McNeese v Lamar - Post-Game Reaction

[TexasTerror]

How much was the close result based on the fact that McNeese had no tape on Lamar and really could not adjust?

Will future foes do much better against the Cards, now they have time to look at what kind offense, defensive sets LU runs?

Is this a good effort considering Lamar had time to work on preparing for this game for two years? Could this have been considered the Cardinals' Super Bowl?

Was Lamar really that good and competitive in their first game? Seems Bevil is the real deal? Read that he was holding his side in the second half. He healthy?

Different reports saying that McNeese ran a very vanilla offense, not showing as much as five different plays offensively?

[FormerPokeCenter]

Congrats to the Cards on a very well played, hard-fought game. It was a fantastic atmosphere with the Cardinals in the stadium. They traveled well, and I'm interested to see if they keep that kiind of traveling up. IF they do, they'll EASILY be the second best traveling fan base in the conference. It's been an awful long time since anybody brought that many fans to Cowboy Stadium. We had to open the side of the hill to let people watch.

There was a LOT of good natured jawing back and forth in the stands, but it was ALL very clearly good-natured. It wasn't at all like what we've experienced at SWTSU and SFA. I'm thinking they come away from their 4-game SLC skein with at least one win. They've got some reaolly good athletes, several FBS transfers and several JUCO players who are hungry to play. Their kids play very hard and there were several bone jarring hits in the game where playes from both sides lost their helmets. It was a good game. ;)

I'm not going to toot my predictive powers horn, but the game was pretty much exactly as I expected:


I disagree. McNeese wins, by 10 or less....The game will be very close. I would not be at all surprised to see McNeese down headed into the fourth quarter, needing a come-from-behind rally to win. Don't expect to see many formations nor much of the playbook...

If we are behind into the fourth quarter, watch the clock closely. You'll see what appears to be magical clock management in the last 7 minutes of the game ;)

[JohnStOnge]

Time will tell but I suspect Lamar is very strong at the quarterback and receiver positions. I think future opponents may find the quarterback pretty difficult to handle. He's very quick and throws the ball well. McNeese had pretty good pressure on the quarterback but for the most part they couldn't get him and he did a good job of picking out open receivers and throwing on the run.

I don't think McNeese's offense did that bad of a job. Worst thing was early fumbles. I think McNeese had a chance to jump up by a few scores at the start of the game but fumbles, including one fumbled into the end zone for a touchback on the first Cowboy drive, kept that from happening and Lamar gained momentum. But the offense did get 207 yards rushing to go along with 288 yards passing for a nice, balanced attack.

Also Lamar couldn't run the ball. It's just that the quarterback was good and Lamar's receivers dominated their matchup with McNeese's defensive backs. It was a big play thing too. Lamar kept going vertical and from time to time they'd hit on it.

[TexasTerror]

Anyone have an update on Lamar's QB Bevil's health status? Read he was holding his ribs...

SHSU and SLU seem very susceptible to losses to Lamar... especially if Beatty is out for SLU and SHSU is unable to get an offensive attack going on. Defensively, both are very strong - but you are going to have to put some points on the board...

Nice balanced attack from the Pokes... Babin may be a very attractive player at the national level before too long...

[LUFAN1]

I have heard Bevil will be fine (I am sure that it would have been reported in the new paper articles if he would be injured or possibly out)... But terror I am not suprised that you did not have any praise for LU.. We came out and played a good game.. We had a great crowd and yet still only questions... What was your prediction for the games? I do believe that you stated we would come out high on emotion then fall off because of our lack of depth... Well we played them tough the whole game.. ( We proved you wrong) Probably closer than your beloved Prison U or Dan Rather State will get this year. I cannot wait til we get the Kats later this year.

