Lamar, You Fully Have My Attention ... and You Deserve It

I hadn’t spent much time thinking about Lamar football since the first week of the 2023 season.

That’s when my Idaho Vandals traveled to Beaumont, Texas, and throttled the Cardinals 42-17 on their way to an FCS quarterfinal appearance. Meanwhile, Lamar finished that campaign 6-5 under first-year head coach Peter Rossomando. What a difference three years and a great head coach can make.

Lamar is now sitting at 8-2 and atop the Southland Conference standings with a 6-1 conference record. The Cardinals are also coming off their best win of the season, a 45-28 drubbing of previously unbeaten Stephen F. Austin on Saturday.

In fact, this Lamar team reminds me a lot of those prime Jason Eck-era Idaho teams, and that could be a scary thought for a lot of teams come playoff time in less than a month.

Rossomando has turned the Lamar program into a Southland powerhouse just four years removed from a 1-10 season in 2022. He’s also built a roster that has balance on offense and one of the FCS’ most stout defensive units. At the helm of the offense is junior quarterback Aiden McCown, son of former NFL signal caller and coach Josh McCown. McCown has thrown for 2,006 yards and 19 touchdowns this season. He’s also rushed for 344 yards and four scores as part of a potent rushing attack.

The Cardinals have a pair of power backs in Jojo Uga and Parker Jenkins, and both have been effective at keeping Lamar ahead of schedule on offense this season. Uga leads the team with 530 yards on 89 carries (6.0 yards per carry), while Jenkins has picked up 489 yards on 109 carries (4.5 yards per carry). Uga has found the end zone seven times on the ground this year, while Jenkins has six rushing scores. Jenkins has also added a receiving score, while Uga isn’t really the pass-catching type.

The interesting thing moving forward for Lamar, though, is that Uga has missed the past two weeks. He would be a pivotal part of the Cardinals' offense moving forward if he returns.

On defense, Lamar has 22 takeaways — 10 interceptions and 12 fumbles — and has brought down opposing quarterbacks 20 times.

Linebackers T.J. Nelson and Andrew Huff have been electric, totaling 88 tackles and 10 sacks through 10 games. In the secondary, cornerback Bryce McDonald has four picks, including a pick-six against UT Rio Grande Valley on Halloween. Fellow defensive back Lanar Kelley also returned an interception for a touchdown in Lamar’s loss at FBS Louisiana in September.

A strong run game and a takeaway-prone defense is a well-known recipe for postseason success in the FCS. Now Lamar will look to finish the season strong to secure a top eight seed. The Cardinals finish their regular season against East Texas A&M and McNeese over the next two weeks. Lamar also jumped up to No. 6 in our rankings this week — so it will be interesting if the FCS Playoff Committee also sees the Cardinals in the same light as we do.

It should help that Lamar has four ranked wins this season, topping Abilene Christian, Idaho, Incarnate Word and SFA. But no matter their seeding, Lamar will be a scary team over the next month or more.

Gillman Leaves His Mark

It was never really in doubt, but Montana’s Eli Gillman made it known this weekend that he has reached the mountaintop in the Big Sky Conference. Gillman busted an 84-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter Saturday against Portland State to become the Big Sky’s all-time touchdown leader with 78 scores, passing Eastern Washington great Cooper Kupp.

The senior standout also moved into fourth place in FCS history in total career touchdowns and career rushing touchdowns.

Gillman finished with 196 yards and four scores on just eight carries against the Vikings, helping the Griz to a 57-24 victory.

Now Gillman and Montana’s attention will turn to a very tough finish to the season. Montana hosts No. 24 Idaho State this Saturday before traveling to top-ranked Montana State to end the year. If the Griz drop both contests, they might find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture.

Here Come the Vandals

Speaking of Idaho earlier in this column, no team in the FCS has been more Jekyll and Hyde than the Idaho Vandals.

Idaho opened its season with a last-second stunning loss at Cal Poly, followed by losses at FBS power Utah and at home to ranked FCS foes Abilene Christian and Lamar by a combined eight points. But just as all hope was fleeting, the Vandals stunned top-ranked Montana State to earn their first win of the season. A week later, the pendulum swung back to a loss at No. 19 Weber State, and it seemed that maybe the MSU win was just a blip on a bleak season. Until it wasn’t.

Wins at No. 9 Montana, against Southern Utah, at Portland State and finally a 62-31 drubbing of rival Eastern Washington this past weekend have the Vandals on a four-game winning streak and above .500 for the first time this season.

Joshua Wood has been the spark plug for the Vandals' success, looking like one of the best quarterbacks in the FCS this season. Wood has accounted for 3,352 total yards (2,807 passing and 545 rushing) and 31 total touchdowns (20 passing and 11 rushing). Wood is second in the FCS in total offense behind Youngstown State standout Beau Brungard and fourth in points responsible for.

More importantly, Idaho has jumped into not only our rankings, at No. 22 this week, but also the FCS playoff discussion. If the Vandals can win their final two games against UC Davis and at No. 24 Idaho State, a 7-5 Idaho team with a 7-2 Big Sky record would be very hard to keep out of the bracket.

Looking Ahead

It is another beautiful slate of games this Saturday with five ranked matchups on the schedule.

In the Big Sky, No. 19 Weber State travels to No. 5 Northern Arizona (2 p.m. MST, ESPN+) and No. 24 Idaho State visits No. 9 Montana (8:30 p.m. MST, ESPN2) in key battles for playoff positioning.

At the top of the Southern Conference standings, No. 18 Mercer visits No. 11 Tennessee Tech (1:30 p.m. CST, ESPN+), while in the UAC, No. 23 Abilene Christian looks to get back on track at No. 8 Austin Peay (1 p.m. CST, ESPN+). Finally, in the MVFC, 17th-ranked Illinois State will visit No. 4 Youngstown State (Noon EST, ESPN+) as the Redbirds look to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Other games of note include Princeton at Yale and No. 21 Harvard at Penn in the Ivy League, No. 22 Lehigh at Richmond in the Patriot League, and Prairie View A&M at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, both of which are 4-2 in the SWAC.