Covering All College Sports Since 2012
GAME PREVIEW: # 8 Montana State vs. #1 Sam HoustonWhen: Saturday, December 11 at 7:30PM CSTWhere: Bowers Stadium; Huntsville, TexasTV/Streaming: ESPN+ Sam Houston’s defense came up with a clutch stop on fourth and goal to hold off a late rally in a 49-42 victory over Incarnate Word in the second round of the FCS playoffs.
The road to Frisco will go through Huntsville after the Sam Houston Bearkats were named the No. 1 overall seed in the FCS Playoffs when the bracket was revealed a couple of weeks ago.
Incarnate Word’s offense is hard to stop – they’re scoring 39.6 points per game, which is 4th in the FCS.
The Lumberjacks of SFA picked up their first road win over Central Arkansas since 2009 with a 27-14 victory last Saturday night at Estes Stadium.
Eastern Kentucky/Stephen F. Austin and Southeastern Louisiana/Incarnate Word headline a critical week.
The Cowboys will be tough on the road.
The Cowboys put up 21 points in the second quarter, which proved to be sufficient in their 35-17 win over the Demons. It was their first league win of the season.
Cameron Ward has 1,636 passing yards (327.2 ypg) to lead the Cardinals, completing 61.5% of his passes and throwing 16 touchdown passes and three interceptions this season.
Cole Kelley is among the national leaders in every passing category, having thrown for 1,593 yards, 13 touchdowns and four interceptions on 135-of-182 passing (74.2 % completion percentage).
With a Bearkat win over Stephen F. Austin, K.C. Keeler would win his 247th career game. That would move him into sole possession of eighth place all-time among FCS head coaches who have spent at least 10 years at FCS schools.
Sam Houston takes on Central Arkansas in a Top 25 Matchup.
The Weber State Wildcats have won four straight Big Sky championships while the Dixie State Trailblazers are new to Division I as they become full-fledged members of the WAC in 2022.
Game of the Week: Sam Houston at Northern Arizona
Jacksonville State, Central Arkansas and Eastern Kentucky will enjoy a “challenge” with the WAC before joining the newly formed (for football) Atlantic Sun in 2022.
The king of the new conference until further notice is Sam Houston (10-0, 6-0 in Southland), which became the first Division I football program in the state of Texas to win a national championship since Vince Young’s vaunted Texas squad.
The Gamecocks (10-3, 6-1 in Ohio Valley) flip-flopped quarterback injuries while playing the most games in the FCS over the fall/spring season.
Abilene Christian (1-5) struggled during an abbreviated fall season, dropping a game to D-II Angelo State, and playing three FBS opponents.
Having played last fall, but not in the spring, the Bears return 20 starters, and they also get back some former starters from injuries.
Stephen F. Austin (6-4) had an encouraging fall season. SFA named itself Southland Conference Fall Champions after beating Abilene Christian – the only other SLC team to play in the fall.
Eastern Kentucky (3-6) played a fall season and beat Stephen F. Austin 24-6 in its lone matchup against a future WAC opponent.
Second-year head coach Blane Morgan has a difficult task ahead of him at Lamar (2-4, 2-4 in Southland), but the Cardinals showed some fight in the spring season.
