After a long, hot summer, the Cowboys are ready to hit somebody else.

They will get that chance Saturday when they travel to Stephenville, Texas for an opener on national television.

“We are excited it is here,” said Gary Goff Monday as McNeese State started its first of 12 game weeks.

“It has been a long camp. This has been the longest camp any of us have ever been a part of. These guys have hit the wall. They are tired of hitting each other.” 

Goff enters his third year as the Cowboy head coach and it is a pivotal one after last season’s 1-10 forgettable campaign.

The Cowboys will see a familiar foe when they open at Tarleton State. This will be the third time in the last five seasons the two teams will square off in an opener. They have split the two previous games.

McNeese won in the spring of 2021 at Tarleton, rallying for a 40-37 double-overtime victory. Last year the Texans came to Lake Charles and broke open a 17-17 tie at halftime to run off with a 52-34 victory.

This time programs will square off in the first game on American soil this season. The game will kick off at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN2 as part of Week Zero.

Florida State and Georgia are the first college game but that is being played in Ireland and should be completed for McNeese and Tarleton starts. A third game begins at 3 p.m., giving the college football stage solely to the Cowboys and Texans for almost a full quarter.

The two schools agreed to move their game four weeks from its original date so they could be in the spotlight.

“It is great for us, it is great for our university,” said Goff. “We are the first game of the season, which is cool. We are excited about it.”

The Cowboys are looking to flip the script from a program-worst season that saw their only win come by way of a forfeit. 

“Our guys are hungry, they have a chip on their shoulder and they want to compete,” said Goff. “We want to keep that chip on their shoulder right there.”

The Texans finished 8-3 last fall and have even higher ambitions this season as they enter their first full campaign as an FCS program. They are up from the Division II level. Ironically, their first game on the D-I level came in that spring loss to McNeese back in 2021. 

Tarleton enters the season on a high, ranked nationally in most preseason polls. They have been selected anywhere from 23rd to 18th in FCS and are 18-point favorites over the Cowboys. Last year it was McNeese who was the big favorite.

“This is a great opponent we are going up against and it is going to take four quarters to win it,” said Goff. “This is a great opportunity for us to go out there and play well. We are excited about it.”

However, Goff also doesn’t want to make the season about just this one game.  

“This is only important because it is our first game, and I mean that,” he said. “It is one game at a time. You can’t lose focus of that. We are locked into being the best team we can be today and tomorrow.

“One game doesn’t define you. I don’t want to put that weight on these young men and this staff. We are focused on being 1-0 and we will see where we are after that.”

A win would be a huge confidence boost for the Cowboys, who have 59 new players on their roster while Tarleton will return the bulk of their squad. That includes all 11 offensive players who started last year against the Cowboys and rolled to 554 yards. 

Quarterback Victor Gabalis threw for 344 and three touchdowns while McNeese’s quarterback Nate Glantz was sacked seven times. That helped lead to the major overhaul in the Cowboy roster, including on defense.

“They have a balanced, explosive offense, but we have improved on both sides of the ball,” said Goff. “We put in a lot of hard work this offseason and I’m excited to see how we play against a quality team.”

Thanks to ESPN2, for at least 30 minutes the Cowboys will be the only game to watch.