The last time McNeese State celebrated a homecoming of sorts, Incarnate Word crashed the party.

In February the Cowboys returned to their home turf six months after it had been hit by a hurricane. It was supposed to be a triumph over Mother Nature.

However, the feel-good story turned into a nightmare as the Cardinals stole the show. The 48-20 victory was a kick in the gut to a program already suffering.

On Saturday, the Cowboys welcome back the Cardinals for yet another homecoming, this one more official. It’s gutsy to invite a team that has beaten you three consecutive times by a combine score of 124-37 to your big day.

It’s like inviting an ex to your wedding and hoping everybody gets along.

It wasn’t always like this between these two. The first four meetings was all McNeese, with the finale of that streak a 55-7 rout in Lake Charles.

The Cowboys scored three touchdowns on interception returns. So this great passing game of Incarnate Word wasn’t always unstoppable either.

Now, though, we have a rivalry on many fronts.

UIW sits atop the Southland Conference, a place McNeese has occupied 14 times, more than any other. Cowboys fans figured their team would quickly move to their believed rightful spot atop the standings now that five teams left the league.

That only helps add fuel to Saturday’s game. Homecoming, rivalry, payback … All we are missing is Lane Kiffin it seems.

Truth of the matter is Incarnate Word, more than any other team in the conference, has become the Cowboys’ villain, the black hats who ride into town and rob the bank, shoot up main street and ride off into the hills, leaving the good folks of Lake Charles shaking in their boots.

“They are our toughest matchup,” admits McNeese head coach Frank Wilson.

And we are not talking about a rivalry just on the field. If you believe social media and the rumor world, McNeese and UIW are also battling in the back hallways of the Western Athletic Conference offices.

It has been reported that both schools made presentations to WAC officials in hopes of getting an invitation to the league. No word on any pending invites going out just yet.

One wonders if they are going to bump into each other on the way to offices of the Sun Belt or Conference USA as well.

This simply adds more intrigue to Saturday’s meeting, a nice side story to the game.

Wilson has said the Cowboys won’t have to play a perfect game to win, but will have to be at their best. The margin for error against UIW is small but there is a way to pull off the upset and right the wrongs of the past three meetings.

It is homecoming weekend on McNeese’s campus so it is a time of magic and dreams.

Without question this is the most critical game of the season for the Cowboys, a last stand. Coming off a win last weekend, the Cowboys seem to have momentum. They will need it and more.

Like them, hate them or don’t care about them, we still have to admit Incarnate Word is a good football team with a tremendous offense that has turned its games into track meets.

They are what college football has become, but the Cardinals are not unbeatable. The formula is simple: don’t give up big plays, control the clock by running the football and don’t turn the ball over.

McNeese has done little if any of those during the Cardinals’ streak.

It is time they flip the script, if they can.

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Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers McNeese State athletics for the American Press. Email him at jimgazzolo@yahoo.com