Sam Houston versus Incarnate Word Game Notes
10/7/2015 8:31:00 AM | Football
TELEVISION
FOX College Sports Central (FCSC)
AT&T Uverse - Channel 648
Direct TV - Channel 608
Suddenlink in Huntsville - Channel 132
Watch online at http://www.foxsports.com/foxsportsgo/
View telecast by downloading the FOX Sports Go app
Tom Franklin (play-by-play) and Kenneth Moore (analyst) will call the action for the Fox College Sports Central telecast.
Since the 2011 season, Sam Houston football games have been televised 43 times regionally and/or nationally. The Bearkats are 27-16 in those telecasts.
RADIO
Kooter Roberson and Leroy Wilkinson and will call the game locally on KSAM 101.7 FM. The broadcast also will be streamed live on the internet at www.gobearkats.com .
SATURDAY STORY LINES
• In the fifth game of Sam Houston's 100th season of football, the Kats play host to the University of the Incarnate Word from San Antonio in the two team's fourth meeting. The Kats lead the series 3-0.
• Sam Houston leads all Texas Division I football teams in victories during the last four seasons (since 2011). The Kats have won 47 games followed by Baylor 44; Texas A&M & TCU 39; Houston 38; Texas 32; Texas Tech 29, Rice 28; Texas State & UTSA 24; Lamar 23; SFA, North Texas & SMU 22.
• 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).
• The Bearkat offense ranks No. 2 in the nation in scoring (47.1), No. 3 in total offense (588.5), No. 6 in passing (350.8) and No.13 in rushing (237.8). The Kats lead the Southland in all four categories.
• Two punt returns for TDs sparked a second-half comeback as the Bearkats earned their fifth consecutive “Battle of the Piney Woods” victory 34-28 over SFA Saturday. With Sam Houston trailing 14-3 at intermission, Gerald Thomas returned a punt 78 yards for a score. The run-back was the sixth longest punt return in school history. Yedidiah Louis closed the third period with a 53 yard return.
• Sam Houston is a strong second half team. The Bearkats have out-scored their opponents 112-45 in the final 30 minutes of all four of their games this year.
• Another record crowd saw the Kats' victory at NRG Stadium in Houston last Saturday as 26,990 packed the lower bowl of the home of the NFL Houston Texans. The crowd is the largest ever to view an NCAA Division I FCS game in Texas.
• K. C. Keeler is the only head football coach to take three different programs to the semifinals of the NCAA playoffs. Standing 33-11 in post-season games (14-4 in FCS playoffs), he holds the highest number of playoff wins by any current FCS head coach.
• Jared Johnson passed Reggie Lewis (1984-87) this weekend to climb to No. 3 in Sam Houston career total offense (5,162 yards). Johnson stands No. 9 in all-time passing (3,810 yards). He needs 23 more yards to pass Don “Cotton” Gottlob (1950-52) to move into the No. 8 slot. With 1,352 yards on the ground, Johnson stands No. 29 in Sam Houston's 1,000-yard rushers club.
• Kicker Luc Swimberghe now stands No. 2 in Sam Houston career PATs (164). He needs eight more PATs to pass all-time leader Miguel Antonio (2010-12). Swimberghe now ranks No. 3 in all-time kicking points (254) and No. 5 overall in Bearkat career scoring (244) and field goals (30).
• Three wide receivers are piling up career totals. Sophomore Yedidiah Louis stands No. 22 in Sam Houston career receiving with 1,115 yards. Senior LaDarius Brown now ranks No. 24 in career receiving yards with 1,039. Senior Gerald Thomas is 21 yards away from becoming the 27th member of the Sam Houston 1,000-yard receiving club. Thomas'164 yards on eight receptions in the HBU victory included an 86-yard touchdown, the ninth longest passing play in Kat annals.
• P. J. Hall, the Southland's “Freshman of the Year” in 2014, was the highest ranked defensive player in last year's Jerry Rice Award voting (FCS Freshman of the Year). He finished third. Hall totaled 30 tackles for loss, one short of the school season record. With a sack versus HBU, Hall now ranks No. 8 in SHSU career tackles for losses (31). He tied a school mark with five kick blocks in 2014.
• Australian punter Lachlan Edwards earned FCS All-America and All-Southland Conference honors 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 43.59 yards per punt.
• Senior running back Donavan Williams earned Southland Conference “Offensive Player of the Week” honors after rushing for 99 yards and four touchdowns at Texas Tech. Only six other Sam Houston players have scored four or more touchdowns in one game.
• 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.
• The 2014 Bearkats rank as only the ninth team in FCS history to surpass 7,000 yards total offense in a season. Sam Houston's rushing total (3,866 yards) was the second highest season total ever and the team's passing yardage (3,287) ranks third highest in the Kats' 99 previous years of football.
