1985 Lamar Cardinals football team

The 1985 Lamar Cardinals football team represented Lamar University in the 1985 NCAA Division I-AA football season as a member of the Southland Conference. The Cardinals played their home games at Cardinal Stadium now named Provost Umphrey Stadium in Beaumont, Texas. Lamar finished the 1985 season with a 3–8 overall record and a 0–6 conference record. The season marked the final year with Ken Stephens as Lamar Cardinals head football coach.

1985 Southland Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 6 Arkansas State $^	5	–	1	–	0	9	–	4	–	0
No. 14 Louisiana Tech	4	–	2	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
McNeese State	3	–	1	–	2	6	–	3	–	2
Northeast Louisiana	3	–	3	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
North Texas State	2	–	3	–	1	4	–	6	–	1
UT Arlington	2	–	3	–	1	4	–	6	–	1
Lamar	0	–	6	–	0	2	–	9	–	0

$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 7	Texas Southern*	Cardinal Stadium Beaumont, TX	W 32–20		^[1]
September 14	Prairie View A&M*	Cardinal Stadium Beaumont, TX	W 30–7		^[2]
September 21	Southwest Texas State*	Cardinal Stadium Beaumont, TX	W 24–21		^[3]
September 28	at Rice*	Rice Stadium Houston, TX	L 28–29
October 12	Northeast Louisiana	Cardinal Stadium Beaumont, TX	L 14–37		^[4]
October 19	at UT Arlington	Maverick Stadium Arlington, TX	L 17–37	5,775	^[5]
October 26	Sam Houston State*	Cardinal Stadium Beaumont, TX	L 22–34	5,328	^[6]
November 2	at No. 12 Louisiana Tech	Joe Aillet Stadium Ruston, LA	L 22–23	3,200	^[7]
November 9	at North Texas State	Fouts Field Denton, TX	L 0–20		^[8]
November 16	No. T–7 Arkansas State	Cardinal Stadium Beaumont, TX	L 0–21	2,832	^[9]
November 23	McNeese State	Cardinal Stadium Beaumont, TX (rivalry)	L 7–28		^[10]
*Non-conference game Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee Poll released prior to the game

^ "Lamar 32, Texas Southern 20". The Galveston Daily News. September 8, 1985. Retrieved June 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Lamar 30, Prairie View 7". Victoria Advocate. September 15, 1985. Retrieved August 20, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Lamar stops Southwest Texas, 24–21". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. September 22, 1985. Retrieved March 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Northeast slashes Lamar". The Shreveport Times. October 13, 1985. p. 2C. Retrieved January 30, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Bates' passes carry UTA in 37–17 romp over Lamar". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. October 20, 1985. p. 11B. Retrieved January 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Sam Houston St. 34, Lamar 22". Wichita Falls Times. October 27, 1985. Retrieved December 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Louisiana Tech defeats Lamar". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. November 3, 1984. Retrieved July 2, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "NTSU blanks Lamar". The Tyler Courier-Times. November 10, 1985. Retrieved October 30, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Arkansas State wins fifth straight". The Commercial Appeal. November 17, 1985. Retrieved October 8, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "McNeese St. beats Lamar". The Shreveport Times. November 24, 1985. Retrieved March 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "2015 Lamar University Football". Lamar University Athletics. pp. 109–110. Retrieved March 28, 2016.