Sam Houston vs. Nicholls Football Game Notes
10/21/2015 8:59:00 AM | Football
HOMECOMING AT SAM HOUSTON SATURDAY
Sam Houston celebrates its 82nd homecoming game Saturday. The Bearkats own a six-game homecoming winning streak since McNeese State won 28-17 at the event in 2008. Overall, the Kats stand 40-40-1 on homecoming. At Elliott T. Bowers Stadium as an FCS competitor, Sam Houston has won 20 of their 29 homecoming games.
KICKOFF / TELEVISION / RADIO
Saturday's homecoming match-up between the Bearkats and the Nicholls Colonels will kickoff at 6 p.m.
The contest marks the third appearance for Sam Houston on FOX College Sports Central (FCSC) this fall. The telecast may be viewed in the following locations:
AT&T UVerse - Channel 648
Direct TV - Channel 608
Suddenlink in Huntsville - Channel 132
Online at http://www.foxsports.com/foxsportsgo
View telecast by downloading the FOX Sports Go ap
KSAM 101.7 FM in Huntsville will broadcast the game on radio.
BEARKATS FEATURE TWO OUTSTANDING QBs
Junior Jared Johnson and sophomore Jeremiah Briscoe are sharing quarterback duties this season. Head coach K.C. Keeler normally likes to go with one signal-caller but feels the two QBs each bring something special to a Bearkat offense that ranks No. 1 in the nation in scoring.
Johnson started all 16 games during last year's championship campaign, setting a school record for the most yards passing by a sophomore (3,054) and the second highest single season total offense production in program history (4,053 yards). He now ranks No. 3 behind Brian Bell (2010-13) and Rhett Bomar (2007-08) in career total offense (5,644 yards).
Briscoe, a sophomore transfer from UAB, ranks No. 5 in the Southland Conference in passing yardage per game (158.6 yards). Johnson has completed 84 of 125 passes for 1,092 yards while Briscoe is 61 of 94 for 861 yards. Johnson has started five games. Briscoe got his first start in the Incarnate Word victory. Johnson and Briscoe have combined to throw 17 touchdown passes.
With five touchdown passes at Abilene Christian last Saturday, Johnson tied a school record originally set in 1999 by Chris Chaloupka. Johnson's performance is the eighth time the 5 TD mark has been equaled. Chaloupka passed for five touchdowns in two more games in 1999, Dustin Long had four 5 TD performances in 2004. Josh McCown and Rhett Bomar each tied the record one in 2001 and 2008, respectively.
DEFENSIVE BIG PLAYS HELPING KAT ATTACK
Big plays by the Bearkat defensive have set up scoring sprees in two of the team's four wins. Interceptions by Tyrel Stokes, Sammy Webb IV and Trenier Orr powered the team to a 28-0 third quarter on the way to a 63-14 victory over Houston Baptist. Midway through the second quarter the score was tied 14-14. Stokes returned his interception 25-yards for a score.
Sam Houston got a quick start in the 59-7 victory over Incarnate Word with three TDs in less than a two-minute span in the first quarter thanks to its defense. After a 66-yard Jared Johnson to Cory Avery scoring pass, interceptions by P. J. Hall and Mikell Everette set up short, quick scoring drives. In the second quarter, Collins Okotcha returned the Kats' third interception of the night for a 60-yard score. Sam Houston led at half 52-0.
WIDE RECEIVERS MAKING THEIR MARK
Three wide receivers are piling up impressive career totals in the Sam Houston record book.
Senior LaDarius Brown, who leads the Southland this year in receiving yards per game (81.7), has climbed to No. 15 in Sam Houston career receiving annals with four catches for 115 yards and a pair of 35-yard touchdowns in the victory over UIW and six grabs for 108 yards including a 64-yard score at ACU. The transfer from TCU has 74 catches for 1,297 yards in the past two seasons.
Sophomore Yedidiah Louis stands No. 22 with 95 catches for 1,141 yards and two TDs. A New Orleans native who moved to the Dallas area after Hurricane Katrina, he walked on at Sam Houston after playing at Richardson Berkner High School.
Senior Gerald Thomas moved up to the No. 25 spot in the 1,000-yard receiving club with six catches for 63 yards versus UIW. His 164 yards on eight receptions in the HBU victory included an 86-yard touchdown, the ninth longest passing play in Kat annals. Thomas has caught 66 passes for 1,042 career yards and 10 scores since transferring from the University of Colorado. Thomas made 18 receptions for 171 yards as a true freshman at Colorado in 2012.
