NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State is spending time honing football fundamentals along with the game plan for Saturday evening's home and Southland Conference opener against Lamar.
 
The Demons and Cardinals kick off at 6 in Turpin Stadium, where NSU is 3-0 against Lamar this decade, including a 48-35 victory in 2015. The game will be televised on Cox Sports Television to Cox cable subscribers in Louisiana and 13 other states, and will be available elsewhere on ESPN3.
 
Special "#StandUnited" tickets discounted to $5 are on sale and will be available at the stadium when gates open at 4:30 Saturday.
 
The Demons (0-2) have invested significant periods of practice in blocking and tackling, hoping to juice up an offense that posted just 10 points last week at Grambling, and enhancing a defense that has missed 46 tackles in the first two games, several on scoring plays.
 
"There's a lot we've done well going against two quality programs, Louisiana Tech and Grambling," said head coach Jay Thomas. "We've been in each game in the fourth quarter with a chance to win. We're very close. To get over the hump we have to be better and some of that goes back to fundamentals of the game.
 
"We weren't as productive offensively last week as we have to be," he said. "We did much better in our opener. We were very close on several plays at Grambling, just one block or broken tackle away from a lot of yards, and some of that credit goes to Grambling, for sure.
 
"On defense, unfortunately we've not tackled as well as we should and it's really hurt us on some big plays. We had 24 missed tackles at Grambling. They've got a great back (Martez Carter) and Tulane had right at the same amount of missed tackles against him, but we also didn't do well in wrapping up at Louisiana Tech so it's been something we've really focused on this week."
 
Adding to NSU's challenge is preparing for a Lamar (1-1) team that has played in unique circumstances under a new coaching staff and with plenty of newcomers, including SMU transfer quarterback Darrel Colbert Jr. and Texas A&M transfer running back James White.
 
Due to the impact of Hurricane Harvey, the Cardinals were barely able to practice in the week leading up to their season opening 59-14 loss at North Texas. Lamar returned home and routed a new Division II program, UT-Permian Basin, 72-6 last Saturday night.
 
"You see on the tape they're well coached and they have talented players," said Thomas. "We'll be finding out a lot about us on Saturday night while we're also hopefully figuring out what Lamar's doing and making good adjustments as we go along."
 
The Cardinals ended a four-game skid to the Demons last year in Beaumont with a comeback 32-31 triumph, scoring 14 points in the last 1:43, getting the winning 20-yard touchdown pass with six seconds left.