turned out to be a very smart move.
Ben Taylor’s senior season produced an 11-1 record before the Vikings fell in the second round of the Louisiana high school playoffs.
Taylor finished his high school career as Louisiana’s #2 all-time passing leader with 12,374 yards. His senior year produced an incredible 4,357 yards and 47 touchdown passes.
The 6’1” 180-pound quarterback received a number of other college scholarship offers last year but never wavered from his year-long commitment to Coach Blaine McCorkle and Northwestern State.
Ben Taylor will join several other talented incoming freshmen and a new crop of college transfer players (mostly on the defensive side of the ball) trying to reinvigorate the Northwestern State football program this season.
That’s the good news. The NSU Demons’ 2025 football schedule appears rather tough.
Northwestern State will play five of its first seven games on the road this fall.
The 2025 season begins at home in Natchitoches with a Thursday night, August 28 game against Alcorn State University. The Braves posted a 6-6 record in 2024 and will present a formidable season opening test for the Demons.
A three-game road trip takes Northwestern State to face Big Ten member Minnesota (8-5 in 2024), at Cincinnati Bearcats of the Big 12 (5-7 last season), and a trip to Prairie View A&M Panthers of the SWAC (5-7 in 2024).
The remainder of the Demons’ 2025 schedule includes a road game at Southeastern Louisiana (7-5 last year) and a home game against defending Southland Conference champion Incarnate Word of San Antonio. The Cardinals went 11-3 last year and advanced to the FCS playoffs quarterfinal round.
The Northwestern State season finale comes at home on November 20 against long-time rival Stephen F. Austin.
A humongous 7’6” 320-pound trophy recently renamed as “The Chief” (honoring the local Caddo Nation tribe) will be on the line when the Demons host the Lumberjacks.
When will the NSU Demons break their 20-game losing streak?
The last Southland Conference football title for Northwestern State came in 2004 as the 9-4 Demons lost an opening round game in the FCS playoffs at the University of Montana.
Coach Blaine McCorkle isn’t thinking about conference titles or FCS playoffs just yet.
A series of tough early season tests lie ahead. The second half of the 2025 season may provide a few more winnable games.
The Southland Conference media representatives recently predicted the Demons will finish 9th out of ten teams in 2025.
That 10th place team, though, represents a college football newcomer.
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley plays its inaugural season of college football this fall as it joins the Southland Conference.
Sadly for Northwestern State’s football fans, the Vaqueros from Edinburg, Texas are not on the fall football schedule.
Keep the faith, Demons supporters!
Here’s hoping that NSU’s losing streak ends soon. College football fans in Natchitoches deserve to have a few opportunities to sing the Demons’ fight song (a rather catchy tune) in celebration this fall.
“Go, ye Demons, take the field
Northwestern Demons never yield
So fight, Demons, win tonight
Victory is on our side
(Go, Fight, Win!)
Purple and white shall ever reign
Filling the air with battle strain
So Demons forever stand
And fight for dear old Demonland!”
The post Northwestern State Football – Cautious Optimism in 2025 appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.