This Week In The Southland
10/23/2012 3:15:00 PM | Football
Saturday, Oct. 27
No. 5/5 Sam Houston St. at Lamar*, 3 p.m. (SLCTV)
Nicholls St. at Northwestern St.*, 6 p.m. (HC)
Stephen F. Austin at McNeese St.*, 7 p.m. (HC; SLCTV)
No. 14/14 Central Arkansas at Southeastern La.*, 7 p.m. (HC)
All times Central; (HC) designates homecoming
All Eight Teams in Action: All eight Southland Conference teams are in action Saturday on a day that features three homecoming games and the first doubleheader on the Southland Conference Television Network. Sam Houston State visits Lamar in the network's first game at 3 p.m. and then Stephen F. Austin is at McNeese State in the nightcap at 7 p.m.
Each of the road teams is just one game behind league-leading Southeastern Louisiana which will try to remain perfect in conference play when one-loss Central Arkansas visits Strawberry Stadium at 7 p.m.
The other game on the schedule is the annual tussle between Nicholls State and Northwestern State for the NSU trophy, which will take place at Turpin Stadium in Natchitoches at 6 p.m. Saturday is homecoming at Northwestern State, McNeese State and Southeastern Louisiana.
Week Eight Matchups: Sam Houston State and Lamar are meeting for the 34th time on Saturday ... the Bearkats have a 23-9-1 advantage in the series. which includes wins each of the last two years ... Sam Houston has won seven of the last eight meetings between the schools in a series dating back to 1935
Nicholls State and Northwestern State have played 39 times previously with the Demons holding a 24-15 edge ... the Demons snapped a two-game losing streak against the Colonels last year with a 34-0 win in Thibodaux ... the teams have split the last six games
McNeese State will be trying to snap a three-game losing streak to Stephen F. Austin when the teams meet Saturday in Lake Charles ... the Cowboys had won the previous four against the Lumberjacks ... the teams are meeting for the 32nd time in the series, which the Cowboys lead 16-13-2
Central Arkansas and Southeastern Louisiana are playing for just the sixth time in their series ... the Bears hold a 4-1 advantage and have won the last two games, including 55-29 last year in Conway ... the is the third game of the series in Hammond and the first since 2009 when the Lions won 25-21.
Week Eight Rewind: All three home teams needed to win last Saturday to keep pace with league-leading Southeastern Louisiana. All three picked up a victory to stay within one game of the Lions, who were idle. Stephen F. Austin beat Nicholls State 44-10 and No. 19/17 Central Arkansas got past Lamar 24-14. No. 6/6 Sam Houston State cruised to a 45-10 victory over No. 21 McNeese State, which was trying to spoil the Bearkats' homecoming game.
Two Southland Teams Ranked in FCS Top 25 Polls: Sam Houston State has climbed back into the top five of both polls, checking in at No. 5 this week in the Sports Network and FCS Coaches polls. The Bearkats were No. 6 in the polls last week, but moved up one spot after its 45-10 win over McNeese State and a loss by James Madison, which was as high as No. 2 in the polls. Central Arkansas is No. 14 in both polls this week, moving up five spots in the Sports Network poll and three spots in the coaches' poll.
Southland Names Players of the Week: Sam Houston State junior receiver Richard Sincere was named the Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week after he helped lead the No. 6/6 Bearkats to a win over No. 21 McNeese State with 12 carries for 132 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The junior from Galveston, Texas, scored on runs of 44 and 65 yards to go with 23 receiving yards on three catches. He produced 155 all-purpose yards for a Sam Houston State offense that rolled up 348 yards rushing and 541 yards of total offense against a rush defense that entered the game ranked second in the FCS. Bearkat senior defensive tackle J.T. Cleveland was the defensive player of the week after he recorded six tackles, including three tackles for loss and a pair of sacks to help led a Bearkat defense that limited McNeese State to just 210 yards total offense and 79 yards rushing. After a field goal with 9:47 in the second quarter, the Bearkats shut out the Cowboys the rest of the game. McNeese netted just three yards on the ground and only 90 yards total offense in the second half. Cleveland, a senior from Baytown, Texas, totaled three tackles for losses including back-to-back QB sacks on a fourth quarter drive. Central Arkansas senior punter Kevin Buford was the special teams player of the week after he punted four times for 190 yards in No. 19/17 Central Arkansas' 24-14 win over Lamar that clinched a winning season for the Bears. The senior from Greenville, Miss., averaged a career-high 47.5 yards per punt, with punts of 42, 49, 51 and 48 yards. He landed one inside the 20.
Other Top Performances in Week Eight: Sam Houston State receiver/return specialist Trey Diller finished with 135 all-purpose yards against McNeese State ... he totaled 66 yards on a pair of kickoff returns, 27 yards on two punt returns and 49 yards on three receptions ... two returns led to Bearkat touchdowns.
