Sam Houston vs. Northwestern State Game Notes
10/28/2010 8:42:00 AM | Football
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Sam Houston hits the road again Saturday for a Southland Conference tilt with the Northwestern State Demons. Kickoff at Turpin Stadium in Natchitoches is 6 p.m.
Four of Sam Houston's seven games this season have been on the road and last week's contest was at a neutral site (Houston's Reliant Stadium). The Bearkats are 2-2 on the road winning at Lamar and Nicholls. SHSU has not won three road games since the 2007 season.
BATTLE OF 2-1 SOUTHLAND TEAMS
Sam Houston and Northwestern State are tied for second place in the Southland Conference standings long with McNeese State. The Bearkats, Demons and Cowboys all own 2-1 league records.
WINNING A CHALLENGE IN LOUISIANA
Sam Houston plays a football game in Louisiana for the 81st time in school history Saturday in Natchitoches.
The Kats stand 24-53-3 in the Pelican State. Sam Houston's win at Nicholls three weeks ago ended a two-game losing streak in the state.
BEARKAT-DEMON SERIES RECORD
Sam Houston and Northwestern State are meeting for the 33rd time in the two universities' histories. The Demons lead the all-time series 18 victories to 14.
The Bearkats stand 4-13 against Northwestern State in games played in Natchitoches. The series began in 1929 and include a post-season meeting in 1958 when the Demons won the Christmas Bowl in Natchitoches 18-11.
Sam Houston has won three of the last four games. Northwestern State's last victory came in Natchitoches in 2008 by a 24-16 score.
SCOUTING THE DEMONS
Northwestern State is one of the most improved teams in the Southland Conference this season. The Demons have won three of their last five games including back-to-back league road victories at Central Arkansas and Texas State.
The Demons feature the league's No. 2 pass defense, allowing just 219.7 yards per game in the air. Quarterback Paul Harris ranks fourth in the league in total offense (206.0 yards per game) and fifth in passing (176.3 yards per contest). His favorite target is wide receiver Bradley Brown who stands fifth in Southland receptions per game with 33 catches for 360 yards.
NO. 4 SFA ENDS FOUR-GAME STREAK
Stephen F. Austin, the No. 4 ranked team in the nation, ended Sam Houston's four-game winning streak in a 31-28 thriller before more than 24,000 fans at Reliant Stadium Saturday
After losing their first two games by a combined score of 90-17 to Baylor and Western Illinois, the Bearkats bounced back to outscore Gardner-Webb, Lamar, Nicholls and Southeastern Louisiana 151-38. The four consecutive victories were the Kats' longest victory streak since Sam Houston ended the 2007 season with five in a row to earn a runner-up finish in the Southland Conference.
RECORD CROWD AT RELIANT STADIUM
The crowd of 24,685 at Reliant Stadium for the 85th "Battle of the Piney Woods" between Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin marked the largest audience ever for a Bearkat football game against an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision opponent.
The previous high was 23,634 fans at Missoula when Sam Houston played Montana in the 2004 NCAA playoff semifinals.
Although Sam Houston has played 26 times on the road against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents, the SHSU-SFA crowd ranks No. 9 among the Bearkats' most attended football games.
BEARKATS THROW SCARE INTO NO. 4 JACKS
After giving up 14 first quarter points, Sam Houston gave the No. 4 ranked SFA Lumberjacks all they could handle, coming up just a field goal short of an upset.
Jeremy Moses became the Southland Conference's all-time total offense leader, throwing for 418 yards and four touchdowns. A shanked punt set up a short fourth quarter drive for a field goal that proved to be the margin of victory.
Tim Flanders led Sam Houston with 23 carries for 100 yards and two TDs. Richard Sincere had 72 yards on eight carries and a score. Flanders tied a Sam Houston State record for most 100-yard rushing performance in one season with six.
A fourth down gamble propelled Sam Houston to its first tally. Bryan Randolph passed to Richard Sincere from punt formation on fourth down for a 24-yard gain to the SFA 32. Sincere then took a direct snap from center and raced around left end for a 32-yard score to cut the margin to 14-7 with 12:45 in the second period.
