Opponent Preview: Houston Baptist
11/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Stephen F. Austin hits the road for the final time in 2016, making the trip to Houston for a showdown with Houston Baptist Saturday. Kickoff at Husky Stadium is set for 2 p.m., streaming live on ESPN3.
Following the Lumberjacks
Saturday’s game at Houston Baptist will be streamed live online at ESPN3, available online at ESPN3.com or through the WatchESPN app on mobile devices. Rob Meyers, the voice of the Lumberjacks, will call the game along with analyst Tyler DePascal on Q107.7 FM, available online at Q1077.com as well as through the Lumberjack Sports Network on the TuneIn app. Live stats will be available at HBUHuskies.com, complemented by Twitter updates @SFA_Football.
Five Storylines
• Saturday's game will be the third all-time meeting between SFA and Houston Baptist with the Lumberjacks winning the previous two. SFA defeated HBU in Houston 59-27 in 2014, followed by a 55-20 victory in the home finale of 2015.
• The trip to Houston will mark a homecoming for a number of Lumberjacks as 26 players on the current roster hail from the Houston/Southeast Texas area, the largest geographical total on the team. SFA recruits the area heavily as seven SFA players are from the Houston suburb of Pearland with four from within the city limits of Houston and three from Spring. Of the 26 Houston-area Lumberjacks, 14 are listed among this week's two-deep roster.
• An area which could influence the outcome of Saturday's game will come at the line of scrimmage. SFA ranks among the national leaders in both sacks (eighth) and tackles for loss (19th). The 'Jacks have tallied 28 sacks on the year through nine games while HBU has given up 27 sacks on the season.
• QB Zach Conque reached another career milestone against Central Arkansas Saturday, becoming the first player in program history to reach 6,000 passing and 1,000 rushing yards for his career. Conque upped his career passing yards to 6,198, moving into fifth all-time in career passing yards, while moving into third all-time in career completions (562). His two rushing touchdown also moved him into sole possession of second all-time with 34, sitting second only to former teammate Gus Johnson’s 51 rushing touchdowns from 2011-14.
• SFA's defensive unit has emerged as one of the top takeaway teams in the nation as well. After forcing six turnovers against Central Arkansas, The Lumberjacks lead the nation in fumbles recovered (13) and is fifth in turnovers gained (23), generating three or more turnovers in four games this season. It was the second time SFA's defense had forced six turnovers this year, doing so in the win over Abilene Christian on Sept. 24th.
Scouting the Huskies
2016: 3-6 overall, 2-4 Southland Conference (T-8th)
Last Three Games: L at UTEP (42-10), W at Lamar (24-17), L at Southeastern Louisiana (37-3)
Head Coach: Vic Shealy (Richmond, 1984). Fourth season at HBU (10-28, .263); Sixth season overall (37-42-1, .469)
Key Offensive Players:
• #11 Tony Dawson (Sr., QB): 110-of-231 passing (47.6%) for 1,345 yds., 5 TDs, 2 INTs; 104 rushes for 513 yds. (4.9 avg.), 2 TDs
• #8 Terrance Peters (Jr., RB): 114 rushes for 579 yds. (4.8 avg.), 4 TDs; 14 catches for 186 yds. (13.3 avg.), 1 TD
• #5 B.J. Kelly (Jr., RB): 96 rushes for 319 yds. (3.3 avg.), 2 TDs
• #81 Wesley Lewis (Jr., WR): 22 catches for 325 yds. (14.8 avg.), 1 TD
• #1 Isaiah Hall (Jr., WR): 26 catches for 223 yds. (8.6 avg.), 1 TD
Key Defensive Players:
• #40 Garrett Dolan (Jr., LB): 114 tackles (40 solo), 14.5 TFL, 2.0 sacks, 3 QBH, 2 FF
• #20 Dorrin Turner (Sr., LB): 56 tackles (28 solo), 4.0 TFL, 1.0 sacks, 1 INT, 1 QBH
• #22 Cody Moncure (Jr., LB): 50 tackles (20 solo), 7.0 TFL, 1.5 sacks, 2 PBU
• #8 Terrance Manderville (Sr., LB): 36 tackles (12 solo), 6.5 TFL, 2.5 sacks, 3 PBU, 1 FR
• #49 Andre Walker (Fr., DE): 31 tackles (10 solo), 8.0 TFL, 2.5 sacks, 2 QBH
Synopsis: Houston Baptist enters the weekend at 3-6 overall and 2-4 in Southland Conference play, coming off a 42-10 loss at UTEP in non-conference action. The Huskies have played three-straight road games, getting their first SLC road win in a 24-17 victory at Lamar two weeks ago. Offensively, HBU is averaging 16.7 points and 346.1 yards per game, running a balanced offense that averages 177.4 rushing and 168.7 passing yards. QB Tony Dawson is a dual-threat option, passing for 1,345 yards and ranking second on the team with 513 rushing yards, accounting for seven total touchdowns. RB Terrance Peters leads the Huskies with 543 rushing yards with WR Wesley Lewis the top receiving threat with 22 catches for 325 yards. Defensively, Houston Baptist is allowing 36.8 yards and 451.2 yards per game, giving up 245.9 passing yards and 205.3 yards on the ground. LB Garrett Dolan continues to pace the Husky defense, leading the Southland Conference with 114 tackles (12.7 tackles per game). LB Dorrin Turner ranks second with 56 tackles and has snagged HBU’s lone interception of the year with LB Terrance Manderville and DE Andre Walker combining to register 14.5 tackles for loss and five sacks between the two of them.
