Sam Houston-HBU Game Notes
8/29/2013 10:52:00 AM | Football
Sam Houston State University begins its 98th season of football August 31 when the Bearkats host Houston Baptist in Huntsville. The Kats own a 53-40-4 record in season opening games. SHSU has won 12 of its last 15 season openers and owns an 18-9 record in opening games since moving up to the NCAA FCS level in 1986. The Kats are 11-4 at Bowers Stadium in contests that opened the season for Sam Houston State.
SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
Sam Houston earned its second consecutive Southland Conference football championship with a 6-1 league mark in 2012. The title is SHSU's fifth as a member of the Southland and ninth overall in 97 years of football. The Bearkats also won Southland titles in 1991, 2001, 2004 and 2011. Tabbed as the preseason favorite in the 2013 Southland head coaches' preseason poll, Sam Houston will be seeking to become only the fifth team to win the league's football title three consecutive years.
Lamar (1964-65-66), Arkansas State (1968-69-70), Louisiana Tech (1971-72-73-74) and McNeese (2001-02-03) are the only teams to pull off the feat in the Southland's 50 years of football.
CONSECUTIVE NCAA FINALS APPEARANCES
Sam Houston State is one of only eight football programs to appear in consecutive NCAA Division I Football Championship Games. The list of seven other universities reaching the finals in back-to-back seasons during the tournament's 34-year history includes Eastern Kentucky, Georgia Southern, Youngstown State, Marshall, Montana, Appalachian State and North Dakota State.
BACK-TO-BACK DOUBLE DIGIT WIN SEASONS
For the first time in Sam Houston's 97 years of football, the Bearkats produced double digit victories in consecutive seasons. The SHSU football team rolled to a 14-1 record in 2011 and followed up with an 11-4 mark in 2012. Both years, the Bearkats won the Southland Conference title then posted three consecutive playoff victories for back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Division I Football Championship game at FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
"WINNINGEST" THREE YEARS IN BEARKAT HISTORY
Sam Houston's 31 victories since Willie Fritz became head coach stand as the most by the Kats in any three consecutive years in the program's 97 seasons. Ron Randleman (head coach from 1982 to 2004) put together 25 victories in three seasons in the late 1980s.
BEARKATS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Sam Houston finished its 97th football season No. 2 in both the Sports Network and NCAA FCS Coaches polls. The Bearkats' No. 2 rankings each of the past two years represent the program's highest NCAA final national rankings. The Bearkats stand No. 3 in the 2013 Sports Network poll and No. 4 in the NCAA Coaches rankings.
Sam Houston has been ranked among the FCS top 25 a total of 25 consecutive weeks since debuting in the national poll on Sept. 9, 2011. During an 11-0 regular season in 2011, the Kats rose all the way to No. 1. Sam Houston has been ranked among the FCS top 10 for 21 consecutive polls.
RUNNING BACK TIMOTHY FLANDERS
All-America running back and two-time Southland Conference football "Player of the Year" Timothy Flanders holds 34 Sam Houston school records. The Midwest City, Okla., product stands as Sam Houston's all-time rushing leader with 758 carries for 4,234 yards and 52 touchdowns. He broke the former school record of 2,688 career yards held by Charles Harris (1991-94) in the Bearkats' season opening victory over Incarnate Word last fall.
Flanders ranks as the third all-time leading rusher in Southland Conference history. Only Claude Mathis of Southwest Texas (4,694 yards in 1994-97) and Henry Field of McNeese State (4,358 yards in 1992-95) have gained more yards.
With 52 career rushing touchdowns, Flanders is tied with Charles McDaniel of Lamar (1971-74) for most career rushing TDs by a Southland back. Flanders is No. 2 in Southland total touchdowns with 55 (behind Brent Grimes of Central Arkansas, 59).
Flanders has eight touchdown runs of more than 50 yards to his credit. His 71-yard touchdown against Southeastern Louisiana last year is his longest gain.
QUARTERBACK BRIAN BELL
Brian Bell stands as Sam Houston's all-time "winningest" quarterback, leading SHSU to 30 victories as a starter the past three seasons.
The junior from China Spring is Sam Houston's all-time leader in both passing and total offense yards with 6,165 yards in the air and 7,080 yards rushing and passing combined. Bell's 52 career touchdown passes also is an SHSU school mark..
CORNERBACK BOOKIE SNEED
Cornerback Bookie Sneed snapped a Sam Houston record that had stood since 1968 with his 92-yard interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter of the 2012 SFA victory. Paul Wenzel returned an interception 90 yards against Sul Ross for the Kat mark that stood for 44 years. Sneed picked off four interceptions last year and eight in his career. He is tied for eighth in career interceptions at SHSU.
BEARKATS ON RADIO & TELEVISION
KSAM 101.7 FM will broadcast all Sam Houston football games live this season both in Huntsville area and on the internet at www.gobearkats.com. Five regular season games will be telecast (Texas Southern & Eastern Washington on Comcast Sports Net Houston, McNeese on ESPN3 and SFA and Southeastern Louisiana on SLC-TV). The Texas A&M game will be available only on pay-per-view.
SOPHOMORE WIDE RECEIVER CHANCE NELSON
Wide receiver Chance Nelson, a transfer from Texas A&M, caught 35 passes for 671 yards and nine TDs as a freshman in 2012. He scored on a 61-yard pass at Texas Southern and a 70-yard strike against Southeastern La. In the Montana State win in Bozeman, Nelson scored on passes of 16 and 45 yards.
