**Official Lamar v. Central Arkansas - Homecoming Game**

[Guest NorthoftheBorder]

I was really disappointed in the offensive line. That said, UCA won because their O and D lines were superior. When they needed it they just ran the ball down our throats, their backs were consistently getting 5 yds+ a pop (with the exception of their first few possessions of the 2nd half). Conversely, our rushing yds were 2 yds a pop. Having said all that, we were still competitive. Bevil's only real blunder was the pick 6 at the end of the game. We are a poor tackling football team. Johnson's 55 yard td run was nice, but then he didn't do anything after that. So he is not yet ready to be the man. I was sitting by some Silsbee folks and that was a bit of a struggle to say the least. Overall, I don't think the team has mental toughness and this is a problem. That either comes from player leadership or the coaches. Special teams still disappoints. I liked the fake punt call but it has to work. Don't run it on the opposing sideline where the coaches and players can communicate with their player. Also , Kahler has to make the pass. Just a lot of little things that aren't done right. Used too many timeouts in the 1st & 3rd qtrs.

 

This was rambling I know. Just some observations.

[lu cards]

lamar has trouble playing all 4 quarters.we seem to fall asleep and let teams either pull away or get back in the game.giving up the long td right before half was a killer.i like that were competing but we cant find a way to get w.thought the crowd was good and the tailgating was great.

[05BigRed]

I think it just boils down to a young football program with some inexperienced coaching...I think Hayes celebration penalty was very upsetting...changed the pace of the entire game...and I cringe when special teams come on the field...

[Vroo]

There were many things which contributed to tonight's loss. One of the major momentum shifts came with the fake punt call that went horribly wrong. I think it was a terrible decision. I understand trying to make things happen but why do you fake a punt that deep in your end. Bevil was trying to make something happen at the end of the game and threw a ball he should have never thrown. You can't throw a prayer at that point in the game but when you get removed from a game in which you are playing well I can see how that would be pretty deflating. Johnson played well and was a good change of pace but he is not near as accurate. I think they would be good mix or change of pace between the two but Bevil was having a good game. Our inside defense from the line all the way throughout the secondary has not been impressive this season. They kept running it down our throats for 4-5 yards at will. We need to get some bigger boys up front who are capable of moving the line of scrimmage. I like the kid taking the ball on the kicks Franks I think. Smallest man on the field but plays like a ball of fire. Special teams did a good job with the exception of the fake punt and the first Lamar kickoff. Quit with the short kick already. But you can't keep giving up 30+ points a game unless you have an offense that can put up 40+ a game. We had the game in hand and managed to give it all back with a few stupid mistakes. At times I am ashamed to be a Lamar Alum and current student when the visiting crowd is louder than our student section. At times there just doesn't seem to be any excitement when there should be. Could be an amazing environment but there seems to be something lacking. I think our program still has a long way to go. Just my two cents on tonight's game.

[Guest CardinalClaw]

A couple of things from this game

 

1. Like a lot of you have already said it is going to be hard to win game when the defense is giving up 30+ points a game. That entire unit needs to improve, they need to get more pressure on the QB, the secondary needs to step their game up, figure out a way to stop the run an for gods sake learn how to tackle.

 

2. The unsportsman like conduct flag on Hayes was the biggest BS call ever. I mean are you kidding me, a little salute to the crowd. Give me a brake there is no way that is worth 15 yards.

 

 

3. Tim Hayter should be kicking his self, he had two chances to get a pick an couldn't haul in either one.

 

There are a lot of other things I could say but I will stop at those three for now.

[Vroo]

Two words d wrap up. I have to agree our d looked like pinball bumpers tonight.

[Vroo]

On a good note the university needs to figure out how to get the alumni cheerleaders to more games. That may have been the most exciting part of the game. Ha ha

[Guest bigred360]

Okay, I can't sleep so here it goes. One the defense overall didn't play that bad. It is givening up the big play that is killing us. Lamar had 183 total yards rushing. UCA had 172. Bobo had 67 yards on 13 carries. Blackmon had 49 yards on 10 carries. So, it's not like they were running the ball down own throat.

