Tarleton State comes to town Saturday night with many of the same hopes and dreams as McNeese State.

Four years into their move up to Division I, the Texans have their eyes on going even higher.

Like McNeese, Tarleton is looking to climb into college football’s top division. The Texans would love to be considered for an opening on the Football Bowl Subdivision level when the next set of realignment moves are made.

In fact, Tarleton and McNeese both think they would be perfect fits for Conference USA.

That fact makes for an interesting backdrop to the season opener at Cowboy Stadium. Truth is, the Texans will be no pushover.

“They are a very good football team,” McNeese head coach Gary Goff said of the Texans. “They have a lot of positive things going on over there.”

Like the Cowboys, who have seen improvements in their locker room and other facilities with upgrades, including a new press box being built, Tarleton is doing the same thing. The school is investing in a new fieldhouse in hopes of landing better recruits and maybe a new league to play in.

“It will be outstanding to recruit to this beautiful fieldhouse,” Tarleton head coach Todd Whitten said. “This will be a real shot in the arm to our recruiting.”

McNeese and Tarleton were almost in the same conference a couple of times. Tarleton looked at moving into the Southland before selecting the Western Athletic Conference.

The Cowboys recently flirted with the WAC before electing to stay, which adds to the opener’s intrigue.

And both schools have come a long way since they last met. McNeese was the first team Tarleton played as an official D-I school when the teams opened the strange spring season in February of 2021.

As the wind chill dipped into single digits that night in Texas, McNeese rallied to score two late touchdowns to send the game into overtime. The Cowboys won 40-37 in double overtime. Since then McNeese has had three losing seasons but is 2-0 all-time against Tarleton.

The Cowboys are 10-18 since that game but believe they have turned the corner in their rebuild.

“I like where we are as a program,” Goff said. “We are light-years ahead of last season.”

The Texans say they are also looking forward to this game.

“I like where this team is at,” Whitten said. “We got a chance to go over there and play well.”

Like the Cowboys, Tarleton has yet to officially name a starting quarterback. They are also deciding between two transfers, Victor Gabalis from Utah Tech and Daniel Greek out of Mississippi State.

Goff said he is familiar with both quarterbacks and even recruited Greek. They are each considered drop-back passers.

The Texans will return wide receivers Darius Cooper and Jaden Smith, along with 1,000-yard rusher Derrel Kelley, giving them a trio of experienced skilled position players on offense to build around.

Much like the Cowboys, Tarleton is built around a lot of transfers so there are questions for both teams heading into the season’s first game.

There will also be a lot of raised expectations on both sides of the field Saturday night.

And both coaches have made it clear they will know a lot more about their teams come Sunday morning.