• Offensive tackle Donald Jackson III has earned first team All-Southland honors two years in a row and was selected to three FCS All-America squads (including the AP team) in 2014
LAST WEEK'S VICTORY AT NRG STADIUM
Two second half touchdowns on long punt returns sparked a Bearkat comeback as Sam Houston defeated Stephen F. Austin 34-28 in the 90th “Battle of the Piney Woods” Saturday at NRG Stadium.
Gerald Thomas returned SFA's first punt of the second half 78 yards for the Kats' initial touchdown of the game. Yedidiah Louis raced 53 yards for another score as Sam Houston took a 24-21 lead with 3:01 left in the third. The 195 yards in punt returns set a Sam Houston school single game record. The old mark was 138 yards versus Lamar in 2013. Thomas's 78-yard run is the sixth-longest punt return for in Sam Houston history. The return marked the longest since 2006 when Derrick Harris set the school mark with 90-yard returns for scores against both Central Arkansas and Texas State.
Louis had two returns for a total of 100 yards while Thomas had three returns for 95 yards. Louis ended with 187 yards of combined offense with 87 yards receiving on seven catches.
The victory marked the fifth in a row for Sam Houston in the rivalry game that stands behind Texas-Baylor and TCU-SMU as the third longest current college football series in the state. The Bearkats now have a 53-35-2 edge in the series with SFA that began in 1923.
Quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe completed 12 of 20 passes for 198 yards. Jalen Overstreet and Cory Avery led the Kats in rushing with 64 and 62 yards, respectively.
BEARKATS' TWO-QUARTERBACK ATTACK
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. 2 in the nation in scoring, No. 3 in total offense and No. 6 in passing yardage.
Briscoe owns a .667 completion percentage (52 of 78) and has thrown for 712 yards and five scores. Johnson is 59 of 92 for 674 yards and four TDs . He also is the team's top rusher with 37 carries for 221 yards and four touchdowns.
PUNT RETURN SUCCESS
After Saturday's school record 195 yards on punt returns, Sam Houston now ranks No. 13 in the nation with 17.2 yards per punt return. Gerald Thomas and Yedidiah Louis stand as two of 25 FCS players who have returned a punt for a score this season. The pair rank fifth and seventh in the Southland in all-purpose yards with averages of 123.0 and 107.8 yards per game, respectively.
Thomas was named as Southland Conference “Special Teams Player of the Week” following the victory over SFA
LAST HOME GAME: SHSU 63 HBU 14
Sam Houston gained the second-most yards in program history (709) in a 63-14 rout of Houston Baptist in front of 9,014 fans at Bowers Stadium Saturday.
The Bearkat defense intercepted three passes in a 28-0 third quarter surge that powered the team to the victory in it's Southland Conference opener.
Quarterbacks Jared Johnson and Jeremiah Briscoe combined to pass for 472 yards, the fifth highest single game total in program history. Johnson finished 17-for-22 with 230 yards and two touchdowns, including an 86-yard pass to Gerald Thomas, setting the tone for the game's opening score. Johnson also rushed for a pair of touchdowns behind 32 yards.
Briscoe finished 13-for-16 for 225 yards with three touchdowns. He led Sam Houston to a pair of scores including a 12-yard touchdown to LaDarius Brown with 4:12 remaining and a 38-yard touchdown strike to Thomas with 15 seconds left.
Thomas and Brown each notched two touchdowns on top of 164 yards and 84 yards receiving while Yedidiah Louis added six receptions for 63 yards and Stephen Williams caught one reception, but made it count, for a 25-yard touchdown competition.
THE 10OTH SEASON OF BEARKAT FOOTBALL
This fall Sam Houston celebrates its 100th season of football. On Oct. 6, 1912, Sam Houston Teachers College and Rice Institute met in Huntsville for both school's inaugural football game. The contest was played on a chalked off gridiron in the outfield at the baseball diamond at Joseph Pritchett Field.
Since that first contest, Sam Houston has played 980 games, appearing in contests not only in Texas but traveling to 21 other states covering all four corners of the country from Arizona to Pennsylvania, Washington to Florida.
The Bearkats have brought both regional and national recognition to the University through multiple television appearances on the ESPN and FOX families of TV networks as well as ABC.
Sam Houston has competed and won championships in four leagues - the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Lone Star Conference, Gulf Star Conference and Southland Conference.
TICKETS
Tickets for Saturday's game with Incarnate Word are available online at www.gobearkats.com or at the Sam Houston athletic ticket office located on the west side of Elliott T. Bowers Stadium. The ticket office telephone is (936) 294-1729.
