Conque’s Comments: ‘Jacks Travel to Houston for 92nd Battle of the Piney Woods

THE KICKOFF
For the 92nd time the Stephen F. Austin football team will take to the field for battle against Sam Houston State in one of Texas' oldest rivalries, the Battle of the Piney Woods. The Bearkats, who are ranked 11th in the nation according to the latest FCS Coaches Poll and No. 9 in the most recent STATS FCS Top 25 media poll, await the Lumberjacks at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, for a 1 p.m. tilt Saturday, Oct. 7. The Southland Conference matchup is key for both teams as each stand with one loss in the league after suffering defeats last Saturday. It will mark the eighth consecutive year the historic rivalry has been played at a neutral site in the Houston Texans' NFL stadium.

FOLLOWING THE LUMBERJACKS
Saturday's game against Sam Houston State will be streamed live online at ESPN3, available at ESPN3.com or through the ESPN app on mobile devices. Rob Meyers, the voice of the Lumberjacks, will call the game along with color commentator Kevin Langford 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 SFAJacks.com, complemented by Twitter updates from @SFA_Football.

ABOUT THE GAME - BATTLE OF THE PINEY WOODS HISTORY
Presented by H-E-B, the 92nd annual Battle of the Piney Woods will once again take center stage in downtown Houston as SFA and Sam Houston State meet for the eighth-straight year inside NRG Stadium. The rivalry between the 'Jacks and Bearkats dates back to the 1923 season and is the fourth-longest active rivalry in the state of Texas. Sam Houston State holds a 54-35-2 (.604) record in the all-time series and has claimed a victory over SFA in each of the last six meetings. The two institutions originally entered into a four-year agreement prior to the 2010 season as the 'Jacks won the first ever meeting between the two teams inside NRG Stadium with a 31-28 triumph on Oct. 23, 2010. Sam Houston State claimed the second matchup in the stadium 45-10 in 2011 before recording thrilling shoot-out victories over the next four seasons, edging SFA 51-43 in 2012, 56-49 in 2013, 42-28 in 2014 and 34-28 in 2015. The Bearkats cruised to a 63-28 win in the 2016 version of the game last year. The seven games at NRG Stadium have drawn in nearly 185,000 fans, averaging just over 26,000 per game and ranking among one of the most attended FCS games in the nation each year. After an announced crowd of 24,685 in 2010, the Battle of the Piney Woods has drawn more attendees each season with a record 27,411 fans taking in the game last year. Due to the popularity of the event, the two schools and the Texans organization reached an agreement in the spring of 2015 that will make NRG Stadium the permanent home for the Battle of the Piney Woods, with H-E-B joining the festivities as the presenting sponsor in 2017. Tailgating, alumni and fan events, and a handful of other events for Lumberjack fans are taking place in the Houston area in the days leading up to the 92nd edition of the Battle of the Piney Woods.

Head Coach Clint Conque's Comments

Opening comments and on last week's home loss to 25th-ranked McNeese
"Great crowd. Great night for football. Awesome atmosphere. I think our team were willing and wanting participants. Unfortunately, didn't play well enough. We played a really good football team in McNeese. They were 3-1 coming into the game. They didn't make any mistakes; we obviously made our share of mistakes. It almost equated to raising my own children. With a young football team, you see a little bit of surprise, a little shock, a little joy, disappointment and we're going through a lot of those stages. We're just trying to find that consistency and that balance week in and week out. I think after the first two drives of the game, we take the ball and get it down in the red area, there's an interception, they (McNeese) convert a couple third downs, hit a long run and then they score. Now you get to the second quarter and it's almost like the sideline, maybe even the coaches too on some level, were just waiting to see which shoe was going to drop. And when you're like that you can't play as consistent, as fast, as physical, as detailed as you need to play. I thought that, obviously, our inability to score – we had four trips inside the 30 and got no points. And then we didn't do a very good job against the run. That's surprising because of how well we've played the run. Give McNeese some credit though. Their backs ran hard, both tackles and their offensive line played assignments sound."

"I was pleased in spots. It wasn't all terrible. We were able to get off the field several times. I thought we contained their passing game for the most part. But the deal was that we couldn't consistently stop the run. We couldn't score when we were in the scoring area. I was pleased with the kicking game again. I think we averaged 33 yards per return and did some positive things punting the ball and coverage and so forth. So we continue to do well there."

