Spring 2021 Football Game Notes
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
SPRING 2021 FOOTBALL GAME NOTES 2 FCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES • 8 SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS • 12 FCS PLAYOFF APPEARANCES FB Contact: Ben Rikard • O: 936-294-1764 • C: 936-554-2077 • Email: [email protected] • Twitter: @BearkatsFB GAME 8 • HUNTSVILLE • BOWERS STADIUM SPRING ‘21 SCHEDULE FEBRUARY (1-0) SAM HOUSTON BEARKATS 27 No. 18 SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA* W, 43-38 (7-0, 6-0 Southland) | Head Coach: K.C. Keeler (Delaware, 1981) FCS PLAYOFFS SEED: 2 | STATS PERFORM: 4 | AFCA Coaches Poll: 4 MARCH (2-0) Career Record: 240-95-1 (26th season) | Record at SHSU: 66-22 (7th season) 13 No. 7 NICHOLLS* W, 71-17 20 at Lamar* W, 62-7 NORTH DAKOTA STATE BISON APRIL (4-0) (7-2, 5-2 Missouri Valley) | Head Coach: Matt Entz (Wartburg, 1995) FCS PLAYOFFS SEED: N/A | STATS PERFORM: 6 | AFCA Coaches Poll: 7 01 at Northwestern State* W, 24-16 Career Record: 23-2 (2nd season) | Record at NDSU: Same 10 McNEESE* W, 27-13 17 No. 25 at UIW* W, 42-14 THE RUNDOWN 24 No. 10 MONMOUTH# W, 21-15 BEARKAT STAT LEADERS QUICK HITTERS MAY (0-0) PASSING - With its eighth Southland Conference title under its belt, Sam 02 No. 6 NORTH DAKOTA STATE# 2:00 p.m. Houston is making its 12th appearance in the FCS Playoffs and its ERIC SCHMID first since 2017. BOLD - Home game at Bowers Stadium The Woodlands, Texas / The Woodlands HS * - Southland Conference game # - FCS Playoffs Comp: 124 - The COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape of collegiate athletics this season, and that included the Sam Houston Bear- Att: 200 kats. SHSU’s opener vs Southeastern was the first time the Kats BROADCAST INFO Yards: 2021 were on the field of competition since a win over Houston Baptist ESPN BROADCAST INFO TD: 14 on November 23, 2019, a span of 463 days. Play By Play ......................................................Tom Luginbill INT: 7 - Sam Houston Athletics made a big announcement on January Analysis ..............................................................Roy Phillpott 14, announcing that it would be joining the Western Athletic RUSHING Conference (WAC) for the 2021-22 athletic season. Joining SHSU KSAM BROADCAST INFO in the move are fellow current Southland Conference members Play By Play .............................................................Rob Hipp RAMON JEFFERSON Analysis ...............................................................Brian Adams Bronx, N.Y. / Truman HS / Garden City CC / Maine Abilene Christian, Lamar and Stephen F. Austin in addition to current Big Sky Conference member Southern Utah. Sideline .............................................................. Josh Criswell RUSH: 82 YARDS: 570 - The announcement, which was made at NRG Center by WAC LIVE STATS SamHouston.Statbroadcast.com TD: 5 Commissioner Jeff Hurd, will push WAC membership to 13 total YPC: 7.0 schools and also included the league playing football under the WAC banner again, for the first time since 2012. The WAC will be a TWITTER part of the FCS with more details regarding football in the league @BearkatsFB, @BearkatSports coming soon. INSTAGRAM RECEIVING BearkatsFB, BearkatSports JEQUEZ EZZARD COACHING STAFF College Park, Ga. / Hapeville Charter / Howard WHAT TO CALL US ON THE FIELD (Year at SHSU) REC: 21 SAM HOUSTON K.C. Keeler ..................................................... Head Coach (7th) YARDS: 614 Clayton Carlin ................................Defensive Coordinator (5th) Although traditionally referred to as Sam Houston State, we ask Terence Archer .........Passing Game Coord/Wide Receivers (7th) TD: 6 that all media entities refer to our athletics teams as simply Sam Chris Buckner ............................................Running Backs (1st) YPC: 29.2 Houston. Siddiq Haynes .............. Defensive Line/Defensive Tackles (4th) Matt Merkens ...................................................Tight Ends (1st) Please only use Sam Houston State University when referring to Chris Rogers ...............................................Offensive Line (3rd) the University in official capacity. TACKLES IN THE BOOTH If an abbreviation is needed, SHSU is acceptable. Please DO NOT Ryan Carty ......................................Offensive Coordinator (3rd) use SH or SHS as abbreviations. TREVOR WILLIAMS Gary McGraw................Special Teams Coord/Cornerbacks (7th) College Station, Texas / A&M Consolidated HS Joe Morris .................................................Defensive Ends (1st) Please DO NOT use references such as Sam Houston St., Sam Hou TACKLES: 60 St. or any other variations. TFL: 10.0 SACKS: 2.0 Our teams, both male and female, are to be referred to as FR: 2 Bearkats, or simply Kats on second reference. Please DO NOT capitalize the K unless using only Kats. 8 SLC Titles: 1991 • 2001 • 2004 • 