10 Thoughts after Prairie View A&M

[Mike]

1. Whew, they needed that. You could feel the entire staff and team let out a huge exhale last night at Provost Umphrey Stadium. To FINALLY put it together at home in front of a huge crowd is something this program desperately needed. Here's to hoping the locals appreciated the effort and again give full support to this group for the remainder of the season.

 

2. The offense made huge strides from last week to this week. You could sense on the opening drive that this week was going to be different. It was a balanced attack that kept the Panthers on their heels the entire game. 208 yards rushing and 224 yards passing....it doesn't get anymore balanced than that. It'll be fun to see what Coach Kueck and Co break out when conference games arrive.

 

3. Ryan Mossakowski started and played so well on the opening drive that he didn't give the staff much choice but to leave him in the game. He looked much more confident and in control of the offense this week. When there was trouble he got rid of the football, didn't force anything and showed some decent wheels in avoiding pressure. He also distributed the ball very well completing passes to eight different receivers. This is what we've been expecting from the former rivals 4-star recruit.

 

4. After no catches last week Kevin Johnson had a nice home opener with three TD's this week, all in the first half. I thought it was smart to get the ball in his hands early and get him into the contest. I feel he has a little in him of what every great WR has, the need for the football to come his way. If they continue to get him involved early we can likely expect more games like what we witnessed last night from KJ. He had an awesome first half!

 

5. LU has a nice 2-headed monster at RB in Herschel Sims and DePauldrick Garrett. The staff has done a great job in nearly equally splitting the carries between the two. Last night Sims had 13 carries with DPG getting 16 both for around 80 yards. Lessons learned from injuries to RB's last season have to play a part in both taking an equal pounding. This should pay off when the conference schedule arrives and both guys are still somewhat "fresh."

 

6. In my original prediction I had the defense really clamping down on the PVAM offense and LU winning 28-6. I thought the offense would start a little slow (I was wrong) and then come around but the defense would control the game. I wish I hadn't chickened out because they did. I was too generous after reading the Panthers put up over 500 total yards and 41 points last week. They bent a little at times but PV was never able to get anything going. After the Panthers opening drive the Cards made adjustments and punished the PV offense. When I say punish I mean it literally. These guys love to bring the wood and it's shown in the first two games. The improvement in the secondary from last season is dramatic and the DC is able to do a lot more because of the confidence in that group. Chad Allen played his butt off and led game in tackles again. I really like what I've seen from the defense so far, it's been fun to watch.

 

7. The crowd was awesome. There's no doubt the amount of people in the stands helped motivate the team last night. There was an energy in the air and they fed off it. There was so much energy on the PV side that a brawl broke out in the 2nd half. I don't know who the guy in the orange shirt was but if I'm ever in a bind I want him on my side. He was throwing some massive haymakers and connecting. On a serious note I hope no one was hurt during that. It was the only negative on a night where SETX really came out to support the Cardinals.

 

8. The Prairie View band is LOUD. I think they added to the game experience and it's a shame every visiting team cant bring their band and drill teams to the games. Although LU got smoked by SFA last season it was still nice to have their band in attendance.

 

9. Shout out to Justin Stout for connecting on all his XP's and FG attempts last night. With all the hype surrounding the new freshman arriving on campus it was nice to see the junior step up and have a good night.

 

10. For all the bashing the coaching staff seems to get from the armchair QB's they deserve a lot of credit today. From the obvious in having the team prepared and fired up after getting shut out last week, to shutting out a team this week is big. This team has no give up in them. They play hard the entire contest and that's a credit to the staff. There was also a big moment in the game that not many will talk about today but I noticed, when Coach Woodard utilized at timeout after 2nd down and long with 11 seconds left in the 1st quarter. The wind was a major factor last night and when the defense had held Coach quickly called a timout. When they held again on 3rd down on an incomplete pass the Panthers were forced to punt with 7 seconds left in the 1st. The Cards ended up with the ball pretty deep in PV territory after the short punt against the wind. It was probably 25-30 yard difference in field position at that point and the offense ended up scoring one of the few TD's against the wind to go up 21-0 and took control of the game. It was a big momentum moment and I for one noticed. Great job and great game last night.

