Football travels to Southeastern Louisiana Saturday (w/VIDEO)
10/15/2009 11:45:00 PM | Football
Both Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana will be looking for their second Southland Conference victories after winning their league openers last Saturday.
The Bearkats defeated Nicholls 44-21 at Sam Houston Homecoming in Huntsville Saturday.
The Lions scored three touchdowns and converted on three 2-point conversions in the final 9:06 of regulation as the Lions overcame a 24-point fourth-quarter deficit and snapped a two-game losing streak with a 51-50 upset of Texas St. in San Marcos.
Thus, both teams find themselves tied for first place with Stephen F. Austin and Central Arkansas going into the second weekend of Southland Conference action.
Sam Houston won its Southland Conference opener for the eighth time in the 23 seasons the Bearkats have been league members.
Three of the seven previous times the Kats won their opening league contest, Sam Houston has gone on to win the Southland title. The Kats have finished among the top three teams in the race five times in those seven previous years they won the league opener.
The Kats are picked to finish sixth in the 2009 race according to the vote of the league's head coaches in the annual Southland preseason poll. Defending league champion Texas State is the league favorite with McNeese picked second, followed by Northwestern State, Central Arkansas, Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State, Nicholls and Southeastern Louisiana.
Southeastern Louisiana defeated Sam Houston 30-27 at Bowers Stadium last season in an overtime thriller.
Quarterback Rhett Bomar passed for 506 yards in the game. In a see-saw battle, James Aston scored on a 16-yard run to give Sam Houston a 24-17 lead with 3:14 to play. But the Lions took only two plays to tie the game 24-24 and force overtime as Brian Babin hit Jay Lucas for a 60-yard score.
Taylor Wilkins kicked a 30-yard field goal as Sam Houston had first possession in overtime. Babin hit Chris Wilson for a 14-yard pass to earn the victory.
Sam Houston leads the all-time series with the Lions, owning a 7-3 record against Southeastern Louisiana. The Bearkats are 5-1 playing in Hammond.
Louisiana traditionally is a tough venue for Sam Houston. The Bearkats have won 18, lost 50 and tied three times in their 71 appearances in the Pelican State. Sam Houston defeated Nicholls 47-37 in Thibodaux last November in the Bearkats' last visit to Louisiana.
Sam Houston brings a two-game winning streak into the Southeastern Louisiana game. The Bearkats have out-scored their last two opponents 85-21.
The Kats opened the season with a pair of thrillers with NCAA Division I FCS foes that both went to the final gun. Sam Houston lost its opener 35-28 to Western Illinois after failing to force overtime with an incomplete pass into the end zone from the WIU three-yard-line on the games final play.
In the Bearkats' second game, Joseph and Madkins hooked up for a 51-yard pass to set up freshman Miquel Antonio's game-winning field goal as Sam Houston earned a 48-45 victory over North Dakota State.
Conference USA member Tulsa handed the Kats a 56-3 loss in Sam Houston's only road game.
Quarterback Blake Joseph ranks No. 13 nationally in NCAA FCS total offense with 271.8 yards per game. The senior from Bryan who transferred to Sam Houston this August from the University of Houston has passed for 1,222 yards and five touchdowns. He has rushed for 188 net yards and four more scores.
His 482 yards passing in the North Dakota State victory was the fourth-most for a Bearkat quarterback. With 51 yards rushing, Joseph produced 533 yards of total offense in the contest against the Bison, only the third time a Bearkat quarterback has eclipsed the 500-yard mark in one game.
Senior 6-5 wide receiver Jason Madkins ranks No. 6 nationally in receiving yards. With 22 catches for 526 yards, Madkins is averaging 105.2 receiving yards per contest. The senior from Mart caught six balls for 239 yards against North Dakota State, just three yards short of the SHSU single game record.
Running back James Aston, a senior from Katy, ranks No. 4 nationally in scoring with nine touchdowns and is No. 6 in the nation in all-purpose yards. He is averaging 175.6 all-purpose yards with season totals of 375 yards rushing, 173 receiving and 330 in kickoff returns.
With only two starters from the 2008 season back on defense and seven freshmen and three sophomores listed in the two-deep, Sam Houston's defense has struggled at times this fall.
Sam Houston ranks No. 95 nationally in total defense, giving up 407.5 yards per game.
The defense had its best showing of the season in the 41-0 shutout of Saint Joseph's. The Bearkats limited the Pumas to only 126 yards total offense. Trey Wilder and Edward Decambre each interception a pass and freshman Darnell Taylor recovered a fumble.
Last week, after Nicholls took a 21-17 lead five minutes into the second half, the defense rallied and shut out the Colonels for the rest of the game while the offense produced 27 unanswered points.
Senior linebacker Luke McCall leads Sam Houston in total tackles with 34 including four for losses. Defensive end Chris Brown leads the Bearkats in quarterback sacks with three. Brown ranks fifth in career sacks at Sam Houston with 15.
Three Bearkats have won Southland Conference football "Player-of-the-Week" honors a total of four times this fall.
Freshman Miguel Antonio of Lovelady earned the "Special Teams" honor after going 6-for-6 on PATs and kicking field goals of 48 and 24 yards in a 48-45 win over North Dakota State The second field goal provided the winning points with 26 seconds remaining in the game. Antonio also won the award after Sam Houston's 41-0 victory over Saint Joseph's.
Senior linebacker Luke McCall of Corpus Christi earned was named the Southland Conference "Defensive player of the Week after leading the team in tackles in the North Dakota State victory.
Senior quarterback Blake Joseph was named Southland "Offensive Player of the Week" following the 41-0 victory over Saint Joseph's. The quarterback passes for 211 yards and two touchdowns in the victory.
