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LAKE CHARLES – The time has finally arrived.
 
McNeese will kick off its 73^rd season of football under new head coach Lance Guidry on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. when the No. 9/11 Cowboys host Tarleton State.
 
After weeks of knocking around each other in fall camp, Guidry, an all-Southland Conference defensive back for the Pokes from 1990-93, and the Cowboys are ready to see some unfamiliar faces for a change.
 
"Our Cowboys are anxious to play a game," said Guidry who is starting his 10^th season overall on the staff and first at the helm. "The coaching staff is anxious as well. The most important thing is that we play fast and clean."
 
Guidry, who was named the 15^th head coach in McNeese history back in December after Matt Viator left for a similar job at Louisiana-Monroe, added some McNeese Hall of Famers to his staff earlier in the year with Kerry Joseph (wide receivers), Zach Bronson (cornerbacks) and Charlie Ayro (linebackers) in addition to new defensive coordinator Tommy Restivo and running backs coach Dennis Smith who is also the special teams coordinator.
 
Remaining on staff is new offensive coordinator Landon Hoefer who was promoted and will continue to coach the quarterbacks; Eman Naghavi, another all-conference Cowboy player who will coach the offensive line; and Lark Hebert who moves from coaching linebackers to the defensive line.
 
As far as the Cowboys themselves, a total of 14 players could see starting action for the first time in their McNeese careers on Saturday but a team that is young on paper has an abundance of playing time under their belts.
 
Transfer quarterback James Tabary was named the starter a couple of weeks ago and will get most of the snaps on Saturday. However backup Grant Ashcraft is expected to see some playing time as well.
 
Behind the QB will be all-conference running back Ryan Ross to lead a strong contingent of backs that includes his younger brother Lawayne, returning senior Dylan Long and true freshman Justin Pratt.
 
Tabary, a pocket passer with great vision and a quick release, will have ample targets to choose from including all-conference junior Kent Shelby (36 catches, 668 yards, 6 TDs). Joining Shelby will be transfers Darioius Crawley (Kansas) and Tre Roberts (Oklahoma State) along with highly touted freshman Parker Orgeron.
 
Defensively, McNeese will field one of the strongest defensive lines in the Southland Conference if not the FCS. Led by all-America candidate Isaiah Golden, the front line returns three starters – Jammerio Gross and Anthony Yruegas along with Golden – and will get some production from youngsters Brandon Blackwell, Chris Livings and Micah Udeh, all who played as true freshmen last season. Yruegas, however, will miss Saturday's game due to an injured knee but is expected to return for next week's showdown at Louisiana-Lafayette.
 
The defensive secondary will see four new starters, three lost to graduation and one, Dominique Hill to suspension. Redshirt freshman Trent Jackson made a lot of progress in fall camp to earn the starting nod while senior Khalil Thomas moved from wide receiver to cornerback during the offseason and will use his speed to hold down visiting receivers.
 
Junior linebacker Ashari Goins returns as the team's top tackler and will be the voice of the defense. Lining up next to him will be junior Christian Jacobs.
 
On special teams, true freshman Michael Mack of Lake Charles has earned starting punt duties while sophomore Trent Manuel and Alabama transfer Gunnar Raborn will share kicking assignments.
 
Guidry has stressed to his players what they need to do this first game to be successful.
 
"There are four things that are important in this first game," he said. "No. 1 is have great effort. The next thing is enthusiasm. We should be very enthusiastic because it is game week. Then we want to execute. No matter who we play we have to master our craft. The last thing is we want to be physical."
 
Saturday will be the first meeting between the Cowboys and Texans but TSU new head coach Todd Whitten is no stranger to the Cowboys. Whitten was the head coach at Sam Houston State from 2004-09 and offensive coordinator at Lamar in 2011 and 2012.
 
"We're expecting a good battle," said Guidry. "They're going to come in here and try to dethrone us. We know from playing D2 teams before that they have good athletes."
 
In 2013 the Cowboys scored in the final minute to defeat West Alabama 44-42.
 
"They had a kid on that team that ended up the next year winning the Super Bowl for the New England Patriots," said Guidry speaking of Malcolm Butler who picked off Seattle's Russell Wilson in the endzone with 20 seconds to play to give the Patriots the 28-24 win. Butler continues to start at LCB for the Patriots.
 
"Tarleton has a bunch of transfers on the roster including a quarterback from UTEP that's about 6-foot-6, 6-foot-7," said Guidry. "They have a really good wide receiver corps and have some transfers on the offensive line. Defensively they have some transfers on the back end."