GAMEDAY: TEXAS A&M

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BEAUMONT, Texas – After a season-opening victory at home against Grambling State, the Lamar Cardinals hit the road for their first game away from Provost Umphrey Stadium this season. The Cardinals will step up in competition Saturday traveling to College Station, Texas to take on No. 9 Texas A&M. The Aggies come into tonight’s contest after an impressive 52-28 victory over then No. 9 South Carolina.

“We’re happy to be 1-0 heading into this game against Texas A&M,” said head coach Ray Woodard. “I don’t think I can say anything about these guys that hasn’t already been said after watching their season-opener. Simply put, they are impressive on field. They were arguably the most impressive team in the first weekend of the season. They came out and made a statement in their first game that they are a team to contend with on a national level.

“A&M has incredible talent at every position, and Coach Kevin Sumlin does a great job getting his team ready to play every week. One of the most impressive things about them is that they play determined football. A&M presents an incredible challenge for any team,” added Woodard.

That talent was put on display in the season opener as A&M lit up the scoreboard for 52 points and nearly 700 yards of offense, including more than 500 yards in the air. Aggie quarterback Kenny Hill was nearly perfect completing 44-of-60 (.733) passes for 511 yards and three touchdowns.

Defensively, the Aggies took South Carolina’s ground game out of the equation. The Gamecocks were only able to manage 67 yards on the ground, and were forced to play catch up for most of the night.

Lamar was able to overcome five turnovers against Grambling State to pick up a win in their season opener. It was a completely different scenario for Texas A&M. The Aggies enter their home opener without having turned the ball over in their first four quarters of action this season.

“You can’t afford to turn the ball over against a team as talented as A&M,” said Woodard. “They are very talented all over. They will make you pay for any miscues. We have to correct the errors that we made in our first game, but that would be the case no matter who we played this week.”

For a second consecutive season, Lamar will be playing in front of one of the largest crowds in school history. Last season, the Cards played in front of a Boone Pickens Stadium record crowd at Oklahoma State as more than 59,000 fans showed up to see the game. Tonight’s attendance is expected to be largest turnout for a Lamar football game in program history.

“We have done some things to help prepare our guys for the noise level at Kyle Field,” said Woodard. “There is no way to accurately replicate how loud it is going to be, but we have been working with some things to make it as tough on our guys as possible.

“Obviously, Kyle Field is quite a bit larger than what we saw last year in Stillwater, but I thought we handled the noise very well last season at OSU. So that game at least gave us a little preparation for how low loud it is going to be Saturday.”

The game against the Aggies is slated to kickoff tonight at 6:30 p.m. from Kyle Field and will be televised on the SEC Network.

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