Game 3 • at Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii • Ching Complex (15,194)
Sam Houston (0-2, 0-1 CUSA) at Hawaii (1-1, 0-0 MWC)
Saturday, September 6 • 11:00 PM CT
TV: Spectrum Sports/Mountain West Network app (Kanoa Leahey, Rich Miano, Jordan Helle)
RADIO: BSN (Carlos Zimmermann, Brian Adams); Sirius XM; KSHU 90.5 FM
HOW TO FOLLOW: Live Stats • @BearkatsFB on X
GAME NOTES: Sam Houston • Hawaii
Series vs the Rainbow Warriors: SHSU leads 1-0
HONOLULU, Hawaii – The Sam Houston Bearkats will cross an ocean for its next contest this weekend when it travels to Hawaii for its second clash in many years with the Rainbow Warriors.
Kickoff for Saturday's game on Oahu is set for 6:00 p.m. HT, which translates to 11:00 p.m. CT. The game will air locally on the islands on Spectrum Sports, with all viewership outside of Hawaii coming exclusively on the Mountain West Network app. Kanoa Leahey and Rich Miano will call the action in the booth with Jordan Helle on 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. Additionally, all Bearkat Football games have returned to the airwaves in 2025, aired locally on KSHU 90.5 FM.
The broadcast will begin at 10:00 p.m. CT with the kickoff show, hosted by Jason Barfield.
KATS TRAVELING TO THE 50th STATE IN SEARCH OF FIRST WIN OF 2025
- The game is the second in a home-and-home series with the Rainbow Warriors which opened a year ago with a 31-13 Bearkat win in Huntsville
- The game is the second of consecutive Mountain West Conference opponents for the Bearkats after the Kats played host to UNLV last Saturday in Houston
- It is 4,356 miles from Huntsville, Texas to Honolulu with a 5-hour time differential. The game will be the second of 4 times zones the Kats will play in this year, with games also in the Central, Mountain (NM State) and Pacific (Oregon State) time zones scheduled
- Sam Houston will need a win to avoid its first losing streak of 3 or more games since opening the 2023 season at 0-8. That season the Kats closed with wins in 3 of their last 4 games before going 10-3 in 2024
SERIES HISTORY
- The Bearkats lead the all-time series with the Rainbow Warriors after a dominating 31-13 win in Huntsville a year ago
- Sam Houston is 2-5 vs current members of the Mountain West Conference, having previously played Boise State (0-2), New Mexico (1-1), Hawaii (1-0), Air Force (0-1) and most recently UNLV (0-1)
SAM HOUSTON > HAWAII CONNECTIONS
- The Rainbow Warriors dipped into the Bearkat equipment room a year ago and brought equipment manager Adonis Hentz to the Island to handle Hawaii's equipment needs. He spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons running the Bearkat equipment room before joining UH this season
- Hawaii special teams coordinator Thomas Sheffield is a Bearkat alum and a native of Waco. Sheffield was an offensive quality control coach at Sam Houston in 2011 when the Bearkats advanced to their first of back-to-back FCS national championship games under former head coach Willie Fritz
NOTES & QUICK HITTERS
- Sam Houston converted an on-side kick late in last week's 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
- Watson needs 245 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
- In his first 3 seasons with the Kats, Allen has primarily had his impact felt as an electric punt returner; however, through 2 games in 2025 the senior defensive back has been an impact player on the defensive side of the ball for the Bearkats, leading the team in tackles (15.0) and TFLs (2.5) after setting a new career high with 9 stops on Friday vs UNLV. A preseason all-CUSA watch list selection, Allen also forced a fumble and picked off his first career pass against the Rebels.
- With Alton McCaskill out vs UNLV, Brown took full advantage of the added playing time with his most significant outing of his collegiate career. He entered with just 9 career carries and 17 yards to his credit in 2 years on the team, but toted the rock 10 times vs the Rebels for a team-high 85 yards, earning praise from head coach Phil Longo following the game. That effort included a 53-yard touchdown burst up the middle in the fourth quarter.
