Football meets Southeastern Louisiana Saturday
11/14/2008 1:00:00 AM | Football
THIS WEEK
Sam Houston State Bearkats (4-4, SLC 2-3) vs. Southeastern Louisiana (4-6, SLC 1-4)
Saturday, November 15 -- 6 p.m. -- Bowers Stadium -- Huntsville, Texas
GAME INFORMATION
Ticket Prices West Side Reserved Seats $20
General Admission $10
SHSU Student (with student ID) Free
Children age 5 and under Free
THE GAME ON RADIO
Sam Houston State's contest Saturday will be broadcast live on the internet at www.gobearkats.com.
PARENTS' WEEKEND
Saturday will be the 24th Parents' Weekend game at Bowers Stadium. The event originally was scheduled for Sept. 13 when the Kats were to host Prairie View A&M, but that contest was canceled due to Hurricane Ike. Sam Houston holds a 19-4 record in the previous 23 Parents' Weekend contests.
BEARKAT-LIONS FOOTBALL SERIES
Sam Houston State holds a 7-2 edge over the Lions in the all-time series between the pair. The Bearkats won 20-16 last year in Hammond, LA.
QUICK STARTS SPELL BEARKAT VICTORY
Sam Houston is 4-1 in games in which the Bearkats scored on their opening drive. The Bearkats built 52-0 and 42-10 leads at halftime against East Central Oklahoma and Gardner-Webb; scored on their first offensive play against SFA and took a 24-0 first quarter lead last week at Nicholls State.
The only game in which Sam Houston has scored on its opening drive and lost was the Central Arkansas contest which ended with the Bears winning 48-46 after stopping a Bearkat two-point conversion attempt that would have forced overtime.
The Bearkats are 0-3 in games the opponents scored first.
BEARKAT OFFENSE RANKS HIGH NATIONALLY
Sam Houston State ranks No. 5 in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision passing offense. The Bearkats are averaging 317.1 yards per game and have thrown the ball for 2,537 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Quarterback Rhett Bomar stands No. 2 in total offense (332.8 yards per game) and No. 5 in passing yardage (314.0 per game) nationally. Bomar is listed by Sports Network as a 2008 Walter Payton Award candidate.
The senior from Grand Prairie has completed 177 of 312 passes for 2,512 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Bomar received Southland and national FCS Offensive "Player of the Week" honors after throwing for five touchdowns and 390 yards in the victory at Gardner-Webb.
The quarterback also threw for 390 yards in the Bearkats' contest with No. 19 ranked Kansas of the Big 12. SHSU fell 38-14 to the defending Orange Bowl champions. SHSU trailed 14-7 with a minute left before intermission and cut the Jayhawk margin to 28-14 in the third quarter.
The contest marked only the second time in Southland Conference football history an SLC team lost to an NCAA Division I Bowl Championship Series Top 25 team by less than a four-touchdown margin. Northwestern State fell to #21 Missouri 35-14 in 1998
Last week, Bomar threw for 394 yards at Nicholls State.
In his 17 games at Sam Hosuton State the past two years, has become Sam Houston's all-time leader in total offense and ranks No. in Bearkat career passing.
The quarterback has 5,277 yards career total offense, surpassing Reggie Lewis's former school record of 5,150 set in 1985-87.
Bomar is 182 yards away from passing Arthur Louis (4,902 career yards in 1977-80) as Sam Houston's all-time passing leader.
BEARKAT PASS RECEIVERS
Senior wide receiver Catron Houston is the top target for Rhett Bomar's passes. Houston has 39 catches for 722 yards and seven touchdowns this season. He was named Southland Conference Offensive "Player of the Week" after the SFA victory. Houston caught four passes for 190 yards including touchdowns of 55, 66 and 64 yards.
Houston has moved to No. 10 in Sam Houston all-time receiving with 97 catches for 1,426 career yards and 10 touchdowns.
Chris Lucas ranks second in receiving with 31 catches for 455 yards including three touchdowns
Running back James Aston has made 31 catches for 244 yards including three scores.
Senior wide receiver Justin Wells, a local product from Huntsville High School, has gained 445 yards on 17 catches this year. Wells ranks No. 13 in Bearkat receiving annals.
BEARKATS ON THE GROUND
Junior transfer James Aston and sophomore TyMagic Robinson get the call when the Bearkats run the ball.
Aston has gained 627 yards on 115 carries including nine touchdowns. He tied a school record with four TDs in the Nicholls State victory. Charles Harris set the mark with 4 TDs vs. North Texas in 1992. He has posted three 100-yard plus rushing games. His long run of the season was a non-scoring 73-yard dash at Central Arkansas. Robinson has 13 carries for 63 yards.
Quarterback Rhett Bomar has rushed for 150 yards on 63 carries including three scores and a long gain of 44 yards.
THE BEARKAT OFFENSIVE LINE
Senior Nick Grimes (5-11, 278), juniors Jordan Bowersox (6-2, 277) and Hunter Schmidt (6-3, 304) and freshmen Travis Watson (6-2, 295) and Chris Crockett (6-3, 283) lead the way for the Bearkat offense in the front line.
THE BEARKAT DEFENSE
Defensive end Chris Brown, an honorable mention All-America selection last year as a sophomore, is again a candidate for national honors. Brown has 45 tackles with seven quarterback sacks. Brown totaled three sacks in the Gardner-Webb victory, one short of the SHSU school record set by NFL star (Cardinals) Michael Bankston in 1991. Brown's quarterback sack on third down in the second overtime pushed SFA out of field goal position to hold the Jacks scoreless in the second overtime and allow the Kats to win the game on a field goal.
Brown accounted for five of the Bearkats' 13 sacks in 2007 as he earned first team All-SLC conference honors.
Defensive tackle Eric Mikolajchak also earned All-Southland Conference honors last year. Recruited as an offensive lineman, the senior moved to defense as a sophomore and has totaled 93 tackles including 12 for losses in his three years as a starter.
At linebacker, Nolan Bucek led the Southland in tackles (88) in 2007. Bucek has 67 stops this season.
Safety Billy Skinner leads the team with 70 total tackles this season. The Bearkat defense has created 18 turnovers this year including seven interceptions and 11 fumble recoveries.
BEARKAT OFFENSIVE SUCCESS
In the past nine seasons, Sam Houston has led the Southland Conference in passing four times and total offense three seasons. Three Bearkat quarterbacks have earned Southland "Player of the Year" honors and been finalists for the Walter Payton Award as NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision offensive player of the year -- Chris Chaloupka (1999), Josh McCown (2001) and Dustin Long (2004).
SAM HOUSTON'S FOOTBALL HISTORY
Sam Houston has won the Southland Conference championship and earned an NCAA Division I playoff berth three times (in 1991, 2001 and 2004). The Bearkats reached the national quarterfinals in 2001 and the semifinals in 2004.
Bearkats playing in the National Football League include quarterback Josh McCown (Panthers) and Keith Davis (Cowboys).
