The redemption tour begins Saturday.

Looking to put last year’s disaster in the rearview mirror for good, the Cowboys open up their season in Stephenville, Texas.

Coming off a program-worst 1-10 season, McNeese State will put its completely overhauled roster on display for the entire nation to see against upstart Tarleton State in the season opener.

The game will be the first on American soil this season, as the Cowboys and Texans kick off the 2024 campaign on ESPN2 at 2:35 p.m. inside Memorial Stadium. The game was moved up four weeks from its original date to be on national television. Only the Florida State-Georgia Tech game in Ireland will start earlier.

“It is a great opportunity for our program and our university,” said McNeese head coach Gary Goff. “We are excited to see how we stack up against a very good team. We feel we are a completely different team this year.”

Tarleton, ranked as high as No. 18 in one preseason poll, is picked for second in the United Athletic Conference.

“None of that matters if you don’t go out and take care of business,” said Texan head coach Todd Whitten.

He added that despite their troubles a year ago, the Cowboys still have his club’s respect.

“They have been a traditional FCS, I-AA power over the years,” Whitten said. “They have a lot of unknowns but they will be athletic and well coached.”

Last season the undermanned Cowboys fell to the Texans at home 52-34 after the clubs were tied 17 all at halftime.

The Texans, who finished 8-3 a year ago, return 10 starters to an offense that averaged 33.3 points a game and had 554 yards against the Cowboys. Quarterback Victor Gabalis threw for 344 yards and three touchdowns as Tarleton scored 35 straight points during a 15:11 span of the second half.

That came after McNeese had taken a 24-17 lead on the first drive of the second half. From there it all went downhill as the Texans finished with seven sacks.

“We just didn’t have the depth last year, but we addressed that this season,” said Goff.

The Cowboys are trying to rebuild a program that hasn’t had a winning season in four years, most in program history. McNeese hasn’t made the playoffs since 2016 and hasn’t won a postseason game since 2002 when they lost in the national championship.

With that McNeese brought in 59 newcomers, including quarterback Clifton McDowell, who guided Montana to the FCS title game last season. The Cowboys added many offensive weapons, including running back Tre’Vonte Citizen (Miami) and receiver Curtis Duville (Purdue).

Both played high school football in the area and are returning home to try and help turn the Cowboys around.

New quarterback Clifton McDowell, who led Montana to the FCS title game a season ago, brings new life to the McNeese offense.

“He is a really good athlete, a good passer, just a really solid quarterback,” Whitten said of McDowell. “The strength of his game is his athleticism and he’s a hard runner who isn’t afraid to run between the tackles.

The defense is also beefed up as McNeese added five linemen, three linebackers, and a host of secondary guys to try and improve a group that allowed 249.2 yards per game on the ground, the second-worst in all of FCS.

Kayon Britten will be the top target for the McNeese defense, as he ran for 1,150 yards and 16 touchdowns last year and is the UAC preseason Player of the Year pick.

“We have to stop the run,” said Goff. “We have to stay ahead of the chains both on offense and defense. We didn’t do that last year.”

McNeese All-American linebacker Micah Davey, who led the nation in tackles per game at 15.3, believes the Cowboys are ready.

“We are a lot better defense this year,” said Davey. “We got guys who can make plays all over the field.”

It’s Davey who said he came back to help turn McNeese back into the type of football program it used to be.

“I want to be here when we turn this around and McNeese is back at the top of the Southland Conference.”  Davey said.“We want to right the ship. The main thing I’m excited about is redemption, proving everybody wrong, and restoring McNeese to its former glory.”

That journey, Davey and the Cowboys hope starts in Texas.