Lake Charles, La. ? Achille Fairchild has played, and lost, in three games against Bowl Championship Series-level opponents in his career at McNeese State.

All three times, especially in the Cowboys’ two most recent forays into college football’s highest level, he has heard the compliments when the Cowboys returned home.

“It’s still a loss,” said Fairchild. “That’s the way I look at it.”

McNeese will play its fourth game in as many years against college football’s “big time” today when the Cowboys, ranked No. 1 in Division I-AA, go to Kansas State, ranked No. 7 in Division I-A.

Fairchild made his college debut in a 61-14 loss to Miami in the 2000 opener. Since then, the Cowboys have been more competitive.

McNeese led Texas A&M by 16 points before losing 38-24 in 2001. A year ago, the Cowboys played Nebraska tough for three quarters before losing 38-14.

Kansas State will be the highest-ranked I-A opponent McNeese has faced since Miami.

“We accept that challenge,” Fairchild said. “We want to play the best and see how we match up.”

The odds are clearly stacked against McNeese, which has far fewer resources and 22 fewer scholarships than Kansas State. Wins by I-AAs against I-As are not unusual, but they normally come against smaller I-A programs, like last week’s Florida Atlantic win over Middle Tennessee of the Sun Belt Conference.

A year ago, McNeese beat I-A Louisiana-Monroe 24-19. The Cowboys are 4-7-1 against I-A foes since they went to I-AA.