OUTSTANDING RUNNING BACKS
Running backs Cory Avery, Jalen Overstree and Remus Bulmer all have alternate in the Bearkat backfield. Each player has averaged more than 4.0 yards per carry and Avery and Overstreet both have scored multiple touchdowns.
Overstreet came to Sam Houston last year as transfers from the University of Texas where he played both quarterback and running back. He is approaching membership in Sam Houston's 1,000-yard career rushing club (which now numbers 34). Overstreet has 970 career yards.
Avery is a transfer from Kansas where he rushed for 631 yards and five TDs as a freshman last year. Bulmer rushed for 1,938 yards and 22 touchdowns at Ridge Point High School in Missouri City.
NATIONAL RANKING
Sam Houston stands No. 9 in the STATS FCS media poll. Since Sept. 9, 2011, the Bearkats have been ranked among the top 25 FCS teams 56 times in 63 weekly polls (including 38 times in the top 10). Sam Houston was No. 1 in the nation in the final regular season poll of the 2011 season and stood No. 1 in the STATS rankings the Monday following the Kats' 59-45 loss to Texas Tech.
KICKER LUC SWIMBERGHE
Preseason FCS All-America and All-Southland selection Luc Swimberghe now is Sam Houston's leader in career successful point-after kicks. His three-year total now stands at 179. The old record was 171 set by Miguel Antonio in 2010-12.
Swimberghe has other records in his sights. His 272 points on 31 career field goals and 179 PATs rank him No. 2 in Sam Houston kick scoring (behind Antonio's 324 points) and No. 3 in all-time Kat scoring (behind Timothy Flanders' 420 points). The junior ranks No. 5 in career field goals.
P. J. HALL PILING UP DEFENSIVE MARKS
Sophomore P. J. Hall, last year's Southland Conference “Defensive Player of the Year” and a third place finisher in the 2014 voting for the Jerry Rice award as FCS “Freshman of the Year,” has moved into sixth place in career tackles for losses (33) and eighth in Sam Houston's all-time sack standings (14). Last year Hall totaled 30 tackles for losses, one short of the school record. He also tied the school mark for blocked kicks in a single season (5).
OTHER BEARKAT NOTES
• Sam Houston leads all Texas Division I football teams in victories during the last four seasons (since 2011). The Kats have won 49 games followed by Baylor 46; TCU and Houston 40; Texas A&M 39; Texas 33; Texas Tech 30; Rice 29; Lamar, Texas State, UTSA and SFA 24.
• The Bearkat offense ranks No. 1 in the nation in scoring (49.3 points per game) and No. 2 in FCS in total offense (579.7 yards a contest). Sam Houston also stands No. 1 in 3rd down conversion pct. (.556), No. 2 in first downs (179) and No. 5 in passing offense (331.2).
• After starting the year with losses to Texas Tech (59-45) and Lamar (49-46), Sam Houston owns a four-game winning streak. The Bearkats have outscored their last four foes 205 to 70.
• The Bearkats trailed at half in three of their first four games (31-42 at Texas Tech, 14-31 vs. Lamar and 3-14 against SFA). Sam Houston got off to quick starts in their last two games, leading 24-0 and 28-0 at the end of the first quarter against Incarnate Word and Abilene Christian, respectively.
• The Bearkats are one of only three teams that have earned FCS playoff berths each of the last four years (the other two are North Dakota State and New Hampshire).
• Australian punter Lachlan Edwards earned FCS All-America and All-Southland Conference honors last year after leading the league and ranking No. 15 nationally with a 43.1 average. Edwards stands as Sam Houston's all-time punting leader with an average of 43.44 yards per punt.
• Two Bearkats have earned Southland Conference weekly honors the past three weeks. Gerald Thomas won the special teams award after a 78-yard punt return touchdown that sparked a comeback victory over Stephen F. Austin in Houston. Quarterback Jared Johnson was the offensive winner after the Abilene Christian win in which he tied a school record with five touchdown passes.
• With 12 catches for 103 yards and a TD at Texas Tech, wide receiver Davion Davis from Hutto totaled the most catches ever by a Kat freshman in one game. The total was one short of the school record of 13 catches held by Jason Mathenia and Torrance Williams.
• Four of Sam Houston's all-time top single game total offense performances have come in the past two seasons including 823 yards vs. HBU in 2014 and 709 this year against the Huskies. The Kats also totaled 685 yards of offense in their 2014 home opener against Alabama State and 637 yards in the 2015 contest in Lubbock against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