Around the Southland
Lamar: The Cardinals remain in search of their first conference win of the season after falling 24-14 at Central Arkansas last Saturday ... the Cardinals played without offensive stars WR Kevin Johnson and RB Herschel Sims ... the duo has combined for 13 of Lamar's 23 touchdowns this year ... Lamar also was without DL Jesse Dickson and Adren Dorsey who have nine tackles for loss between them ... QB Caleb Berry made his third consecutive start at quarterback for the Cardinals at UCA, finishing 11 of 19 for 96 yards ... Berry added a seven-yard touchdown run, and on the season is 43-of-83 for 456 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions ... junior DePauldrick Garrett came up nine yards short of back-to-back 100-yard rushing performances ... he had 104 yards on just 10 carries against McMurry two weeks ago before finishing with 91 yards on 25 carries against UCA ... the last Cardinal to go for more than 100 yards in back-to-back games was Burton Murchison who had 154 against Louisiana-Monroe and 126 at UTEP during the 1987 season
Lamar is facing back-to-back FCS ranked opponents for the first time since returning to the football field for the 2010 season ... Lamar fell 24-14 at No. 19/17 Central Arkansas and welcomes No. 5/5 Sam Houston State this Saturday ... Lamar is 8-15-1 against Sam Houston as a four-year institution, but is 23-9-1 all time ... the Cardinals fell 38-10 during the 2010 season in Beaumont and lost 66-0 at Sam Houston State last year ... the 66-point loss is the second largest in school history (71-3 at SFA in 2010).
Sam Houston State: With the Bearkats' 45-10 win over McNeese State last Saturday, it marked the first time in the history of the series that Sam Houston defeated the Cowboys in back-to-back calendar years ... the win was the Bearkats' ninth against McNeese in 34 meeting and the 35-point victory margin was a series record ... the game also marked just the second home game for Sam Houston this season ... The Bearkats' homecoming game drew 10,155 fans last Saturday
RB Timothy Flanders now ranks as the ninth all-time leading rusher in Southland history ... Flanders' career total now stands at 3,264 yards ... he also stands No. 5 in Southland career rushing touchdowns with 43 and is tied for fourth in career touchdowns with McNeese State's Toddrick Pendland with 46 ... Flanders chalked up his 19th career 100-yard rushing performance against McNeese with 19 carries for 105 yards and a score
QB Brian Bell now has 4,840 yards to rank behind Rhett Bomar (5,964 yards in 2007-08) and Arthur Louis (4,902 yards in 1977-80) in career passing at Sam Houston ... Bell stands No. 2 in all-time Sam Houston career total offense with a total of 5,569 yards now ... Bomar rolled up the school record of 6,160
K Miguel Antonio has 256 career points (130 PAT 42 FG) and is two points behind all-time leader Billy Hayes (258 points in 1985-88) ... S Darnell Taylor totaled six solo and two assisted tackles in the McNeese victory to become only the fourth Bearkat defender to chalk up more than 200 career solo stops. ... Taylor has 205 solo tackles ... the school career record is 215 by Stan Blinka (1975-78) ... the Bearkats visit Lamar on Saturday ... Sam Houston State leads the all-time series 23-9-1 and has won the last two, 38-10 in 2010 and 66-0 last year.
Southland Conference Football Tie-Breaking Procedures: The following procedures shall be utilized to determine the automatic bid recipient when NCAA Championship-eligible teams are tied for the top position.
Two-Way Ties: In case of a two-way tie for the championship, the team that defeated the other team shall be the automatic bid recipient. If the two (2) teams played to a tie game, the won-lost record against the teams finishing in order below the tied position shall be utilized in sequence until the tie is broken. When comparing tied teams' records against other teams in order above or below the tie in question, all other teams not involved in the tie are eligible to be compared with.
Multiple Ties: If three (3) or more teams tie for the championship, the same selection procedure as outlined above shall be followed with the following exceptions:
(a) If three (3) or more teams are tied and if one (1) should have an advantage in head-to-head competition over the other teams, that team shall be the automatic bid recipient;
(b) If three (3) or more teams are tied and if two (2) or more should have an advantage in head-to-head competition over the other team, those teams with the advantage shall be evaluated using the two-way or multiple tie-breaking procedures and the other team eliminated; and/or
(c) If three (3) or more teams remain tied, the won-lost record against the teams finishing in order below the tied position shall be utilized in sequence until the tie is broken. When comparing tied teams' records against other teams below the tie in question, all other teams not involved in the tie are eligible to be compared with.
Unbreakable Ties: If a tie remains after the above procedures are attempted, the NCAA Championship-eligible member that has been absent from the Division I Championship for the longest period of time shall be designated as the Conference's representative in the Division I Championship.
Tie-Breaker Drawing: If a tie remains after the procedure outlined above is attempted, a drawing shall be conducted by the commissioner
