If you think about sending a “Get Well Soon” card to the McNeese football office, just be forewarned that it isn’t good enough. The Cowboys need to get well now.

“We have to get healthier, quick,” said McNeese coach Matt Viator. “Hopefully we can.”

Viator erred on the side of caution as he sat out several hurting players for Saturday’s 41-21 win at Incarnate Word in the hopes that they would be able to return to the practice field this week. Viator said the quality of McNeese’s practices was being affected by the large number of injuries.

“We need guys to practice. That’s the biggest challenge right now,” Viator said. “The last couple weeks we’re playing guys that aren’t able to practice, and when you do that you’re kind of just treading water. So hopefully by holding guys out we’ll be able to get them on the practice field and have some meaningful practice. Because we’ll need to this week with Northwestern.”

The Cowboys (5-2, 3-1 Southland) enter the season’s home stretch with every remaining game having conference title and postseason implications.

That starts with Saturday’s trip to Natchitoches, where the Demons (4-4, 2-2) still harbor chances of earning a title share if they win out and get a little help elsewhere.

“I believe without a doubt this is probably their best team since 2008,” Viator said.

The Demons beat Sam Houston State a week after the Bearkats walloped McNeese, and also earned a win over a likely bowl-bound Louisiana Tech squad.

Hence the need for a quality week of practice, which is why the likes of Aaron Sam, Dominique Hill and Kelvin Bennett were kept on the sidelines against UIW, though Viator said they would have played in an emergency scenario.

“Ernest (Celestie) didn’t even dress,” Viator said. “The other guys, at least we felt they could have been emergency guys if we had to have them. The thing that concerns me is we’re getting into a dangerous deal here if all we do during the week is try to get them better and we don’t practice.

“Then all the sudden we put them out there on Saturday and they’re really sore because they haven’t done anything during the week. And then you kind of get in a dangerous cycle. So in order to get them out there for a meaningful practice on Tuesday, that’s what I wanted to do.”

Viator was hardly rolling the dice by trying to take a long-term health approach in preparing for the UIW game. Fill-ins like Dylan Long proved more than capable of carrying the load for absentees like Bennett and Derrick Milton.

“Because of the number of tailbacks we had at the beginning of the year, we asked Dylan to play H-back at the beginning of the year. He’ll do whatever,” Viator said. “He’s really good when we get him in the red zone. And I’ve always thought he’s done a great job in the 4-minute offense. And the other night we were in 4-minute mode in the middle of the third quarter — let’s just run the ball and get out of here, so to speak.

“He’s the perfect guy for that because everything is north and south. He’s fumbled the ball once in two years. He’s that perfect guy in short yardage and when you’re just trying to get some first downs to run it out.”

l TOP HONOR: McNeese junior safety Brent Spikes has been named this week’s Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Week the league announced for his work Saturday. .

He set a new school and conference record with 148 interception return yards after he picked off three passes against the Cardinals. His three interceptions tied a school record for most picks in a game by an individual.

Spikes had returns of 62, 41 and 45 yards with the last being taken back for a touchdown.(Special to the American Press)