BEAUMONT, Texas – Lamar University is back in Southland Conference play this week as they eye a showdown with Northwestern State. Fresh off their thrilling win at Houston Christian in the Southland Conference opener, the Cards now step on the field looking for their third-straight win attempting to move to .500 on the season.
 
The Cardinals hit the road last week to Houston Christian and faced a Huskies' squad that posted a 34-19 thumping over preseason favorite Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond, La. The Cardinals trailed for less than three minutes in the second quarter before rattling off consecutive touchdowns and never looked back.
 
The Cardinals will now look to stay atop the Southland Conference standings Saturday when it faces Northwestern State and do something Big Red hasn't done since bringing back the program – start 2-0 in conference play. For LU to take that step forward they will have to go through a Northwestern State squad that is fighting for its first win of the season.
 
The Demons are 0-4 on the year but have played an extremely tough non-conference schedule which includes two NCAA FBS opponents. The Demons are coming off a heartbreaking loss to Eastern Illinois, 19-10, last week that saw NSU in the game until the final horn against a team that is ranked just outside the top 25.
 
In an odd twist of fate, the Demons were in a similar situation last season when they faced Lamar. NSU was winless and then rallied to beat the Cardinals. That win sparked a run four-straight conference wins that had Northwestern in the hunt for an SLC title until the final week of the season.
 
The Cardinals are currently third in the league in scoring offense, while Demons rank last (12.8 ppg) but that number is skewed some after facing two FBS opponents. Lamar is currently second in the league defensively surrendering just 24.0 points per game – a number which has been steadily dropping each week.
 
While history favors Northwestern State in the series, 13-9-1 (.413), the Cardinals are 5-2-1 (.688) all-time against the Demons in Beaumont. Northwestern State has won four of the last five meetings with the lone Cardinal win during that stretch coming in 2020 (a season which was actually played during the 2021 spring semester due to the COVID pandemic).
 
Saturday's game is slated for a 3 p.m. kick off from Provost Umphrey Stadium. It will be broadcast live on Newstalk 560 KLVI and streamed live on ESPN+.