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First Look: Baylor Bears vs. Lamar Cardinals

Baylor squares off against the Lamar Cardinals on Saturday night, looking for revenge for their last meeting that happened before many of us were born.

By pbpope

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Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
vs.
4/4 BAYLOR (1–0) vs. Lamar (1–0)
Sept. 12, 2015 | 6:30 p.m. CT
Waco, Texas | McLane Stadium (45,140)
TV: FSN
Listen | Gametracker Gametracker | Game Notes Notes | Tickets

OPPONENT: Lamar Cardinals
ODB GAME HUB: Baylor Bears vs. Lamar Cardinals 2015
MEET THE PRESS: Baylor vs. Lamar
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: lamarcardinals.com
MEDIA GUIDE: 2015 Lamar Cardinals Media Guide (Click here for roster)
LAST MEETING: Sept. 5, 1981: Lamar 18, Baylor 17
LAST GAME: Lamar 66, Bacone College 3
SB NATION BLOG: N/A
SPREAD: No Lines Listed
TV COVERAGE: 6:30p.m. FSN
WEATHER FORECAST: Sunny , high of 88 with 10–15mph winds from NNE, 10% chance of rain (Wunderground puts temp at 83° at gametime)
BAYLOR UNIFORMS: Unknown; announced Saturday Morning

There is no SB Nation Preview for Lamar. Sorry, folks.
baylorbears.com Preview
Bears vs. Cardinals Coverage

For those that don’t know, Lamar was without football from 1990 through 2009. The program was rebooted in 2010 and after a year of being an independent squad, the team rejoined FCS’s Southland Conference, which it had been a member of from 1963 through 1986. The Cardinals are coming off an 8–4 season, their best since rebooting the team in 2010.

Lamar and Baylor have played thrice, with winning the first two meetings in 1979 and 1980 by a combined score of 62–14. The Cardinals shocked the Bears in 1981, winning the game 18–17. According to Wikipedia, the Bears were ranked 20th in the UPI poll at the time; this is considered the Cardinals’ signature win.

The Cardinals are coming off a complete thrashing of NAIA school Bacone College, 66–3. I’m glad that there’s an E on the end of the name there, because there would be no justice in the world if a school called Bacon College got drubbed that hard in a football game. Lamar led the game 45–0 at the half; interestingly, both coaches agreed to shorten both the 3rd and 4th quarters to 10-minutes each.

Lamar Fans: Since SB Nation doesn’t have a hub for your team, you’re welcome to come and hang out with us here at ODB for the week!

Quarterbacks

Player Cmp Att. Yds. TD Int. Long Sack
Minden, Joe 16 20 170 3 0 36 0
Earp, Carson 5 6 91 2 0 34 0

We don’t have the benefit of the normal sport-reference stats this week, so all of the individual stats here are pulled from last weekend’s box score on the Lamar website linked above. Despite the lopsided stats, both senior Joe Mindon and junior JUCO-transfer Carson Earp got significant minutes throughout the game. Despite only having six passing attempts, Earp led the Cardinals on multiple scoring drives in the second quarter to cement Lamar’s lead. Apparently true freshman Brett Cox also played but did not register a pass in the game.

Running Backs

Player Att. Gain Loss Net TD Lg. Avg.
Raleigh, Emmitt 9 66 0 66 1 15 7.3
Atoyebi, Emmanuel 4 59 0 59 1 22 14.8
Harrington, Kade 8 51 3 48 1 15 6.0
Harris, Carl 3 26 0 26 0 16 8.7
Mitchell, Keegan 9 26 2 24 1 10 2.7
Gordon, Tariq 1 11 0 11 0 11 11.0

Not a whole lot to say here, other than the fact that they had a lot of opportunities to spread the ball around. Mr. Earp also got in on the rushing action, carrying the ball three times for 36 yards.

Wide Receivers

Player Rec. Yds. TD Long
Handy, Michael 5 63 1 34
Gladney, Gratian 2 56 1 36
Begelton, Reggie 4 37 1 21
Jennings, DeAndre 3 32 1 12
Langley, Brendan 3 31 0 14
Hawthorne, Martell 2 25 1 19
Nelson, Jayce 1 12 0 12
Harris, Carl 1 5 0 5

Some of these names overlap because I’m not pulling WR stats vs. RB stats. This took way too much work. They clearly spread the ball around against Bacone College, but had no massive gainers and only two receivers netting over 50 yards receiving.

