Sam Houston vs. Southern Utah Game Notes
11/25/2015 9:56:00 AM | Football
NCAA DIVISION I CHAMPION OPENING ROUND
Hosting Southern Utah in NCAA opening round action Saturday, Sam Houston has become the second Southland Conference member to advance to the FCS playoffs five consecutive seasons. McNeese State made five straight appearances from 1991 to 1995.
Four-time defending national champion North Dakota State, Sam Houston and New Hampshire stand as the only teams to appear in each of the last five FCS playoffs.
The Bearkats and the Cowboys rank first and second in all-time playoff victories. Sam Houston owns a 13-8 record in FCS post-season play while McNeese is 11-15. Sam Houston has advanced to the national championship game twice (2011 and 2012) and the semi-finals three of the last four years. McNeese reached the FCS finals in 1997 and 2002.
This year marks Sam Houston's ninth post-season playoff appearance (1986, 1991, 2001, 2004, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015). The Bearkats reached the National Championship Game in 2011 and 2012. Sam Houston has been an FCS semifinalist three of the last four years.
SAM HOUSTON ON ESPN3
Brett Dolan (play-by-play) and Stan Lewter (analyst) will call Saturday's game on ESPN3. Since the 2011 season, Sam Houston football games have been televised 50 times regionally and/or nationally. The Bearkats are 33-17 in those telecasts.
Kooter Roberson and Leroy Wilkinson and will call the game locally on KSAM 101.7 FM.
BEARKATS IN THE FCS PLAYOFFS
Sam Houston has compiled a 13-8 overall record in its eight appearances in the NCAA Division I Championship playoffs. That mark leads the Southland Conference. Sam Houston is 8-0 in FCS playoff action at Elliott T. Bowers in Huntsville.
TOPS IN TEXAS
Sam Houston leads all Texas Division I football teams in victories during the last four seasons (since 2011). The Kats have won 53 games followed by Baylor 49; Houston 44; TCU 43; Texas A&M 42 Texas 34; Texas Tech 31; Rice 30 and Lamar 27.
NATIONAL STATISTICS RANKINGS
The Bearkat offense ranks No. 2 nationally in total yards (544.5) and first downs (305), No. 4 in scoring (43.8), No. 9 in rushing (264.5), No. 10 in third down conversions (.480), No. 11 in net punting (38.15) and No. 15 in passing efficiency (149.97) and No. 15 in passing (280.1)
BEARKATS VERSUS THUNDERBIRDS
Sam Houston and Southern Utah have met only once before. The pair faced off in the opening round of the 2013 FCS playoffs in Huntsville. The Bearkats prevailed 51-20.
Quarterback Brian Bell (SHSU's all-time total offense and passing leader) threw for two touchdowns and rushed for another as the Bearkats rolled up 531 yards total offense. The Thunderbirds jumped out to a 10-0 lead on a Colton Cook field goal and Aaron Cantu 38-yard TD pass.
The Bearkats scored 23 unanswered points to go up 23-10 at intermission. Sam Houston All-America running back Timothy Flanders rushed 22 times for 176 yards and one touchdown.
ALL SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE KATS
Junior quarterback Jared Johnson and senior offensive tackle Donald Jackson III won two major awards to highlight the selection of 14 Sam Houston Bearkats to the 2015 All-Southland Conference football team announced Tuesday.
Johnson, a dual-threat signal-caller from Grand Prairie, Texas, has been voted as Southland Conference "Offensive Player of the Year." He has thrown for 2,176 yards on 162 of 268 passing this season and has only thrown a league-high 18 touchdowns on the season. Johnson also leads the league in passing efficiency (150.1), passing yards, passing yards per completions (13.43) and passing yards per game (17.8), and is second in completions per game (14.73) and points responsible for per game (12.7) and third in completion percentage (60.4).
Jackson was voted as the league's "Offensive Lineman of the Year." The three-time all-conference selection is a key part to the Sam Houston offense that is second in the nation in total offense with 544.5 yards per game, fourth in scoring offense (43.8) and ninth in rushing offense (266.8). The senior from Kilgore, Texas, is a four-year starter for the Bearkats and has started every game for the Bearkats on the offensive line this season.