[CowboyUp]

I think there were a multiplicity of factors working against the Pokes. For one they had 7 new starters on offense, with three receivers being true freshman and the backup tailback being a redshirt freshman. Babin got hurt but the freshman tb ran for 186 yards last night. The transfer qb had very little game experience as well. On top of that you've got the fact they didn't have any game film on Lamar, so the Cardinals had a pretty big advantage there. As far as the defense is concerned, they just got roasted all night long. Busted coverages and way too much man to man defense. With 10 starters back on defense the pass defense should have been much improved, but it looked as bad as it did last year. Fumbles on the 2 yard line, the 18 yard line, and the 50 yard line sure killed scoring chances for the Pokes, then the botched snap with 18 seconds left on the 1 yard line that would have given them another score, they had to kick a field goal on that drive.

I will have to say that Lamar really played their hearts out. This game featured some of the best hitting on both sides I've ever seen at a college football game of any level. Lamar brought along a great crowd as well. It was a great atmosphere for football. Great weather, an F-15 flyover during the national anthem, skydivers parachuting into the stadium right before game time, fireworks timed to the bands music during the halftime show, and a down to the wire game in which the Pokes pulled out a hard fought 30-27 victory, all before an overflow crowd. I don't think it gets any better than that.

[TexasTerror]

I have heard Bevil will be fine (I am sure that it would have been reported in the new paper articles if he would be injured or possibly out)... But terror I am not suprised that you did not have any praise for LU.. We came out and played a good game.. We had a great crowd and yet still only questions... What was your prediction for the games? I do believe that you stated we would come out high on emotion then fall off because of our lack of depth... Well we played them tough the whole game.. ( We proved you wrong) Probably closer than your beloved Prison U or Dan Rather State will get this year. I cannot wait til we get the Kats later this year.

I did not really read up on the game... hard to praise, when I do not know the who, what, when, where and why - sure, throw in how! I watched several other games on TV and followed my Bearkats on the radio. Could comb over a box score, but what good does that do me when I have better resources here on this board?

I did think you'd start off high, keep it close and then fall apart at the end due to depth. McNeese, from what I read, had a few chances to gain a substantial lead early in the game and turnovers got the best of them, including one in the end zone.

I think Lamar will beat SHSU later in this year if the Cards play like they did and SHSU plays like they did (and probably will this season). The good thing for the Kats is we'll get to see some more film before kickoff, since McNeese had none to go off of...

[bigred360]

How much was the close result based on the fact that McNeese had no tape on Lamar and really could not adjust?

Will future foes do much better against the Cards, now they have time to look at what kind offense, defensive sets LU runs?

Is this a good effort considering Lamar had time to work on preparing for this game for two years? Could this have been considered the Cardinals' Super Bowl?

Was Lamar really that good and competitive in their first game? Seems Bevil is the real deal? Read that he was holding his side in the second half. He healthy?

Different reports saying that McNeese ran a very vanilla offense, not showing as much as five different plays offensively?

McNeese didn't run a "vanilla offense" and definitely ran more than five plays. I''m not taking anything away from McNeese as they ran a balanced attack; both running and passing. But heck, they even ran a fake punt and had a 48 yard scoring pass on the next play.

Andre Bevil is a stud and threw for a school record for passing yards in a game. I think he ended up with 426. I think that is great for our offense as McNeese may have the best secondary in FCS. All four of their DB's are 1st or 2nd team preseason ALL-SLC.

I do question why we onside kicked with over 3 minutes left and only down 3 and had a timeout left.

McNeese has a great team; congratulations on the victory.

[McNeese72]

Nice balanced attack from the Pokes... Babin may be a very attractive player at the national level before too long...

Babin only had 3 carries for 29 yards. I think the helmet to helmet hit where he fumbled into the endzone eventually caused him to be taken out of the game. The Lamar defender never made back in at all. I can't remember a game in a long time where the hitting was as hard as it was in this game.

Redshirt Fr. Marcus Wiltz ran for 180+ yards on 26 carries. He was one of the three freshman that impressed the McNeese fans last fall. Jarvaris Murray (injured this year) and Champlain Babin played as freshmen last year. Wiltz was redshirted. Wiltz runs a lot like Babin. Has some speed, hits the hole hard, and is hard to bring down.

Doc

[msupokes1]

McNeese didn't run a "vanilla offense" and definitely ran more than five plays. I''m not taking anything away from McNeese as they ran a balanced attack; both running and passing. But heck, they even ran a fake punt and had a 48 yard scoring pass on the next play.

