BEAUMONT, Texas – A date that is circled on the calendar by fans in both Beaumont, Texas and Lake Charles, La., has finally arrived. It's Battle of the Border week as Lamar University and McNeese will look to renew their rivalry on the gridiron Saturday at Provost Umphrey Stadium.
 
The Cardinals enter the contest looking to bounce back from a disappointing setback at Nicholls last week, and put an exclamation point on what has been a surprising season to everyone in the Southland Conference under first-year head coach Pete Rossomando. Not a lot was expected of the Cardinals entering the season. When Rossomando, and players Ramond Stevens and Sevonne Rhea took to the ESPN+ cameras for the annual Southland Conference Football Media Day event, Lamar was picked to finish seventh in the league just ahead of Houston Christian.
 
The Cardinals opened league play by knocking off HCU on the road and proceeded to go 3-0 to open league play. It was the first time since the 1967 season that a Cardinal squad had started conference play 3-0, and proving it was no fluke, Big Red went down to the wire against No.8 UIW and had a chance to move back into a tie for first last week against Nicholls.
 
With all that being said, Rossomando's youthful charges still have some important goals ahead of them to play for. A conference title might be out of reach, but the opportunity to regain bragging rights in your annual rivalry game should be all the motivation any one player needs to put on the pads one more time. In addition to that, the Cardinals have the opportunity to send their seniors out in style, while at the same locking up their first winning season since the 2018 campaign – and just their third above .500 record since bringing football back.
 
Standing in their way is a McNeese football team that would like nothing better than to wreck all of that. This season hasn't gone according to plan for the Cowboys, but all wrongs can be righted with a win Saturday. McNeese will cross the border with a 1-9 overall record and a 1-5 mark in SLC play. Unfortunately for McNeese, their one win comes from a forfeit from the Northwestern State contest.
 
The Cowboys lead the all-time series 28-11-1, but the two schools have split the last four decisions. The Cardinals are 4-15-1 (.225) all-time against McNeese in Beaumont, but ironically their last three wins in the series have all come in Lake Charles. A win Saturday would give the Cardinals their first series in Beaumont since the 1989 season.
 
Saturday's game will kick off at 3 p.m. from Provost Umphrey Stadium. It will be broadcast live on Newstalk 560 KLVI and streamed live on ESPN+.