Jackson and Johnson are two of Sam Houston's five first-team all-league honorees. Also voted to the first team are running back Corey Avery from Dallas, defensive end P. J. Hall of Seguin and cornerback Trenier Orr from Orlando, Florida.
Second team selections from Sam Houston include wide receivers Gerald Thomas from The Colony and Yedidiah Louis from New Orleans, La.; cornerback Mikell Everette from Kent, Washington and punter Lachlan Edwards from Hastings, Victoria in Australia. Louis also was named second team all-purpose player.
Honorable mention selections from Sam Houston include offensive linemen Zach Stevens and Bridge Blount, defensive linemen James DeLaRosa and Jacobi Hunter and linebacker Myke Chatman.
Hall, Orr and Edwards all three earned All-Southland first or second team honors for the second time in their careers.
QUARTERBACK CONTINUES TO PILE UP YARDAGE
Junior quarterback Jared Johnson continues to climb in the Bearkat football record book. He has climbed to third in Sam Houston career passing with 5,312 yards. He is 253 yards away from passing Rhett Bomar to move into second place. Brian Bell set the school career passing mark of 8,655 yards in 2010 through 2013.
Johnson now ranks second in career total offense with a mark of 6,876 yards. He now stands behind only Bell's 10,184 yards. Johnson stands 18-7 as a starter for the Bearkats.
Johnson earned league offensive “player of the week” honors for the second time in his career after tying a Sam Houston school record with five TD passes in a 49-21 victory at Abilene Christian. He ranks second in the Southland in passing yards (177.8). 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).
P. J. HALL ANCHORING KAT DEFENSE
Sophomore P. J. Hall, last year's Southland Conference “Freshman of the Year” and a third place finisher in the 2014 voting for the Jerry Rice award as the top freshman nationally, made his presence known with a string of impressive performances in the final weeks of the season.
Hall has been added to the STATS FCS “Defensive Player of the Year” watch list. Only in his second season as a Bearkat, he ranks second in both career tackles for losses (43) and sacks (19) at SHSU.
Andre Finley, who earned All-Southland honors in 1986-89, holds both career marks with 49 tackles for losses and 36 quarterback sacks.
For the 2015 season, Hall stands as the team's leader in tackles with 48 stops (33 solo). That includes 13 tackles for losses of 59 yards and seven quarterback sacks. He also has an interception, two pass break-ups, both a fumble force and recovery and a blocked kick.
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).
FIVE CONSECUTIVE 100-YARD RUSHING GAMES
A Sam Houston running back has carried for more than 100 yards in each of the past five Bearkat games. Sophomore Corey Avery accounted for four of those performances with 13 carries for 109 yards at UCA, 197 yards on 15 carries including TD runs of 78 and 27 yards versus Northwestern State. 24 carries for 125 yards and three touchdowns against A&M-Commerce and 22 rushes for 107 yards at McNeese. Avery is a transfer from Kansas where he rushed for 631 yards and five TDs as a freshman last year. Sam Houston rankes No. 10 in the nation and No. 2 in the Southland Conference with 259.6 yards on the ground each game.
Jalen Overstreet became the 35th member of Sam Houston's 1,000-yard career rushing club with a career best 28 carries for 202 yards in the 37-7 win over Nicholls. He just missed a second century mark with 23 carries for 99 yards and a score versus A&M-Commerce.
In his 26 games as a Bearkat since transferring to the Huntsville campus from the University of Texas in Austin, the Tatum High School product has rushed for 1,444 yards to rank No. 30 in all-time Sam Houston rushing.
PUNTER LACHLAN EDWARDS
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 43.05 yards per punt.
BOTH TEAMS RANKED
With Sam Houston rated No. 6 in the STATS FCS poll and Southern Utah No. 16 in the NCAA Coaches poll, Saturday's game marks the 39th time that the Bearkats and their foe have entered a game both ranked among the nation's top 25. SHSU is 20-18 in those games.
TOP GAME TOTALS
Five of Sam Houston's all-time top single game total offense performances have come in the past two seasons: 823 yards vs. HBU in 2014, 709 this year against the Huskies, 688 versus Northwestern State this month, 685 in the 2014 home opener against Alabama State and 637 yards in the 2015 in Lubbock against Texas Tech.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Mikell Everette became the fourth Bearkat to earn Southland Conference “Player of the Week” honors after the victory over Central Arkansas in the regular season finale. Everette intercepted two passes against the Bears, returning
one for 58 yards. Weekly winners have been quarterback Jared Johnson (offense vs. Abilene Christian), Gerald Thomas (special teams vs. SFA) and running back Donavan Williams (offense vs. Texas Tech).
