Oct. 13, 2010
South Alabama Game Notes 
BEAUMONT - Between the 1990-1991 and 1997-1998 athletic seasons, Lamar University and South Alabama had spirited rivalries while both were members of the Sun Belt Conference.
However, neither school sponsored football in those days. While they're no longer in the same conference, Lamar and South Alabama get the chance Saturday night to initiate a rivalry in football. The Cardinals, who are 3-3 in their restart season, and South Alabama, which is 5-0 this fall and 12-0 since restarting its football program in 2009, will meet in a 6 p.m. game in 16,000-seat Provost Umphrey Stadium.
The Cardinals are fresh from notching a 14-0 homecoming victory over Langston University, while South Alabama mauled Missouri S&T 45-6 last week. There are no common opponents on the teams' schedules so far this season, but the Jaguars did defeat Nicholls (which will be a Southland Conference foe of Lamar next season), 39-21.
This will be Lamar's third-straight game in Provost Umphrey, where the Cardinals are averaging an SLC-high 17,031 in home attendance this season. They lost to future SLC opponent Sam Houston State 38-10 in the first game of that sequence before blanking Langston University last week.
The throw-and-catch combination of Andre Bevil to Marcus Jackson played a huge role in Lamar's win last week as did the Cardinals' bend-but-break defense that pitched the school's first shutout since a 41-0 win over Sam Houston in 1989.
Bevil, who is averaging 284.5 passing yards per game this season, completed 14 of 25 attempts for 204 yards last week, including touchdown strikes of 47 and 58 yards to the fleet-footed Jackson, who had three receptions for 112 yards. Among the defense's highlights were a blocked field goal attempt by cornerback Branden Thomas and a touchdown-saving pass breakup by rover Michael Allen.
In the 5-0 Jaguars, the Cardinals will be facing a team that has outscored its opponents by a combined margin of 256-30 this season. Coach Joey Jones' Jags outscored their 2009 foes by a 321-41 margin. That gives them a combined, 12-game scoring margin of 577-71, which computes to an average of 48.1-5.9.
In South Alabama's Saturday win over Missouri S&T, running back Kendall Houston rushed for 49 yards on four carries and scored second-quarter touchdowns on runs of 3 and 11 yards, while Brandon Ross had 53 rushing yards and a 14-yard scoring run.
On display again for this week's gathering will be the Cardinals' potent passing attack which has already seen Bevil post the two-best, single-game totals in school history and three of the top 11. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound junior from West Orange-Stark has 1,707 passing yards on 124-of-219 accuracy for 56.6 percent and has thrown 13 touchdown passes.
Bevil's favorite targets have been split end J.J. Hayes, who has 31 catches for 372 yards and five touchdowns, and Jackson (27 receptions for 557 yards and five TDs). Hayes, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound junior from Diboll by way of Navarro College, sat out last week's game with an injury and remains questionable for the South Alabama game.
In an interesting sidelight, Saturday's game will mark South Alabama's first true road game. All seven of the Jaguars' 2009 games were played at home as have four of their five this season. Only their 64-0 victory over Edward Waters of Florida was played on a neutral field - in Dothan, Ala.
With Octavious Logan gaining a career-high 96 yards on 12 carries, the Cardinals rushed for a season-best 147 yards in the Langston game, representing a significant improvement over their negative 23 rushing yards in the previous week's game against Sam Houston State.
As an unclassified member of the Football Championship Subdivision this season, Lamar is ineligible for team or individual ranking in either the SLC or NCAA FCS weekly statistical reports. If that was not the case, however, the Cardinals would have three second-place team rankings in this week's SLC stats, and they would have two individual first-place and two second-place rankings.
The Cardinals' 297.8-yard passing average would rank second among the other eight league members as would their 129.83 passing efficiency rating and their kickoff return average of 23.4 yards.
Jackson's average of 92.8 receiving yards per game would rank first in the league as well as Jacody Coleman's average of 0.33 fumble recoveries per game. The Cardinals' would-be second-place rankings are Bevil's marks of 284.5 receiving yards and 281.8 yards per game of total offense.
After Saturday's game, the Cardinals will observe their open week, giving their weary legs a little time to get rejuvenated after playing on six-consecutive Saturdays. Next up for the Cards will be air-travel games to North Dakota on Oct. 30 and Georgia State on Nov. 6. Their next home game will be against South Dakota on Nov. 13.
LAMAR
