For those who believe the McNeese State football season was left for dead 12 days ago on the turf at Houston Christian, it wasn’t.

Battered, yes; beaten, sure; bruised, no question; but dead, not yet.

“There is a lot of football ahead of us,” said Cowboys head coach Gary Goff. “We still have a lot to play for.”

McNeese hopes last week’s bye leads to a resurrection of its season. It was much needed for sure.

Now, five games remain, all in conference play. The Cowboys stand at 4-3, already having won as many games as they have the last two combined. They haven’t won more than four games in a season since 2019.

That would be the last one played before hurricanes and an NCAA academic probation hijacked the program.

That, however, is an old story line, one that few care about anymore.

This is supposed to be a new season, a fresh start with a bunch of new faces and new attitudes. The direction was pointing up.

And the days of getting run over by the likes of the Houston Christians of the Southland Conference were supposed to also be over.

Yet here we are, standing in the middle of a campaign that can go either way it seems depending on the next month or so.

The Cowboys have shown signs of improvement, winning against Stephen F. Austin and at No. 25 Weber State. They have also played a solid half against a nationally ranked Tarleton State.

Then again, they have also struggled just when you thought it was safe to take a shot of the Kool-Aid once more.

That gulp proved to be a bitter one as Houston Christian beat McNeese 43-22 only to get pounded at home the following week itself by Southeastern Louisiana. That saw a bunch of folks leap quickly off the bandwagon just a few days after they had jumped on.

It all makes you wonder just where this edition of the Cowboys really stands.

There is both a path to the postseason and even a conference championship for McNeese. There is also a road to disaster.

A weird ride still seems to have more than a few twists and turns remaining.

Here is what we do know: the Cowboys have a chance to make everyone forget the previous seven games when they show up Saturday at Benson Stadium to play Incarnate Word.

The Cardinals are the top dog in the Southland, a spot McNeese used to call home. They are the next measuring stick for the rebuilding process.

“This is a very, very important game for us,” Goff admitted. “It is the next challenge for the program.”

UIW is one of the best offenses in the country, loaded and seems to take games against McNeese personally. Over the last four seasons, they have twice appeared to run up the score on the Cowboys, though that was under previous head coaches it should be noted.

Still, this game seems to have become a personal rivalry to the Cardinals, who hammered a solid Nicholls State club last weekend 55-10. So putting a hurt on somebody is to their liking.

Yet this is also a great opportunity for McNeese to jump right back into the SLC race, to show the football program is truly on the rise.

Five games, starting with the toughest one, it is a stretch that will determine just where the program is headed.

And from the looks of things, it could go either way.

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Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers McNeese State athletics for the American Press. Email him at jimgazzolo@yahoo.com