GAMEDAY CENTRAL

LAKE CHARLES – The 22^nd-ranked McNeese Cowboys return to "The Hole" on Saturday night for a crucial Southland Conference game against Nicholls.
 
Kickoff is set for 6:07 as the game will be televised live on CST. McNeese will be wearing throwback gear that includes parts of five different eras of Cowboy football.
 
McNeese (2-2, 1-1 SLC) is coming off a 42-35 win at Incarnate Word last Saturday in a game that saw the Pokes build a 42-14 lead through three quarters before the Cardinals rallied for 21 unanswered points in the final 15 minutes.
 
Head coach Lance Guidry and staff has been working hard this week to fix those mistakes by the Cowboys in that fourth quarter.
 
"We've had a really good week of practice," said Guidry. "Nicholls is a well-coached team and they've improved a lot since Coach (Tim) Rebowe has been there."
 
The Colonels (1-2, 1-0) defeated UIW in their only league game played so far this season but had two hard-fought losses to FBS schools, 26-24 at Georgia and 41-40 at South Alabama in overtime.
 
Nicholls is led on offense by freshman quarterback Chase Fourcade who has completed 42 of 76 passes for 457 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions.
 
The running back duo of Dontrell Taylor (56-242) and C.J. Okpalobi (56-218) have accounted for 460 of the Colonels' 495 rushing yards on the season.
 
Nicholls ranks third in the league in scoring with 33 points per game.
 
The Cowboys have a gunslinger in sophomore quarterback James Tabary who's ranked second in the league with 1,062 passing yards and tied for second with eight touchdown passes.
 
He's got two Southland top 10 targets to throw two in Darious Crawley (15-342, 5 touchdowns) and Kent Shelby (17-242, 2 TDs) and has gotten passes to a total of 19 set of hands on the season, including his own off a batted ball at ULL.
 
The Cowboys are fourth in the league in total offense (447.0) and second in total defense (331.5).
 
Saturday's game will be the 41^st meeting in the all-time series with McNeese holding a 29-11 lead. The Cowboys have won eight straight in the series and also eight straight in Cowboy Stadium. The last Nicholls win in The Hole was back in 1998 when the Colonels scored on a 45-yard pass with four seconds to play to lift them to a 1-point win.