Is The Vack Ready for Its First Real Stress Test? McNeese is looking to take the 0 away

Before McNeese ever played a game this season, Matt Viator said something that hits a little different now:

“We look much more like a football team is supposed to look.”

Three games in?

Yeah. You can see what he meant.

McNeese is 1-2, but if you’re just staring at the record, you’re not really watching the football.

The Cowboys just dropped 495 yards on No. 4 Tarleton and pushed that thing all the way to a 24-yard field goal as time expired. They can run it. They can throw it. Their quarterback can turn a busted pocket into somebody else’s problem. And up front, they’ve got enough size to make you feel them for four quarters.

Does that mean they’re some monster nobody can touch?

Nah.

But it does mean this team is starting to look comfortable in its own skin.

And now that version of McNeese is making its first road trip of the season straight into a sold-out Vack.

That’s where this gets interesting.

This offense makes you pick your poison

Viator wanted this team stronger, deeper and more balanced.

So far, that’s pretty much what they’ve become.

Through three games, McNeese is averaging 467.3 yards per game — 209.3 on the ground and 258 through the air.

That kind of balance starts putting a defense in that ugly spot where every answer creates another question.

Load the box?

Cool. Now you’re giving them something outside.

Stay light?

Now they can tighten everything up, bring those bigger tight ends onto the field and start leaning on you.

Omiri Wiggins is averaging 6.8 yards per carry with 217 rushing yards, including a 75-yard touchdown against SFA. He’s got some juice, but the problem isn’t just Wiggins.

McNeese doesn’t have to live through one dude.

That’s what makes this thing annoying.

They can spread you out, then suddenly shrink the formation and come downhill. You start getting nosy with your eyes, creeping toward that run action, and next thing you know they’re pulling it and sending something over your head.

That’s old-school football dressed up with enough modern stuff to make it a headache.

And then Devin Lippold entered the picture.

Jake Strong opened the season at quarterback before suffering a shoulder injury against SFA. Lippold stepped in, then threw for 199 yards and four touchdowns in his first career start against Texas Wesleyan.

Against Tarleton?

286 through the air.

Another 65 with his legs.

That’s 351 total yards in his second college start.

Lippold has seven touchdown passes against one interception and is also McNeese’s second-leading rusher.

And that changes the math.

Because sometimes you do everything right defensively.

Coverage holds.

The rush gets home.

The play breaks down.

And somehow No. 19 is still 12 yards downfield moving the sticks.

That’s how a defense does everything right and still loses the down.

Then outside, you’ve got Elisha “Smiley” Edwards and Curtis Deville Jr. Together, they’ve already put up 453 receiving yards and six touchdowns.

So now think about everything your defense has to hold in its head at once.

Fit Wiggins in the run game.

Don’t lose Lippold when the play breaks down.

And whatever you do, don’t get caught sleeping outside with Edwards and Deville.

That’s three different problems pulling at a defense in three different directions.

Eventually, somebody’s eyes end up in the wrong place.

McNeese has some real bite on defense too

The Cowboys call it DWA — Defense With Attitude.

And yeah, Tarleton threw for 363 yards on them.

But don’t let that make you think there’s nothing there.

This front can make a game grimy.

McNeese is allowing just 3.9 yards per carry and has eight sacks through three games. Royce Maloles already has two sacks, RJ Staten has 1.5, and there’s some real length sitting behind that pressure too.

Starting corners Mason Edwards and Safir Stills-Bey are both 6-foot-2.

That matters.

Because if the front can get you behind the sticks, those corners can start squatting on routes and playing more aggressive.

Now the quarterback knows what’s coming.

The run game gets harder to stay married to.

Those easy throws start disappearing.

And suddenly second-and-7 becomes third-and-9, then you’re walking your punt team onto the field wondering how a drive that started clean got ugly that fast.

That’s the kind of football McNeese wants.

Make you uncomfortable.

Make you press.

Then make you pay for pressing.

And special teams has already gotten involved too.

Against Texas Wesleyan, Javon Davis blocked a field goal and Safir Stills-Bey took it 70 yards the other way for a touchdown. Jared Quenga blocked a punt later that helped set up another field goal.

That’s not background noise.

That’s points.

And that fits everything Viator talks about with situational football.

McNeese isn’t built like, “Here’s our superstar. Stop him if you can.”

It’s more like:

Here’s Wiggins.

Here’s Lippold.

Here’s two receivers who can hurt you.

Here’s a defensive front that can muddy things up.

Oh, and special teams might steal a possession too.

Deal with all of it.

That’s the challenge.

Now we find out if it travels

That’s why the 1-2 record doesn’t tell this story cleanly.

McNeese lost its opener to No. 13 SFA.

Then they handled Texas Wesleyan 52-0.

Then they stood toe-to-toe with No. 4 Tarleton until the final play.

That’s not a finished product.

But there’s something taking shape.

More importantly, there’s an identity starting to show up.

Wiggins gives them the downhill piece.

Lippold adds the off-script stuff that can turn a good defensive call into 15 yards.

Edwards and Deville bring the juice outside.

The defensive front can make a game muddy.

Special teams has already shown it can flip the field — or the scoreboard.

McNeese looks a whole lot closer to the football team Viator was talking about back in August.

Now comes the part we haven’t seen.

Can that version travel?

Because there’s a difference between finding yourself at home and carrying that same energy into somebody else’s building.

And McNeese’s first road trip isn’t some soft landing.

It’s a sold-out Vack.

Eight games.

Eight wins.

That place hasn’t watched UTRGV lose yet.

Now McNeese has to walk into Edinburg, bring all that size, balance, quarterback movement and attitude with them —

and prove it travels.

Mcneese is looking to take the 0 away from the undefeated Vack.