Troy
Game 1 Preview: at Troy
9/2/2026 4:00:00 PM | Football
Game 1 • at TroyÂ
Troy, Ala. • Veteran's Memorial Stadium (30,470)Â
Sam Houston (0-0, 0-0 CUSA) at Troy (0-0, 0-0 SBC)Â
Saturday, September 5 • 6:00 PMÂ
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TV:Â ESPN+Â (Will Kollmeyer, Ben Stanfield)Â
RADIO: BSN (Jason Barfield, Brian Adams); KSHU 90.5 FMÂ
HOW TO FOLLOW: Live Stats • @BearkatsFB on XÂ
GAME NOTES: Sam Houston • TroyÂ
Series vs the Trojans: TROY leads 7-0-1Â
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HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkats will open the second season under head coach Phil Longo on Saturday when they face off with former Southland Conference foe, Troy, in the 2026 opener at Veteran's Memorial Stadium.Â
Kickoff for Saturday's game is set for 6:00 p.m. and will air on ESPN+. Will Kollmeyer and Ben Stanfield will call the action in the booth.Â
The game can also be heard online on the Bearkat Sports Network and the Bearkat Athletics app with Jason Barfield 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 locally on KSHU 90.5 FM.Â
SAM HOUSTON vs THE TROJANSÂ
- Sam Houston and Troy will battle on the gridiron for the first time as FBS opponents in the 2026 season opener  Â
- The Trojans own a 7-0-1 advantage in the all-time series over the Bearkats, including 5 wins when the schools were each members of the Southland Conference from 1996-2000Â
 - No. 10 Troy used 2 long kickoff returns and the field-goal kicking of Lawrence Tynes to avoid an upset bid at the hands of No. 22 Sam Houston with a 23-21 win at Bowers StadiumÂ
- The Kat defense allowed Troy just 205 total yards, but the Trojans got their first 16 points from the special teams units with 3 FG's from Tynes in the opening quarter and a 95-yard kickoff return touchdown Jonathan Carter to open the second halfÂ
- Albert Bradley directed the Bearkats to 300 yards of total offense, including a 30-yard touchdown pass to Jonathan Cooper in the second quarter to get the Kats on the board. Keith Davis blocked a Trojan punt in the third quarter that his brother, DeJuan Davis, picked up at the 7-yard line and returned for a score Â
YEAR 2 OF LONGO ERA BEGINS ON SATURDAYÂ
- The Kats are coming off a 2-10 campaign in 2025 in a season which featured 12 games away from Huntsville. In addition to six true road games, Sam Houston relocated its designated home games to Shell Energy Stadium in Downtown Houston due to renovations being made to Bowers Stadium. The Bearkats will return to Bowers Stadium for their home contests in 2026 Â
- Longo will be looking to become the fourth consecutive Bearkat head coach to put together a winning season in his second season at the helm, following KC Keeler, Willie Fritz and Todd Whitten who all had winning records in Year 2. Sam Houston has not had consecutive seasons with a losing record since 2008 and 2009 Â
- The trip to Troy is the fifth consecutive year for the Kats to open a season on the road. Sam Houston has not opened a Fall at home since hosting Prairie View in the 2018 opener. The Kats are 2-0 vs Sun Belt Conference foes since joining the FBS, both coming at neutral sites, having defeated Texas State at NRG Stadium in 2024 and Georgia Southern at the Superdome in the 2024 New Orleans Bowl Â
- Landyn Locke got the nod at quarterback for Sam Houston in the last 3 games of 2025, becoming the first true freshman to start at quarterback for the Bearkats since Brian Bell started the third game of the 2010 season against Gardner-Webb. He is projected to get the start at Troy, which would make him the first underclassmen to start a season opener at QB for the Kats since Bell vs Western Illinois in 2011 Â
- In today's new era of college football recruiting, the Kats re represented on the roster by members of 19 different states and 3 foreign countries. The State of Texas still is the heaviest weighted of all with 53 of the Kats' 102 players on the roster staying within the Lone Star State's borders. Florida is the next highest number with 11 from the Sunshine State Â
- Alton McCaskill enters 2026 with 1,407 career FBS rushing yards and 17 rushing touchdowns across stops at Houston, Colorado, Arizona State and Sam Houston—a total anchored by a breakout 2021 freshman campaign at Houston where he logged 961 yards and 16 scores. His 17 career rushing touchdowns lead all active CUSA running backs at the FBS level entering the year, while his rushing yards rank second in CUSA behind only Liberty's Kanye Udoh's 1,881 career rushing yards Â
-Â Sam Houston finished 2025 with a +6 turnover margin. It marked the third consecutive season with a positive turnover margin at the FBS level for the BearkatsÂ
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-Â The Bearkats recorded 13 of their 21 sacks over the final 4 games of 2025. That mark includes 8.0 against Delaware, the most by the Kats since setting its program record for single-game sacks in 2010Â
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- Sam Houston added 40 transfers for the 2025 season, a number that is up from the 36 transfers in 2025 during the first year of Phil Longo's tenureÂ
OFFENSIVE QUICK HITTERSÂ
- Sam Houston returns each of its top four leading receivers from 2025, a quartet that combined to account for 59.6 percent of SHSU's receiving total a year ago. Together the group had 117 receptions and 1,317 yards, led by Chris Reed's 460 yards and five touchdowns. Slot receiver Grady O'Neill led the team with 38 receptions, while running back Coco Brown added 237 yards and deep threat Tim Burns Jr. had 228Â
- Landyn Locke took over as the starter at quarterback following the Kats' win at Oregon State, instantly making the offense more pass-oriented. In the three games immediately preceding Oregon State, the Bearkats averaged 194.0 passing yards and 201.7 rushing yards per game. Over the final three games of the season, with Locke starting, Sam Houston averaged 219.0 passing yards and 138.0 rushing yards per game. The Bearkats attempted 95 passes compared to 111 rushing attempts in the 3 games before Oregon State; in the final three games, those numbers flipped to 110 pass attempts and 88 rushing attempts. Locke threw for 615 yards over his three starts, including a career-best 281 yards at Middle TennesseeÂ
- The Kats will have four new starters on the offensive line in 2026, with Isaac Sohn the lone returning Bearkat starter. Denell Nix, a transfer from Appalachian State, is the only other projected starter with previous FBS starting experience after having played in eight games for the Mountaineers in 2025. Graceson Spann is the only other projected starter who was on the 2025 SHSU roster, while Brock Stukes and Carter Kadow arrive from NC State and Rutgers, respectively. That group would give the Kats a beefed-up offensive line with an average size of 6-4, 309 lbsÂ
DEFENSIVE QUICK HITTERSÂ
- The Kats had a takeaway in 10 of 12 games in 2025 and 29 of the last 31 games dating back to 2023. The only games in that stretch without a takeaway came in 2025 at Texas and Middle TennesseeÂ
- The Sam Houston defense had just 9.0 sacks in the first eight games of 2025, but closed with 12.0 sacks in the final 4 contests. That included 8.0 sacks in the win over Delaware, the most sacks in a single game for the Bearkats since setting the program record with 12.0 sacks against Nicholls in 2010Â
- Sam Houston's defense showed improvement late in 2025, allowing 31.8 points per game over its final four contests after surrendering 40.9 per game through the first eight. The Kats also cut their rushing yards allowed from 214.1 to 194.5 per game while generating 12.0 sacks in the final four gamesÂ