 

I'll come back to UCA offense in a minute. Questionable coaching decision's. First up 14-0 we are one foot from the endzone on 4th down and the coaching staff decides to kick the field goal. If we score a TD there it is a whole difference ballgame 21-10 mid-way through the second quarter. When have we held a DI school to less than 30 points? Go for it that close coach. Then from own 32 yard line the special teams coach and Coach Woodard decide to fake a punt on 4th and 9 yards needed. Unbelievable. That play changed the momentum of the game.

 

Back to UCA, the big play's are what beat us tonight. One the 51 yard screen pass in the left flat for a TD. How many times have we got beat on that play (screen pass) this year? Then Dick's play action 35 yard TD pass with 22 seconds left in the 3rd quarter. The defensive back wasn't within 10 yards of the WR. What was the problem? The CB's have minimal run responsibility. His main job is to keep the WR's from getting behind them for big plays.

 

Then we had a DB miss two chances at a INT. One in the endzone that would have put our offense on the 20 yard line but instead UCA kicks a FG to make it 17-10 at that point. You gotta make those kind of plays to change the confidence of the team plus stopping the other team from scoring. Then with about 7:00 minutes left own DB dropped another INT at own 35 yard line which would have been a possible pick 6. As there was no one in front of him.

 

Then with 2:15 in the 4th quarter trailing 31-24 with one timeout left they decide to put Bevil back in the game at own on 15 yard line. What does he do after being out of the game for over a quarter. He throws an INT that is returned 31 yards for a TD.

 

Why did you take Bevil out of the game when he was playing awesome? I know they probably promised Johnson some playing time but you can't take out a QB that hot. If so, just for a few series for a change of pace and bring him back in.

 

Bevil completed 17 of his first 18 passes and finished the half 19-for-23 for 198 yards and two touchdowns without throwing an interception.

 

So, take away the big plays 51 yard TD pass, 35 yard TD pass and the 31 yard pick 6 and it could have been a different game. That and some questionable coaching decisions.

 

The JJ Hayes unsportsman like penalty was a joke and the ref didn't need to throw a flag but there is a rule about excessive celebration and I guess a hand salute falls into that class? :huh:

[Gtj007]

I was only able to stay for first half and then watched second half on tv. Announcers said Bevil hurt his heel.

[Guest bigred360]

I was only able to stay for first half and then watched second half on tv. Announcers said Bevil hurt his heel.

 

That may be very true but I work in the medical field and it is very rare a heel injury is serious. Normally, it is just painful. Tape him up and put him back in the game.

 

I don't know Bevil personally but I know a lot of people who do being from Orange and if that kid is having a career night there is no way he wouldn't want to be back on the field.

 

Edit: An Achilles tendon injury is a lot different.

[Guest CardinalClaw]

I can understand taking Bevil out, his two TD"s came on the first two possessions of the game. Bevil did get us into positions after that to get into the endzone but just couldn't get it in. We needed that same spark from Johnson that we got in the TXST game, an we did for a while.

[Guest CardAmbassador]

I was really impressed with how we started the drive on offense, when was the last time we had two legitmiate drives that weren't aided by 40 yard passes against a DI school? Never!! Those first two drives need to be disected by this coaching staff. They will begin to understand that the 10 yard pass is going to do more for us than the 40 yard one. We kept their defense on the field and more importantly kept their offense off for much of the first quarter. I was very pleased with the opening drives of the game.

 

Northwestern State started to make some adjustments in the second quarter that slowed us down. The excessive celebration call on Hayes was stupid. He did practically nothing! I agree about going for it on the 4th and long, with the yardage that wasn't needed. That was mistake one by the coaching staff.

 

The screen pass TD looked like the UCA player stepped out of bounds to me but who knows.

 

I don't know if our team really wants to win sometimes. The team came off very flat in the second half. The interception at the end of the game was unquestionable a bad decision for Bevil who other wise had a good game against a good opponent. But after the interception they should have tackled the kid instead of letting him in the endzone. I think the team just gave up at that point. This is not what you want to see. I don't know if our team has any pride in themselves if they're going to let someone score that TD for free.

