Kats hit road to face No. 18 Colonels
9/20/2018 12:34:00 PM | Football
Game 3
Saturday, Sept. 22 • Thibodaux, La. • 3:05 p.m. • Guidry Stadium (10,500)
No. 11 Sam Houston State (1-1, 0-0 Southland) at No. 18 Nicholls (1-2, 0-1 Southland)
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HUNTSVILLE – Coming off their first home loss in over three years, the No. 11 ranked Sam Houston State Bearkats will be looking to open up Southland Conference play in the win column when they travel to Thibodaux, La., to take on No. 18 Nicholls at Guidry Stadium.
The game will be aired on ESPN+ with Lyn Rollins and Rene Nadeau on the call and Carley McCord patrolling the sidelines. Fans can also listen on KSAM 101.7 FM with Kooter Roberson and E.P. Garth bringing the action over the airwaves.
THE SERIES
Saturday will mark only the second time the teams have met when both were ranked in the STATS FCS poll. The first time came a year ago when the No. 3 Bearkats beat the No. 23 Colonels, 66-17, at Bowers Stadium. Sam Houston is 4-1 all-time against the Colonels when Nicholls has entered the game as a ranked team. The Kats will carry an 11-game win streak over Nicholls into Saturday, not having lost to the Colonels since a 37-17 defeat in Thibodaux in 2005. The current 11-game win streak is the longest current streak for Sam Houston over any opponent.
LEFTOVERS FROM A 24-23 LOSS TO NORTH DAKOTA ...
- The loss snapped a 21-game win streak for the Bearkats at Bowers Stadium. It was the longest active win streak in all of FCS and was the second longest in school history.
- Sam Houston did not turn the ball over, but allowed five sacks by the UND defense. The game marked only the sixth time in 158 games since 2005 that the Bearkats have allowed five sacks in a single game.
- Kyran Jackson punched in a pair of touchdowns against the Fighting Hawks, the first two scores of his career.
- Defensively, Sam Houston racked up another 2.0 sacks and 6.0 tackles for loss against the Fighting Hawks. Already the defense has totaled 19 tackles for loss in 2 games this season, with the average of 9.5 per game ranking in a tie for eighth in the FCS.
- The Kats came away with points in each of their four chances inside the red zone, and are 10-for-10 so far thru 2 games in red zone scoring chances this year.
- Tre Honshtein tied his career high by connecting on 3 field goals against UND, giving him 37 for his career and moving him to sole possession of fifth all-time at SHSU.
- Despite being down 17-10 at the half, the third quarter belonged to the Bearkats. Sam Houston outgained UND 125-18, scoring 3 times while holding the ball for more than 10 minutes.
- Once again Sam Houston did a solid job on third down, holding UND to 6 conversions in 15 tries. On the season the Kats have allowed just seven conversions on 29 third-down tries (24.1 percent), which ranks eighth in all of FCS.
- Davion Davis brought in seven catches for 74 yards in the game, giving him 2,715 receiving yards for his career and pushing him into the all-time top 10 in the history of the Southland Conference.
- Sam Houston put together a balanced offensive attack for the second straight game with 34 rushes to 31 pass attempts. Thru 2 games they have rushed 79 times while throwing 76 times, a stark contrast from the past two seasons when they attempted 207 more total pass attempts than total rushes.
BREAKING DOWN THE HOME WIN STREAK
The Bearkats 21-game home win streak was the longest active streak in the nation and the second longest in school history before it was snapped last week with a 24-23 loss to North Dakota. It stretched back to a 49-46 loss to Lamar on Sept. 19, 2015 (also the Kats' second game of the year). Here are some quick hitters about the Bearkat streak:
- The Bearkats more doubled up their opponents on the scoreboard during the streak, outscoring their opponents by an average score of 51.6 to 25.1.
- Sam Houston scored no less than 34 points in any of those games, and was held below 40 points in only 3 of the 21 games. They also put up over 500 yards of total offense 17 times.
- Sam Houston was 5-0 in FCS playoff games during the streak and 11-0 against Southland Conference teams. Of the 21 total wins, 19 came vs Division I teams with only Oklahoma Panhandle State (2016) and Texas A&M-Commerce (2015) being non-Division I wins.