2011 • 2012 • 2014 • 2016 • 2020 SPRING 2021 FOOTBALL GAME NOTES 2 FCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES • 8 SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS • 12 FCS PLAYOFF APPEARANCES SERIES HISTORY QUICK HITTERS NORTH DAKOTA STATE (1-5) - The Kats have held 15 of their last 19 opponents under 100 total rushing yards over the past 2 seasons and have not al- Home 1-0 | Away 0-3 | Neutral 0-2 lowed an individual rusher to reach 100 yards sine New Mexico’s Ahmari Davis had 107 yards in the 2019 season opener, a span of 18 games. In comparison, in 2018 the least amount of rushing yards SHSU allowed was 81. Of those 11 opponents PREVIOUS MEETINGS (NONE) in 2018, 10 rushed for at least 100 yards as a team. Date Location Result SH Opp 12/15/2017 Fargo L 13 55 - Quarterback Eric Schmid enters Sunday with 3,939 career passing yards and needs just 61 more to reach 4,000. He would 12/19/2014 Fargo L 3 35 become the eighth quarterback in Bearkat history to reach the 4,000-yard mark. 1/5/2013 Frisco L 13 39 1/7/2012 Frisco L 6 17 - In 6 games played, Jequez Ezzard has totaled 869 all-purpose yards for an average of 124.1, which ranks 15th in the 9/12/2009 Huntsville W 48 45 nation. Those per game numbers are despite not playing the 4th quarter vs Nicholls, the entire second half vs Lamar or 9/15/2007 Fargo L 38 41 anything after the first snap vs Northwestern State. He has touched the ball just 39 times to total his 869 all-purpose yards, scoring 8 touchdowns with an average of 22.2 yards per touch. - Sam Houston has already had 31 plays of 30+ yards thru 7 games this season. The Kats had 36 plays of 30+ yards in 12 games during the 2019 season and only 27 in 11 games of 2018. FCS PLAYOFF SCHEDULE - Sam Houston scored 2 defensive touchdowns vs Nicholls and currently stands as 1 of 3 teams in the playoffs to have multiple defensive touchdowns this season, along with North Dakota and Jacksonville State. SUNDAY, MAY 2 North Dakota State at No. 2 Sam Houston LEFTOVERS FROM A 21-15 WIN OVER MONMOUTH 2:00 p.m. // Huntsville // ESPN - SHSU moved to 14-0 all-time in FCS Playoff games at Bowers Stadium. Meanwhile, head coach K.C. Keeler moved to 28-0 Delaware at No. 4 Jacksonville State all-time in NCAA playoff games (SHSU, Delaware and D3 Rowan) at home. 2:00 p.m. // Jacksonville, Ala. // ESPN3 - The Kats got their first win in the FCS Playoffs since a 34-27 win over Kennesaw State in 2017. North Dakota at No. 3 James Madison 5:00 p.m. // Harrisonburg, Va. // ESPN2 - The Kats moved into the FCS Playoff quarterfinals for the ninth time in 12 all-time playoff appearances. Southern Illinois at No. 1 South Dakota State - Sam Houston’s defense racked up 15.0 TFLs and picked off a pair of passes from Monmouth quarterback Tony Muskett, 8:00 p.m. // Brookings, S.D. // ESPN2 the first 2 interceptions of the season thrown by Muskett, a Jerry Rice Award finalist. - The Kats held Monmouth to just 15 points on the day with all points coming in the fourth quarter. It marked the sixth 2021 SHSU QUICK FACTS straight game the Kats have held an opponent under 20 points, the first time that has happened since the 2011 squad had a streak of 8 games in a row below 20. GENERAL INFORMATION Location .............................................................Huntsville, Texas - Sam Houston pulled off the win despite having just 259 yards of total offense and 9 first downs in the game. One of the Founded ...............................................................................1879 main reasons for that was that the Kats did not turn the ball over for the first time this season. Additionally, the Kats won Enrollment ........................................................................20,477 the field position battle, giving the Hawks an average starting field position of their own 22-yard line. Monmouth never Nickname ....................................................................... Bearkats started a drive in Bearkat territory and had just 1 redzone penetration until the fourth quarter. Colors ..................................................................Orange & White Affiliation .............................................................NCAA Division I WITH A BEARKAT WIN OVER NORTH DAKOTA STATE Conference ...................................................................Southland President ...............................................................Dr. Alisa White - SHSU would get its first win over NDSU since a 48-45 win over the Bison in 2009, NDSU’s only other trip to Huntsville. Director of Athletics..............................................Bobby Williams - SHSU would move to 15-0 all-time in home games at Bowers Stadium. BEARKAT BREAKDOWN - K.C. Keeler would move to 29-0 in his coaching career in home playoff games, accounting for games at SHSU, Delaware 2019 Overall Record .....................................................7-5