Sam Houston, Lamar clash Saturday in Beaumont
9/16/2016 4:28:00 PM | Football
BEAUMONT – If Lamar snuck up on Sam Houston State football a season ago, the Bearkats spent their bye week determined history would not repeat itself.
Third-ranked Sam Houston (1-0) visits Lamar (0-2) on Saturday in the Southland Conference opener for both teams. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Provost Umphrey Stadium with the game being broadcast on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.
“It's difficult and unusual to have a bye week this early in the season and I don't think I did a good job with it last year,” third-year head coach K.C. Keeler said. “We were coming off a four hour game against Texas Tech. My thought was to freshen them up. We didn't do enough real football during that off week. I take a lot of pride in self-evaluation. All in all, I think the effort was to keep our guys in game mode and not lose any rhythm.”
That Kats, who fell to Lamar 49-46 a season ago after trailing by three touchdowns in the first half, will seek to get off to a quicker start this go around, something Keeler stressed as a key to the game.
“It's really tough with the two opponents they opened up with,” Keeler said of the Cardinals. “In that first half against Coastal, they were clearly in charge of that game. It should be a great crowd. We anticipate it will be a great atmosphere. We need to get off to a good start. Lamar is looking for something good to happen and if it does they will feed off it.”
In order to do that, Sam Houston will rely on its defense to slow down Lamar running back Kade Harrington. In the last meeting, the eventual first-team all-American ran for 230 yards at an average of 9.6 yards per carry and two touchdowns.
“We were watching some tape last Sunday and there are some new staff members on the defensive side of the ball,” Keeler said. “They were commenting about how we were doing such a great job of defending the run then all of a sudden they saw him stick his foot in the ground and make a cut that probably 99 percent of college running backs can't make. Even when you fill all the right gaps, you can't overrun something because he can really make you pay.”
Meanwhile, that Kats will look to stay hot after defeating Oklahoma Panhandle State, 59-21, in the season opener. In that game, Sam Houston amassed 668 yards of total offense while holding the Aggies to just two rushing first downs.
“We got a chance to scrimmage and got in full pads one day,” Keeler said. “We did some tempo things to simulate a game and work on our conditioning. We had a really productive week and had a chance to get a head start on Lamar. I think we're really excited to play a very good opponent.”
Saturday's game will be the first of four straight away from Bowers Stadium. The Bearkats own a 26-10-1 advantage in the series against Lamar, which dates to 1935. Sam Houston has won eight of the last 10 matchups and claimed victories in five straight before the Cardinals snapped the streak a season ago.
