BEAUMONT, Texas – Now that the calendar has switched to November, things have heated up in the chase for the Southland Conference title. The Cardinals (5-3/2-1 SLC) enter the weekend showdown with Southeastern Louisiana in a two-way tie for third just a game back of the Lions (4-5/3-1 SLC) in the win column. UIW, the league's other Cardinals, currently sit atop the standings with a 6-2 overall record and are the only undefeated school in Southland play (3-0).
 
With a victory Saturday, the Cardinals would leapfrog into second place with three games remaining. Big Red still has road games at UIW and rival McNeese with Senior Day coming up on Nov. 16^th against Nicholls. The top four teams in the league are separated by just one game, and each still has four conference game remaining on its 2024 schedule.
 
But for any thoughts of future success can be realized, the Cardinals have to take care of business Saturday against a very talented SLU team. The Lions opened the year with a 1-4 start, but that had a lot to do with a tough non-conference schedule that included two FBS games, two nationally ranked FCS opponents and an Eastern Washington squad who at the time was ranked just outside the top 25. The Lions rattled off three consecutive wins to open league play before dropping a close one to UIW last week in Hammond.
 
Saturday's contest will also have two of the nations' top running backs (and the league's top two rushers) in Lamar's Khalan Griffin (111.5 yards per game) and SLU's Antonio Martin, Jr.  (110.2 ypg). While the two backs have put up similar numbers this year, Griffin has a slight edge in rushing yards per game, yards per carry and rushing touchdowns, Martin has more overall rush yards.
 
Saturday's contest is set for a 3 p.m. kick off from Provost Umphrey Stadium. It will be broadcast live on Newstalk 560 and streamed live on ESPN+.
  LU vs. the Lions
Lamar and Southeastern Louisiana have met on the football field 15 times in series history, in a series that dates back to the 1967 season. All but two of those meetings have come since 2010. The Cardinals trail the all-time series, 5-10 (.333) and are just 2-4 (.333) against the Lions in Beaumont. The Cardinals have dropped five of the last six meetings but the lone win during that stretch came last season when the Cardinals posted a six-point win in Hammond. Lamar enters Saturday's contest looking for its first win over SLU in Beaumont since 2016.
 
Looking to Go Back-to-Back
With Saturday's victory at Northwestern State, the Cardinals are within striking distance of their second consecutive winning season. The 2023 campaign marked Lamar's first winning season (6-5) since 2018. If the Cardinals can get two more wins this season it would be the first back-to-back winning records for the Cardinals since the 1966 (6-4) and 1967 (7-3) seasons.
 
Running Cardinals
Senior running back Khalan Griffin carried the ball 19 times for 120 yards with a touchdown. It marks the fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season and the ninth of his career. The Tyler, Texas native currently leads the Southland Conference, and ranks eighth nationally in rushing (111.5 ypg).
 
Margin of Victory
Lamar posted a 32-point victory over Northwestern State Saturday. The Cardinals' margin of victory is the largest for LU against an NCAA Division I opponent since Oct. 31, 2015, when LU defeated Houston Christian, 55-7, in Houston.