For one half Saturday night, Cowboy fans were given a glimpse of what might be the future.

Unfortunately, present-day issues returned after the break.

Fifth-ranked Incarnate Word found its stride after intermission and rallied to erase a 17-point deficit and keep McNeese State winless on the season.

The Cardinals, behind backup quarterback Richard Torres, scored four times over the third and fourth quarters, toppling McNeese 35-24 inside Cowboy Stadium. Three of those touchdowns came in the final 14 minutes

The loss was the seventh straight to start the season for McNeese, adding to the program record. The Pokes also fell to 0-3 in the Southland Conference.

UIW won its sixth straight to improve to 6-1, 3-0.

“There are some hurting young men in that locker room,” said McNeese head coach Gary Goff. “They are really hurting right now. We had a very good team on the ropes

“There is more hurting in there right now than there has been this year..”

Torres came off the bench in the second half to lead the Cards after Ryan Stubblefield started for injured Zach Calzada. Torres finished 11-of-18 for 161 yards and three touchdowns, two going to Brandon Porter, who had six catches for 91 yards.

The two combine on a 36-yard scoring pass with 5:09 left to give UIW a 28-24 lead, its first of the game.

“We couldn’t finish it,” said Goff. “I’m proud of how we played. Guys played extremely hard we were just overmatched down the stretch.”

After dominating the first half, McNeese struggled over the final 30 minutes, gaining just 80 yards with 23 of those coming on the final two drives. Meanwhile, the Cardinals, who finished with 514 yards of total offense, had 330 of those after intermission.

They also ran for 301 yards on the night as Timothy Carter led the way with 165 yards on 20 carries. Isaiah Robinson had 121 yards on 17 tries.

“We missed some tackles,” said Goff. “We can’t arm tackle and get away with it.”

McNeese had a surprise starter at quarterback itself, as redshirt freshman walk-on Ryan Roberts got his first start of the season. Roberts, who quarterbacked the Cowboys to three straight wins to close out last season, got off to a strong start.

He hit Jon McCall on touchdown passes of 57 and 28 yards in the second quarter. That gave McCall all five of the McNeese TD grabs on the year.

Another walk-on and redshirt freshman Joshon Barbie also made his mark early. Barbie opened the scoring with a 24-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter.

The Cardinals’ only first-half score came early in the second quarter on Isaiah Robinson’s one-yard between McCall scores.

Garrison Smith connected on a 28-yard field goal to give the Pokes a 24-7 lead at halftime.

Roberts, who will likely get another start next week, finished 17-of-30 for 200 yards to go with the two scores. But only 50 of those came after halftime.

“Ryan is a cool kid,” said Goff. “He did a really good job managing the game so we stuck with him.”

As for Barbie, he had a coming-out party by rushing for 117 yards on 21 carries, including the score.

“What a great kid,” Goff said of Barbie. “For him to step in and play like he did says a lot. He’s just another young bright spot.”

McNeese will look to end its losing streak next week against Northwestern State. Over the next three weeks, the Cowboys will play teams that have combined to win just three times against Division I competition.

“If we can play like that and practice like we did over the next couple of weeks we can win the rest of our games,” said Goff.

That could help in moving the program forward during this, the longest of seasons.