The Cardinals were led by second-year head coach Blane Morgan and played their home games at Provost Umphrey Stadium.

The Challenge included the four fully qualified Division I (FCS) members of the WAC (Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston, and Stephen F. Austin) and Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, and Jacksonville State of the ASUN Conference.

The winner of the challenge received an auto-bid to the NCAA Division I FCS football playoffs.

All Lamar games were broadcast on KLVI radio, also known as News Talk 560.

In addition, one Cardinal, Anthony Ruffin, was chosen to the Preseason All-WAC Defense Team.