Opponent Preview: Sam Houston State
10/31/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Stephen F. Austin gets set to renew its longest-standing rivalry as the Lumberjacks head to Houston to battle Sam Houston State in the 89th installment of the Battle of the Piney Woods. It is the fifth-straight year the two schools will go head-to-head at NRG Stadium, home of the NFL's Houston Texans.
NRG Stadium in Houston, home of the NFL’s Houston Texans, will be the backdrop for the Southland Television Network Game of the Week this week as SFA and Sam Houston State renew the annual Battle of the Piney Woods. Randy McIlvoy will have the call of the game with Shea Walker serving as color analyst and Brooke Bentley working the sidelines. The game will kick at 3 p.m. Saturday and will air across the Southland TV affiliates, which includes Suddenlink channel 8 in Nacogdoches, DirecTV channel 18 and Dish Network channel 54. The game will also be streamed live online at ESPN3. For a complete listing of Southland TV Network affiliates, visit Southland.org.
SFA fans unable to make it to Houston for this weekend’s rivalry game against Sam Houston State can still stay up to date on every Lumberjack play. Live video of the game can be seen by logging on to ESPN3 or Southland.org, as well as downloading the Southland Conference app. Fans can also listen online as Rob Meyers will have the call on Q107.7 FM as well as online at Q1077.com. Live stats will be available online at GoBearkats.com with in-game Twitter updates @SFA_Football.
Game Storylines:
• SFA and Sam Houston State meet for the 89th time Saturday in a rivalry that started in 1923. The game is the second-longest active rivalry in the FCS, second only to the Maine-New Hampshire rivalries 104 games. It is also the third-longest active rivalry in the state of Texas, behind the series between Baylor-TCU (110 games) and SMU-TCU (94 games).
• Saturday is the fifth year the two teams will meet at NRG Stadium in Houston as Sam Houston State holds a 3-1 mark at the home of the Texans. Nine of the last 13 games have been decided by eight points or less, including last year's 56-49 shootout won by the Bearkats.
• The game features a pair of teams who are currently tied for first place in the Southland Conference standings. SFA and Sam Houston State are both 3-1 in SLC play this season, tied with Southeastern Louisiana, Central Arkansas and McNeese State with only one loss.
Earlier this week, head coach Clint Conque held his weekly media press conference and reflected back on the Lumberjacks' win against eighth-ranked Southeastern Louisiana while looking ahead to this week's rivalry game against Sam Houston State:
On looking back at the Southeastern Louisiana win:
“Certainly it was an impactful win for our football team. Any conference game you play is big, but theres a little bit of a higher ante when you’re playing the reigning conference champion. I didn’t realize until after the game they had not lost a conference game since 2012, something like a 14 game winning streak. Homecoming, Hall of Fame weekend, all of those things you add all that up and it was really an impactful win. Really, we needed that type of signature win to validate some of the changes we’ve made and the processes we’ve put in place. On a more acute level, it keeps us relevant in the conference race. Our first goal every year is to have a winning season. We are one victory away as that win Saturday puts us one victory away from a seventh win, so it kept us on schedule there. Then when you start talking about potentially down the road some postseason possibilities, even if you don’t win your conference. To get an at-large bid to the NCAA championship you always have to point to some type of impactful or signature type of win. Beating a top ten team in the country, and a defending conference champion, it was really positive there. In the locker room it just keeps the momentum going. I made the comment that for us to win this football game, we were going to have to play really clean. We had no turnovers and only 40 yards in penalties. I wasn’t really happy with the timeliness of a couple of those, but we played pretty clean football, contained a great offense. Obviously, they were without (Bryan) Bennett for the first half. I didn’t see any effects of his injury in the second half because he’s an explosive football player. He made explosive plays with his legs and with his arm in the second half, so we may have caught a little bit of a break there. But they have game changers at every level and at every position. (Bennett), obviously he stirs the drink, but they have dudes all over the field at every position. But we played well. I’m excited about the win and feel fortunate to be moving forward as we get into November and to put ourselves in a position where every game moving forward has a great deal of significance.”