 

Johnson was somewhat of a spark but his timing was a little off with his receivers, He leads a bit more than Bevil does and if you're not used to it it's going to throw you off. I still insist that Johnson can throw the football well and accurately. The TxSt game saw him complete several nice passes from the pocket.

 

The fact that Bevil only had 1 int. and led 3 very good drives down the field is encouraging. He didn't need the long ball to do it either. If he can continue play like he did today we will be fine. His first two drives were akin to what he did against SE Louisiana. It completely picked apart the other team, McVey was always there over the middle and he had short slant routes with other receivers.

 

Harmon's TD was similar to his one against TxSt he made just enough people miss to find the endzone.

 

Honestly even though the second half wasn't spectacuar I was happy with the game over all considering this is one of the best teams in conference.

 

The ending killed it for me too.

 

The last thing I will say is that our defense is absolutely terrible. UCA was able to get 6yards a carry running the exact same play! The night where the offense showed up early the defense showed up late. The batted pass was nice, but UCA steadily moved the ball down the field on us.

 

The crowd was quite large for yesterday's game and the tailgating was very very good. Where have all these people been? Do they only go to homecoming?

 

The crowd might have been great but I was disappointed with the amount of people who left at half time when this was a tie game. Are you kidding me how do you leave homecoming at halftime when it is tied? Then when Bevil threw the interception pretty much the entire stadium cleared out. It was upsetting to see the pick, I was more than a little upset, but please stay until the end. I'm sure the team would have more confidence if the fans would show some confidence.

[Guest LU4LIFE]

There are some so called fans that really get on my nervous you can't get them to come into the stadium until almost the second quarter, and then you can't keep them in the stadium after the second quarter. Honestly I don't know why you would buy a ticket if you don't plan on staying for the whole game. Another thing that I didn't like about the crowd (I can only really speak about the people around me) they make no noise all they do is clap when Lamar does something good, and for someone like me that likes to make noise you don't want to be the one Joe Blow screaming when your surrounded by a bunch of people being quiet.

[Guest bigred360]

I was really impressed with how we started the drive on offense, when was the last time we had two legitmiate drives that weren't aided by 40 yard passes against a DI school? Never!! Those first two drives need to be disected by this coaching staff. They will begin to understand that the 10 yard pass is going to do more for us than the 40 yard one. We kept their defense on the field and more importantly kept their offense off for much of the first quarter. I was very pleased with the opening drives of the game.

 

Northwestern State started to make some adjustments in the second quarter that slowed us down. The excessive celebration call on Hayes was stupid. He did practically nothing! I agree about going for it on the 4th and long, with the yardage that wasn't needed. That was mistake one by the coaching staff.

 

The screen pass TD looked like the UCA player stepped out of bounds to me but who knows.

 

I don't know if our team really wants to win sometimes. The team came off very flat in the second half. The interception at the end of the game was unquestionable a bad decision for Bevil who other wise had a good game against a good opponent. But after the interception they should have tackled the kid instead of letting him in the endzone. I think the team just gave up at that point. This is not what you want to see. I don't know if our team has any pride in themselves if they're going to let someone score that TD for free.

 

Johnson was somewhat of a spark but his timing was a little off with his receivers, He leads a bit more than Bevil does and if you're not used to it it's going to throw you off. I still insist that Johnson can throw the football well and accurately. The TxSt game saw him complete several nice passes from the pocket.

 

The fact that Bevil only had 1 int. and led 3 very good drives down the field is encouraging. He didn't need the long ball to do it either. If he can continue play like he did today we will be fine. His first two drives were akin to what he did against SE Louisiana. It completely picked apart the other team, McVey was always there over the middle and he had short slant routes with other receivers.

 

Harmon's TD was similar to his one against TxSt he made just enough people miss to find the endzone.

 

Honestly even though the second half wasn't spectacuar I was happy with the game over all considering this is one of the best teams in conference.

 

The ending killed it for me too.

 

The last thing I will say is that our defense is absolutely terrible. UCA was able to get 6yards a carry running the exact same play! The night where the offense showed up early the defense showed up late. The batted pass was nice, but UCA steadily moved the ball down the field on us.

 

The crowd was quite large for yesterday's game and the tailgating was very very good. Where have all these people been? Do they only go to homecoming?

