LAKE CHARLES – McNeese walk-on redshirt freshman running back Joshon Barbie, in just his second collegiate game, ran for 117 yards on 21 carries while quarterback Ryan Roberts threw for 200 and a touchdown in perhaps the best-played game by the Cowboys this season, but the fifth-ranked UIW Cardinals fought back after falling behind 24-7 by outscoring the Cowboys 28-0 in the second half and escaping with a 35-24 win.
 
Roberts was penciled in as the starter and managed the game well, completing 17 of 30 passes for a career-high 200 yards and two touchdowns. His only interception of the game came on a third-and-long and equaled a decent punt.
 
Barbie, the Cowboys' No. 5 running back on the depth chart, made good of his opportunity with 117 yards on 21 carries for a 5.6 average and scored a touchdown.
 
"I thought our guys played extremely hard for three-and-a-half quarters," said head coach Gary Goff. "Down the stretch we were overmatched in some areas and just couldn't finish the game. We had energy on the sidelines, cheering for each other and doing all the things we've been focusing on, and to that degree, I'm extremely proud of the guys. They played really hard."
 
The loss kept McNeese (0-7, 0-3 SLC) winless on the season while UIW improved to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference. McNeese will host Northwestern State (0-6, 0-2 SLC) next Saturday for homecoming while UIW will visit Lamar (4-3, 3-0).
 
Barbie gave the Cowboys a 7-0 lead with 6:19 to play in the first quarter when he broke through with a 24-yard score. After the Cowboys forced UIW into its second straight punt to start the game, Roberts coordinated a 10-play, 90-yard drive that ended with a 57-yard catch-and-run pass to Jon McCall for the touchdown and a 14-0 lead seconds into the second quarter.
 
UIW got on the board on a 1-yard blast up the middle by Isaiah Robinson to cut the Cowboys' lead to 14-7 with 12:10 remaining in the second and after UIW forced McNeese to punt on its next possession, the Cardinals drove to the Cowboys' 14 where quarterback Ryan Stubblefield fumbled the ball and was recovered by McNeese's Masey Lewis.
 
Five plays later, Roberts connected with McCall on a 28-yard score that saw McCall reach high for the ball and brought it in while falling on his back in the endzone.
 
The lead then grew to 24-7 following a 28-yard Garrison Smith field goal with 2:12 to play in the half.
 
UIW changed quarterbacks in the second half and changed the defense to stop the run. After McNeese held a 254-184 advantage in offensive yards in the first half, the adjustments proved to work in UIW's favor as the Cardinals out-gained McNeese 330-80 in in the second, including 169 yards on the ground.
 
"They changed quarterbacks in the second half," said Goff. "He can stand in the pocket and deliver the football. That's what they struggled with in the first half and they slowly took the momentum. And then they loaded the box against us and gave us fits in the run game and that kind of put stress in our passing game."
 
McNeese ran just under five minutes off the clock to open the third quarter and UIW followed with a 14-play, 83-yard drive that was capped by a 14-yard pass from Richard Torres to Brandon Porter to cut the McNeese lead to 24-14 with 4:10 to play in the third. The key play in the drive occurred when UIW, facing a fourth-and-9 at the McNeese 45, brought in its punt team but quickly pulled them off the field. That left the Cowboys trying to get the punt returner off and a cornerback back on and out of position. The end result was a 17-yard conversion that led to the score.
 
UIW scored 21 points in the fourth quarter with the final touchdown a 20-yard connection with 16 seconds to play in the game to make it 35-24.
 
"In the first half we did a really good job of mixing up the run with screens and running the quick game," said Goff. "In the second half, it continued to kind of be like run the ball, lost some yards, incomplete pass, and played behind the chains. But in the middle of the fourth quarter we went back to get some screens and trying to get our quick game going, but they outmanned us in some areas on that front line."
 
UIW finished with 514 total yards to the Cowboys' 334 and held a 305-169 advantage in the rushing department.
 
McCall caught five passes for a high of 106 yards and two touchdowns with 74 yards coming after the catch.  Makhi Paris hauled in six passes for 40 yards.
 
Torres completed 11 of 18 passes for 161 yards and three TDs for the Cardinals while Timothy Carter ran for 165 yards and Robinson tallied 121 yards and a touchdown.
 
Defensively, Micah Davey led all tacklers with 14 stops.