Sam Houston McNeese State Game Notes
10/20/2011 10:58:00 AM | Football
SHOWDOWN IN LAKE CHARLES
Two of the top contenders for the 2011 Southland Conference football championship meet head-on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Cowboy Stadium in Lake Charles, La., when McNeese State plays host to Sam Houston State.
The Cowboys have been champions of the Southland Conference three of the last five seasons and were preseason favorites to win this year's title. They stand in a must-win situation after a 21-18 loss to Central Arkansas last Saturday. McNeese State is 3-3 for the year and 2-1 in Southland action. Only once has a team with two losses shared the league title. That squad was Sam Houston in 1991.
The Bearkats are off to their best season start since 1964, standing 6-0. Sam Houston brings an eight-game winning streak into the contest, the program's longest since 1956. The Kats are the only unbeaten team remaining in Southland play.
TOUGH TASK FOR THE BEARKATS
To maintain their perfect season record, Sam Houston must do something Saturday that only one Bearkat team has done in 23 years - win a football game in Lake Charles, La.
Since 1988, when McNeese State joined the Southland, Sam Houston is 1-11 in Cowboy Stadium. In the two team's 23 Southland Conference battles, the Cowboys hold a 20-3 victory advantage.
Sam Houston defeated McNeese State 20-3 in Lake Charles in 1999. The Kats' other two wins over the Cowboys came at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium in Huntsville by scores of 30-25 in 1996 and 52-47 in 2004.
Overall, McNeese State holds a 24-7-1 advantage over Sam Houston in the complete series standings.
The Pelican State always has been a difficult venue for the Bearkats. Sam Houston has won 24, lost 53 and tied 3 playing in Louisiana.
SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
No team has won more Southland football titles than McNeese State. The Cowboys have won 13 conference championships in the past 23 years. McNeese State has won three of the last five Southland titles.Sam Houston State has never won an outright Southland crown. The Bearkats shared their 1991 and 2011 Southland championships with McNeese State and were co-champions with Northwestern State in 2004.
BEARKAT RADIO
KSAM 101.7 FM broadcasts all Sam Houston games. The broadcast also may be heard online at www.gobearkats.com.
LAST YEAR'S GAME
Andre Anderson rushed 19 times for 100 yards including touchdown runs of 8 and 1 yards and caught three passes for 62 yards to lead McNeese to a 33-28 victory to keep the Cowboys tied for first place in the Southland Conference.
The lead changed hands four times, with Sam Houston taking a 22-19 lead with 3:06 to play in the third quarter on a 40-yard field goal by Miguel Antonio.
Brian Bell threw for a season high, hitting 21 of 35 passes for 301 yards including a 64-yard pass to Melvis Pride with 3:02 remaining to cut McNeese's margin to five points.
The Bearkats' onsides kick attempt was successful and Bell took the Kats down to the 20 before throwing an incomplete pass on fourth and eight with 48 seconds left. Pride ended the day with three catches for 107 yards while Seth Patterson had 7 receptions for 63 yards.
SAM HOUSTON's 6-0 START
The Bearkats are off to a 6-0 season start for the first since since 1964. In the uiversity's 97 football seasons, the team has opened with six victories only twice before - in 1956 and 1964.
The 1956 squad is Sam Houston's only undefeated, untied team, going 10-0 and winning both the Lone Star Conference and Refrigerator Bowl titles. The 1964 Lone Star Conference winners and NAIA national co-champions won eight in a row before falling to Sul Ross.
EIGHT-GAME WINNING STREAK
Sam Houston closed the 2010 season with victories over Central Arkansas and Texas Sate and have won six in a row this season to put together an eight-game winning streak.
That's the longest winning streak for the Kats since the 1964 Lone Star Conference champion and NAIA national co-champion Bearkats achieved the feat.
The longest Bearkat winning streak in Sam Houston history was 12 games including the final two games of 1955 and the 10-0 undefeated 1956 season. The streak ended with a 14-7 loss to Southwestern Louisiana in the 1957 season opener.
Sam Houston was put together three eight-game winning streaks. The first was in 1930 and 1931, ended by Rice 32-0. The second came during the 1961 and 1962 seasons and was stopped by an 8-0 loss to Louisiana College. The 1964 team won eight in a row before a 14-7 loss to Sul Ross.
SAM HOUSTON BACK IN THE TOP 10
Sam Houston moved up to No. 7 in this week's Sports Network FCS national poll.The Kats cracked the Top 25 for the first time this year after the win over No. 18 Central Arkansas Sept. 17.
Before the UCA win, Sam Houston had gone 55 weeks out of the poll, the longest drought since the Bearkats went from Oct. 16, 1994 to Sept. 4, 2000. Ironically, it was a 35-14 loss to Central Arkansas that knocked Sam Houston out of the polls in 2007. Sam Houston's highest national ranking ever was 3rd on Nov. 8 and Dec. 20 in 2004.
The Bearkats stood No. 20 after the UCA win, No. 16 after defeating New Mexico and No. 10 following the victory over Stephen F. Austin at Reliant Stadium.
BEARKAT OFFENSE
Sam Houston ranks No. 9 in NCAA Division FCS rushing (235.67 yards per game), No. 11 in scoring offense (35.5 points) and No. 33 in total offense ( 402.5 yards). The Bearkats lead the Southland in rushing yards and scoring and rank third in the league in total offense.
RUNNING BACK TIM FLANDERS
Tim Flanders continues to carve his notch in the Sam Houston record book. On Sept. 24 in Albuquerque, in a 48-45 overtime victory against New Mexico, the sophomore from Midwest City, Okla., set a school record for most rushing touchdowns with five. The old mark was four by Charles Harris, Sam Houston's all-time rushing leader, against North Texas in 1992 and James Aston versus Nicholls in 2009.
