STEPHENVILLE – The No. 1 Sam Houston Bearkats scored 31 unanswered points to open things up on their way to a 45-27 win over the Tarleton Texans on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.
Eric Schmid accounted for six total touchdowns, five through the air, to lead the Bearkats (7-0, 3-0 WAC) who finished with a season-high 575 yards of total offense of the night. Three of those scores went to Ife Adeyi, while Ramon Jefferson paced an explosive rushing attack with 179 yards on just 23 carries.
The win was the 250th in the career of head coach K.C. Keeler and the 18th consecutive victory for the Kats dating back to 2019.
Cody Chrest led the Kats with 139 receiving yards on nine catches as one of seven Kats to haul in a pass. Noah Smith also had 56 yards on six carries, along with a 19-yard touchdown catch.
Sam Houston finished with 575 yards on offense, but surrendered a season-high 464 yards to the Texans, including 403 yards through the air. They allowed just 61 rushing yards with 36 coming on the final drive of the game.
The teams opened up by trading scores on the first drives of the game. They did it in different ways with the Kats marching 69 yards on eight plays, rushing for 65 of those yards and ending it in a 2-yard pass from Schmid to Ife Adeyi.
But Tarleton came right back on a drive exclusively through the air, attacking vertically six times and ending in a 21-yard pass from Steven Duncan to Tariq Bitson to knot it up at 7-7.
Two drives later Schmid found Adeyi again, this time in the left corner of the end zone from 18 yards out to cap a 58-yard drive; however, Tarleton was able to take advantage of an interception on the opening drive of the Kats' next possession and turned it into points on a 1-yard pass from Duncan to Derrel Kelley III.
With the game tied at 14-14 after a quarter of play, the Kats went out in front 21-14 on a 9-yard run by Schmid and then two drives later pushed it to 28-14 when Schmid found Smith on a 19-yard screen pass that went the distance.
Tarleton threatened to score again on its final drive of the half, using a 31-pass from Duncan to Biston to push its way deep into Bearkat territory, but
Joseph Wallace blocked a 31-yard field goal try by Adrian Guzman on the final play of the half.
The Kats put together a pair of stops to open the second half and added more points on a 26-yard field goal by
Seth Morgan with 5:22 left in the third quarter. Schmid then added touchdown throws of 26 and 13 yards to
Chandler Harvin and Adeyi later in the third quarter to push the lead to 41-14.
Tarleton answered with a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter through the air.
NOTES
- The win was the 250
th career victory for head coach
K.C. Keeler. He is the 28
th head coach in football history to reach the 250-win mark, and is the fifth fastest and ninth youngest to do so
- The extended the Kats' win streak to 18 consecutive games dating back to 2019, the longest win streak in Division I football
- The win was the 17
th for the Kats in the 2021 calendar year, setting an all-time college football record. Previously four teams – Yale (1894 & 1889), Chicago (1899) and North Dakota State (2019) – had won 16 games in calendar years
- The game served as the second game of
Ife Adeyi's career with multiple touchdown receptions, setting career highs with three touchdown grabs on eight catches
-
Eric Schmid's 19-yard touchdown pass to
Noah Smith late in the second quarter was the 50
th touchdown pass of his career
- With his five touchdown passes, Schmid has now thrown for multiple touchdowns in seven straight games dating back to the national title game vs South Dakota State in Spring 2021
- It was also Schmid's third career game with at least five touchdown passes, and the third time in his career he has accounted for six total touchdowns
- The Kats outrushed Tarleton 185-9 in the first half
-
Ramon Jefferson finished with 132 yards on 17 carries, marking the fifth 100-yard game of the season and the seventh of his career
-
Cody Chrest finished with career-high nine catches for 139 yards, his third career 100-yard game and the second of the season
