FRISCO, Texas – Lamar University received one first-place vote and tallied 67 total points to be picked third in the Southland Conference Preseason Poll announced league officials Monday morning. In addition to the SLC preseason poll, the Cardinals will also open the season ranked 20^th nationally in the STATS Perform Preseason Top 25 Poll. It marks the first time in program history that Lamar will open a season ranked in the STATS Perform Preseason poll.
 
LU was one of three teams to receive a first-place vote in the league's poll.
 
Defending SLC champion Stephen F. Austin (six first-place votes) has been picked to win the league followed by Southeastern Louisiana (3) who finished eight points up on the Cardinals.
 
The Cardinals landed just one spot behind Southeastern in the STATS Perform poll, with SFA coming in at 13^th as the three Southland schools ranked. One other Southland school – UT Rio Grande Valley – is among the others receiving votes.
 
Ever since the arrival of head coach Pete Rossomando, the trajectory of the Lamar program has changed. Once a conference also ran, Rossomando has guided the Cards to three-straight winning seasons – something not done in Beaumont since the mid 1960s – including his first year in Beaumont (2023) when he took over a team that had won just one game the year before.
 
Last season, the Cardinals tied a single-season school record (as a four-year institution) with eight wins and earned the program's second NCAA FCS Playoff berth. Being just one of eight teams with multiple top 25 wins last season, the Cardinals ended the year ranked 24^th nationally – the first time Lamar has ended a season ranked in the "FCS" era.
 
The Cardinals will have some holes to fill in Rossomando's fourth season. LU returns just 11 starters and 32 letterwinners from its playoff run with just three of those starters coming on the offensive end. LU will enter the season with a returning starter at quarterback in Aiden McCown (6-2, 205, Jr.) and a preseason All-American in defensive end Andrew Huff who is the first player in program history to be named to the Buck Buchanan Award Preseason Watch list.