BEAUMONT, Texas – After not being able to play football in nearly 16 months, the Lamar University football team (0-1/0-1 Southland) will be back on the field for the second time in as many weeks – this time to kick off the home portion of the COVID-altered 2021 spring season. The Cardinals will face UIW Saturday at Provost Umphrey Stadium looking to get to .500 on the season.
 
The Cardinals were originally slated to open the year at home on February 20^th before a winter storm hit the area putting a temporary pause on all athletic events. That delay forced the official start of the Blane Morgan era back a week where LU traveled to Thibodaux, La., to take on the ninth-ranked Nicholls Colonels.
 
The Southland's other Cardinals – UIW – head to Beaumont looking to improve upon their season-opening victory at McNeese. The contest will be the second consecutive road game to start the year for UIW.
 
LU is a game over .500 all-time in the series against UIW (4-3/.571). That record includes a 3-1 (.750) mark against San Antonio's version of the Cardinals in Beaumont. After winning the first three meetings in the series, LU has dropped three of the past four. The last time the two teams met came during the 2019 campaign when UIW recorded a 35-17 decision in San Antonio. The last time UIW came to Beaumont (2018), Big Red blocked what would have been the game-winning field goal and returned 66 yards for the score as time expired to win the game.
 
The Cardinals have made Provost Umphrey Stadium a very tough place to play over the course of the past six seasons. LU is 21-20 (.512) at home during that stretch with 10 of the 20 setbacks coming against nationally ranked opponents, including one (Coastal Carolina) that was making the transition to the NCAA FBS level. Since the program's return, Big Red is 31-27 (.534) at home.
 
The Cardinals current six-game scheduled is the shortest regular season for the Cardinals since 1926 – when it was a junior college. Big Red will kick off the second game of its 2021 schedule at 3 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast live on Newstalk 560 KLVI and streamed live on ESPN+.