Kats will attempt to limit big plays by WIU offense
9/16/2010 5:30:00 PM | Football
More than half of this year's Sam Houston football squad weren't part of the Bearkat team that lost a heartbreaker to Western Illinois in the 2009 season opener for both teams a year ago.
But the 28 players who played in the Leathernecks 35-28 victory at Bowers Stadium have been telling the newcomers all about that game. The contest was in doubt until the final play as Sam Houston drove to the one yard line with 21 seconds to go. The Leathernecks stopped the Bearkats on three straight plays including an incomplete pass from the three-yard line on the final play.
"The game was a heartbreaker," said Bearkat safety Victor Carmichael, who returned a fumble 21 yards for a score to give Sam Houston a 14-7 lead in the first quarter. Carmichael made his first start as a Bearkat defensive back last year against WIU. He is looking forward to the trip to Macomb Saturday.
"We did well early on, but we didn't finish," Carmichael said. "We came out in the second half flat, and they came out and gave it to us. I guess we went into halftime thinking we were going to roll over these boys. They're a good football team and we're going to have to bring our best to beat them on their home field this week."
Western Illinois (1-1) has been impressive in its first two games, blanking Valparaiso 45-0 in Macomb in the Leathernecks' opener and giving the Boilermakers a battle in a 31-21 loss at Purdue.
Senior quarterback Matt Barr, who threw for 437 yards and three touchdowns against Sam Houston last year, has completed 40 of 68 passes this season for 516 yards and three scores. His top receiver is Terruin Crump with 10 catches for 112 yards.
The Leathernecks feature a balanced offensive that has averaged 229.5 rushing yards in its two games. Bryce Flowers leads the WIU ground attack with 28 carries for 164 yards including three touchdowns.
"Their quarterback Matt Barr is a left-hander with a good arm. He does a good job running their offense," Sam Houston head coach Willie Fritz said. "They gave Purdue all they could handle last week. They've got a lot of talent."
The Bearkats had an open date last week after opening up Baylor. The Bears were able to put up 34 points on the Sam Houston defense, but on the whole, Carmichael said they will be able to take quite a bit away from this game and is looking at the opener as a positive.
"I think we're taking this loss pretty good," junior defensive end Ed Decambre said. "We've gone hard in practice and we want move forward from this loss."
Fritz also believed the defensive effort against the Bears was a positive for the Bearkats.
"Looking back at the Baylor game, we thought we had a pretty good defensive effort against a very quick Big 12 team" Fritz said. "We gave up too many big plays, however, and, to have a chance up at Macomb, we can't let them go over the top."
The game at Western Illinois will be a different experience for a lot of the Bearkats. The contest at Hansen Field will be Sam Houston's only game on grass this year.
Since moving onto the artificial surface at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium in 1986, Sam Houston is 102-96-1 on artificial surfaces (including an 86-32-1 record at home). On the road on grass the Kats are 30-35-3.
Sam Houston worked on the grass practice field at Huntsville High School Wednesday.
"You just need to get out here and get a feel for playing on grass," Fritz said. "You have to make sure your shoes are correct and other things.."
It has been almost two weeks since Sam Houston State has played after a bye this past weekend.
The team practiced almost every day last week, but Fritz gave the guys a break with a couple of days off over the weekend, hoping the Kats would benefit from the extra rest.
"We went really hard on Monday and Friday last week with our conditioning and we practiced on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday," the coach said. "We took the whole weekend off, and I thought it was good for us. We really didn't do anything until Monday afternoon, and we have gone a little shorter in practices. I told our guys that we are in great condition, now can we get it done between the ears and play hard?
"We have taken care of a lot of things we couldn't do in camp like working on gadget plays and game situations that we brushed on during camp, but couldn't be real thorough."
Saturday's game in Macomb, Ill., kicks off at 1 p.m. The contest will be broadcast live on KSAM FM 101.7 in Huntsville and on www.gobearkats.com .
Following the trip to Macomb, Sam Houston opens its home schedule on Saturday Sept. 25 with Bearkat Family Weekend against Gardner-Webb. Special events during the evening include an appearance by the Houston Texans cheerleaders, a salute to Hillcrest Heroes honoring local veterans and police and fire department emergency service personnel, a huge pregame tailgate and a postgame fireworks display.
Other home games will be Oct. 16 (Homecoming) vs. Southeastern Louisiana, Nov. 6 vs. McNeese State and Nov. 20 vs. Texas State. The final three home games will kickoff at 2 p.m.
Tickets for all Sam Houston home games at Bowers Stadium and the "Battle of the Piney Woods" contest with Stephen F. Austin October 23 at Reliant Stadium are onsale now at www.gobearkats.com/tickets .
Fans also may visit the Sam Houston athletic ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House located in the south end zone of Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