With a pair of touchdowns in each of the past two games, Flanders now stands fourth in Bearkat career TDs with 24. Luther Turner scored 35 in 1985-87. McNeil Moore tallied 30 in 1951-53. Charles Harris scored 26 in 1991-94.
Midway through his sophomore season, Flanders has climbed to 21st in all-time Sam Houston career rushing with 1,544 yards on 305 carries.
His 194 yards (including TD runs of 61, 53, three, two and four yards at New Mexico) ranks as the 11th highest single game rushing total by a Bearkat back.
Flanders has posted 10 career 100-yard rushing games, one short of SHSU school mark. All-time rushing leader Charles Harris set the school record of 11 100-yard games in his four-year career from 1991-94. Flanders set a school mark as a freshman in 2010 with six consecutive 100-yard rushing games.
With his 99.3 yards per game this season, Flanders leads the Southland Conference and ranks No. 23 nationally in NCAA Division I FCS rushing. He stands No. 2 nationally in scoring with 11 TDs this year and No. 16 in FCS all-purpose yards (137.5).
Flanders earned Southland Conference's "Freshman of the Year" honors and was a first team all-league selection in in 2010. His 13 rushing touchdowns were the most ever by an SHSU freshman running back.
MULTI-TASKING WIDE RECEIVER
Richard Sincere, sophomore from Galveston Ball, is a true triple threat with his ability to run, catch and throw the ball. A wide receiver who also lines up behind center in the "Wild Bearkat" formation, Sincere has rushed 53 times for 349 yards and five touchdowns. He has caught 14 passes for 129 yards.
Sincere has posted two 100-yard rushing performances, carrying 10 times for 107 yards and two touchdowns against Central Arkansas and 11 times for 111 yards and two scores against SFA.
An option quarterback in high school, Sincere does double duty as a receiver and running SHSU's "Wild Bearkat" formation. As a freshman in 2010, Sincere rushed 42 times for 282 yards and caught eight passes for 192 yards. His 45-yard touchdown run on a pitch out from Bearkat quarterback Brian Bell was the game-breaker for Sam Houston in the team's 31-10 upset of the No. 18 ranked Bears. He had a 51-yard run to set up a touchdown in the SFA victory.
SOPHOMORE QUARTERBACK BRIAN BELL
Since the sophomore took over as starting quarterback as a true freshman in the third game of the 2010, the China Spring product has led the Bearkats to an 11-3 record.
An All-District quarterback in high school for his coach and father Mark Bell, the signal-caller completed 110 passes for 1,381 yards and 7 touchdowns last year.
This season Bell stands No. 7 in the Southland Conference in total offense with a 162.9 per game average. He has directed the Kats an average possession time of 35:51 minutes and has completed 65 of 96 passes for 813 yards and seven touchdowns.
NATIONALLY-RANKED DEFENSE
With 11 of the top 12 team leaders in tacklers back from a squad that led the Southland Conference in rush defense last year, Sam Houston is putting up numbers that rank high in the NCAA Division I FCS national statistics again in 2011
The Bearkat defense ranks No. 2 in NCAA FCS rushing defense (59.8 yards per game). The defense ranks No. 3 nationally in scoring defense (14.17), No. 3 in turnover margin (2.33) and No. 4 in total defense (402.5). Only New Mexico produced more than 300 yards total offense against the Kats. Sam Houston has limited five of their six foes to less than 100 yards rushing.
TOP DEFENDERS
Junior safety Darnell Taylor of Mesquite leads the Bearkats with 49 total tackles. Other top tacklers include defensive backs Bookie Sneed (29), Mike Littleton (28) and Robert Shaw (24), linebackers Darius Taylor (29) and Kash David (26) and defensive lineman Eric Fieilo (22).
The defense has produced two safeties this year. Fieilo and transfer defensive end Jarrett Brown combined to tackle UTSA quarterback Eric Soza for a safety for the Bearkats' first score in the win over the Roadrunners. Kash David sacked Nicholls quarterback for two points in the win over the Colonels.
The defense has created 18 turnovers this year including 12 interceptions. Sam Houston picked off four passes in the Stephen F. Austin victory and three in the win over Nicholls.
Robert Shaw opened scoring for the Kats in the Nicholls victory, returning a late first quarter inception 61 yards for six points. Dax Swanson has three interceptions this year and Kenneth Jenkins, Andrew Weave and Darius Taylor have two apiece.
Darnell Taylor is one of nine defensive starters returning from last year's team that won six of its last nine games. Senior linebacker Will Henry and junior defensive lineman J. T. Cleveland were second team all-conference in 2010.
Defensive backs Taylor, Dax Swanson and Bookie Sneed all were honorable mention All-Southland selections last fall. Other returning starters on defense include linemen and senior Eddie Decambre and senior linebacker Kash David.
TICKET & PARKING INFORMATION FOR McNEESE GAME
Sam Houston fans who wish to order tickets can do so online at McNeese State tickets or by calling the Cowboy ticket office at (337) 562-4678.
Game day ticket sales at the Cowboy Stadium box office will begin at 11 a.m. Visiting team will-call is located in the McNeese State ticket office inside the Doland Field House. Gates at Cowboy Stadium open at 5:30 p.m.
Sam Houston State and McNeese State are dueling in the 33rd all-time meeting between the teams. The Cowboys lead the series 24-7-1 and are 12-3 at home. Sam Houston will be trying to snap the Cowboys' six game win streak in the series. The Bearkats have not won since a 52-47 in 2004.
