BEAUMONT — Monday’s Mike Schultz weekly news conference at Lamar began the same way last week’s did — with a report on a slew of injuries.

“We didn’t have a real good weekend in more ways than one, not only on the scoreboard but physically,” Schultz said, two days after Lamar sustained its worst loss in team history, 77-0 at Texas Tech.

Schultz announced that junior Kevin O’Neill sustained a knee injury Saturday and is out for the season, although Schultz doesn’t ordinarily discuss injuries. O’Neill was to undergo surgery as soon as the swelling in the knee goes down.

O’Neill, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound two-year letterman from Sachse, is the fourth Cardinal to be ruled out for the season, following junior receiver Kendrick King, sophomore offensive lineman Chase Bridgeman and redshirt freshman defensive back Casden Brooks. Bridgeman had not played this season.

The Cardinals took a hit in the backfield with sophomore running back Myles Wanza listed as day-to-day. Defensive ends Daniel Crosley and Dedrick Garner, junior transfer Willie Sykes and receiver Zae Giles are day-to-day, while wideout Martell Hawthorne will receive limited repetitions in practice.

“When I say day-to-day, we probably won’t be able to make those decisions until game time,” Schultz said. “… We’re working our way through this. The toughest thing — and I said this going into the season; I’m being completely, brutally honest — I said the one thing that would hurt is if we get a ton of injuries this season, and that’s where we are.”

All told, eight different Cardinals have been listed day-to-day in the past nine days. And Lamar (1-1) will begin Southland Conference play this Saturday at home against Northwestern State (1-1).

Giles did not play at Texas Tech and Hawthorne has yet to play this season. Sykes returned to his last school Saturday and recorded seven tackles.

The 77-point loss surpassed Lamar’s 73-3 loss at Texas A&M in 2014 as the worst in program history. Lamar recovered from that and finished the season 8-4, its only winning record since rebooting the program in 2010.

Texas Tech’s dominant performance, if only for a week, was needed for a Big 12 program trying to calm talk about head coach Kliff Kingsbury’s job in jeopardy following a season-opening loss to Ole Miss. The Red Raiders (1-1) outgained the Cardinals 683-182.

“We faced a bigger, tougher, stronger football team than us on Saturday,” Schultz said. “That’s the best way I can put it. They have receivers that have great length, have great speed, could run and jump. At their defensive line, we had a hard time handling and managing those guys inside.

“I do not think the score was reflected of how good of a football team we all have. I think this team has still a lot of fight and a lot of courage and tenacity that’s left in them. Will it be challenging right now? Yes. Will this be a challenging week? You bet.”

 

About Northwestern State

The Demons (1-1) began the season with a blowout loss at Texas A&M 59-7 on Aug. 30 but rebounded Saturday to beat defending Southwestern Athletic Conference champion Grambling State 34-7 in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

The Demons are tied with McNeese State, Houston Baptist and Lamar for the most interceptions among Southland teams this season with four. Given that many Southland teams play a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent in nonconference play, neither of the conference’s 11 programs have posted glimmering statistics in red zone defense, but the Demons lead the category having been scored on in 63.6 percent of drives within their own 20-yard line.

Lamar is on the other end of the spectrum, having given up seven scores in seven red zone drives. However, Schultz found a positive in the red zone from the Texas Tech game.

“You look at the end of the game, they were on the goal line,” Schultz said. “Our kids were playing their tails off, now. They were trying to hit. They were physical. They kept fighting. That stuff’s good.”

Northwestern State leads the all-time series with Lamar 10-8-1 and won five of the last six meetings. Lamar last beat NSU 32-31 two years ago in Beaumont, when DeWan Thompson’s 22-yard pass from Carson Earp capped a two-touchdown comeback in the final 1 minute, 43 seconds.

 

Brother vs. brother

Northwestern State receiver Quan Shorts is a Texas Tech transfer. He has 10 catches for 98 yards this season, including six catches for 78 against Grambling State.

“There’s a reason why they wouldn’t release him to us,” Schultz said. “He was a good player. In fact, his brother plays for us … Dawud Shorts.”

 

There’s an app for that

Northwestern State at Lamar will be played on ESPN+ (watch.espnplus.com), the network’s new subscription app for select live broadcasts and other programming. Subscription costs $4.99 per month before taxes.

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews