Sam Houston vs. Lamar Football Game Notes
9/17/2015 9:42:00 AM | Football
Sam Houston opens its 30th year of football action at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium Saturday at 6 p.m. when the Bearkats begin Southland Conference play against a talented Lamar Cardinal squad.
The Kats own a 115-43-1 record on the turf at Bowers. The Bearkats have gone 27-1 in their last 28 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 the tenth president of Sam Houston State University.
BEARKAT BULLET POINTS
• Sam Houston leads all Texas Division I football teams in victories during the last four seasons (since 2011). The Kats have won 45 games followed by Baylor 42; TCU, Houston & Texas A&M 36; Texas 32; Rice 27; Texas Tech 27; Texas State & UTSA 23; SFA, North Texas & Lamar 22.
• The Bearkats are ranked No. 3 in the STATS FCS poll and No. 5 the NCAA Coaches Poll. The Sam Houston program has been ranked among the FCS top 25 in 58 of the past 66 weekly national polls.
• With three FCS Playoff semifinal berths in the four consecutive NCAA playoff trips including National Championship appearances in 2011 and 2012, Sam Houston stands behind only four-time FCS champion North Dakota State among the subdivision's premier programs.
• The Bearkats have won 26 of their last 31 Southland Conference games in the last four years.
• Saturday marks the 36th meeting for Lamar and Sam Houston in football. The series began in 1935. The Kats hold a 26-9-1 advantage. Sam Houston won 42-10 in Beaumont last year.
• The Bearkats rolled up 637 yards total offense in the 59-45 loss at Texas Tech in both squad's season opener Sept. 5 - the third highest total ever for the Kats and best ever against an FBS foe.
• 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.
• 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.
• True freshman wide receiver Davion Davis from Hutto led Sam Houston with 12 catches for 103 yards and a TD at Texas Tech. That is the most catches ever by a Kat freshman in one game and fell one short of the school record of 13 catches held by Jason Mathenia and Torrance Williams.
• The Kats' 45 returning lettermen have combined to total 403 starts. Nine starters return on offense, 10 on defense and both specialists are back.
• Jared Johnson enters Saturday's game 202 yards away from moving ahead of Josh McCown (current Cleveland Browns quarterback) into 11th place in Sam Houston's career passing standings. Johnson has thrown for 3,280 yards. The junior signal-caller needs 99 yards by ground or air to pass 2004 Southland “Player of the Year” Dustin Long and move up to fifth in career total offense. Johnson enters the game with a mark of 4,477 yards.
• 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. He tied a school mark with five kick blocks.
• Australian punter Lachlan Edwards earned FCS All-America and All-Southland Conference honors after leading the league and ranking No. 6 nationally with a 44.4 average. Edwards stands as Sam Houston's all-time punting leader with an average of 43.7 yards per punt.
• Luc Swimberghe earned FCS All-America and All-Southland honors as the Bearkats' kicker. The junior stands No. 2 in Sam Houston annals in career PATs (146) and third in kick scoring (227 points). He is seven points away from moving into the No. 5 spot in SHSU overall career scoring.
• Sam Houston has won six consecutive games following open dates since the 2011 season. Overall the Kats stand 16-13 after open dates since moving up to the NCAA Division I level in 1986.
SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE PRESEASON FAVORITES
Sam Houston is the pick of the Southland Conference head football coaches to repeat as league champions. The Bearkats received eight first-place votes and 98 points total in the coaches' poll. Southeastern Louisiana, McNeese State and Central Arkansas each received one of the remaining three first place votes.
Southeastern Louisiana is second in the poll, receiving 86 points. McNeese State was voted third followed by Stephen F. Austin, Northwestern State, Central Arkansas, Abilene Christian, Lamar, Incarnate Word, Nicholls and Houston Baptist.
Sam Houston leads the Southland Conference with 13 players on the 2015 preseason football All-Conference squad. Sevens Bearkats were named as all-league first team and six were on the second team. The preseason all-conference squad is selected by vote of the Southland's head coaches.
