Delaware
Game 10 Preview: vs Delaware
11/14/2025 2:50:00 PM | Football
Game 10 • vs Delaware
Houston • Shell Energy Stadium (22,000)
Sam Houston (1-8, 0-5 CUSA) vs Delaware (5-4, 3-3 CUSA)
Saturday, November 15 • 6:00 PM
TV: ESPN+ (Matt Pedersen, Jason Barfield, Brooke Kirchofer)
RADIO: BSN (Carlos Zimmermann, Brian Adams); KSHU 90.5 FM
HOW TO FOLLOW: Live Stats • @BearkatsFB on X
Series vs the Blue Hens: First meeting
HOUSTON – After traveling to the Pacific Northwest to get its first win of 2025, the Sam Houston Bearkats will go in search of their first CUSA win of the season on Saturday when they host Delaware at Shell Energy Stadium.
Kickoff for Saturday's game is set for 6:00 p.m. and will air on ESPN+. Matt Pedersen and Jason Barfield will call the action in the booth with Brooke Kirchofer patrolling the sidelines.
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 online. Additionally, all Bearkat Football games have returned to the airwaves in 2025, aired locally on KSHU 90.5 FM.
KATS RETURN TO LONE STAR STATE IN SEARCH OF BACK-TO-BACK WINS
- The Kats avoided the program's first-ever 0-9 start with the win over the Beavers. The last time Sam Houston started 0-8 came in 2023, the program's first season in CUSA. That year it closed the year with wins in three of its last four games, propelling itself into a 2024 season which saw the Kats go 10-3 and claim the New Orleans Bowl title
- The win was the first for Phil Longo as the head coach at Sam Houston and his first as a head coach since November 12, 2005 when he was the head coach at LaSalle
- Sam Houston's special teams came up huge in the win over the Beavers, scoring twice on a kick return by Tim Burns Jr. And a blocked punt by Lyric Smith which was returned by Brody Henderson for the winning score. It was the first time since the 2015 Battle of the Piney Woods that the Kats had multiple special teams touchdowns in the same game. That win over Stephen F. Austin in 2015 included punt return scores by both Gerald Thomas and Yedidiah Louis
- Sam Houston had just 85 passing yards vs OSU, marking the second time this season and fifth time in the past two years that SHSU has been held under 100 yards in the air; however, the Bearkats have won three of those five games
- The Kats got a big injection into the defensive side of the ball with the return of interior linemen Dylan Frazier and Darien Jackson, along with defensive back CJ Brown. It made an immediate difference with Frazier totaling 13 tackles from his interior defensive line spot and Brown with 10, which were season highs for each player
SAM HOUSTON vs THE BLUE HENS
- Saturday will mark the first-ever meeting between the Bearkats and Blue Hens
- The teams are two of the newest additions to the FBS and Conference USA with the Bearkats joining the league in 2023, while Delaware joining the league this year
- There are plenty of direct connections between the Bearkats and Blue Hens, starting with the head coaches who both served as Sam Houston offensive coordinators under KC Keeler. Longo was the OC during Keeler's first three season (2014-16) while Carty was the OC from 2019-2021, helping lead the Kats to the 2020 FCS National Championship before leaving to become the head man at his alma mater
- Blue Hen assistants Chris Rogers, Terence Archer and Garrett Smith also have direct ties to the Bearkats, and were all on staff, along with Carty when the Kats won the 2020 FCS National Championship.
- Rogers was an offensive lineman for the Kats on the 2011 and 2012 squads under Willie Fritz, helping the Kats to consecutive FCS title game berths. He eventually joined Keeler's staff in 2017 as a quality control assistant and moved into a full-time role in 2019 before leaving with Carty in 2021
- Archer spent eight years as an assistant at SHSU under Keeler, eventually becoming an Assistant Head Coach before also leaving in 2021, while Smith was an offensive quality control assistant in 2020 and 2021 before going to UD in 2022
LONGO GETS FIRST WIN AS BEARKAT HEAD COACH
Saturday's win at Oregon State was not only the first win for the Bearkats in 2025, but was also the first win in the Phil Longo era. Prior to Saturday, the last win for Longo as a collegiate head coach came on November 12, 2005 as the head coach of the LaSalle Explorers. It was a 30-14 win over the Saint Peter's Peacocks
Longo finished his 2-year stint as the Explorers' head coach at the end of that 2005 season, not becoming a head coach again until this year. His gap between head coaching victories spanned 7,302 days (19 years, 11 months, 28 days) with the win at OSU bookending the second longest gap between head coaching wins in college football history.
The longest gap was by Don Drumm who picked up a win in 1919 at West Virginia Wesleyan and after a long hiatus, coached Marietta College to two wins in two games before the season ended due to World War II
HEIST, HEIST BABY
Each time the Bearkat defense gets a takeaway in 2025 the team breaks out its turnover prop - The Heist Bag - to symbolize taking away the possession from the other team. On Saturday it was in use more than any time this year as the Kats had a season-high three takeaways, including the first career interceptions for both Dravon Wilson and Tyler Bailey.
The Kats have now won the turnover battle in five games this year, including each of the last three and own +3 turnover margin for the season
ESPECIALLY SPECIAL SPECIAL TEAMS
Sam Houston has had its share of highlights on special teams in 2025, including blocked field goals by Emon Allen and Cecil Powell in games vs Jax State and UTEP. But nothing compares to the second half of its game vs Oregon State when the unit found its way into the end zone twice to secure a win over the Beavers
When Lyric Smith blocked an Oregon State punt and Brody Henderson scooped it up and toted it into the end zone, it marked the first punt block touchdown for the Kats since 2016 against Texas Southern when PJ Giddens blocked a punt and Alfonzo McMillian took it back 19 yards for a score
Meanwhile, the first touchdown from special teams came on the opening kickoff of the second half when Tim Burns Jr. raced 98 yards for the score. That play was the first kick return touchdown for the Kats since 2017 when Jaylen Harris had a 97-yarder at Prairie View
Trey Harris also was credited with a blocked field goal at the end of the first half, meaning the Bearkats now have four total blocked kicks in 2025, leading CUSA. They are one of five teams in the country with at least four blocked kicks, joined by Buffalo, Penn State and Wyoming. Only Texas Tech (5) has more
LIVING IN A ONE-SCORE WORLD
After Saturday's 4-point win at Oregon State, each of the last 6 wins for the Bearkats dating back to 2024 have come by seven points or less. In total, nine of the Bearkats' 14 victories at the FBS level have come by seven points or less.
Conversely, the Kats have lost six games by seven points or less since joining the FBS with five of those coming in 2023. Over the last two seasons, SHSU's 29-27 loss to Jax State this year is the only game decided by one score or less not to go in the Kats' favor
