BEAUMONT, Texas – Preseason camp has come to an end and the calendar is about to flip to the month of September signaling the start of a new football season. Lamar University will kick off the 2025 campaign Saturday at North Texas (7 p.m.).
 
The Cardinals will once again be led on the field by third-year head coach Pete Rossomando whose start to his LU tenure has been nothing short of historic. Having won more games than any previous Lamar coach after his first two seasons, Big Red is coming off back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1966 and 1967. The Cardinals enter 2025 looking to build off a 2024 season that saw them go 7-5 overall and finish tied for third in the Southland Conference.
 
UNT is also being directed by a third-year head coach in Eric Morris, who also has ties to the Southland Conference. The Mean Green are looking to build off the momentum of a 2024 campaign that saw them qualify for the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl against Texas State (the Cardinals' 2024 season-opening opponent). North Texas dropped a two-point decision to Texas State to end the season 6-7 overall.
 
The Cardinals step on the field Saturday looking for their first win over an NCAA FBS opponent since the 1989 season. That year – Lamar's last before shutting down the program for the next two decades – saw Big Red defeat UTEP, 21-19, in El Paso. The Cardinals also hit the road looking for the Southland's first win over an FBS opponents since the 2022 season.
 
Saturday's game is slated for a 7 p.m. kick off from DATCU Stadium in Denton. It will be broadcast live on Newstalk 560 and streamed live in ESPN+.
   
LU vs. the Mean Green
The Cardinals are 2-5 (.286) all-time against North Texas with the Mean Green having won three-straight in the series. Saturday's game marks the first meeting since 2017 when Lamar opened the year with a 59-14 setback in Denton. That contest was also the season opener and came just days after Hurricane Harvey impacted Southeast Texas. The Cardinals travel to Denton looking for just their second road win in series history and their first since 1974.
 
The Rossomando Effect
In his first two years on campus, head coach Pete Rossomando has guided the Cardinals to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1966 and 1967 (and first back-to-back conference winning seasons since 1971 and 1972). Rossomando took over a program that had won just one game in the year before his arrival. The 2024 season saw LU land in the FCS Top 25 polls for the first time in program history. Rossomando has won more games in his first two seasons at LU than any previous Lamar head coach.
 
LU vs. the FBS
Lamar will step on the field Saturday looking for its first win against an NCAA FBS program since 1989. That year, the Cardinals traveled to El Paso and defeated UTEP, 21-19. That also happened to be the last year of the program until it was revitalized for the start of the 2010 campaign.
 
Veteran Leadership
Quarterback Robert Coleman returns for his senior season and his third as the starting quarterback. Coleman enters 2025 already ranked among the school's all-time top 10 in completions, passing yards and touchdown passes after just two seasons. He is also the only returning third-year starter in the Southland Conference.