BEAUMONT — Lamar has taken its beating and big paycheck from Texas Tech.

Northwestern State got the same from Texas A&M, but it scored a big win over Southwestern Athletic Conference power Grambling State the following week.

Saturday evening, the Cardinals (1-1) will find out how much they improved from a 77-0 loss to a Big 12 team — the worst loss in program history — and if they can keep the Demons from adding any momentum to a big intrastate victory.

“Offensively, we saw some things,” Lamar coach Mike Schultz said. “We learned some things. We’ve got to go back and get some things straightened out.”

For the season, the Cardinals have been outscored 84-70, starting with a rout of NAIA’s Kentucky Christian, but they’ve taken on opponents on two different ends of a competition spectrum.

“Let’s don’t kid each other. We knew what we were getting into in Lubbock,” Schultz said. “There’s no doubt. We knew what were getting into against Kentucky Christian. We wanted to be 2-0, but we figured we’d probably be rolling into this thing 1-1.”

First-year Northwestern State coach Brad Laird in a news release said it’s tough to gauge a team that’s played opponents on completely different levels.

“They’re coming off that Texas Tech game like we did the Texas A&M game, eager to execute much better,” he said. “They’re at home, opening Southland Conference play, and they will be ready to play. Our last two games with them have gone down to the wire.”

That, they have. Northwestern State won 35-28 last season in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Lamar won the year before, 32-31 in Beaumont, ending a four-year winning streak in the series for the Demons. Northwestern State leads the all-time series 10-8-1.

Schultz will make a decision by game time whether a number of key players will be ready to play or not in a Southland Conference opener. Running back Myles Wanza, receivers Zae Giles and Martell Hawthorne and Texas Tech transfer and defensive back Willie Sykes were listed day-to-day earlier this week, as were defensive ends Daniel Crosley and Dedrick Garner. Four other Lamar players are already ruled out for the season.

Regardless, the Cardinals still have some goals ahead of them.

“One of our goals right now is to have a winning season,” Schultz said. “… That is a big goal for us, and that is a goal that is very much attainable right now. You know, we have other goals beside that, but the first one we’re trying to get to is, let’s try to get to a winning season. We want to get to it as fast as we can.”

Lamar has posted a .500 or better win percentage three times since 1979 — 6-3-2 that season under Larry Kennan; 5-5 under Larry Alborn in 1989, the final season before the football program was shut down; and 8-4 under Ray Woodard in 2014, the fifth season of the program’s re-existence. The Cardinals have won five games three times in their reboot (2010, 2013, 2015).

Lamar was shut out last week for only the second time in the past five years. The University of Houston beat Lamar 42-0 two years ago.

 

DEMONS’ SIDE OF THINGS

Northwestern State will utilize two quarterbacks, as it did against Grambling State.

Senior Clay Holgorsen, a Katy High graduate whose uncle Dana is West Virginia’s head coach, completed 11 of 14 passes for 96 yards. But combined with junior Shelton Eppler’s 24-of-31 passing for 263 yards and four touchdowns, the Demons fell just 22 yards shy of the school record for most passing yards.

Five different Demons scored touchdowns against Grambling, including junior receiver Quan Shorts, whose brother Dawud is a sophomore tight end for the Cardinals.

The Demons have not gained many yards rushing the football, but junior Jared West (94 yards on 19 carries, one touchdown) leads a balanced attack that has produced 180 yards on 47 totes.

Northwestern State’s defense forced five turnovers last Saturday, the most in four years. Sophomore safety Hayden Bourgeois picked off his first two passes of the season and deflected another pass into the hands of a teammate.

 

LOCAL CONNECTIONS

Recent Memorial graduate Jomard Valsin is listed as a “buck” linebacker, or one who lines up on the strong side of a 3-4 defense, but has not recorded any statistics.

Three Demons are West Brook graduates: junior nose tackle Christian Bluiett, junior offensive lineman Dustin Burns and freshman defensive end Tyree Cormier.

 

ESPN+

ESPN+ (www.espnplus.com) will webcast Saturday’s game with Butch Alsandor doing the play-by-play and Lemont Williams doing the color. The subscription-based app ($4.99 per month or $50 per year, before taxes) is offering a seven-day trial.

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