Thursday Night Lights! Football at 6 p.m.
9/3/2009 7:15:00 AM | Football
A month ago, Blake Joseph was trying to keep his head from exploding.
The University of Houston transfer had just arrived at Sam Houston State to battle junior Bryan Randolph for the starting quarterback job in fall camp. Joseph had the tools and the talent. The only thing holding him back was learning a new offense and different terminology in a short period of time.
What a difference a few weeks make.
Joseph still has a lot to learn, but he did show enough in fall practice for Bearkats head coach Todd Whitten and his staff to tab him as the starter.
All eyes will be on the senior tonight when he makes his debut in the orange and white as Sam Houston State welcomes Western Illinois to Bowers Stadium to open the 2009 season.
"When I got here that there were times when I was like, 'Wow, what's going on?'" Joseph said Wednesday afternoon. "Those days are over. I feel a lot better in this offense. Things are starting to click for us. We have had some great practices leading up to this game, and I believe the offense has come a lot further. I'm really starting to feel comfortable out there."
Joseph has started in college before. He led Houston on the field five times in 2007, throwing for 1,324 yards and nine touchdowns. But it has been almost two years since he has seen any significant playing time after backing up the Cougars' Case Keenum last season.
The Bearkats are hoping Joseph can help the offense put up the same kind of numbers Rhett Bomar did last season when he ranked in the top 10 nationally in several offensive categories.
"I'm really anxious to see how Blake Joseph does," Whitten said Wednesday. "We need him to be comfortable out there. We need to remember that he has been here just a month, but we feel like he can make a lot of plays for us this season."
The offense is going to need to take advantage every time Sam Houston has the ball tonight. Western Illinois led the Football Championship Subdivision in rushing last season, so the Bearkats might not get that many opportunities with the Leathernecks playing ball control and eating up the clock.
Joseph will have plenty of weapons to use. Running backs James Aston and Chris Poullard could form one of the most talented backfields in the country this season. Wide receivers Jason Madkins, Jake Lebens and Chris Lucas have made some big plays in fall camp.
"Western Illinois has a lot of great players, but so do we," Joseph said. "We just need to get the ball into the end zone as much as possible because they like to run it. We have some guys that have really stepped up in practice. We are just all excited and ready to get on the field."
Thursday's game will be televised live by Southland Conference TV. The game may be viewed on Channel 51 in Houston and Channel 22 in Huntsville. KSAM 101.7 FM will carry the contest live on radio and the internet.
Another area that will be in the spotlight tonight is the Bearkats' new defense. Sam Houston has had trouble stopping opposing offenses the past couple of seasons, so Whitten hired former Northwestern State head coach Scott Stoker to be the Kats' new defensive coordinator.
The defense is young and it is going to get tested right out of the gate by the Leathernecks.
"We have been getting ready for a physical game," senior defensive lineman Kevin Smith said. "We have a lot of young guys, especially in the secondary, so we have been working on getting the safeties and the rest of the secondary ready to get more involved in the run game. Western Illinois is going to run it a bunch, so we need to get penetration at the line to stop those guys."
Win or lose, the Bearkats are going to have a good idea of what they need to work on to get ready for Southland Conference action. The Leathernecks are also an FCS program as is North Dakota State, Sam Houston's next opponent.
This is the first time since Whitten has been the head coach that the Kats have opened with someone other than a Division II or NAIA school.
"We will have a good idea of where we are at," Whitten said. "This is the first time we have had the chance to play someone like Western Illinois and North Dakota State back to back to open the season at home. It is just hard to schedule these types of games. Western Illinois is a good football team that went 6-5 last year, so this is really going to benefit our team."
