Cowboys have double work in training game – American Press

Fans will get a second and final chance to see the Cowboys when they play their final preseason scrimmage on Friday morning.

However, they will again have to get up pretty early and go to Cowboy Stadium to watch.

A week after the promising performances, McNeese State hopes to iron out some of the mistakes from the first practice game. The team expects to double the number of games per group to about 60.

“We want to clean up some of the missed assignments and eliminate the penalties,” McNeese head coach Gary Goff said.

In total, six holding penalties were called, while Goff ordered the referees to “call everything.” He wants the second practice game to be just as close so players can stay focused and mistakes can be caught on tape to go over.

The Cowboys have moved away from the hot stadium turf and practiced on the grass training fields this week, and have practiced twice on Monday and Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. instead of in the morning to simulate playing conditions for the opening game.

McNeese begins the season with an afternoon kickoff in the Texas heat on August 24 at Tarleton State.

“We wanted to get them off the field a little bit and onto the grass, which is better for their bodies,” Goff said. “There’s more space out here too.”

Goff said he wanted to do more work on the practice fields, but heavy rains at the start of camp had made the grass fields too wet.

Moving some practices to the afternoon is to help players acclimate to the heat they will face when the season opens in two weeks. McNeese will play two of its first three games on the road in Texas during the day.

Two weeks after Tarleton, the Cowboys will be in College Station for a game against Texas A&M of the SEC that, like the opening game, will be televised nationally. The game against the Aggies starts at 11:45 a.m.

“We’re used to the heat,” Goff said. “We have to be smart about it. We’re not going to have them out here every day at 2:30 p.m. training at that time, or we’ll lose them.”

Goff expects this practice game to become more physical as the season progresses, and he hopes the sense of urgency will increase and the tackling will improve.

“You don’t get a lot of opportunities to make live tackles early in the year, so you’re always worried about that,” Goff said. “I’m pretty proud of the guys. We had some moments, some tempers flared, but we didn’t have any fights. They got through it and got back to work.”

Last week, two running backs, Tre’Vonte Citizen (7 carries, 131 yards, 2 TDs) and D’Angelo Durham (5-97, 4 TDs), generated most of the buzz as the Cowboys as a group ran for 322 yards on 36 carries.

After the scrimmage, the Cowboys have the rest of the weekend off before starting practice again on Monday. Goff said they will turn their attention to Tarleton next week and slowly work out the game plan.