The old saying goes you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.

McNeese State officials are hoping that isn’t the case when it comes to this football season.

Cowboy brass are betting that leading the fans back on campus will make them stick around to watch the games.

The future of the athletic program is likely riding on it.

That’s what makes this season perhaps the most important in the program’s history. There is a lot more than just football games on the line.

Eyes from Football Bowl Subdivision conferences are focused on select teams and McNeese is one of them. That may seem hard for some to still believe, but several sources have confirmed it.

With all the movement still to come, McNeese hopes to have a seat when the music finally stops.

The Cowboys aren’t the leader in any clubhouse for moving, but they aren’t a bottom feeder either. McNeese is in the mix thanks to facilities that continue to improve after the storms of 2020, a history of winning and a solid fan base of the past.

“We are doing everything we can to make the Southland Conference a great league and to put ourselves in position to move if the opportunity comes up,” said McNeese President Dr. Daryl Burckel.

Perhaps nothing is more important than football this fall to each of those ends.

After years of stumbling and bumbling McNeese needs to break back into the role of playoff and title contender. And they need to draw fans as well.

That second part might be more important.

Wins don’t really make teams desirable to bigger conferences. It’s about facilities, economics and crowd support.

Louisiana-Lafayette moved up to football’s top division despite struggling on the field. With all that in mind, McNeese is going back in time to find its future.

For the first time in a decade the Cowboys will be back playing home games at 7 p.m. The hope is that returning to prime time will lead to a prime jump in attendance.

Of course, the last two seasons McNeese has had to play its home games at noon due to hurricane damage to the lights back in the fall of 2020. But before that school officials decided that a start time of 6 p.m. was needed.

So in 2014, in part to help stop the decline in attendance, the Cowboys moved their start time up an hour. The slide not only continued it increased.

With the new lighting system going up now, the decision was made not only to go back to nights, but move all the way to the former kickoff time.

“It is something we think is in the best interest to our fans,” said McNeese Athletic Director Heath Schroyer.

Noon was never going to be a long-term option so this makes sense. However, now the pressure is really on this latest rebuild.

During the 2021 year McNeese played two seasons and a combine 7-11. Forget all the reasons for that, let’s