Today's Game A Big Deal
11/12/2011 7:16:00 AM | Football
Already assured a spot in the playoffs, the Bearkats can do something that's never been done at Sam Houston and win an outright Southland Conference championship with a win over the Demons this afternoon.
“Obviously, it's a big deal. You don't want to make any game bigger than it is, especially with our philosophy of week to week, 1-0,” Bearkats senior center Travis Watson said after practice Tuesday. “Then again, you can't overlook the fact that right now we have a guaranteed co-conference championship, which they've done the last three years that we've won, and winning this game would make us the outright champs for the first time.
“It's a big deal.”
With the ever-present prospects of possibly being able to hoist a championship trophy, especially on their home turf, the Bearkats are trying not to let that get the better of them.
“It's the same as every week. It's 1-0,” senior kick returner Brandon Closner said. “That's all we're working for. We can't have a different mindset just because it's the next week.”
For what could be the special icing on the cake is that Sam Houston will be trying to win that elusive outright title in front of the friendliest crowd it will see this year, right on the Kats' home field at Bowers Stadium.
“It's huge. It's a really big deal for us,” Watson said. “It's big for us because I think this school needs something big like that to really get behind what coach (Willie) Fritz and everyone is trying to do here.
“It's really important for us to do that for the school and really get everyone behind our effort. To do that on senior day for our last regular-season home game would be huge. It would be even that much more special.”
As far as the big picture goes, meaning the playoffs, the Bearkats don't have much to gain, relatively speaking, especially knowing that they're already in the playoffs no matter what happens in the final two weeks.
While playing for national seeding and possibly hosting playoff games is still up for grabs, make no mistake, when it comes to the Southland Conference championship, these Bearkats are greedy in a good way.
Are they satisfied with winning a share of the title? No.
Do they want it all to themselves? Absolutely.
“We want to be in control of it. We want our name, not anyone else's with us,” Closner said. “We want our name on top.
“If everything goes right and we win the ballgame, hopefully we're holding that championship trophy up. Just us, nobody else.”
Though the Bearkats go about their business trying to go 1-0 this week, which has been their mantra since before the season began in September, by their own estimation, today's game against Northwestern State is a little bigger than most.
“It feels a little bit bigger because it's our last game, our senior game,” Closner said. “It'll decide if we're the conference champs or if we're sharing it. Hopefully, we're by ourselves.”
As the Bearkats, especially the seniors, have gone through practice this past week, it's been difficult not to take a look back and see exactly how far they've come in the past few years.
Back when fifth-year seniors (Watson, Eddie Decambre, Kash David, Randy Stewart and Chris Crockett) were underclassmen, Sam Houston had a few lean years, especially in 2008 and 2009 when the Bearkats finished sixth (2-5 in Southland) and fifth (3-4), respectively, in conference.
But now, the Bearkats are ranked as the third-best team in the country and can become the first school in Texas to go undefeated toward a Southland Conference championship.
“I've thought a lot about it actually,” Watson said. “We did exit interview stuff the other day, talking about my career here and how much it's changed. My first three years here with coach (Todd) Whitten and then these last two, it's been quite a difference with the things we've experienced.
“I think the guys that were here with both coaches, we learned a lot and we really appreciate where we are right now. We've worked really hard to get here. Just the fact that it's coming for us seniors in our last year makes it even more special.”
While an outright championship — the Kats' 1991, 2001 and 2004 Southland titles were all shared — is just within Sam Houston's fingertips, the Kats know that they can't take Northwestern State lightly.
“Anything can happen,” Closner said. “They have the number two (scoring) defense (in the Southland). We've got to stay focused. We can't look at any distractions or anything like that.
“We've got to be focused. It might be a little harder (to be focused) just because everybody thinks it's in the bag and we have everything won. If we lose, we're still sharing it with Central Arkansas. We don't want to share anything. We want to take it.”
SOUTHLAND TV
Saturday's game will be televised to a three-state audience by the Southland Television Network and nationally via via ESPN GamePlan and ESPN3. The Kube in Houston will be the local area outlet for the telecast
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for the Northwestern State game on sale now online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets The Sam Houston State athletic ticket office at Bowers Stadium will open at 1:30 p.m.
POST-GAME
A special feature of Saturday's game will be a postgame autograph session with the players for Bearkat season ticket holders, members of the Junior Bearkat Club and other fans.
TEXAS FARM BUREAU BENEFIT
Texas Farm Bureau members will receive a complimentary general admission ticket just by showing a membership card or a recent billing statement at Saturday's game. The offer is a special benefit arranged by Texas Farm Bureau for its membership. The offer is only good for one ticket per member. Proof of membership will be requested at the time of ticket pick up.
HILLCREST HEROES DISCOUNT
Military, community service (fire department, emergency service and police) and Texas Department of Criminal Justice personnel will be able to purchase $15 tickets to any of the six Bearkat home football games this season for just $10 under the new "Hillcrest Heroes" discount. To receive the discount, personnel can present their military, TDCJ or community service identification at the box office. The discount applies to both current and retired personnel. The discount also will be available for home volleyball, men's and women's basketball, baseball and softball events at Sam Houston State University.
COMMUNITY COLLEGE & INCOMING TRANSFERS DISCOUNT
Students enrolled at Blinn Junior College and Lone Star College can received admission to Saturday's game by presenting their student ID at the main ticket office on the west side of Elliott T. Bowers Stadium Saturday. Also, incoming transfer students may receive admission to the game through the SHSU Admissions office.
CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY TAILGATE
With kickoff pushed back an hour to 3:05 p.m. Saturday, tailgate fun at Bearkat Alley will begin at 1 p.m. in the Bowers Stadium parking lot north of the scoreboard. The fun begins with the traditional "March to Bowers" by the Bearkat Marching Band.
