Oct. 12, 2011

Weekly Game Notes

Opponent Game Notes

SAN MARCOS - Lamar University and Texas State will get together for a football game for the first time since the 1989 season Saturday night when the Cardinals will meet the Bobcats in a 6 p.m. kickoff in 16,000-seat Bobcat Stadium.

Lamar stands at 3-2 on the season after dropping a 37-17 home decision to Northwestern State this past Saturday night. Meanwhile, coach Dennis Franchione's Bobcats defeated 15th-ranked McNeese State 21-14 in Lake Charles last week to improve to 4-2 on the season.

When the Cardinals and Bobcats last played, Lamar eked a 20-19 win in San Marcos, but Texas State owns a 14-6-1 all-time series advantage. The Bobcats are 7-3-1 in games played in San Marcos.

Andre Bevil, a senior from West Orange-Stark, completed 22 of 43 passes for 360 yards and two touchdowns against Northwestern State, but he was intercepted three times. Bevil's second touchdown pass of the evening went for 40 yards to senior split end J.J. Hayes, who snared 10 passes for a school-record 212 yards.

The Cardinals' other touchdown toss was an 8-yarder from Bevil to senior slot receiver Marcus Jackson. Sophomore kicker Justin Stout accounted for the rest of Lamar's scoring with two conversions and a 26-yard field goal.

Junior quarterback Shaun Rutherford scored Texas State's first points against McNeese State on a 22-yard first-quarter run, and he also threw an 11-yard scoring pass to wide receiver Isaiah Battle in the fourth quarter, when the Bobcats erased a 14-13 deficit. Rutherford completed 8 of 11 passes for 110 yards without throwing an interception, and he also led the team in rushing with 65 yards on 19 carries.

The Bobcats also did not lose a fumble, and they received field goals of 39 and 46 yards from Will Johnson.

On Nov. 3, 1951 -- in the fifth home game played by Lamar University as a four-year school -- coach Stan Lambert's Cardinals absorbed a hard-fought 14-13 loss to Southwest Texas State, the forerunner to what is now Texas State.

The schools last met on Nov. 14, 1989 in San Marcos' Bobcat Stadium, where coach Ray Alborn's Cardinals came away as 20-19 winners. The Bobcats scored 16-straight points over the second and third quarters to assume a 19-6 lead, but the Cardinals roared back with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to snatch the victory.

First, Sherwin Johnson scored on a 1-yard dive to end an 11-play, 80-yard Cardinal drive and reduce the Bobcats' lead to 19-13, and then quarterback John Evans came through with a clutch 21-yard touchdown run to end a seven-play, 71-yard drive with 8:02 remaining. Frank Van Renselaer cooly added the game-deciding point, and Jason Howes was later wide left on a 22-yard field goal attempt that could have returned the lead to the Bobcats.

Kenny Franklin scored the Cardinals' other touchdown on a 6-yard run late in the first quarter, and he was the game's leading rusher with 86 yards on 19 carries. Evans, who became a 2001 inductee to the Cardinal Hall of Honor, connected on 14 of 27 passes for 157 yards and added 64 yards on 10 rushes that afternoon.

Linebacker Bo Brown, now the game analyst for Lamar broadcasts on KLVI, 560 AM, was the Cardinals' leading tackler in that game with 14, including eight solos.

With his school-record 212 receiving yards and one touchdown against Northwestern State, Hayes passed the 1,200-yard milestone in his one-plus seasons at Lamar.

The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder from Diboll High School by way of Navarro College now has 1,269 receiving yards through 14 games, ranking him 11th on Lamar's all-time list and leaving him 11 yards behind No. 10 Ranzy Levias of the 1984-1987 Cardinals.

Hayes' touchdown reception Saturday was a 40-yarder on a fourth-quarter pass thrown by Bevil. Hayes had six TD catches as a junior, and he has added five more this year.

Bevil's 22 completions against Northwestern State Saturday increased his career total to 221, placing him seventh on Lamar's all-time list. He's five completions behind Fred Hessen, who completed 226 passes over the 1981 and 1982 seasons. John Evans is Lamar's all-time completions leader with 533 over the 1986-1989 seasons.

With 1,003 yards through five games this season, Bevil has moved from 10th to fifth on Lamar's career passing chart. He has passed for 3,016-yards in 15 games as a Cardinal, and he needs 817 more to move past Shad Smith, who threw for 3,833 yards over the 1985-1988 seasons. Evans is Lamar's career passing leader with 6,379 yards over the 1986-1989 seasons.

After playing at Texas State, the Cardinals will resume Southland Conference play on Oct. 22 with their 2011 Homecoming Game against the University of Central Arkansas. Kickoff is set for 3:05 p.m. in Beaumont's 16,000-seat Provost Umphrey Stadium.

The game will mark the first meeting of the Cardinals and the Bears in football. The Bears are in their 12th season under head coach Clint Conque, who has compiled an 83-50 record as a college head coach, all at Central Arkansas.