 

 

Bonus Thought:

 

-There was a new stadium PA announcer last night and I thought he did a great job. Congrats to my friend Mitch for getting that gig!

 

 

[Guest LU 17]

Good evaluation, and I also agree on the coaching time outs. That was a big deal and we didn't sit on our time outs. We used them to to put PV at a disadvantage. Nice job LU coaches on a great game plan.

[Guest LU4LIFE]

Good post Mike. I have one thing to say about the crowd or at least the people around me, they have to make some noise. A large amount of of the people around me would just sit there and just clap, and that makes it really hard for people like me who wants to be loud to do so.

[Guest CardAmbassador]

I love that it was a DI win at home and it was a shut out. That should get at least some fans attention. I just did a quick search the last time Lamar shut out a DI opponent was 1974 UT-Arlington 8-0

 

 

[coachacola]

Did Kelso start at center? I looked at the box score and it shows Wempa starting instead of Kelso. Is that correct?

 

I didn't think PVAMU had a very good defense coming into the game if they gave up 500 yards to Texas Southern, but I didn't think Lamar would score 3 touchdowns to start the game. The coaches and players really worked out the kinks from game 1.

 

It's early in the season but I think we have to give Woodard credit for bringing in the coaches that he did. He recognized he did a poor job last year running the defense so he brought in coaches to handle that.

[BigNasty92]

Whew, they needed that...

 

I think EVERYBODY needed that! :)

 

I agree about the energy in the air last night. I thought it was the best home game atmosphere ever. Prairie View's band certainly helped out.

 

With a packed house, the crowd could definitely have been louder...especially when the visitors have the ball.

 

How about the weather yesterday, too? I don't think I could have prayed for anything better.

[Guest CardAmbassador]

I have the same question about our center, who played center last night? We didn't have any bad snaps like I thought we would.

[Guest LU4LIFE]

Whew, they needed that...

 

I think EVERYBODY needed that! :)

 

I agree about the energy in the air last night. I thought it was the best home game atmosphere ever. Prairie View's band certainly helped out.

 

With a packed house, the crowd could definitely have been louder...especially when the visitors have the ball.

 

How about the weather yesterday, too? I don't think I could have prayed for anything better.

 

That weather last night was great.

[Guest CardinalClaw]

Man that weather was fantastic last night.

[KABrother88]

I have the same question about our center, who played center last night? We didn't have any bad snaps like I thought we would.

 

Gilliam was back at center and Wempa at left guard

[Guest CardAmbassador]

I have the same question about our center, who played center last night? We didn't have any bad snaps like I thought we would.

 

Gilliam was back at center and Wempa at left guard

 

Good decision. The Gilliam experiment was short lived.

[coachacola]

I have the same question about our center, who played center last night? We didn't have any bad snaps like I thought we would.

 

Gilliam was back at center and Wempa at left guard

 

Good decision. The Gilliam experiment was short lived.

 

So was the rotating QB experiment. Did Berry even play last night?

[Guest CardAmbassador]

I have the same question about our center, who played center last night? We didn't have any bad snaps like I thought we would.

 

Gilliam was back at center and Wempa at left guard

 

Good decision. The Gilliam experiment was short lived.

 

So was the rotating QB experiment. Did Berry even play last night?

 

No. I wouldn't have minded it in the 4th quarter just to get him reps. But the way we went about it last week wasn't needed. Berry should only come in if Moss throws like 3 ints in a row or were up big in the 4th. QBs need game experience.

[West]

Great post Mike. I thought the staff did a great job last night. It was the best I have seen the Lamar Cardinals play football in my whole (I've only been around since '91). Let's keep this going Cards!

