**Official: Cardinals v. Incarnate Word - Battle of the Bird**

[AggiesAreWe]

QB position is not the issue.

 

Defense and special teams is the issue.

 

Also, I thought the O-line did not do as good a job as I expected them to do against this defensive front.

[Guest CardAmbassador]

I'm amazed at how badly we played this team. Someone said that IW was a well disciplined team, that is the problem, we are not.

 

What was the environment like? How many fans showed up?

[Guest CardinalClaw]

I'm amazed at how badly we played this team. Someone said that IW was a well disciplined team, that is the problem, we are not.

 

What was the environment like? How many fans showed up?

 

There was a good turn out an the environment was great until everyone figured out the CARDS were not going to beat up on IW.

[BRI Staff]

Lamar Survives Scare:

 

BEAUMONT. - Lamar University scored 42 points through three quarters Saturday night to seize a 22-point lead then held off a spirited University of Incarnate rally to post a 45-35 victory before a crowd of 15,367 in Provost Umphrey Stadium.

 

In improving to 2-1 on the season, Lamar rolled up 469 yards of total offense, but the host Cardinals allowed UIW to score two touchdowns in a span of 48 seconds early in the fourth quarter.

 

That spurt pulled the visiting Cardinals to within 42-35, but the host Cardinals put it away with a 31-yard Justin Stout field goal which was followed a few moments later by a clutch interception by linebacker Jacody Coleman.

 

"It was a very strange game," said Ray Woodard, Lamar's head coach. "In the first half, we did some good things offensively (to build a 35-20 lead), but we had trouble stopping the run defensively.

 

"We made some adjustments defensively at halftime, and they helped. We didn't stop the running game in the second half, but we definitely slowed it down."

 

LINK: http://www.lamarcardinals.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/091811aaa.html

[BigRedTrack]

I'm amazed at how badly we played this team. Someone said that IW was a well disciplined team, that is the problem, we are not.

 

What was the environment like? How many fans showed up?

 

Crowd was into the game at times, more than the players. There was no intensity shown on the field. We were a very righthanded offense - very few plays to the left side. Right side of the offensive line really struggled - especially on pass plays. We did substitute quite abit, but so did they. In the first half our pass defense made their quarterback look like a cross between Tom Brady & Eli Manning. I think he had 2 incompletions that was his fault.

 

Glad we played them in Beaumont, they probably would have beaten us in San Antonio.

[Guest CardAmbassador]

Where was Marcus Jackson, he didn't record a stat tonight. Also looks like Garrett saw limited action, why?

[Guest bigred360]

Garrett got hurt early in the game. Jackson as well as several other starters didn't play but that is no excuse for playing a game like they did tonight!!!

[Guest CardAmbassador]

I finally got to watch all of the game last night on the all access player.

 

This game had some incredibly bright spots but also had some pitiful play. Positives: the offense looked good most of the night, the play calling in the first half was more diverse than it was last year or in the TC game. Guys like Kye Hildreth and Payden McVey are young and will contribute on this team for a long time. I don't remember seeing any bad play by receivers the only offensive mistake that cost us was Bevil's interception.

 

On Bevil. Can we finally put this to rest, name him the starter, he has definitely improved over last years performance. He put together several good drives and kept plays alive when needed by scrambling, he also threw the ball away if he didn't have anything. Johnson did great when he was in too I agree with him at #2 though, he runs it a bit more and we need Bevil to give us that balance on offense.

 

I'm very please with Venson, this is what we all thought he could be the speedy back that can take it up the field for nice 15 yd gains. He had several great plays.

 

Secondary: We made all of our field goals and didn't have any blocks, thats about all there was to say. I disagree that we didn't make adjustments for theirs short kick offs though after the second time it happened we put more hands guys in but they're not executing like they should never back up to catch the ball! let the guy behind you take it. I'm pretty sure the players are going to hear this in the film study.

 

Defense Positives: We can man to man cover in the secondary decently. And we can stop the run when we're focused on it but any type of play action will usually set up the other team for big gains into our secondary. Not much good to say besides that.

 

Negatives: Offense: What's up with the play calling in the second half? We had a great balance in the first half and the beginning of the second (the reverse with Jacob Hannah was an awesome play and I hope we see it again, I don't think JJ Hayes should have been called for holding there. But as soon as IWU got momentum on their side we kept it so conservative that if IWU was just a little more consistent of offense they might have won the game. You have to throw the ball when there is still that much time left on the clock.

 

Defense: Secondary's zone coverage just sucks, we're usually standing to the left and right of what is going on and giving the opposing QB a great window to throw in. This was likely what USA was exploiting last week on third and long attempts. The D line's interior tackles are not playing with enough intensity or something. We're getting split wide open every time and the Line backers can't fill a hole that big with a speedy guy like Rios running at them.

 

Special teams: Why are we squib kicking that last kick off? THey almost broke through our special teams unit to score. Show a little faith in these guys and put that ball in the endzone. We have the leg strength but not the consistancy. And how do you kick the ball out of bounds that many times? I saw better kicking in the TC game and we had crazy wind and rain to deal with. Lots of problems on the special temas and after watching this game it has to be seen as our Achilles heel along with the middle of our defense.

 

Overall we had a better game than what I thought from reading comments. I think there was alot of positives to take away from the offense which has been a concern since the USA game. The O line can get better but they're still working on it and I think as the season progresses they will do the job. Performances like Venson's and Bevil's make me feel better about the offense.

 

The defense had flashes of good play we just seem to get busted in the secondary far too often. I don't know what to say about the defensive tackles, it's just disappointing to see them get pushed around like they did at some points. Other times they plugged holes up nicely but they can't do it consistently. We should have blitzed more, on the few plays where we did Lynch threw an interception and a few hurried incomplete passes but We only sent 4 for most of the night from what I could tell. I worry about blitzing more though when our coverage is so inconsistent. I would like to see more man to man match ups in the secondary. When we did that it seemed to work more.

 

If we wouldn't have dropped that ball on the kick off and played better defense in the first quarter this would have been a pretty good margin of victory for Lamar. The only positive I see now is that we aren't going to be on a high after a win like that so this should be motivation to concentrate on SELU.

 

Go Cards.