Bearkats Get More Physical In Playoffs
12/1/2013 7:57:00 AM | Football
Sam Houston State head coach Willie Fritz challenged the Bearkats last week to be more physical.
In the two games leading up to Saturday's first-round Football Championship Subdivision playoff win over Southern Utah, Fritz said the Bearkats had not been combative enough.
Sam Houston gave up more than 400 total yards to both Southeastern Louisiana and Central Arkansas.
Until the last two minutes of the first quarter Saturday, it looked like more of the same. Southern Utah jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter.
The Thunderbirds scored on a field goal that was set up by a 4-yard quarterback sneak by Aaron Cantu on third-and-1. It was a play designed to simply cross the line of scrimmage and perhaps gain an extra yard.
But soon the Bearkats got physical, pounding the ball 75 yards for their first touchdown drive that ended with Chance Nelson shedding several Southern Utah defenders for a score.
SHSU's defense, after giving up a 38-yard touchdown pass play, buckled down and held Southern Utah scoreless until a 10-point third quarter. The Kats had already scored 30 straight and were on their way to a 21-0 run in the fourth quarter.
“I think we met that challenge,” SHSU senior defensive end Andrew Weaver said. “We had a good preparation for practice. The coaching staff, they did a great job with preparing us and we met that challenge.”
The Bearkats surrendered 336 total yards to Southern Utah, but allowed just 47 yards on the ground. Meanwhile, Sam Houston's offense was running all over the field.
Timothy Flanders, the Southland Conference's all-time leading rusher, had not run for 100 yards in the entire conference season. It was the last time Sam Houston played a Big Sky Conference team, No. 3 Eastern Washington, when Flanders ran for 280 yards.
Against Southern Utah, Flanders logged 176 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns. The numbers moved Flanders into a tie for fourth on the all-time FCS rushing touchdown list, and also gave the Kats' talented back 1,219 yards in seven career games against Big Sky teams.
“The offensive line, they did a very good job,” Flanders said. “We put in a couple new (blocking) schemes in, just to throw off their defense. But our play-calling was good and our offensive line did a very good job of blocking.”
Going into the game, Sam Houston's coaching staff knew they would schematically have to make up for size mismatches in order to get out in space and use their speed. Southern Utah brought heavy fronts on both sides of the ball.
“That's what it takes,” Fritz said of the Kats being more physical. “I think we've not gotten much movement lately. We've been working like crazy on that. We got some this week. When you don't get movement, the backs start going east and west instead of hitting up north and south. I thought the combination of the two enabled us to run well.”
Southern Utah head coach Ed Lamb earlier in the week compared the opportunity to play Sam Houston to playing an FBS program. The high praise is because the Kats have established themselves as an FCS power in the past three seasons.
“I feel they're a physical football team,” Lamb said. “Their speed is oftentimes the way they overcome size mismatches. They really do a nice job of shedding blocks and running to the football. For us, if we're going to have a size advantage, we also need to sustain blocks. Just being the bigger guys is not always the recipe for success.”
