BU 66 LU 31 FINAL

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WACO, Texas – The Lamar University football team stood toe-to-toe with the fourth-ranked Baylor Bears and gave them a scare before BU pulled away late. The Bears took advantage of 15 LU penalties to record the 66-31 victory in front of more than 44,000 fans in McLane Stadium. The loss drops LU to 1-1 on the season, while Baylor improves to 2-0.

The Cardinals finished the night with 340 yards of total offense, including 173 on the ground. Junior Kade Harrington had 16 carries for 56 yards and two scores, while senior Carl Harris added 58 yards on six carries, all in the second half.

LU’s two quarterbacks continued to impress as junior Carson Earp finished the night completing 10-of-19 passes for 70 yards, and carried the ball six times for 39 yards. Senior Joe Minden was 8-of-11 for 97 yards and one touchdown. He also rushed for a score.

Preseason first-team All-Southland Conference selection Reggie Begelton was LU’s top target finishing the night with 10 catches for 96 yards.

Junior Tommie Barrett led the Cardinals with 12 tackles on the night. He was one of two LU players in double digits as Lloyd Julian added 10.

“I’m very proud of our team’s effort tonight,” said head coach Ray Woodard. “I’ve felt like in years past our demeanor and our approach heading into the Oklahoma State and Texas A&M games wasn’t where it needed to be. I thought we prepared well coming into this game. I really liked our mindset. We fought tonight and I think we improved from week one until week two.”

After the Bears scored on their opening possession to take an early 7-0 lead, the Cardinals started their second drive on their own 10 following a penalty. That didn’t slow down Earp confidently moved the Red and White down the field. After picking up a 3^rd-and-4 from the LU 19, the Cards rattled off first downs on the next four plays, including a 25-yard run from Earp. The 25-yard rush set up Harrington’s touchdown scamper. Harrington broke through one tackle at the line of scrimmage and used his speed to beat the rest of the Bears’ defense. The 10-play, 87-yard scoring drive took 5:14 off the clock, and tied the game at 7.

The LU defense stiffened on the next series forcing a turnover on downs, but the offense was unable to move the ball. Baylor reclaimed the lead 2:15 later after a 42-yard pass from Seth Russell to a diving Corey Coleman in the left corner of the end zone, but the Bears were unable to convert the point after.

After turning the ball over on downs, the defense got the ball right back as junior Omar Tebo recovered a fumble on the very next play. Five plays later, Harrington made the nation’s fourth-ranked team pay again as he scored his second touchdown of the night. The Cardinals took the lead after Alex Ball converted the point after, 14-13.

The Cardinals appeared to stop Baylor’s offense on the next series but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty kept the drive alive. After the penalty, the Bears were on the march again as Russell found Coleman from 21-yards out. The scoring strike gave BU back a seven-point advantage, 21-14.

After being stopped on downs, LU was forced to punt the ball away, and the Cards once again turned to their defense for a big play. Junior Xavier Bethany answered the call on the very next play by picking off Russell at the LU 38 yard line. Although the Cardinals didn’t capitalize at the other end, they were able to keep the Baylor offense off the field.

Less than five minutes later, the Cardinals would look to their defense again, and it would deliver. Senior Seth Ellis picked off Russell on the Baylor 19, setting up Big Red’s third score of the half. The Cards had the ball 1^st-and-goal from the one when Joe Minden called his own number. The score tied the game at 21 with 3:51 remaining in the half.

The Cardinals recorded 164 yards of total offense in the opening half, but were stung by penalties. Big Red was penalized 12 times for 92 yards in the first 30 minutes. Baylor took advantage of the miscues racking 395 yards of total offense in the first half.

“When you’re the underdog and you come in here, you’ve got to do a lot of things,” said Woodard. “You can’t back down to people. I didn’t like the flags but at the same time I kind of understood why we were getting into those positions. I liked the way we fought, even though we had way too many penalties.”

Harrington finished the half with 56 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns. Earp completed 8-of-13 passes for 44 yards in the opening half, while Minden was 3-of-5 for 35 yards.

The Bears closed out the half with two scores in the final four minutes, including one with 35 seconds remaining.

Big Red struck first in the second half when sophomore Alex Ball converted a 31-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 42-24. The field goal was set up by Beaumont freshman Rodney Randle’s interception deep in LU territory. Randle returned the pick 51 yards.

The Bears answered with 17 consecutive points before LU responded with a 20-yard pass from Minden to Brendan Langley. It would be the Cardinals’ final score as Baylor tacked on one final touchdown late.

The Cardinals return to action Saturday, Sept. 19, when they travel to Huntsville, Texas to take on the nation’s top ranked team, Sam Houston State. The game against the Bearkats is slated to kick off at 6 p.m.

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