100TH SEASON OF FOOTBALL
During Sam Houston's 100th season of football the Bearkats are playing their 30th year at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium.
Sam Houston owns a 120-44-1 record on the turf at Bowers. The Bearkats have gone 32-2 in their last 34 appearances at home.
Known as Bearkat Stadium when the facility opened on Sept 13, 1986, with a 23-6 victory over Montana State, the named was changed in 1989 to honor Dr. Elliott T. Bowers upon his retirement as Sam Houston State University president.
The Kats won their first 13 games at Bowers and have posted undefeated home seasons in 1986, 1987, 1990, 1992, 2001, 2004, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
WIDE RECEIVERS CLIMBING IN CAREER STATS
Three wide receivers are piling up impressive career totals in the Sam Houston record book.
LaDarius Brown is No. 4 in the Southland in receiving yards per game (65.6 average). The senior has 37 catches for 590 yards and six scores this fall. Brown has climbed to No. 12 in Sam Houston career receiving annals with 1,397 yards. His standout performances this season include four catches for 115 yards and a pair of 35-yard touchdowns in the victory over Incarnate Word and six grabs for 108 yards including a 64-yard score at ACU.
Gerald Thomas moved up to the No. 15 spot in the 1,000-yard receiving club with a total of 1,387 yards. His 164 yards on eight receptions in the HBU victory included an 86-yard touchdown, the ninth longest passing play in Kat annals. Thomas is a transfer from the University of Colorado. Thomas made 18 receptions for 171 yards as a true freshman at Colorado in 2012.
Sophomore Yedidiah Louis stands No. 14 in the all-time standings with 1,358 career yards. 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.
BIG PLAYS SPARK DEFENSE
Cornerback Mikell Everette earned Southland Defensive “Player of the Week” honors after two big interceptions including a 58-yard return in the regular season finale at Central Arkansas.
Darion Flowers returned an interception 90 yards for a first quarter touchdown at McNeese. The runback is the second longest in school history behind a 92-yard return for a score by Bookie Sneed in a 2012 victory over Stephen F. Austin in Houston. Paul Wenzel also has a 90-yard interception for a score in a 1968 Sam Houston game with Sul Ross.
Big plays by the Bearkat defense have set up scoring sprees in three 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 Corey 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.
In the 37-7 win over Nicholls, a first quarter interception by Torian Williams set up a two-play, 20-yard scoring drive in a 23-0 opening period for the Kats. In the third quarter, a forced fumble and recovery by P. J. Hall sparked a two-play 15-yard drive that gave the Kats a 37-0 lead. Williams also set up a short TD drive vs. Northwestern State with a fumble recovery at the Demon 20-yard line.
In 11 games this year, the defense has forced 50 three-and-out series ending with a punt. The turnovers caused by the Bearkat defense have resulted in 91 points. The Sam Houston defense has posted 82 tackles for 246 yards in yards.
FCS PLAYOFF SCHEDULE SATURDAY
OPENING-ROUND NOV. 28 (All Times Central)
at Dayton, Ohio, 11 a.m. (ESPN3)
Western Ill. (6-5) at Dayton (10-1)
at Chattanooga, Tennessee, 12 Noon (ESPN3)
Fordham (9-2) at Chattanooga (8-3)
at Conway, South Carolina, 1 p.m. (ESPN3)
The Citadel (8-3) at Coastal Carolina (9-2)
at Huntsville, Texas, 2 p.m. (ESPN3)
Southern Utah (8-3) at Sam Houston St. (8-3)
at Missoula, Montana, 2 p.m. (ESPN3)
South Dakota St. (8-3) at Montana (7-4)
at Durham, New Hampshire, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
Colgate (7-4) at New Hampshire (7-4)
at Williamsburg, Va, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
Duquesne (8-3) at William & Mary (8-3)
at Cedar Falls, Iowa, 4 p.m. (ESPN3)
Eastern Ill. (7-4) at UNI (7-4)
