Despite finishing 5-6 this past season, the Lamar football team can get a serious jump on establishing itself as a top-25 team in the Football Championship Subdivision.
The Cardinals will have the opportunity by hosting perennial power Coastal Carolina on Sept. 3 to open their season. That will be followed by a short trip to reigning Peach Bowl champion Houston and the Southland Conference opener at home against FCS semifinalist Sam Houston State, which Lamar upset in Huntsville last September.
Lamar released its football schedule Wednesday.
“Obviously, when you play a nine-game league schedule and play in a conference as tough as the Southland, you are playing in a very demanding schedule every year,” coach Ray Woodard said in a release. “When you add to that a season opener against a great team like Coastal Carolina, who was one of the toughest in the nation last season, along with a road date at Houston, this is a schedule that will challenge us early and often.”
Lamar could be primed for the challenge with the nation’s leading running back returning in Kade Harrington and the hiring of former Oklahoma head coach John Blake (defensive line) and former Texas star and coaching veteran Willie Mack Garza (safeties) to the staff. Blake and Garza were officially announced as new hires Tuesday, the same day the city of Beaumont proclaimed as Kade Harrington Day for his talents.
Coastal Carolina, which is based in Conway, South Carolina, which began football in 2003, made it to the NCAA Division I playoffs last season before falling 41-38 to in-state opponent The Citadel. The Chanticleers either shared or won outright the Big South Conference championship seven times in its history, including four shared titles in a span from 2010-14.
The Chants, who have never played the Cardinals, also were ranked as high as No. 2 during the season and finished No. 16.
Lamar has not had much success against FBS teams, but the Cards will try their luck against a surging Houston program that last played LU in 1983, a 42-35 Cougars win. Houston is 3-0 all-time against Lamar, with other wins in 1975 and 1982.
Quarterback Greg Ward Jr. is expected back for his senior season at Houston after a much-decorated junior season, in which he won the Earl Campbell Award and MVP honors in the Peach Bowl and the American Athletic Conference championship game.
Lamar defeated then-No. 3 Sam Houston State 49-46 in Huntsville last September for its highest-profile victory to date. That is when the nation first took notice of Harrington, who rushed for 230 yards including a 73-yard touchdown run and took a pass 77 yards for another score.
Other home games for Lamar include: Southeastern Louisiana on Oct. 1, following a bye week, Northwestern State on Oct. 25, Houston Baptist on Oct. 29 and Incarnate Word on Nov. 12. The Battle of the Border against McNeese State to finish the regular season is Nov. 19 in Lake Charles.