HAMMOND, LOUISIANA – Fresh off a 33-26 win at home over Eastern New Mexico last Saturday, the University of the Incarnate Word football team will hit the road this weekend for a 7 p.m. kickoff with Southeastern Louisiana University at Strawberry Stadium on Saturday.

The game promises to be a good matchup with the Cardinals (3-2) hoping to earn their first road victory of the season.  The Lions (2-2) are coming off a bye week and have had a fairly difficult schedule with road losses at TCU and #6 South Dakota State and a road victory two weeks ago at Samford.

The Cardinals will continue to rely upon two of the top freshmen in the country on offense.  Quarterback Trent Brittain (Eastland/Eastland HS) and running back Junior Sessions (Mesquite/Mesquite HS) were each placed on the CFPA National Freshman of the Year Watch List this week.  Brittain is averaging nearly 190 passing yards per game while completing 54 percent of his passes.  He has tossed seven touchdowns against only two interceptions and has rushed for 201 yards on 40 carries.  Sessions is coming off his best week in a UIW uniform when he rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns against ENMU.  He leads the team with 285 yards and five touchdowns on 5.6 yards per carry.

The Cardinals have a balanced defense that is allowing just 332.4 total yards of offense per game.  Senior defensive tackle Robby Horton (Beeville/Jones HS) became the school's all-time leader in sacks last week and leads the team with 6.5 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks on the season.  Senior safety Devin Haywood (San Antonio/Roosevelt HS) leads the team with 26 tackles.  The unit has forced nine turnovers this year.

In special teams, senior punter Emmanuel Nunez (Dallas/Seguin HS) continues to be one of the top players at his position in the country.  He is averaging 42.3 yards per kick with five inside the 20-yard line.

Southeastern is the third future Southland Conference opponent the Cardinals have faced this year.  The Lions are led on offense by junior quarterback Bryan Bennett who is a transfer from University of Oregon where he played 18 games for the Ducks.  He leads the team with 319 rushing yards on 52 carries while completing 51-of-82 passes for 649 yards.  The Lions also boast three reliable running backs and a big-play wide receiver.

The Southeastern defense is similar to the Cardinals with a lot of different contributors.  John Graves leads the team with 19 tackles and has made 3.0 tackles for loss.  Jacob Newman has made 6.0 tackles for loss and is tied for the team lead with three sacks.
The Lions have a strong kicking game.  Matt McCormick is averaging 42.4 yards per punt while Seth Sebastian has been perfect on the season on field goals and extra points.  He is 14-of-14 on PAT's and has converted all six of his field goals.

This is the first ever meeting between UIW and Southeastern, but will likely be the start of a long rivalry with the Cardinals joining the Southland next year.

The game will be broadcast live on KKYX 680 AM with Gabe Farias and Shawn Morris on the call.
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