Head coach Clint Conque's Monday Press Conference Transcript
On the Central Arkansas game:
“We played a really good team. Central Arkansas is a really good football team that’s well coached. I thought we were very competitive early in the game. We created an early turnover and made some stops and had the game at 14-14 midway through the second quarter. They separated a little bit at halftime and then we battled back and forth in the third quarter. We had a chance to make some noise, but we missed a 37-yard field goal, which would have made it 24-17 with about five and minutes to go in the third quarter. You could feel the energy coming out a little bit of our sideline (after the miss). Give those guys credit - they were able to make some plays down the stretch. I thought we did an incredible job against their run game for the most part. They’re just a little better than us on their defensive front against our offensive line. Obviously we’ve had some growing pains there with injuries and so forth, but it negated our ability to push the ball down the field with their pass rush and to knock them off to run the football. I was very pleased with our kick coverage unit. Their returner is one of the best all-time in our conference, and I thought we contained him the three times we kicked it to him. I was very pleased that we created a lot of turnovers defensively. Any time you can create a turnover it’s awesome, and I think we got four them in the red area or goal line. I just challenged them to get them a little further down the field because a couple of times we had 1st and 96, 1st and 98. But you take them wherever you can get them. We turned the ball over that led to about ten points, and then dropped a home run ball. A lot of good things happened by a lot of individual players, but we just didn’t play collectively clean enough in all three phases. Individually, I do want to mention that Justice Liggins had his second one hundred yard receiving game, it was good to see that. He had a few drops there in the fourth quarter, but it was good to see him make some big plays for us offensively. Alize Ward graded very well and I really like how Alize is preparing. The game is important to him. He’s just a freshman, and he’s going to be a really fine player for us and in this league for the next three years plus. Then you have to mention the two inside linebackers, George Stone and Price Miller. I think collectively they had thirty tackles. George led our team in tackles again, and he wasn’t at his best coming off of an ankle sprain at Incarnate Word. I think he practiced half a practice and then Thursday. So those guys are playing very physical and of course UCA makes it physical. We have to flush this one really quick and then go on the road against a much improved Houston Baptist team.”
On getting more production out of the running game:
“We have to commit to doing what we do and just do it better. It’s hard to simulate (UCA’s) front four in practice. I thought the speed of the game and the velocity and tenacity that their front four plays with took us about a half to get up to speed. I thought we had some quarterback runs that were good for us. But we just have to clean up our fundamentals. Obviously when you start looking long-term, we’ve got to get quicker, bigger and stronger. Fundamentally and technically we have to get better. We have good running backs and a quarterback who can pull it and run. Those guys just took it to us, and when it’s third and seven or more they can bring their pass rush and really make it uncomfortable. At times we did a pretty good job of protecting. I know we had four sacks, but we threw for 260-70 yards and could’ve been more. We did have a half a dozen drops in that game. We should have had a 300-plus yard passing day, but I thought our young men up front tried really hard. They competed hard. It’s just their strength, and we’re a work in progress right now for several factors.”
On Houston Baptist:
“They’re a much improved team. I like how Coach Shealy has put their roster together. A lot of these guys have been in the program now for three or four years. They’re 3-6 and 2-2 at home, and they’ve lost to Western Kentucky and UTEP. So two of their losses are Division I FBS schools. They lost a close one to Nicholls in two overtimes. They’ve beaten Abilene and beat Lamar on the road. So, they’re a much-improved team. I’m sure they’ll be excited to see us come to town. Their quarterback is a true dual-threat with a very strong arm. They have big receivers. I love their two running backs - they run extremely hard, very physical and downhill. They are very solid in the kicking game and defensively they present a lot of challenges because of the blitz concepts and the schemes that they run. I’m sure they will challenge our offensive line with that. We’ve had some success against them the last couple of years, so we should have some confidence about this opponent. With that said, you respect every one. You have to prepare well, and this is a much-improved team. We’re excited about the opportunity. We’ve had to readjust our goals a little bit, obviously. This senior class has never lost to HBU; that’s something I’m sure that they would want to keep intact. This is their last road game. Then, of course, it keeps us in position to have a winning season. So there is a lot to play for. It’s about our preparation, attention to detail, trying to clean up some of the areas that we can control.”
On the significance of playing in Houston:
“Houston is key for us, in a number of aspects. First, there is a big alumni base, and hopefully we’ll see a lot of purple this weekend. Quite a few of our current players are from down that way – about 25 or 26 players. So I would imagine that we would have a big contingency down there. Certainly any time you can go into the Houston area, for all of our sports, it puts us on a platform. We want to do well. We have quite a few men from the greater Houston metropolitan area that have committed to us at this time. We’ll hopefully see a few of them, but it’s obviously an important game for us in our season to see some of our alumni and friends and for recruiting purposes as well because we’re always going to recruit the greater Houston area.”
-SFA-