On his first Battle of the Piney Woods rivalry game:
“Well first of all, I’m not new to Sam Houston State. We’ve beaten them the last couple of years, one of those years they played for the national championship. The thing that you figure out right away is that this game means a lot to a lot of people. I get that, and we are going to try to compartmentalize it into small bites. I think the game is a meaningful game in a lot of fronts. Most significantly, it’s really an elimination game in the conference race, probably. Not for the postseason possibly, but certainly it is an elimination for the conference race. But I get it. It means a lot to a lot people, and we haven’t won one in three years against those guys. I’m familiar with the defensive scheme and the defensive coordinator, because I’ve coached against him a long time. I have a great respect for Mike Collins. Their head coach (K.C. Keeler) comes with a winning pedigree, and they’ve figured some things out on offense. They are a very good football team. Early in the year there might have been a little bit of disjointedness going on being they had like 15 guys that didn’t go through spring ball recovering from injuries, and they had a very difficult schedule early with LSU and Eastern Washington. But they had a couple open dates and they’ve figured some things out, and this is a very good football team. Any time you beat McNeese State - that’s enough said right there, because I’ve got a great deal of respect for McNeese.”
On both teams coming into this game playing well:
“You’ve got two good football teams going into November that are playing for a lot. Again, I’m not trying to downplay everything that goes on with this game. I get that it is a big game for a lot of people. It’s a big game for our football team. It’s a chance for us to stay on schedule to accomplish some goals, and it’s a big game for them too. They are sitting here at 4-4, and I’m sure their coaches know they can’t afford any missed steps as well, so this game has a lot on the line. When you just look at the football game itself, and you take out all the peripheral fluff, this is a very big game with a lot on the line for both teams.”
On the players’ mentality heading into a rivalry game:
“A lot of them have played in these games before, so they are aware of it. We get to go into an NFL environment with a big crowd. I figured it out pretty quickly. The day that I got hired we were talking about this game. I had to turn down two interviews last week about this game while we were getting ready to play Southeastern Louisiana, the number eight team in the country. But it is here, and we are going to prepare ourselves the best that we can. Again, this is a team (Sam Houston State) that is extremely gifted. They go three-deep with as good of running backs that there are at our level, one of them being a University of Texas transfer. They have probably the best tight end in our conference, a big physical offensive line. They are going to play man coverage and they have not met a blitz that they didn’t like. They’ll be coming from all over the field. They have an outstanding punter, outstanding kicker, team speed, on and on. Again, not a great match up for our football team, but we proved Saturday that we might not be the best team athletically on the football field, but if you play good team football and you play clean and execute at a high level for long enough, you’ll give yourself a chance to win. (Sam Houston) has quite a few young men that have played in a national championship game that are still in that program, and so we know what’s in front of us, and how we need to prepare this week. As it always is, its again as much about us as it is our opponent, and we just have to make sure we have a great week of preparation. The energy should be good as it normally is the week of a rivalry game.”
On Gus Johnson and Nick Bruno being named SLC Players of the Week:
“ Gus continues to assert his will each and every week. He’s just physically prepared himself so well for the pounding. Earlier in the year we calculated some of his touches, but now it’s all hands on deck with him, and he’s certainly a difference maker at that position. Nick Bruno, I’ve been just tremendously impressed with him. First of all, just a high character young man. Just salt of the earth youngster, and he just happens to be my son’s roommates, so that was good picking for whoever did that. But for the last month he’s averaged right around 45 yards a punt. He’s really changing the field position for us when do have to punt, and he’s really been an offensive and defensive weapon for us. Our coverage units have been pretty solid for us there, and he’s given us good hang time. Again, you want to do the things that you hope to do as a football team each and every year you try and have strengths at every level, and certainly we’ve got deficiencies like a lot of people. But Nick is a tremendous asset for us punting the football and gives our defensive football team great field position and has been very consistent the last month.”