After a successful onside kick, the Bearkats took just three plays to score as Flanders broke open for a 45-yard touchdown run to knot the score 14-14 at 11:19.
Brandon Closner's 33-yard punt return to the SFA 19 set up a one-yard touchdown run by Flanders to bring Sam Houston back to within seven, 28-21 with 2:24 to play in the third quarter. Brian Bell led an 11-play, 74-yard drive that ended with a seven-yard scoring pass to D. J. Morrow as Sam Houston cut the lead to 31-28 with 7:02 to go.
SACK ATTACK
Sam Houston's blitzing defense is causing havoc in opposing backfields. The Bearkats have totaled 27 sacks in their first seven games. A year ago, Sam Houston totaled 15 sacks in 11 contests. The 27 sacks this year are most for a Kat defense since the 2001 Southland championship season when Sam Houston totaled 44. The school record for sacks in one season is 47 in 1991, another title year.
In a 26-7 victory at Nicholls, the defense tied a Southland Conference record and set a school record by rolling up 12 sacks. The previous team record was 10 sacks against Mississippi Valley State in 2002. Northwestern State originally set the Southland record with 12 sacks against SFA in 1997. The NCAA Division I FCS national record is 14 sacks by Alcorn State against Mississippi Valley in 2007.
Will Henry tied a school record with four sacks at Nicholls. All-America defensive tackle Michael Bankston, who went on to play eight years in the NFL for the Cardinals, was the first to set the SHSU single game record with four sacks against Angelo State in 1991. The Southland single game record for sacks is five.
Henry was named as Southland Conference "Defensive Player of the Week" after his performance at Nicholls.
Fifteen Bearkats have had a hand in at least one quarterback sack this year. Henry and J. T. Cleveland (who had three sacks at Nicholls) both have season totals of five. Eric Fieilo has four for the year.
STOPPING THE RUSH
The SHSU defense has given up only 142 yards rushing in its last five games. The Bearkats lead the Southland and rank No. 9 nationally in rushing defense (92.86 yards per game). The Kats limited Nicholls to just 97 yards total offense. That was the lowest total offense figure allowed by a Sam Houston defense since a 23-3 victory over Stephen F. Austin at Bowers Stadium in 1990 when the Kats held the Jacks to 83 yards (-49 on the ground and 132 in the aire)
TIM FLANDERS CONTINUES TO ROLL
Tim Flanders, redshirt freshman from Midwest City, Okla., is the leading rusher in the Southland Conference (114.1 yards per game) and ranks No. 14 in the NCAA Division I FCS national statistics.
He has rushed for 100 yards or more in six consecutive games, a school record. Flanders netted 156 yards at Western Illinois, 104 vs. Gardner-Webb, 153 at Lamar, 105 yards at Nicholls, 134 versue Southeastern Louisiana and 100 against SFA.
With 799 yards rushing in seven games, Flanders stands No. 2 on the list of top single season rushing performances by Sam Houston freshmen. Joe Rauls gained 867 yards in 1998.
Flanders already has broken the school record for most rushing TDs (9) set by a freshman set by Joe Vickers in 1971. He also has tied the school mark for 100-yard rushing performances in one season with six. While their six 100-yard games were not in succession, Roger Wiley (1982), D. D. Terry (2006) and Chris Poullard (2007) all produced six triple figure running games in a year.
BLOCK PARTY BACK
Sam Houston has blocked punts and returned the blocks for touchdowns in each of the past two victories.
With the Nicholls punting from their own 27-yard line with 2:17 to play in the first half, Robert Shaw broke through to block the kick and fell on the ball in the end zone to put Sam Houston up 10-7.
Vincent Dotson blocked Southeastern Louisiana's third punt in the first quarter and Shaw picked up the ball at the 24-yard line and ran it in for another score.
