Game 6 • vs Jax State
Houston • Shell Energy Stadium (22,000)
Sam Houston (0-5, 0-2 CUSA) vs Jax State (2-3, 0-1 CUSA)
Thursday, October 9 • 7:00 PM
TV: CBS Sports Network (Jack Gordon, Taylor McHargue)
RADIO: BSN (Carlos Zimmermann, Brian Adams); Sirius XM; KSHU 90.5 FM
HOW TO FOLLOW: Live Stats • @BearkatsFB on X
GAME NOTES: Sam Houston • Jax State
Series vs the Gamecocks: JSU leads 7-6
HOUSTON – After playing four of its first five games on the road for the first time since 2010, Sam Houston will finally return to its 2025 home on Thursday when it hosts Jax State at Shell Energy Stadium.
Kickoff for Thursday's game is set for 7:00 p.m. and will air on CBS Sports Network. Jack Gordon and Taylor McHargue will call the action in the booth.
The game can also be heard online on the Bearkat Sports Network and the Bearkat Athletics app with Carlos Zimmermann and Brian Adams on the call from the radio booth. The BSN broadcast can also be heard online on GoBearkats.com, the Bearkat Sports app and Sirius XM. Additionally, all Bearkat Football games have returned to the airwaves in 2025, aired locally on KSHU 90.5 FM.
The broadcast will begin at 6:30 p.m. with the kickoff show, hosted by Jason Barfield.
#WEEKDAYCUSA ACTION COMES TO HOUSTON
- Sam Houston is playing the second of four consecutive midweek games in the month of October. In all, the Kats are scheduled to play five non-Saturday games in 2025, having also opened the season on a Friday at WKU
- The Kats went 3-1 in October midweek games and 5-1 overall in non-Saturday games in 2024. In all, SHSU is 5-8 in non-Saturday games since joining FBS in 2023
- The Bearkats turned the ball over three times in their loss at NM State, the first time the team has lost the turnover battle in a game this year. In all, the Kats are –1 in turnover margin through five games
- Sam Houston will be looking to avoid starting 0-6 for the second time in three seasons. Prior to its 0-8 start in 2023, the Kats had not started at least 0-6 since opening the 1977 season with seven straight defeats
- Emon Allen had a 66-yard pick-6 in the Kats' game at Hawaii, joining JaMair Diaz as Bearkat defenders to reach the end zone this year. It is the third straight year the Kats' defense has had at least two scores in a season, with the 2021 season being the last time that side of the ball had three TDs to its credit
SAM HOUSTON vs THE GAMECOCKS
- Sam Houston and Jax State have traveled similar roads on their route to the FBS and enter Thursday with the Gamecocks holding a slight 7-6 edge in the all-time series. Despite the game being a home game for the Kats, it will be the first game in the series not held in either school's true hometown
- Sam Houston and Jax State are battling within the same league for the second time in history as both were also members of the Southland Conference from 1997 to 2002 with the teams splitting games during that time, 3-3
- Sam Houston and Jax State also took part in the WAC/ASUN Challenge in the Spring 2021 season with both leagues joining together to battle for an automatic qualifier to the FCS playoffs. At that time neither league had the minimum amount of schools needed on its own to qualify for the AQ spot for the playoffs
- One year later both schools left the FCS to make the jump to the FBS, becoming two of four teams - along with Liberty and NM State - to join Conference USA for the 2023 season
NOTES & QUICK HITTERS
- This week will mark the first of two weeks in 2025 for the Bearkats to host a team who carries poultry as a mascot. The Kats battle the Gamecocks this week and will host Delaware at Shell Energy Stadium on November 15. Those teams are 2 of 6 in the FBS with barnyard fowl as its logo representation, joined by the Oregon Ducks, Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, South Carolina Gamecocks and Virginia Tech Hokies
- The Bearkats have already played in three time zones in 2025, having already played at NM State (Mountain Time Zone) and Hawaii (Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone). They have eight total games scheduled for the Central Time Zone and will collect the Pacific Time Zone in its Nov 8 game at Oregon State. SHSU is one of nine FBS programs scheduled to play in four time zones in 2025, joined by BYU, Houston, Iowa State, Middle Tennessee, Nevada, TCU, Utah and West Virginia. The only program scheduled to play in five time zones is Stanford
- Sam Houston has had its share of highlights on special teams in 2025, including converting an on-side kick late in its game vs UNLV off the foot of backup kicker Nico Ottomanelli. It was the first time the Bearkats had even attempted an on-side kick since the opening game of 2019 at New Mexico, a kick SHSU also converted behind then kicker Connor Crow
- The Kats had a pair of special teams highlights last week at NM State, including a 72-yard punt by freshman Curtis Gerrand which was downed at the 2-yard line. The 72-yarder was the fourth longest punt in program history and only the sixth of 70+ yards. Each of the three kicks longer than Gerrand's came from fellow Australian, former Bearkat Matt McRobert who had kicks of 74, 74 and 73 yards in 2018, 2019 and 2021
- Christian Pavon also stood out in Las Cruces, subbing in late in the first half to nail a 51-yard field goal on his first try of the year. It was the 15th field goal of his Bearkat career, including the second of 50+ yards. His career long was a 52-yarder in last year's season-opener at Rice, a kick which was the first field goal try of his career
- Alton McCaskill returned to the lineup after missing three straight games since the season opener at WKU. The transfer had 64 yards all-purpose yards, including 38 on the ground and a 15-yard touchdown reception at NM State
- Hunter Watson is coming off his most efficient passing game of 2025, throwing for a season-high 222 yards and his first touchdown at NM State. It was just seven yards shy of his career high of 229 yards set in the 2024 season opener at Rice
- Watson led the Kats in both passing and rushing in 2024 but did not have a game with 300+ yards of total offense last year. He hit that mark for the first time in his college career in the season opener at WKU with 209 yards in the air and 91 more on the ground
- Watson needs 197 more yards on the ground to become the fourth Bearkat quarterback in program history to reach 1,000 career rushing yards. Jared Johnson holds the record for rushing yards as a QB at Sam Houston with 1,601
- The Bearkats' game vs UNLV is the only of SHSU's four games this year in which a wide out has led the team in receiving. In each of the Kats' other four games - all on the road - a running back has led the team in passes caught, including Coco Brown in each of the last two contests
- Safety CJ Brown forced a pair of fumbles in Thursday's loss at NM State and now and now ranks second overall in the FBS with 3 forced fumbles, making him one of six with at least that total this year
- Brown's first fumble came on NM State's opening possession, ending the Aggies' drive in the red zone and marking the Bearkats' first defensive red zone stop of the season
- Sam Houston has had 5.0 TFLs in its last 2 games and now has at least 5.0 TFLs in four of five games this season