 

The crowd might have been great but I was disappointed with the amount of people who left at half time when this was a tie game. Are you kidding me how do you leave homecoming at halftime when it is tied? Then when Bevil threw the interception pretty much the entire stadium cleared out. It was upsetting to see the pick, I was more than a little upset, but please stay until the end. I'm sure the team would have more confidence if the fans would show some confidence.

 

Agree with pretty much everything you said. The Lamar fan's for the most part suck. Leaving at halftime with the game tied. Are you kidding me?

[Guest bigred360]

There are some so called fans that really get on my nervous you can't get them to come into the stadium until almost the second quarter, and then you can't keep them in the stadium after the second quarter. Honestly I don't know why you would buy a ticket if you don't plan on staying for the whole game. Another thing that I didn't like about the crowd (I can only really speak about the people around me) they make no noise all they do is clap when Lamar does something good, and for someone like me that likes to make noise you don't want to be the one Joe Blow screaming when your surrounded by a bunch of people being quiet.

 

You sound like me. I was yelling the whole game and wanted to stand the whole game but only a few people in our section W207 would stand and there wasn't very much noise. I decided at halftime I was standing on 3rd down (for UCA) no matter what. I thought someone might say something but at that point I didn't care. I paid for our season tickets and if I wanted to stand I was.

 

Funny thing is my mom is 64 and stepfather is 72 and they would both stand up when I did. So, if the elderly folks can stand for sure the students and people in their 20's, 30's and 40's can too.

[puddin tane]

our fans suck...w208 is a morgue..cept the viator cowbell people..awesome fans...got to get tickets closer to them..

 

I was sitting by another cowbell lady..she wouldnt ever make noise with it, was afraid of ringing it..told her to bang that sucker

 

those 2 frats with the super loud rap music on the corner of virginia are gonna kill tailgating over there....play your crap so you can hear it..fine..i dont wanna hear it 2 blocks away

[lu cards]

i watched a few minutes of the rice game saturday and it looked like they had 1,000 people at the game. so it could be much worse.one negative of good tailgating is a late arriving crowd.i would venture to say we have 1k to 2k that just tailgate and dont go to the game.i dont have an issue with it now but once we start winning hopefully they will choose to watch some of the game.lamar football is a work in progress.majority of people in setx havent been to a game yet.i spoke with a guy saturday that was attending his first lu game and was blown away with the atmosphere.he'll be back and bring someone else.got to have patience with the team and the fans.LU is doing a good job with gameday atmosphere.once the onfield product catches up we will be fine.theres only a few schools in texas that dont complain about fan support.sam houston is undefeated and there crwod saturday will probably stink.

[lu cards]

funny tidbit i saw on another fan site.if you see someone wearing a lamar shirt in setx they probably went to lamar.if you see someone wearing a ut or atm shirt in setx they probably went to wal-mart.:P

[Guest bigredfan2]

I wish the team would catch up to the level of great Tailgating at Lamar. I walk most all the areas and I can tell you there is a lot of good food/drink and great times going on there. I have felt the energy every time and it still blows my mind. It is happening at Lamar University.

 

I wish the team would catch up to the level the great Lamar Band. They also have had a short time, if not shorter, time to get their act together. They have giving some great precession march and music performances. That includes the Flag and Dance Teams, the Cheerleaders and don't forget the beautiful End Zone Angels.

 

I hate to be too negative about the team, a lot has been said, but the fake punt was a BAD CALL!

 

The needs to catch up.

[puddin tane]

AINT THAT THE TRUTH!!!!!!!!

 

saw a similar one on La Tech board

 

something like

"I got my shirt at LaTech, you got your LSU shirt @ walmart"

[Guest CardAmbassador]

AINT THAT THE TRUTH!!!!!!!!

 

saw a similar one on La Tech board

 

something like

"I got my shirt at LaTech, you got your LSU shirt @ walmart"

 

I love these quotes because they are so true. If someone tells me LU's football team sucks I ask them who they cheer for when they tell me an SEC or Big XII team I say that's great, did you go to school there? When they say no (they almost always do) I just smile inside.