The two blocks mark the return of the "block party", a Bearkat special teams tradition established when Willie Fritz was special teams coordinator for Sam Houston in 1991 and 1992. The "Block Party" saw Sam Houston block 80 punts, field goals and extra points in the 14 seasons from 1991 to 2004.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
With only 29 lettermen back from last year's Bearkat squad and only five seniors on this year's roster, the 2010 Sam Houston football team definitely is young. Eleven freshmen dot the Bearkats' two-deep lineup. New Sam Houston head coach Willie Fritz inherited a young team with just as many newcomers as returning players and told potential high school recruits they definitely had an opportunity to play as freshmen.
The 34 lost letter-winners is the highest total of departed players since the Bearkats moved up to the NCAA Division I FCS level in 1986. The previous high was 28 lost lettermen in 1993 when Sam Houston went 4-7 for the year and 2-5 in Southland action. Just eight starters (two on offense and six on defense) are among the returnees. Sam Houston does not return a running back who touched a ball in the 2009 season and the Bearkats' top six receivers from last year are gone.
Of the 90 players who reported for the opening of preseason camp on August 6, only 48 took part in Fritz's spring practice in April. The other 42 players were either freshmen or transfers.
THE BEARKAT OFFENSE
The biggest change for the 2010 Bearkats has come on offense where Sam Houston have become more balanced.
Brian Bell, a true freshman from China Spring, has started the last five games. Bell came off the bench in the second quarter at Western Illinois and directed the team to two touchdown drives.
With no running backs who carried during either the 2009 season or in spring practice, Sam Houston has collected a strong stable of runners in preseason camp. Tim Flanders, a redshirt freshman transfer from Kansas State, leads the Southland with 114.1 yards rushing per game. True freshmen Cameron Brown (Austin LBJ HS) and transfer D. J. Morrow (Louisiana Tech) help carry the load.
Junior center Travis Watson and left tackle Chris Crockett were starters in 2008 who missed playing in 2009 because of injury. Sophomore tackle Kaleb Hopson was a starter as a freshman last year and sophomore tackle Riley Smith and guard Cameron Pound were backups last year, giving the Kats an experienced front line.
Wide receivers Brandon Closner and Melvis Pride and tight end T. J. Jones were the only returning Bearkats to catch passes last year (combining for 13 catches for 170 yards). Western Michigan transfer Seth Patterson leads the Bearkat receivers.
THE BEARKAT SECONDARY
It is no secret that one of Sam Houston's biggest weaknesses last season came in the secondary. The Bearkats started three freshmen, two safeties and a cornerback, who got on-the-job training while taking their fair share of lumps. Sam Houston ranked sixth out of eight teams in the Southland Conference in pass defense at 253.5 yards a game. Things got better towards the end of the season including a victory over Central Arkansas in which the Kats gave up only 106 yards passing and picked off two passes.
What was once a major weakness now is a strength. Those three freshmen - Darnell Taylor, Kenneth Jenkins and Robert Shaw - are a year older, and more importantly, have now been in defensive coordinator Scott Stoker's scheme for an entire season. Throw in senior cornerback Jarvis Pippins and senior safety Victor Carmichael, true freshman Bookie Sneed and sophomore transfer Daxton Swanson and the Kats have put together a talented secondary.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Sam Houston players have won Southland Conference special teams "Player of the Week" honors this season.
Miguel Antonio, who led Sam Houston in scoring with 73 points on 12 field goals and 37 PATs as a true freshman in 2009, was player of the week following the 30-14 victory over Gardner-Webb. Antonio kicked three field goals and was perfect on three extra points.
Brandon Closner received the award after returning a punt 37 yards for a touchdown in the Lamar victory. Sam Houston had not had a punt return brought back for a score since 2006. Closner ranks No. 2 in the Southland Conference in punt returns (12.2 yards per game) and No. 4 in kickoff returns (23.7). His 33-yard punt return set up a touchdown in the third quarter of the SFA game.
Matt Foster, a veteran of Australian rules football in Melbourne, handles punting chores. A red-hirt at Purdue last year, Foster will be played in his first American football game in the opener at Baylor.
