So much for fresh starts, second chances and reset buttons.

Instead, the start of Southland Conference play proved more of the same for the Cowboys Saturday night.

Four turnovers and 11 penalties were too much for McNeese State to overcome, as Nicholls won the battle of winless teams 31-10 inside Cowboy Stadium in the league opener for both teams.

The 11 penalties for 99 yards are the most against a Goff team since he took over McNeese last season. The loss was the fifth straight to straight to start the season for the Pokes, which hasn’t happened since 1954.

“Nobody likes the situation we are in,” said McNeese head coach Gary Goff. “We will continue to find out who is all in.”

The Cowboys were their own worst enemy as they handed the Colonels 17 early points. Fourteens of those came by way of turnovers while another three were by penalty.

That gave the Colonels a 24-7 lead at halftime.

“We did it,” said Goff. “We did it plain and simple. They played a clean game and we didn’t.”

Mistakes started early for the Cowboys as Jonathan Harris fumbled the first punt of the night and Nicholls’ Maurquel Price jumped on the ball at the McNeese 5-yard line. Two plays later Collin Guggenheim found Neno Lemay with a 2-yard scoring pass and a 7-0 Colonel lead.

“We get a stop to start the game and then give it right back,” said Goff. “That is 100 percent on us.”

The Colonels made it 14-0 with a touchdown pass from Pat McQuaide to David Robinson early in the second quarter. The play went for 25 yards and capped a five-play, 47-yard drive.

McNeese got back into the game on a 24-yard scoring pass from Nate Glantz to Jon McCall with 8:50 left before halftime. It was the third time the duo hooked up for a score in the last two games.

That’s when the real trouble began.

The Colonels scored 10 points over a 42-second span just before halftime to take back control. Those points were handed to them by McNeese.

First, there was a penalty on third down that extended a drive that led to Gavin Lasseigne’s 25-yard field goal with 2:57 left. That came after McNeese linebacker Micah Davey dropped an interception and Demetrios Walker was called for hands to the face on McQuaide.

Then Glantz was picked off by linebacker Quinton Sharkey, who raced 22 yards for a 24-7 lead.

“Two critical mistakes right there,” said Goff. “I love the play call, just didn’t execute.”

McNeese cut the lead to 24-10 on Garrison Smith’s 44-yard field goal midway through the third quarter. But Glantz’s second interception of the night ended the Cowboys’ next drive.

Glantz finished 14-of-30 for 199 yards, his most as a Cowboy. However, the interceptions were killers.

“He was forcing the ball right there,” said Goff. “Just trying to do too much. There was no reason to press right there.”

The Colonels put the game away on Jaylon Spears’ 2-yard TD run three minutes into the fourth quarter.

Guggenheim led the Nicholls attack with 103 yards on 22 carries, but most of those came when the game was basically over. He had 60 of those yards after the outcome had been decided.

“I’m not going to say we are desperate,” Goff said. “We are backed into a corner. We have to do everything right if we truly care to change this culture.”

McNeese will try to get its first win of the season next week when it travels to Texas A&M-Commerce, which is also winless.