The good can't outweigh the bad for the Cowboys – American Press

Same old, same old.

The Cowboys ended their five-week travel odyssey with a performance that was a microcosm of their season so far.

Mistakes, poor play and penalties ultimately overshadowed any signs of improvement and optimism. And another quite well-played and winnable game fell by the wayside.

Frustration has now officially replaced hope as, despite early superiority, McNeese State fell to Nicholls behind a bevy of self-inflicted wounds Saturday afternoon in Thibodaux.

The result for Cowboy fans was a frustrating and disheartening 24-19 loss to the Colonels at Guidry Stadium. The loss was McNeese's third road loss in the Southland Conference.

At 4-5 overall and 1-3, it's all but certain that the Cowboys will miss the postseason for the ninth straight season. They need to win two of their last three games to avoid losing for a fifth straight season.

The Colonels kept their playoff hopes alive, improving to 4-4, 2-1 with their fourth straight win over the Cowboys. It was McNeese's sixth straight SLC road loss in the last two years.

“We made some mistakes that cost us,” McNeese head coach Gary Goff said. “We moved the ball, but we just didn’t finish drives with points. It doesn’t matter if you don’t score any points.”

McNeese tried to get back into the game late, scoring on a 2-yard run from Bryce Strong with 2:39 left to cut the lead to five. However, the two-point conversion failed.

However, Nicholls picked up a first down on the ensuing drive and almost made it all the way. Hopes of a desperate rally ended with Eli Ennis' late interception of a Camden Sixkiller interception.

Sixkiller again played for the injured Clifton McDowell, who did not make the trip to Nicholls. McDowell was expected to make a game-winning decision after showing improvement throughout the week.

Sixkiller, making his third start, finished 22 of 40 for 233 yards but was sacked four times, all by linebacker Jake Dalmado, Southland's leader. Dalmado has seven sacks in the last two games.

McNeese outgained Nicholls 401-371, but was rejected 10 times for 81 yards in the shootout, including two more unsportsmanlike calls. The Cowboys were also just 4 of 14 on third-down conversions, both problems they've had all season.

“We missed some opportunities,” Goff said. “They were doing playbacks on the track and we weren’t.”

Nicholls took a big lead on quarterback Pat McQuide's 1-yard run with 8:02 left to take a 24-13 lead. This came after Tyler Larco kicked a 26-yard field goal for the Pokes six minutes earlier.

Nicholls scored its only points in the third quarter on a 41-yard field goal from Gabe Schowalter to take a 17-10 lead with 5:14 left.

The Cowboys started the game well, taking a 10-2 lead midway through the second quarter after sophomore Joshon Barbie scored on a 69-yard run, the longest of his career. Barbie finished the game with 121 yards on 13 carries before getting injured in the fourth quarter, the most of any player against Nicholls this season.

McNeese ran for 168 yards, the most as a team against the Colonels, who came into the game allowing just 64 yards per game on the ground, tied for the second-best performance in the entire FCS.

Nicholls scored two touchdowns over three minutes late in the first half to take the lead. The normally combative Colonels scored on long plays to take a 14-10 lead after missing both two-point conversion attempts.

The first was a 66-yard run by Miequle Brock, followed by a 40-yard screen pass between quarterback Pat McQuaide and Collin Guggenheim.

McNeese had a chance to score at the end of the first half, but opted to kick a 20th-minute field goal with eight seconds left and a timeout remaining. But Sixkiller's pass to Kameran Senegal was stopped two meters short of the end zone as time expired.

“We tried to shoot into the end zone there and Kameran should have come down sooner,” Goff said. “I understand he was struggling to get into the end zone. I missed an opportunity.”

The Cowboys took a 3-2 lead late in the first quarter on Larco's 47-yard field goal. The kick was the longest of Larco's career, matching his appearance at Tennessee-Martin in 2022.

Thanks to his defense, Nicholls only got into the game after 3:15 minutes.

Dalmado stormed through the McNeese offensive line in a blitz and fired a Sixkiller into the end zone for a safety and a 2-0 lead.

The score came after Kylan Dupre's punt landed inside the 1-yard line.

McNeese will finally be home after a 48-day absence next week when they host Texas A&M-Commerce for Homecoming at Cowboy Stadium.

“We’re finally home, it’s been a long month,” Goff said. “We still have the chance to have a really good season. We have three games left on the schedule, three winnable games.”