BEAUMONT – McNeese and Lamar will renew the annual Battle of the Border rivalry game on Saturday afternoon as the Cowboys search for their first win on the field and the Cardinals looking for their first winning season since 2018.
 
Kick-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Lamar's Provost Umphrey Stadium. The game will broadcast live on ESPN+ and on the McNeese Radio Network (92.9 The Lake and 929thelake.com).
 
McNeese (1-9, 1-5 SLC) is coming off a 35-24 loss to HCU last Saturday while Lamar (5-5, 4-2) dropped a 37-24 game at Nicholls in a game that had Southland Conference championship implications.
 
Gameday Notes:
• McNeese is 5-0 in Beaumont since Lamar returned to playing football in 2010.
• Saturday's game will be the 41st meeting in the all-time series with McNeese holding a 28-11-1 lead.
• The teams have alternated victories the last five seasons.
• Since Lamar restarted the program in 2010, McNeese has won nine of the 12 matchups.
• The Cardinals' last win at home over the Cowboys came in their final game in 1989 before halting the program.
• McNeese true freshman DB Kandyn Cordova is the son of Lamar safeties coach Wayne Cordova. Wayne was an all-conference player for the Cowboys in the late 90s and helped the team advance to the 1997 National Championship game. He was also named to the McNeese 75th Anniversary Football Team. Wayne also coached safeties at McNeese in 2017 and 2018.
• True freshman QB Kam Sixkiller connected with fellow true freshman WR Cory O'Bryant on 6 of his 19 completions and 100 of the 249 passing yards against HCU.
• Lamar is ranked No. 1 in the SLC in kickoff return average at 25.6 while the Cowboys are No. 2 with a 22.8 average.
• McNeese is 1-9 but is still looking for its first win on the playing field (the Oct. 28 game against NSU was canceled and deemed a forfeit win for the conference standings).
• True freshman QB Kam Sixkiller will make his second collegiate start.
• Sixkiller will be the 4th quarterback to see action this season for the Cowboys and the 7th QB in head coach Gary Goff's two seasons.
• Fellow true freshman wide receiver Cory O'Bryant was Sixkiller's favorite target last week when he hauled in six passes for 100 yards and a touchdown.
• O'Bryant and Jon McCall have the only 100-yard receiv­ing games on the season for McNeese... McCall recorded 106 receiving yards on 5 catches against UIW.
• The Cowboys have scored on 13 of 17 red-zone oppor­tunities on the season including 8 redzone touchdowns.
• RS freshman RB Joshon Barbie has rushed for 269 yards on 41 carries in the last three games, a 6.6 yards per car­ry average... he ran for 117 yards on 21 carries with a TD against UIW in making his first career start.
• LB Micah Davey is ranked 1st in the nation with 14.7 tackles per game and 8.4 solo tackles per game, and he's No. 2 in the FCS and 1st in the SLC with 132 total tackles.
• Davey's 20-tackle game against HCU last week was a career-high and marked just the fourth, 20-tackle game in school history and the third player to do so.
• Offensive linemen Cole Leclair and Dylan Dauzart have started 20 consecutive games as a Cowboys dating back to last season, the longest current streak on the team... adding in his starts when he played at Valdosta State before transferring to McNeese, Leclair has started in 34 consecutive contests.
• Sophomore WR Jon McCall is 3rd in the Southland Con­ference with five TD catches on the season
• McCall has made at least one catch every game this sea­son and has three or more catches in 7 straight games.
• His five TD grabs have all come in the last 7 games.
• True freshman WR Makhi Paris leads all freshmen receiv­ers in the Southland with 24 catches and 292 receiving yards.