After enjoying their second bye week of the season, the Cowboys went back to work Monday to put the finishing touches on their campaign.

With two games remaining, McNeese State has a chance to post its first winning season under third-year head coach Gary Goff. At 5-5, 2-3 in the Southland Conference, the Cowboys can also have a winning record in the league as well.

“It has been quite some time since we have done around here,” said Goff. “It is long overdue, but it isn’t going to be easy.”

The Cowboys used the week to rest a little and get healthier.

“It has been a long, strange season,” said Goff. “It was a very much-needed week to recover.”

Finishing with a winning record would be a big boost for the program which hasn’t had one of those since 2019 when McNeese posted a 7-5 mark in Sterlin Gilbert’s only year on the sidelines. The Cowboys haven’t made the playoffs since 2016 and haven’t won a postseason game dating back to 2022. 

After last year’s 1-10 season with the only victory coming by forfeit, McNeese has already shown progress. Now the Cowboys want to finish taking two big steps.

That first step would be this Saturday, when McNeese travels to Natchitoches to take on the winless Northwestern State at 1 p.m. Ironically, the Demons (0-10, 0-5) are the ones who forfeited last year to McNeese, costing the school its Homecoming gate.

NSU has lost 18 in a row over the last three seasons, 22 if you count the all forfeits.

The two rivals haven’t met since 2021, the season before Goff took over.

“We haven’t played them since we have been here, which seems a little strange,” said Goff. “But it is a big game for them.”

The Cowboys will finish at home the following weekend against Lamar. But after last weekend, when East Texas A&M and Houston Christian each picked up upset wins, Goff wants to make sure his team is ready.

“I want our guys to be focused on this game,” he said. “They don’t have anything to lose. They are going to come at us and play hard.”

McNeese will look to build on their win over East Texas two weeks ago. That was before the school changed its name and was still called Texas A&M-Commerce.

The Cowboys ran for 357 yards, the most under Goff and third-most in program history. Both Bryce Strong and Joshon Barbie finished with over 100 yards.

“We always want to be balanced,” said Goff. “When you can run the ball a lot of things open up.”

The run game helped offset a poor performance by redshirt freshman quarterback Kamden Sixkiller. In his first game since being named the starter, Sixkiller was just 2 of 11 with a touchdown and two interceptions.

McNeese could have another big day on the ground this week. The Cowboys lead the league in rushing at 185.6 yards a game while the Demons allow 226.7.

“We want to run to keep our defense off the field and to help protect Six best we can,” said Goff. 

While the program has struggled under Goff, if the Cowboys could win out it would give them two three-game winning streaks for the year. It would also be the second time in three seasons Goff has led them to three straight victories to end a season.