BEAUMONT, Texas – The nation's 10th-ranked team scored 21-straight points to start the game and held the lead until the final horn to record a 45-17 victory over a shorthanded Lamar University squad Saturday afternoon at Provost Umphrey Stadium. The loss drops LU to 4-5 on the season and 2-4 in Southland Conference play.
The Cardinals – who were playing their first home game in a month – struggled to get the offense going behind Shane Johnson who recorded the first start of his career. Big Red finished the day with 285 yards of total offense, but 221 of that came through the air. The Houston, Texas native completed 5-of-11 passes for 38 yards. He also carried the ball six times for 27 yards. Freshman Jermaine Givens played the second half completing 2-of-5 passes for 26 yards, but led the team with 21 carries for 73 yards and a touchdown.
The Bears did the majority of their damage through the air completing 31 passes for 434 yards. UCA finished the game with 505 yards of total offense.
Junior Michael Lawson led the Cardinals defensive effort with a career-high 18 tackles, including 16 solo stops and two for losses.
"Obviously, this is a very disappointing loss," said LU head coach Mike Schultz. "Central Arkansas is a top-10 team in the country for a reason. Breylin Smith is an exceptional athlete and we all saw just how good he is today. We didn't fit some things right today and we can't let that happen needless to say."
UCA scored on three of their first possessions to take a 21-0 lead. The Cardinals began their climb back up the hill early in the second quarter when Johnson guided the Cardinals on an 11-play drive deep into Central Arkansas territory before the drive stalled on the UCA 23-yard line. Big Red turned to junior Bailey Giffen to save the drive and he converted a 40-yard field goal to put LU on the scoreboard. After UCA answered with a field goal of their own, the Cardinals were back on the march.
Just three minutes after the UCA field goal, Givens called his own number scoring on a five-yard run to trim the deficit to 14, 24-10, with 3:06 remaining in the half. The TD run capped 10-play, 65-yard drive that consumed 3:12 off the clock.
Unfortunately, the Bears were able to answer with a touchdown before the end of the half to take a 31-10 lead into the locker room. The Bears opened the half with two more scores before the Cardinals closed the game with a touchdown run from junior Myles Wanza with 37 seconds left to close out the scoring.
The Cardinals return to action Saturday when they travel to Natchitoches, La. to take on Northwestern State. The game against the Demons is slated to kick off at 6 p.m. from Turpin Stadium.
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