 

It's alright to like those programs, it's OK if you live in Beaumont and don't support LU. But when you didn't even go to college and your going to say my football team sucks I'm not going to take you seriously.

 

GO BIG RED!!

[lu cards]

most college football teams that arent in a major conference fight this battle.it is what it is.i understand wanting to follow a bcs type team.we also have locals that may have gone to a major university and also follow lamar.ill take whatever kind of fan we can get.if a guy is willing to spend $500 dollars to tailgate and not go to the game im ok with that.he is supporting the program financially.

[LU1991]

Lamar had two of the best offensive drives I've seen since they started last year. I believe if our defense had Coleman playing, it would have been a different outcome. We couldn't stop the run. The call on JJ was borderline at best and was a turning point of the game.

 

The tailgating was great. Thanks to the alumni association, I finally have an alumni sticker on my vehicle and proud of it. They were thumping on the other side of MLK and I'm fine with that. Glad everyone was having a good time.

 

I wish our fans could be louder. There is only a handful of us that stand up in our section, but its work in progress. The press box missed a few 3rd down and get on your feet calls. I believe they could do better.

[jdcurran235]

For the fans to be louder we need more students at the game. Almost 15000 students at Lu and only a handful stand up.

[LUSportsFan]

Overall, I was disappointed in the loss. As the game progressed, I thought this game was in our control. We just didn't seal the deal. We were in the game until that last interception.

 

Eliminate or reduce the other teams BIG plays ... One of the biggest things that is reducing our chances at winning is failure to stop the big plays. It's great when the big plays are made by my team, but it's a killer when the opponent is making them.

 

From the official game stats ...

 

[table]

[tr][td]2nd 01:37 UCA Bobo, Terence 51 yd pass from Dick, Nathan (Camara, Eddie kick)

1 play, 51 yards, TOP 0:12 17 - 17 [/td][/tr]

 

[tr][td]3rd 00:22 UCA Lasker, Al 35 yd pass from Dick, Nathan (Camara, Eddie kick)

6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:17 31 - 24 [/td][/tr]

[tr][td]4th 02:07 UCA Love, Jestin 31 yd interception return (Camara, Eddie kick)

38 - 24 [/td][/tr]

[/table]

 

Take those away or at least some of them away plus the "gift" following the fake punt, and the end result is a different story.

 

3rd 10:40 UCA Grandy, Jesse 12 yd pass from Dick, Nathan (Camara, Eddie kick)

4 plays, 32 yards, TOP 1:14 24 - 17

 

(I had no problem with the fake punt. It was a gamble, but the payoff would have been great if it had worked. I thought it was in the right place on the field at the right time in the game. Too bad it didn't work. I hope we don't try it again for a long time though, particularly when we are either tied or ahead. However, I am glad that we have a coaching staff that is willing to take a gamble sometime.)

Eliminate or reduce the 3rd down defensive breakdowns... Another thing is to play defense on third down as hard as it is played on 1st and 2nd downs. I have seen too many times this season where we had great defensive plays for the first two downs and then let the other team continue the drive with a third down play.

 

I realize the only thing that matters is the score at the end of the game, but I see the things we need to work on are more related to giving up the big play. Looking at the statistics, there are a lot of positives to build on. We had more first downs, more total yards, more yards passing, a better punting average, more kick off return yards per return, and a higher time of possession.

 

Positives

 

Started out with long, time consuming drives for scores... I really liked the way the game started out. We had two long drives for scores.

 

Improved kicking ... In the earlier games, I thought kicking and special teams was one of our weakest facits of the game. I saw improvement in the kicking game. There were several kickoffs for touch backs in the UCA game as opposed to letting the other team start from the 35 yd - 45 yd line too many times this season.

 

More fans using the tickets they bought ... Nice to see more fans in the stadium; like everyone else I would like to see even more. I do agree that we need to be louder and more into the game. In the fans defense, the sections around me did get up for the kick offs. We need to be louder when the defense is on the field though. The spirit groups are doing their part. We as fans need to do our part.

 

Pregame atmosphere ... It's a lot different and a lot better than it was when we had season tickets during the 70's through the end of the 80's. We don't tail gate, but it is great walking to the stadium past the tail gaters. Lots of activity and energy during the pregame.