[LUSportsFan]

Last night was great night to be an LU fan. The walk to the stadium was filled with salivating smells wafting from the tailgaters. The air was filled with sounds from rock bands and tailgaters' loudspeakers. Then we got to the stadium and enjoyed a combination of music from the scoreboard and the two bands. Our band performed a pregame Armed Forces tribute. The game started and PV drove down the field, but was stopped. Our team took over and it was all LU after that! Halftime had entertaining performances by both bands. Second half was more all LU! Left the stadium happy and ready for the next home game.

[Guest bossman73]

If you watched the game you saw my son at left guard and opened a can of whoop ass on DT of pvamu.hey referes when a DT grabs a face mask and throws a player to the ground that is face mask!!!. Brock had a GREAT GAME!!!! and if you watched the game you would know. hey I wanted to meet you guys at the game... where were you boys???.you couldn't miss me 6'4 wearing a green shirt with LAMAR red hat!!. on the field at the end of the game. GREAT WIN!!! VERY GOOD JOB BOTH O AND D AND SPL TEAMS AND ESPECIALLY THE COACHES!! GRADE A++

[LUSportsFan]

Watched the whole game. There were some really good hits. That's one of the things that helped make it a great night. We're up in the "nose-bleeds" - almost at Press Box level by choice because I like to get a good look at the whole field, but I was joking with my wife last night that I needed to start bringing my binoculars. :)

 

Hate it when a Ref misses an obvious call. >:(

 

One thing I could see from our vantage point was that there was a great effort. It looked like the team was pumped up!

[coachacola]

If you watched the game you saw my son at left guard and opened a can of whoop ass on DT of pvamu.hey referes when a DT grabs a face mask and throws a player to the ground that is face mask!!!. Brock had a GREAT GAME!!!! and if you watched the game you would know. hey I wanted to meet you guys at the game... where were you boys???.you couldn't miss me 6'4 wearing a green shirt with LAMAR red hat!!. on the field at the end of the game. GREAT WIN!!! VERY GOOD JOB BOTH O AND D AND SPL TEAMS AND ESPECIALLY THE COACHES!! GRADE A++

 

Funny how Woodard talked during the week that they were sticking with Kelso at center. Looks like they made a wise choice and put Gillam at center and let Wempa start. What's his playing weight now?

[Guest bossman73]

307lbs but he wants to get to 295 to 290

[Guest NorthoftheBorder]

Looks to me like we have made strides to improve in almost all areas. Defensive improvement is accross the board. We have improved on offense at RB not question. Not sure how we will pan out at WR as that was our strong suit last year. If we could get to a push that would be great. Looks like the O-line is still the ?. If McKnight can make significant improvement there, we will step it up a few notches this year no doubt.

[Guest austinred]

Watched the game online. This is a much better team across the board than last year. I looked at Prairie View's record from last year and they were not a bad team. I am anxious to see how they do against Hawaii if they can avoid the turnovers.

[coachacola]

From the Lamar University Press Facebook page:

 

Prairie View A&M fans are maced by a Prairie View A&M Police Officer after a fight broke out in the stands during the 31-0 Lamar win Saturday at Provost Umphrey Stadium in Beaumont. Multiple fans were arrested in the altercation.

 

Link: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1918961&l=6f10587fea&id=272905509387215

 

Great photo of what happened.

 

[Mike]

LOL, I see the Orange Shirt guy.

 

Also, poor #63's parents look like they got hammered with the spray. The main guy was right below the officer doing the spraying.

[Lamarcard81]

I feel so much better now (after sitting in the rain in Lafayette). Great game. I would like to see us get less penalties......especially for extra-curricular activity. Those penalties will kill us against SFA, Sam and McNiece.

 

 

 

 

 

[Mike]

I feel so much better now (after sitting in the rain in Lafayette). Great game. I would like to see us get less penalties......especially for extra-curricular activity. Those penalties will kill us against SFA, Sam and McNiece.

 

I'm in total agreement on the penalties but I will say a couple of the personal foul calls were not what I'd consider good calls by the officials. I was on the field and the first roughing the QB flag was a joke.