LEADS AT INTERMISSION
Only in the Bearkats' 47-28 loss to FBS No. 8 Texas A&M in the regular season finale did Sam Houston trail at halftime last year. In SHSU's other two regular season losses, the Kats led Baylor 20-10 and Central Arkansas 10-7 at intermission. In Sam Houston's 11 victories, the Bearkats have out-scored their foes 305-101 in the first half. Sam Houston and North Dakota State were tied 10-10 at half.
BIG CROWDS VIEWED THE KATS IN 2012
During the 2012 season, Sam Houston played in front of 87,101 fans at Texas A&M (second largest crowd ever to see SHSU play football), 44,856 at Baylor, 26,185 at Reliant Stadium in the "Battle of the Piney Woods" with SFA, 21,411 at the National Championship game and 16,417 at Montana State.
NINE ALL-SOUTHLAND BEARKATS RETURN
Nine All-Southland Conference performers from the 2012 Bearkat league championship team return for the 2013 season. Running back Timothy Flanders is a two-time Southland "Player of the Year" and wide receiver/wildkat back Richard Sincere earned conference "Offensive Player of the Year" in 2011. Flanders and Sincere both were first team selections. Sam Houston State's 2012 Southland Conference championship team produced 21 players who have earned spots on the all-league honor squad.
Second team all-conference Kats returning include quarterback Brian Bell, defensive lineman Gary Lorance and defensive back Bookie Sneed.
Receiving All-Southland honorable mention in 2012 were running back Keshawn Hill, offensive linemen Donald Jackson, defensive lineman Jarrett Brown and linebacker Jesse Beauchamp.
BEARKATS HAVE THE HIGHEST EXPECTATIONS
In 2013, Bearkat head coach Willie Fritz and his staff return 40 lettermen including 11 starters back from the 11-4 championship team. Six other players with 29 total career starts also return.
Heading the list of six returning starters on offense are running back Timothy Flanders, quarterback Brian Bell and wide receiver/wildkat back Richard Sincere.
Flanders is Sam Houston's all-time rushing and scoring leader. Bell is the Bearkats' all-time "winningest" quarterback (30 victories and only eight losses in 38 starts) and ranks No. 1 in SHSU career passing (6,165 yards), touchdown passes (52) and total offense yards (7,080).
Sincere has rushed for 1,835 career yards and caught 57 passes for 907 yards. He has rushed for 19 scores and caught five TD passes. The senior stands No. 10 in Sam Houston career all-purpose yards with a three-year total of 2,791.
The trio have combined for 23 plays of more than 50 yards as Sam Houston has gone 31-10 during their three seasons as Bearkats.
Three other running backs who combined for 951 yards and 10 touchdowns also return. Junior Keshawn Hill was an honorable mention all-league selection after rushing for 530 yards and seven scores. Junior Ryan Wilson and senior Ridgeway Frank also return.
Sophomore Chance Nelson and senior Torrance Williams are deep threats. Nelson caught 35 passes for 671 yards as a freshman. Williams has totaled 1,294 career all-purpose yards and has scored eight touchdowns in three years. Sophomores Brandon Wilkerson and Stephen Williams and junior Rickey Smith also return.
The big question mark on offense is the front line. Tackle Donald Jackson III, an honorable mention all-league and NCAA FCS freshman All-America selection last year, is the lone returning starter. Junior Matt Boyles started five games at guard last year and has 20 starts in his career. Junior guard John Trotter, sophomore center Zachary Stevens and redshirt freshman tackle Brandon DeWitt have earned starting berths in spring drills and fall camp.
The Bearkat defense that has been so dominate the last two years, allowing just 12.0 points and 262.0 yards per game in Southland Conference action, must replace six players who earned All-Southland honors a total of 15 times in the past three seasons. That includes two-time league "Defensive Player-of-the-Year" Darnell Taylor.
Defensive ends Jarrett Brown (21 career starts) and Andrew Weaver (17 career starts) and tackle Gary Lorance (34 career starts) bring experience to the front line as seniors. Lorance was second team All-Southland, Brown an honorable mention all-league honoree while Weaver was named to the AP FCS All-America squad.
Other returning senior starters are linebacker Jesse Beauchamp and cornerback Bookie Sneed. Beauchamp is the team's top returning tackler (94 stops). Sneed has 99 career tackles and 38 starts to his credit. Both received All-Southland honors on the 2012 team.
Linebacker Eric Fieilo, who missed the 2012 season with an injury, has 105 tackles to his credit as a three-year letterman.
Nose tackle Forbes Baggett, cornerbacks De'Antrey Loche and Desmond Fite and safety Michael Wade step in as starters with plenty of experience as reserves on the 2012 title team.
On special teams, the Kats must replace an All-Southland punter and kicker. Freshman Luc Swimberghe looks to handle place kicking duties while transfers Brad Dunavant and Lachan Edwards will be the Bearkats' punter. Dunavant is a transfer from Toledo while Edward comes from Ballarat University in Australia.
NEW FACES ON THE ROSTER
Two senior transfers from NCAA FBS programs are expected to contribute defensively for the Bearkats in 2013.
Johntel Franklin from Texas A&M is slated to start at weak safety while Tanner Brock from TCU will play as a linebacker.
Other transfer in preseason camp in August included safety Eric Agbaroji (Boise State), deep snapper Trent Williams (Texas Tech), linebacker Myke Chatman (Baylor), cornerback Tevin Creeks (Blinn JC), tight end Deon Hutchinson (Lon Morris JC), wide receiver Ja'Vante Mack (Tyler JC)
