BEAUMONT, Texas – It has been a tough stretch for the 15^th-ranked Lamar University Cardinals who have spent the entire month of September away from Provost Umphrey Stadium. After opening the season with an impressive victory over then No. 15 Abilene Christian, the Cardinals have traveled to UL Lafayette, Idaho and now to Nicholls looking to improve to 3-1 on the season.
 
For Lamar to close out this month-long road swing with a winning record, the Cardinals will have to go through a very tough Nicholls squad on its home field - a place that has proven tough for opponents to play. The Colonels (2-2/1-0 SLC) are tied for second in the Southland standings after an impressive conference-opening victory over UT Rio Grande Valley. Nicholls' two losses have come against FBS programs (Kansas State and Sam Houston). In their two FCS games, the Colonels are averaging nearly 38 points per game and held Mississippi Valley State to 10 points and UTRGV's explosive offense to 28 (the Vaqueros were held scoreless in two of the four quarters).
 
Saturday will serve as the conference opener for LU, who is the only remaining league school to have not played its conference opener. Lamar is 13-24 (.351) all-time in conference-opening games and Saturday will be just the third time that Lamar opens against the Colonels. The two teams have split those two contests with Lamar winning last season and Nicholls taking the 2020 contest (which was played in February 2021 due to the COVID pandemic).
 
The Cardinals lead the all-time series against Nicholls, 8-7 (.563) and have won consecutive games in the series but the series flips in Nicholls' favor when the two teams meet in Thibodaux. The Colonels hold a 5-2 advantage when the two teams meet in Louisiana.
 
Saturday's contest is set for a 3 p.m. start from Guidry Stadium. It will be broadcast live on Newstalk 560 KLVI and streamed live in ESPN+.
   
LU vs. the Colonels
The Cardinals are two games over .500 all-time in the series against Nicholls, 9-7 (.563) and have won consecutive games in the series, but Lamar has struggled to a 2-5 (.286) mark in Thibodaux. Lamar heads to Thibodaux looking for its first road win in the series since 2014. The Colonels have won six of the previous 10 meetings.
 
LU in SLC Openers
The Cardinals are 13-24 (.351) all-time in Southland Conference openers – and 2-1 under head coach Pete Rossomando – and 4-10 (.286) since bringing back the program. Saturday's game will be just the third time that LU has opened conference play against Nicholls (and the second straight). Prior to 2025, the only other conference opener between the two schools came in February 2021 when the fall season was pushed to the spring due to COVID. Nicholls won that meeting, while Lamar recorded a seven-point victory last season.
 
Historic for LU, Commonplace for the Head Coach
A win Saturday at Nicholls would give Lamar a 3-1 start to the year. Dating back to the first season, then a junior college institution (1923), Lamar has opened a new year with a 3-1 record just 22 times. Two of those coming in the past two seasons, but prior to Rossomando's arrival Lamar's previous 3-1 start came in 2014. Among those 22 seasons where LU started 3-1, 16 were prior to 1975. 
 
The Rossomando Effect
Since the arrival of head coach Pete Rossomando, the Lamar University football program has made historic strides. LU is coming off an NCAA FCS Playoff appearance in 2025 and is currently in the midst of its best run of success (in terms of consecutive winning seasons) since the mid 1960s. Entering his fourth season with the Cardinals, Rossomando had already won more games in three seasons than every other LU coach had in their first four (except for Cardinal Hall of Honor inductee Vernon Glass). Rossomando tied Glass' win total just three games into his fourth season.