NorthoftheBorder

This is not how I thought the TSU game would go. Sigh of relief that we won the game late, but, like most everyone, it does make it worrisome about the remaining games. This makes we want to take back my ceiling prediction. I am hoping that our coaching staff is scheming how to grade offensive production with what we have available in the QB room.

Barely into the 2nd Quarter and Nichols is spanking Miss Valley 27-0

I waited until now, 3 games in, to respond. I am going with 8-4 as the floor, 10-2 as the ceiling and ranked in the top 15 for the regular season. But I am thinking that 11-1 is a possibility.

So, thinking about the Culture Shift article, and some of my previous posts on other threads, here is where O’Malley can start the process of long term growth success in football. If the season plays out with Rossomando as it is trending now(need some luck to stay injury free or minimal), he should be talking to key donors and Rossomando about the future, and how to grow the program so everyone benefits, the university, Rossomando, and the alumni/fans! Start putting the plan together now and not wait until a more attractive offer comes Rossomando’s way and we are reactive instead of proactive! That has never worked for LU in the past.

https://lamarcardinals.com/news/2024/9/20/football-culture-shift-taking-place-on-the-gridiron.aspx

My 60k seating is pure pipe dream. We are long past the ability to get there, unless we have an alum no one knows about with Elon Musk type wealth and a willingness to pour tons of $$$ into the program. Coach's mockup above is much more realistic, if Rossomando can get us where we win a FCS Natty or two and have a program that can compete heads up with the best G5 teams and the opportunity to beat teams like Vandy, MIss State, Auburn or several of the Big 12 schools. If we get there, I will be happy. I would like to have a team that could go into Kyle field and play the Aggies and keep the margin to a 10 point or less margin game. Scare the hell out of em! Coach, keep that mock up. We may want to revisit that in the future.

Was there a radio show on Wednesday? If there was, it is not yet on the Athletic website. I really wish they would do game notes again. They must have cut athletic staff and the game notes were a casualty of that.

Weber St ranked 19 in Massey, still in the top 25, but not in the coaches or Stat 25. I just checked the STATS 25 poll on ESPN and it shows LU ranked 22nd. They are tied for 31st in the coaches poll. Rossomando is getting us some love, would like to see that progress as the season wears on with a bunch of big victories.

What you guys got for this game. Lamar now rated 41 by Massey, second in the SLC behind UIW and followed by Nichols, SE La & McNeese in that order. Tx Southern rated 106. If LU doesn't play down to the competition, they should win by 3+ scores. I am going with 38-13.

would love to see the last game against McNeese to be for the conference championship and playoff seeding.

If we ever got to the point of significantly increasing Provost Umphrey seating capacity, I would be in favor of tearing down the Montagne (I know it has a new name) and build a new basketball arena somewhere else contiguous to the campus. If we did that, we could make it a horseshoe with double decks and luxury boxes around the stadium between the upper and lower decks and probably get to a 60k+ seating capacity. I know this is a pipe dream, but that is what I would do.

With the PAC-2 adding 4 teams from the MWC, I have heard some talking head chatter that UTSA & SWT (Tx St) could be considered for additions to whatever the PAC becomes.

Question for everyone, is Central Ark and UIW the two toughest games left on the Cards schedule?

I am for LU moving up, however, I do not think our leadership will be able to capitalize on the possible success that Rossomando looks like he may deliver, even with a 9-3 or 10-2 year and a possible SLC Championship and making the FCS playoffs. You have to have a vision, which becomes a plan, and the ability to sell that to people who have money. Money people will not invest their money unless they believe the plan has a realistic chance to succeed. They will not get a monetary return on their investment in LU athletics, but they do want "bragging rights" on a successful investment in elevating a program to new heights. They do not want to be at a "high wealth" social to have their "peers" chide them for investing in a "bust". They will only invest in something they believe can really succeed. It is the nature of humans, and the failure to realize this keeps LU at a lower level.

Coaches Poll is out. Lamar is ranked tied for 31st by number of votes, one spot behind Weber State who we just beat. McNeese is ranked 33rd. It would be great to see the last game of the year against McNeese in Lake Charles to be two ranked teams playing for the SLC championship. FYI, as of this morning, LU is 45th in the Massey ratings with a big move up. Weber State is ranked 17th in Massey.

This is a good win for LU. Shows to me that Rossomando is building a competitive program.

One qualifier to my previous post, had Jimmy Simmons been younger when he took over as President with a longer runway of time, we all may be having a different conversation. He did have the type of leadership qualities that it takes to grow an athletic program.

Apart from having a "Phil Knight" type of billionaire LU alum and donor who can buy the success in spite of the leadership shortcomings from an athletic standpoint, we just will not get there. I am not saying that LU does not have overall good "University" level leadership, I think they do. But that does not make them great at visionary athletic leadership. I think all prior and present leaders have looked at only what LU does not have that prevents them from moving up in Athletics, and not look at what it would take to move up, the plan how to get there, and then sell that vision and move forward with the execution. For now, I am hopeful that Rossomando will, through great coaching, exceed what everyone expects can happen in football, and see where that takes us in the short term, and maybe the long term.

While I have long wanted LU to reach for the stars, I have sadly, after 45 years, come to the conclusion that LU does not have, and has not had, the type of visionary leadership that can develop and sell a plan that would elevate them to be a successful G5 athletic program. It would take vision, leadership, inspiration, plus the execution ability to pull that off. Without confidence in the plan and the leadership to execute the plan, the big money LU people are not going to invest to make it happen. And at this stage of the game, I think we are out of runway with time to be able to get there even if we started now. The P4 schools will close ranks here soon and we will get down to around 40-60 schools (UT & A&M being leaders here) that will continue to dominate and take even more of the revenue available for college sports, especially football.

SWT continues to make Lamar look good, now the question is can Lamar make Lamar look good. A win over Weber State would do that.

Massey Ratings 9/10/24 Team Conf W-L Up/Down Rank Incarnate Word SLC 1-1 - 25 Nicholls St SLC 0-2 1 43 SF Austin SLC 1-1 -2 61 Lamar SLC 1-1 -9 64 SE Louisiana SLC 0-2 -6 73 McNeese St SLC 1-2 -5 87 TX A&M Commerce SLC 0-2 11 97 Houston Christian SLC 0-2 -9 106 Northwestern LA SLC 0-2 -9 127

Massey Ratings Weber State - 10 They moved up 5 spots this week Lamar - 64 We moved down 9 spots this week after what looks like a lackluster win. Would be a statement win for this season for LU to pull off a victory. Weber ranked in the top 25 in Massey and both FCS polls. I have faith that Rossomando will have them ready with a chance to win. We continue to grow under Coach Pete, but we are headed in the right direction.

I am like everyone else, expected LU to win bigger. Glad they won and will take the double digit win. I know you cannot compare scores, but still puzzling that they played to a 7 point lost to SWT and then watched SWT blow out UTSA by 39. It will take a few more games to get a bearing on where LU is, but I have to believe at this point they are better than they have been in a while.

SWT 35 UTSA 3 Halftime

SWT now up 28 - 3 with 4 minutes left before half. Maybe LU is better than we think.