The first panel of honors by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association has been selected for the 2014 college football season. Kenny Hillard was named the Offensive Player of the Week. Hillard’s second half of rushing helped get the LSU offense rolling in the tigers 28-24 comeback win over Wisconsin on Saturday. ULM’s Mitch Lane, who also made the ESPN Sports Center Top 10 plays in their win over Wake Forest got Defensive Player of the week. And Special teams player of the week went to Louisiana-Lafayette punter Daniel Cadona who in the opening week got best average in the nation.

The top 25 teams in the Coaches Football Championship Subdivision polls are out. Southeastern Louisiana made the No 3 spot after their 44-3 win over Jacksonville over the weekend. McNeese State came in at NO.6. The Cowboys kick off their season Saturday at Nebraska.

The Saints are preparing for Sunday’s season opener against Atlanta. The Black and Gold signed ten players to their practice squad Monday, including former LSU and McNeese State tight end Nick Jacobs and safety Pierre Warren. Warren played well in the preseason with ten tackles and an interception. Practice squad players are not on team’s 53-man rosters but they do get paid to train as if they are. They can also be promoted to the full team and signed to the 53-man rosters of other teams.

Making big national news Monday in sports, the Houston Astros have fired manager Bo Porter in his second season with the club. Apparently GM Jeff Luhnow says it doesn’t have anything to do with the record this year, which is the second worst in the league, but they want to take things in a new direction. Tom Lawless has been named interim manager for the Astros.