Big Southland Rematch in Lake Charles Tonight
12/5/2015 7:00:00 AM | Football
One of six rematches in Saturday's NCAA Division I Football Championships round of 16, Sam Houston's second duel of the year with McNeese State at 6 p.m. in Lake Charles promises to be another thriller.
The stakes were high four weeks ago when the Bearkats traveled to Lake Charles. With a chance to move into first place in the Southland Conference, Sam Houston State's offense was held scoreless and Cowboys quarterback Daniel Sams made enough plays to lead McNeese State to a 27-10 victory on its way to winning the conference championship.
On Saturday, the Bearkats get another shot at the No. 4 nationally seeded Cowboys. This time, one team's season will end, while the winner will be one of the eight teams left standing in the FCS playoffs.
“We know our opponent,” Sam Houston tight end Deon Hutchinson said. “We know what they are going to do. They know what we're going to do. It's going to come down to who does it better. We've got a great team. They've got a great team. It simply comes down to who executes on Saturday.”
McNeese stands as the only unbeaten team left in the 2015 championships. The Cowboys are 10-0 and feature the Southland Conference's top defensive unit. McNeese has surrendered only 11.1 points and 276.3 total yards per game in their 10 contests this fall.
“They're an outstanding football team,” Sam Houston head coach K. C. Keeler said. “We left Lake Charles last month feeling we didn't play our best. But give all credit to McNeese. No one gives you a championship. They went out there and took it. It's tough to be a good team twice and we feel we're a good team. We have to play much cleaner than we did the first meeting. Everyone has to know their job and do their job.”
With it being a playoff matchup, Cowboy Stadium figures to be a bit more crowded this time around. The same night as the Nov. 7 game with the Kats in Lake Charles, LSU and Alabama dueled on national television. The majority of football fans in the state of Louisiana were tuned in to watch the Tigers' 30-16 defeat at the hands of the Crimson Tide.
Keeler isn't too concerned with the number of fans in the stands, as the Bearkats have played in front of hostile crowds before, like when they played in front of 18,025 people at the raucous FargoDome in Fargo, North Dakota, during last season's FCS semifinal playoff game.
“There's going to be about 22,000 fans there and its going to be a great atmosphere,” Keeler said. “I think our kids are hoping for and anticipating a big crowd. This is why we play these games. Our kids have this mentality that they want to be in these winner-take-all kind of games. It doesn't scare them.”
The Cowboys have spent two of the last three weeks of the season resting, while the Bearkats have played three must-win games in a row. Following the victory over Sam Houston, McNeese had a bye week. The Cowboys defeated Lamar to wrap up their league title then received another open week with an FCS first round bye.
“It's a question of rust or rest,” Cowboy head coach Matt Viator said. “There's a fine line between being rested and not being sharp. As a coach I've never had two open dates as close together as these two were. It's different. We have tried to handle the situation as well as we can.”
Sam Houston meanwhile has played three must-win games since Nov. 7, defeating Northwestern State and Central Arkansas to get into the playoffs and coming from 13 points down to edge Southern Utah in the FCS first round.
“McNeese has the advantage of having played one game in a month,” Keeler said. “They also have the disadvantage of playing one game in a month. I think there is some concern on their part in terms of them coming out a little rusty. We had the same situation last year, but it was early in the season. We with 1-3 with a bunch of new players. We used the open dates as another training camp and got things turned around.”
Viator points to Sam Houston's playoff experience and what he saw in the Bearkats' performance last week against Southern Utah as factors in the Kats' favor.
“Everyone knows Sam Houston is a really talented team and has a tradition of success in the playoffs,” Viator said. “I had the opportunity to watch their game last week and what impressed me the most was the way they faced adversity and gutted it out to get the win. In the playoffs, everything can go off-script and you just have to dig down and gut it out. We've had to do that in some games this year.”
Sam Houston running backs Corey Avery and Jalen Overstreet both went down with injuries during the Bearkats' 42-39 win over Southern Utah last Saturday and are going to be game-time decisions for Saturday's game.
Bearkat running backs Ridgeway Frank and Remus Bulmer stepped up in their places and ran for a combined 248 yards. Frank scored two touchdowns on the ground as well.
Frank and Bulmer may be called upon again in a worst-case scenario.
“Having both of them would be good,” Keeler said of Avery and Overstreet. “Having one of them would be great, but if we don't have either one of them, we'll fight through it. Ridgeway Frank came out and played great and Remus Bulmer came out and played great. My only concern is if I don't have both (Avery and Overstreet) my depth is very limited at that position.”
The Sam Houston versus McNeese playoff game will be telecast live on ESPN3 at 6 p.m. KSAM 101.7 FM in Huntsville will broadcast the game live in the Walker County area as well.
The winner will face either Colgate or James Madison next Friday or Saturday, December 11 or 12.
