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Northwestern State Demons football

{{Short description|Intercollegiate American football team}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}{{Infobox college football team

| CurrentSeason = 2024 Northwestern State Demons football team

| TeamName = Northwestern State Demons football

| Image = Northwestern State Demons wordmark.svg

| ImageSize = 250

| HeadCoach = Blaine McCorkle

| HeadCoachYear = 1st

| HCWins = 0

| HCLosses = 12

| Stadium = Harry Turpin Stadium

| StadCapacity = 15,971

| StadSurface = Fieldturf

| Location = Natchitoches, Louisiana

| NCAAdivision = I FCS

| Conference = Southland Conference

| FirstYear = {{Start date and age|1907}}

| AthleticDirector = Kevin Bostian

| ATWins = 631

| ATLosses = 398

| ATTies = 40

| BowlWins =

| BowlLosses =

| BowlTies =

| NatlTitles =

| ConfTitles = 12

| DivTitles =

| AllAmericans =

| uniform =

| FightSong = Northwestern Fight[http://demonband.nsula.edu/assets/fightsong.mp3 Fight song]

| MascotDisplay = Vic the Demon

| MarchingBand = Spirit of Northwestern[http://demonband.nsula.edu/ Spirit of Northwestern]

| Rivalries = McNeese State (rivalry)
Nicholls (rivalry)
Southeastern Louisiana (rivalry)
Louisiana–Monroe (rivalry) Stephen F. Austin (rivalry)

| WebsiteName = NSUDemons.com

| WebsiteURL = https://nsudemons.com/sports/football

}}

The Northwestern State Demons football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Northwestern State University located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and is a member of the Southland Conference. Northwestern State's first football team was fielded in 1907. The team plays its home games at the 15,971 seat Harry Turpin Stadium in Natchitoches, Louisiana.{{cite web| title=Northwestern State Historical Data| publisher=College Football Data Warehouse| url=http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/southland/northwestern_state/index.php| access-date=2014-02-11| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222051148/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/southland/northwestern_state/index.php| archive-date=2014-02-22}}

History

{{See also|List of Northwestern State Demons football seasons}}

File:Northwestern State vs. HCU Football 11-23-24 (7) (cropped).jpg in Houston]]

Northwestern State football has the distinction of being the only NCAA division IAA/FCS member to have 2 NFL rookies of the year. In 1981, Joe Delaney, running back for the Kansas City Chiefs, was awarded the AFC Rookie of the year by UPI. In 1988, John Stephens, running back for the New England Patriots, was named Offensive/AFC Rookie of the year. No other 4-year institution in the state of Louisiana has more than one.

Conference affiliations

Championships

= Conference championships =

Northwestern State has 12 conference championships.{{CN|date=December 2018}}

class="wikitable"
{{CollegePrimaryHeader|team=Northwestern State Demons|Year|Conference|Coach|Overall record|Conference record}}
1939Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Associationrowspan="2" | Harry Turpin11–07–0
1953†rowspan="6" | Gulf States Conference6–25–1
1957rowspan="4" | Jack Clayton7–24–1
19588–24–1
19627–2–14–1
19669–05–0
1972George Doherty8–26–0
1984†Gulf Star Conferencerowspan="4" | Sam Goodwin7–44–1
1988rowspan="4" | Southland Conference10–36–0
1997†8–46–1
199811–36–1
2004†Scott Stoker8–44–1

† Co-champions

Division I-AA/FCS Playoffs results

The Demons have appeared in the I-AA/FCS playoffs six times with an overall record of 3–6.

class="wikitable"
{{CollegePrimaryHeader|team=Northwestern State Demons|Year|Round|Opponent|Result}}
1988First Round
Quarterfinals		Boise State
Idaho		W 22–13
L 30–38
1997First RoundEastern WashingtonL 10–40
1998First Round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals		Illinois State
Appalachian State
Massachusetts		W 48–28
W 31–20
L 31–41
2001rowspan="3" | First Roundrowspan="3" | MontanaL 19–28
2002L 14–45
2004L 7–56

Rivalries

=McNeese State=

{{main|McNeese State–Northwestern State football rivalry}}

McNeese State leads the series 45–22–1 through the 2018 season.