Andre Bevil is a stud and threw for a school record for passing yards in a game. I think he ended up with 426. I think that is great for our offense as McNeese may have the best secondary in FCS. All four of their DB's are 1st or 2nd team preseason ALL-SLC.

I do question why we onside kicked with over 3 minutes left and only down 3 and had a timeout left.

McNeese has a great team; congratulations on the victory.

When people say McNeese ran a vanilla offense they are talking about the fact that our play book was not really opened up. You will not see so much running up the middle trying to run the clock and you will see alot more use of the tight ends. The deep passes were used to keep the defense some what honest since we were trying to run up the middle alot. there was no deception in our plays as we ran simple post patterns and runs up the gut. I will say that Lamar had some hard hitters and some really talented receivers and quarterback. I was really impressed with the pressure that they were able to get on our quarterback especially with what we had coming back on the OL.

[MSU_77]

Lamar is to be commended on an outstanding first game. However, multiple turnovers by the Cowboys and several blown coverages on deep passes kept this one closer than it should have been. I do believe Lamar will win several games this year.

[bigred360]

Lamar is to be commended on an outstanding first game. However, multiple turnovers by the Cowboys and several blown coverages on deep passes kept this one closer than it should have been. I do believe Lamar will win several games this year.

Lamar also had two turnovers that killed drives. On defense we played hard but the Cowboys just ran the ball up the middle for big yardage. Hopefully Coach Woodard and company can make some adjustments because we need to be able to make a team one dimensional in the future. The Cowboys had big yardage on the ground and through the air.

[McNeese75]

Great game by the Cards. I was happy with the balanced offensive attack by the Cowboys and the leadership of the QB. IMO, Lamar will need to try and balance their offensive attack. There will be teams that will lock Bevil down (SLU comes to mind) and so Plan B needs to be in place at that time.

[bigred360]

Honestly, we may not have the guy on campus this year to give us a balanced attack.

[McNeese75]

Honestly, we may not have the guy on campus this year to give us a balanced attack.

I was wondering about that. The small TB you have looks like he is shifty but not a power runner.

[FormerPokeCenter]

McNeese didn't run a "vanilla offense" and definitely ran more than five plays. I''m not taking anything away from McNeese as they ran a balanced attack; both running and passing. But heck, they even ran a fake punt and had a 48 yard scoring pass on the next play.

Andre Bevil is a stud and threw for a school record for passing yards in a game. I think he ended up with 426. I think that is great for our offense as McNeese may have the best secondary in FCS. All four of their DB's are 1st or 2nd team preseason ALL-SLC.

I do question why we onside kicked with over 3 minutes left and only down 3 and had a timeout left.

McNeese has a great team; congratulations on the victory.

Again, congrats on an excellent performance by the Cards. Great fans, too...I spoke with a few of them after the game and I was impressed. It was very cordial, even though you could tell they were very spirited...

I think when you see McFans say that we were vanilla, you have to understand that we lost the Conference player of the year at QB and an All American tailback, so we're used to seeing some fireworks, offensively. We may not have the personnel to play like that this year...

You guys took us to the wire. We have Missouri this week, so that could get u-g-l-y pretty quickly. Us Cowboy fans are hoping against hope that our coach was holding back against you guys, but based on myu conversation with him after the game, I don't think that's the case. He said he was scared to death in the second half. We prepared all week for your athletic transfer at TE, but you guys didn't use him...we didn't work on QB containment and Bevil has some definite wheels....

The "vanilla offense" was posted with no disrespect intended. Most of our fans have been spoiled by what we used to be able to do on offense...

Not sure those are realistic expectations this year....

[MSU_77]

Mizzou's QB was 34 of 48 against Illinois in their first game. Yes, this could get ugly.

[McNeese75]

Obviously the expert voters of the AGS Poll do not respect Lamar. xeyebrowx
McNeese drops 6 spots in that poll. xthumbsdownx

[Lamar Cardinals 2010]

Well, better than I expected for our first game.