2015 Lamar Team Stats and Rankings

Statistic National
Rank		 Conference
Rank		 Value National Leader Value Conference
Leader		 Value
3rd Down Conversion Pct (112 ranked) 3 1 0.667 Citadel 0.727 Lamar 0.667
3rd Down Conversion Pct Defense (112 ranked) 1 1 0.000 Lamar 0.000 Lamar 0.000
4th Down Conversion Pct (62 ranked) 62 4 0.000 23 teams tied 1.000 Southeastern La. 1.000
4th Down Conversion Pct Defense (82 ranked) 1 1 0.000 44 teams tied 0.000 6 teams tied 0.000
Blocked Kicks (5 ranked) Eastern Ill. 3 Houston Baptist 1
Blocked Kicks Allowed (112 ranked) 1 1 0 85 teams tied 0 7 teams tied 0
Blocked Punts (2 ranked) Eastern Ill. 2 Houston Baptist 1
Blocked Punts Allowed (112 ranked) 1 1 0 101 teams tied 0 7 teams tied 0
Completion Percentage (112 ranked) 2 1 0.808 Citadel 1.000 Lamar 0.808
Defensive TDs (0 ranked)
Fewest Penalties (112 ranked) 93 6 10 Richmond
New Hampshire 		1
1		 Southeastern La. 4
Fewest Penalties Per Game (112 ranked) 93 6 10.00 Richmond
New Hampshire 		1.00
1.00		 Southeastern La. 4.00
Fewest Penalty Yards (112 ranked) 87 5 80 New Hampshire 2 Southeastern La. 37
Fewest Penalty Yards Per Game (112 ranked) 87 5 80.00 New Hampshire 2.00 Southeastern La. 37.00
First Downs Defense (112 ranked) 1 1 3 Lamar 3 Lamar 3
First Downs Offense (112 ranked) 7 2 28 Montana 50 Sam Houston St. 34
Fumbles Lost (112 ranked) 58 3 1 57 teams tied 0 Houston Baptist
Stephen F. Austin 		0
0
Fumbles Recovered (22 ranked) 3 1 3 Savannah St.
Tennessee St. 		4
4		 Lamar 3
Kickoff Return Defense (111 ranked) 8 1 9.00 5 teams tied 0.00 Lamar 9.00
Kickoff Returns (110 ranked) 9 1 33.50 N.C. Central 95.00 Lamar 33.50
Net Punting (111 ranked) N.C. Central 62.00 Sam Houston St. 42.75
Passes Had Intercepted (112 ranked) 1 1 0 42 teams tied 0 Central Ark.
Lamar 		0
0
Passes Intercepted (26 ranked) Citadel 4 Southeastern La. 2
Passing Offense (112 ranked) 30 5 261.0 VMI 444.0 Central Ark. 343.0
Passing Yards Allowed (112 ranked) 2 2 27.0 Northwestern St. 15.0 Northwestern St. 15.0
Passing Yards per Completion (112 ranked) 38 2 12.43 Kennesaw St. 48.00 Houston Baptist 18.67
Punt Return Defense (112 ranked) 11 1 0.00 Bryant –8.00 Lamar
Stephen F. Austin 		0.00
0.00
Punt Returns (112 ranked) 35 4 10.75 Idaho St. 46.00 Houston Baptist 38.00
Red Zone Defense (60 ranked) 60 2 1.000 8 teams tied 0.000 Stephen F. Austin 0.750
Red Zone Offense (101 ranked) 62 5 0.857 60 teams tied 1.000 4 teams tied 1.000
Rushing Defense (112 ranked) 10 1 55.0 Bucknell 21.0 Lamar 55.0
Rushing Offense (112 ranked) 16 3 264.0 Citadel 535.0 Southeastern La. 438.0
Sacks Allowed (108 ranked) 1 1 0.00 17 teams tied 0.00 Houston Baptist
Lamar 		0.00
0.00
Scoring Defense (112 ranked) 5 1 3.0 4 teams tied 0.0 Lamar 3.0
Scoring Offense (100 ranked) 3 1 66.0 N.C. Central 72.0 Lamar 66.0
Tackles for Loss Allowed (111 ranked) 10 2 3.00 Kennesaw St.
Citadel 		1.00
1.00		 Houston Baptist 2.00
Team Passing Efficiency (112 ranked) 3 1 228.55 Citadel 278.56 Lamar 228.55
Team Passing Efficiency Defense (112 ranked) 5 2 44.77 Northwestern St. 12.60 Northwestern St. 12.60
Team Sacks (52 ranked) 7 3 4.00 Southeastern La.
Houston Baptist
Hampton 		6.00
6.00
6.00		 Southeastern La.
Houston Baptist 		6.00
6.00
Team Tackles for Loss (106 ranked) 15 2 9.0 N.C. Central 18.0 Southeastern La. 13.0
Time of Possession (112 ranked) 35 3 32:14 Tennessee St. 40:08 Central Ark. 36:30
Total Defense (112 ranked) 2 1 82.0 N.C. A&T 81.0 Lamar 82.0
Total Offense (112 ranked) 14 3 525.0 James Madison 713.0 Sam Houston St. 637.0
Turnover Margin (112 ranked) 7 1 2.00 Holy Cross 4.00 Lamar 2.00
Turnovers Gained (53 ranked) 9 1 3 Western Ill.
Ark.-Pine Bluff
Savannah St. 		5
5
5		 Northwestern St.
Southeastern La.
Lamar 		3
3
3
Turnovers Lost (112 ranked) 21 1 1 20 teams tied 0 Stephen F. Austin
Lamar
Houston Baptist 		1
1
1
Winning Percentage (48 ranked) 1 1 1.000 46 teams tied 1.000 Houston Baptist
Lamar
Southeastern La. 		1.000
1.000
1.000


It’s Question Time!

FIRST: Given a few days’ separation between you and the SMU game (and the opportunity to re-watch the game sans emotion), how do you feel about the Bears’ performance overall?
SECOND: Give us your uniform prediction for Saturday’s contest.
THIRD: The AP and Coaches Polls drop today. Do you predict any movement? If you’re reading this post-poll, where would you have put Baylor in the poll?
FOURTH: Which play was your favorite from Friday night’s game?

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