=Nicholls=

{{main|NSU Challenge}}

Northwestern State leads the series with Nicholls 28–18 through the 2018 season.

=Southeastern Louisiana=

{{main|Northwestern State–Southeastern Louisiana football rivalry}}

Southeastern Louisiana leads the series 28–22 through the 2018 season.

=Stephen F. Austin=

Battle for Chief Caddo

{{main|Chief Caddo}}

Each season, Stephen F. Austin State University of Nacogdoches, Texas and Northwestern State play for the country's largest football trophy.[http://www.nsudemons.com/news/2013/11/23/FB_1123135635.aspx 2013 Chief Caddo 2013] In 1961, longtime rivals SFA and Northwestern State decided to award the winner of the game a trophy, the game was won by Northwestern State University. According to the stipulations of that particular match, the loser would have to present the winner with a tree chopped down from a nearby forest.

In March 1962, the Lumberjacks of SFA in Nacogdoches, Texas, presented NSU with a black gum tree trunk from the SFA campus from which a statue was to be carved. The black gum tree weighed over a ton and was thirty inches in diameter. An Indian statue, Chief Caddo, was chosen because of the historic founding of Natchitoches, Louisiana and Nacogdoches, Texas by Indian tribes. Natchitoches means chinquapin eaters and Nacogdoches means persimmon eaters. It was carved by Harold Greene in Logansport and required over 200 hours of labor. The name “Chief Indian Caddo” was selected in honor of the ancient federation of Caddo Indian tribes, which once inhabited the northern Louisiana area. The final painting of the statue was done at Northwestern. The finished product stands around 7.6 feet tall and weighs about 320 pounds. The first game for Chief Caddo was September 15, 1962. Northwestern won 23–6. Tradition has it that the winner of the annual NSU and SFA football game keeps Chief Caddo on their respective campus. Currently, Chief Caddo is the largest college football trophy in the nation.

=Louisiana–Monroe=

{{main|Louisiana–Monroe–Northwestern State football rivalry}}

In the 1992 edition of the rivalry game, the teams' mascots Vic the Demon and Chief Brave Spirit got involved in a fight that distracted television cameras to the point that the entire altercation is caught on video. In the scuffle, Vic the Demon's head is ripped off as the two crashed to the ground behind one of the end zones, which according to the video clip breaks a "cardinal rule" of being a mascot. The melee was broken up by college police without further incident.{{cite news| url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/news/2003/07/10/mascot_timeline/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030811021509/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/news/2003/07/10/mascot_timeline/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=August 11, 2003 | work=CNN | title=A history of bizarre mascot incidents}} The game was last played in 2005. Northwestern State leads the series with Louisiana–Monroe 28–19–1.

Notable former players

Notable alumni include:

Future non-conference opponents

Announced non-conference opponents as of February 4, 2025.{{cite web| title=Northwestern State Demons Football Schedules and Future Schedules|publisher=fbschedules.com| url=https://fbschedules.com/ncaa/northwestern-state/|access-date=February 4, 2025}}

class="wikitable"

{{CollegePrimaryHeader|team=Northwestern State Demons|2025|2026|2027|2028}}

| Alcorn State

| at Louisiana Tech

| at Hawaii

| Central Arkansas

at Minnesota

| at Weber State

| at Central Arkansas

|

at Cincinnati

|

|

|

at Stephen F. Austin

|

|

|

See also

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • {{Official website}}

{{Northwestern State Demons football navbox}}

{{Northwestern State University}}

{{Southland Conference football navbox}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Northwestern State Demons Football}}

Category:American football teams established in 1907

Category:1907 establishments in Louisiana