Freshman of the year P. J. Hall highlights a talented list of 20 defensive players and 14 offensive players who return from last season's all-conference squads. Joining Hall as first-team preseason all-conference are junior quarterback Jared Johnson, senior offensive lineman Donald Jackson III, junior placekicker Luc Swimberghe, junior linebacker Myke Chatman, senior defensive back Trenier Orr and senior punter Lachlan Edwards.
Earning second-team honors were junior running back Jalen Overstreet, senior wide receiver LaDarius Brown, sophomore wide receiver Yedidiah Louis, junior offensive lineman Brandon DeWitt, junior defensive lineman Mouf Abedo and senior defensive back Mikell Everette.
BEARKAT OFFENSE ROLLED IN TEXAS TECH OPENER
Turnovers overshadowed an offensive explosion by Sam Houston in the Bearkats' season opener, a 59-45 football loss to Texas Tech in Lubbock Saturday Sept. 5.
The Kats rolled up 637 yards total offense, the third highest output in school history. But four turnovers including three in the Red Raiders' end of the field spoiled the team's chances of victory.
Texas Tech came up with big plays when needed. Luc Swimberge's 48-yard field goal cut the Red Raider margin to 21-17 with 7:30 left in the first half. But Jakeem Grant returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. Sam Houston climbed within striking distance again, trailing only 35-31 with 0:52 left in the half. Texas Tech struck quickly again, driving 67 yards in four plays for a 29-yard touchdown pass 14 seconds before intermission. Then, three plays into the third quarter J. J. Gaines returned an interception 47 yards for a touchdown. The Red Raiders out-scored Sam Houston 17-0 in the period.
With seven players with at least one carry, Sam Houston rushed 46 times for 317 yards. Ten receivers made catches as the Bearkats threw for 320 yards. Texas Tech rolled up 611 yards total offense including 437 in the air.
The 637 yards are the most ever by a Sam Houston offense against an FBS opponent and stand behind 823 yards vs. Houston Baptist and 685 yards against Alabama State last year as the third highest single game total in school history
SATURDAY'S GAME TO BE TELEVISED
Saturday's game will be televised on the American Sports Network with Randy McIlvoy (play-by-play), Shea Walker (analyst) and Brooke Bentley (sidelines) calling the action. The local outlet for the telecast will be KPRC-DT2 and that Altitude 2 and MASN will carry the game nationally.
GAME ON RADIO AND THE INTERNET
Sam Houston's game with Lamar will be broadcast live in the Walker County area on KSAM 101.7 FM. The broadcast also will be streamed on www.gobearkats.com
LAST YEAR'S LAMAR VICTORY SIGNALED TURNING POINT
After beginning the season with a 1-3 non-conference record, many wrote off the young 2014 Bearkat squad. Head coach K. C. Keeler believes the open date prior to SHSU's Southland opener at Lamar was the turning point for his first Bearkat squad.
“There are defining moments in every season and that third loss was ours,” Keeler said. “As men, our team decided that we were going to fix this thing. We weren't going to point fingers. We weren't going to go around the corner and cry about it. We were going to get it fixed.”
A twist of fate helped the Bearkats. When Sam Houston's September contest with Eastern Washington was moved to August 23 for an ESPN national telecast, the 2014 schedule now had two open dates surrounding the Southland Conference opener with Lamar in Beaumont.
“The opportunity to have two weeks before the Lamar game and then two more weeks before McNeese gave us a chance to fix things that were broken,” Keeler said. “Instead of 'open dates' we had 'Get Better' weeks. And we got better.”
Eighteen players who were starters in 2014 did not participate in Keeler's first spring training as head coach in April 2014.
“Our two 'Get Better' weeks became spring ball for a lot of the players,” Keeler said. “We tweaked a lot of little things and simplified what we were trying to do defensively. And the result was we began playing with a lot of confidence.”
The Bearkats rolled 7-1 through the Southland Conference to earn the program's sixth league championship. Then Sam Houston won three consecutive playoff games to become the only unseeded team in last year's FCS semifinals.
“With so many players back this year and the way this team came together through the adversity last season, we were light-years ahead in both the spring and preseason camp in Auguust,” Keeler said. “We brought in some talented young players as well. We have a good team with quality depth.”•
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