Woodard Waiting…

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BEAUMONT —Despite a signature victory over McNeese State, helped considerably by one of the wackiest plays in college football history, Ray Woodard’s future as Lamar University’s head football coach was still very much up in the air on Monday.

“I haven’t heard a word,” said Woodard, who is in the final months of a five-year deal he signed to be the coach who oversaw the return of LU’S football program. “I don’t have a clue. I haven’t done any campaigning and I don’t talk enough to anybody to know how they feel. I can say I’m proud of our players and proud of our season.”

Meanwhile, Lamar University athletic director Jason Henderson said no decision has been made and that nothing will be decided until he and school president Dr. Kenneth Evans can get together.

“Dr. Evans and I will be meeting this week,” Henderson said. “I’m in the process of trying to iron out some times for that to happen. We’ll look at all the factors which go into a decision like this. We want to be correct in our evaluations.”

Woodard, who was nearly fired at the end of the end of last seem, would seem to have helped himself considerably with the final play, 27-24 victory in Lake Charles. It put the finishing touches on an 8-4 season that matched the school record for wins set under Vernon Glass in 1974.

The triumph over McNeese also enabled the Cardinals to finish in a tie for third in the Southland Conference at 5-3. Since three SLC schools — Southeastern Louisiana, Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin — wound up in the 16-team FCS playoffs, the strength of a first-division finish might also weigh in Woodard’s favor.

One Port Arthur News source, however, said he doesn’t think it’s anywhere close to a done deal that Woodard will return.

“I think the new president wants to put his own stamp on the football program,” said the source. “I think he wants his own guy coaching football. But making a change after what happened Saturday won’t be easy. That’s a hard sell, based on the record and winning at McNeese State. There would almost have to be something behind the scenes of which people are not aware.”

Woodard, who spent last Thanksgiving twisting in the wind while key Lamar donors lobbied hard for Evans to let him coach one more year, expects to have another Turkey Day faced with uncertainty. The Cardinal coach also said that he doesn’t have anything specific in mind as to length of a possible new deal.

“In the past, all we discussed was rolling over another year,” he said. “Now we have to renegotiate a whole new deal. If it gets to that point, I’ll sit and listen and see what they are thinking.”

As far as the fumble that wasn’t, and the apparent Cowboy touchdown that became a 30-yard gain for Lamar — putting the Cardinals in position to drive for Juan Carranco’s winning field goal — the LU coach wasn’t apologizing.

“First of all, it was the right call,” he said. “Plus, we were overdue to have a big break go our way, especially after the things that happened to us at Central Arkansas.”

The game-changing play in Lake Charles began with Lamar facing 3rd-and-2 at its own 28 with a little under  four minutes left and the game tied at 24. QB Caleb Berry set the ensuing craziness in motion by throwing  what looked like a complete pass to Jayce Nelson.

Looking to have  first-down yardage, Nelson lost possession and  McNeese’s Dominigue Hill scooped up the loose ball and sprinted to the end zone. Pandemonium ensued among players on the home team and their fans. Costly pandemonium.

Even before the scoreboard could show McNeese 30, Lamar 24, the Cowboys were hit with two separate 15-yard penalties, one for players and coaches running onto the field and another for an excessive end-zone celebration. Then a replay review saved the day for Lamar.

Woodard, reacting quickly, called an official over to say he wanted to challenge the call on the field. Let’s let him take it from there, including the options that he was thinking about while the lengthy review was in progress.

“The whole thing happened so fast,” he said. “It looked like Jayce had the first down, then the football is on the ground and their guy picks it up and runs to the end zone. Then the flags fly, one on their bench and one for taunting.

“The official comes over and tells me I have the option of both penalties being assessed on the extra point or on the kickoff. Or we choose to have them step off one penalty on the extra point and one on the kickoff. I told him I wanted to challenge the ruling on the fumble and he said you don’t have to because all scoring plays are reviewed.”

If replay had not overturned the call, Woodard had already decided he was going to have both penalties assessed on the extra point.

“It would have made the extra point try about 50-yards,” he explained. “If their kicker missed, we’d only be down by six with plenty of time left. We could score a touchdown, kick the point and win, 31-30. I didn’t want to have to go to overtime.”

It all became moot when the decision from upstairs was incomplete pass. Under normal circumstances, that would have Lamar in a punting or gambling situation at its 28 with 3:32 left. Instead, after two 15-yard penalties were walked off,  LU had a first down at the Cowboys 42.

A few minutes later it was the Cardinals who were celebrating.

After the fact, Woodard had a confession to make.

“When the play happened, I thought they had made the right call on the field,” he said. “From where I was standing, it looked like  a fumble. But, after watching it on tape when we got back, it was obvious the ruling they made was correct.”

Now, with his coaching future hanging in the balance, all Woodard can do is hope Evans and Henderson deliver as favorable a review as the replay official did late Saturday afternoon.

 

 

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