"We've got to grow. And as the old adage says, 'You've got to win two of the three phases to have a chance to win,' and we're seeing some inconsistency. And that's kind of like when I was raising my own three kids, you just see inconsistency sometimes in their behavior and makeup. So we go to work and we strive to find that balance of consistency from week to week."

On the play and development of quarterback Jake Blumrick
"Well you know Jake is a talented guy. When he gets some rhythm he can really thread the ball in there and make some really nice throws. We ran some, at times, really sharp routes and made some contested catches. And again, part of that is the inconsistency with Jake and with the offense. I think once McNeese got a two-score lead on us late in the second quarter, you started seeing some exotic blitzes and a lot of looks that for a young kid, we've got to do a better job of controlling and preparing him for. But every experience he is going to learn from. I think now that he's played the majority of the SMU game, about a half or so against Abilene Christian and this full game, he needs to, just like myself and everyone in the organization, take steps forward and learn from these experiences and apply them in the future. Certainly it doesn't get any easier this week with Sam Houston State."

On how Sam Houston State looks heading into the 92nd Battle of the Piney Woods
"You mentioned their game last week with Central Arkansas, just a slugfest, two titan football programs. A lot of emotion in that game with a lot of penalties. A shootout, and they (Sam Houston State) just kind of came up on the short end there. They are a very explosive football team, averaging about 50 points a game. They can hurt you with their skillsets outside, with their running game, obviously, Jeremiah Briscoe is the reigning Walter Payton Award winner. He had a big game in our game last year. Just an enormous challenge for our defensive football team. And when you look at them from the other side of the ball it all starts with P.J. Hall, a consensus All-American now for a couple of years. He is a senior this year so you know he is trying to put his best foot forward. They move him around a little more; he is playing inside, then they shift him back out to defensive end. Just very solid, they have several transfers upfront. They've got a very talented linebacker core and their secondary is very active. It looks like they are trying to simplify some things defensively. They have been hit with some big plays and so forth. Extremely talented, they play very hard. Solid kicking game and tremendous skill players all over the field on both sides of the football. Their offensive line is very physical, very big. Just an enormous challenge for our football team from top to bottom."

"We are excited about going to Houston. That venue at NRG has always been a cool atmosphere for our players. We need to approach that the right way and not be intimidated by the opponent nor the environment that we are in, and that all starts with a good week of preparation."

On this week's practice and routine
"We try to keep the routine as normal as possible. We have some young men that are down with injuries. We are probably going to have to look at some areas to modify at practice to make sure we can get our horses to the gate on Saturday. It's about us, that's where the focus needs to be, on our football team. We have got an awful lot to work on. Obviously, they (Sam Houston State) present enormous challenges, as prolific as they are on offense, and certainly the type of heat they can put on you on defense. We just have to manage the week. Certainly, try to keep our routines as normal as possible. And then really throw the focus back on us, because we still have a lot of things. Again, the inconsistency and ups and downs. Two weeks ago we thought we may be had made a turn, and then this past week you kind of take that step back. A lot of things to work on for us."

On Foster Sawyer's injury
"No, Foster Sawyer is out for the season and he is having ACL reconstruction knee surgery. Really unfortunate, you know he had the MCL injury back during the summer and was then cleared to play against SMU. We wanted to get him a series or two in there just to knock the rust off. Obviously, he played up until he got hurt and was staring to find a rhythm. His situation is, as you know he redshirted at TCU, he was there for two years so he has already burned his redshirt year. He has two years of competition left on his five-year clock. I was asked the question about a possible medical redshirt. The only way you could get that is if you miss two full seasons after you have redshirted. To get a sixth year, if you have redshirted, you have to miss two full seasons due to injury. He has one more year. We will get him fixed up. I texted with him this morning. This week he starts the rehabilitation and healing process and we hope to have him back in a limited role by spring practice and move forward. Certainly we are going with the quarterbacks we have available to us right now and it's the hand we've got, we will grow and learn from every experience."

-SFA-

Photo by: Hardy Meredith | SFA Photography

Conque’s Comments: ‘Jacks Travel to Houston for 92nd Battle of the Piney Woods

10/6/2017 10:14:00 AM | Football

SFA head coach Clint Conque talks about last weekend’s home loss to No. 25 McNeese and previews the Lumberjacks’ clash with No. 11 Sam Houston State Saturday in Houston

By: Luke Bolanos | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations