Try as they might, there was no escaping the specter of last week’s near-miss effort at Nebraska for McNeese State.

While the Cowboys remained focused on Prairie View in the week leading up to the home opener, no one around them was looking forward. Even up to the coin toss.

“I was walking out onto the field and the Southland officials walked up to me and congratulated me on last week,” said coach Matt Viator. “We’re about to kick off. So that’s what kind of week it’s been. In a good way. But it is nice to get this one behind us and move forward to the season.”

Indeed, it is time for the focus to turn from what almost happened in Lincoln to what could happen over the course of the next nine games.

Unfortunately for fans, that requires hitting the snooze button this week. Just two games into the season, the Cowboys head into their bye week.

For the team, though, the timing is probably ideal. There are still tweaks that need to be made before McNeese heads into conference play.

 The offense had a fairly disjointed second quarter until Derrick Milton’s touchdown run just over a minute before halftime. It begs the question as to whether an offense can gel with a true 50/50 rotation at quarterback that basically has the Cowboys running two different playbooks.

“We’re going to try,” Viator said.

Granted, part of the bedraggled feel of the second quarter had to do with giving a third quarterback, Will Briscoe, his first shot at meaningful game action.

Briscoe showed why he deserved that shot, uncorking a beautiful pass downfield on his first throw. Alas, that throw was picked off in double coverage, which is why Tyler Bolfing and Daniel Sams remain atop the depth chart.

“I wasn’t taking Prairie View lightly by any stretch, but I still wanted to see a lot of guys,” Viator said. “I wanted to get Will (Briscoe) into the game just to give him a chance after what he’s been through.”

The trick for Dr. V moving forward will be figuring out the proper dosages of Bolfing and Sams to administer moving forward.

Bolfing has the steep edge in the accuracy department, connecting on 7 of his 8 passes on Saturday. His touchdown pass to Ernest Celestie was sniper-like in tight man-to-man coverage.

But Sams has to see the field. There is too much ability for him to do things that only seem possible in the furthest reaches of human imagination. 

However, it is clear that he needs to hit a couple deep throws each game — he did so on a connection with Kent Shelby at Nebraska — in order to get defenses to respect the passing game when he’s in.

Prairie View didn’t seem very concerned about Sams beating them with his arm, which makes one wonder how much higher his 8.1 yards per carry average would be if opponents don’t crowd the box.

“If he doesn’t feel good, he takes off running,” Viator said of Sams. “It’s different, obviously, than what we’ve had the last couple years. Cody (Stroud) looked to stay in the pocket. I’m going to continue to let Daniel do that. We have to let him play to his strengths.

“Tyler’s doing what I always thought he could do. He was just playing behind Cody. But I’ve got to make some decisions offensively with where we’re going and what we’re doing. Because when Tyler’s in there we’re doing what we did last year. When Daniel’s in there we are doing what we’ve added. We’re going to have to narrow some things down.”

It’s a fun kind of headache, but one that makes this bye week ideal even if Cowboy fans are champing at the bit to see what this team has to offer.

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Alex Hickey covers McNeese sports. Email him at ahickey@american press.com(Rick Hickman/American Press)