Aggies & Kats Battle At Kyle Field Tonight
9/7/2013 7:07:00 AM | Football
One message out of College Station became clear this week. The No. 7 ranked Texas Aggies are not looking past Sam Houston State to their upcoming showdown with the Alabama Crimson Tide.
“We will not overlook this team,” A&M senior safety Toney Hurd told reporters this week.
Eight FBS teams were toppled by FCS squads last week including a loss by Kansas State to two-time FCS national champion North Dakota State and FCS No. 3 ranked Eastern Washington's win over FBS No. 25 Oregon State.
“Sam Houston State is well coached,” Aggie head coach Kevin Sumlin said in his weekly news conference. “They're not going to be intimidated coming in here just like they weren't last year.”
Texas A&M won 47-28 before more than 88,000 fans last year in SHSU's final regular season game of the 2012 championship season. The Kats are looking forward to their return trip to Kyle Field.
“We're pretty excited,” Sam Houston State senior defensive end Andrew Weaver said. “We know we can't make any mistakes.”
SHSU head coach Willie Fritz agrees.
“You can't make any turnovers, that's number one,” Fritz said. “You've got to do a great job, squeezing the ball. I harp on ball security all the time. Hopefully, the kids are going to do a good job of executing,”
With Johnny Manziel back at quarterback, the Bearkats will be going up against a Heisman Trophy winner for the fourth time in their 29 meetings with FBS opponents.
Sam Houston faced Andre Ware (Houston) in 1986, Robert Griffin III (Baylor) in 2010 and Manziel last year. Thus, defensively, Sam Houston knows firsthand how difficult it was to defend Manziel.
Manziel completed 14 of 20 passes for 267 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 100 yards and two scores on 16 carries.
“Our main focus is to keep him contained,” Weaver said. “Basically, we just want to keep him in the pocket.”
Playing in front of another big crowd will be a factor but, during the past two years, the Kats have had the opportunity to get plenty of experience working in noisy environments.
“Kyle Field and the playoff game at Montana State last year were two of the loudest places you can play,” Fritz said. “We've worked a lot during preseason with our newcomers and veterans alike with the noise. “
Kickoff is at 6:05 p.m. The game will be telecast in Texas and parts of Louisiana as a Fox pay-per-view event. In most areas outside of the state, the game will be available on ESPN3.
KSAM 101.7 FM will broadcast the game live in the Walker Country area. The KSAM broadcast will be available on the web at www.gobearkats.com .
Following the Texas A&M game, Sam Houston returns home to begin a four-game home stand at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium. First up is Texas Southern at 2 p.m. next Saturday.
Tickets for all Sam Houston home games plus the 88th “Battle of the Piney Woods” versus SFA at Reliant Stadium Nov. 2 are available online at www.gobearkats.com .
