Missouri St. @ Sam Houston preview

[blackfordpu]

Preview of the first I-AA game of the season for the Bearkats. It is also the first of three televised games for the Kats. Lets hope they can shake off the last couple of weeks and get revenge on Missouri St.
EAT'EM UP KATS! :) :cool:

http://www.gobearkats.com/football/release.html

[TexasTerror]

Missouri State (formerly SW Missouri State) Bears
vs. Sam Houston State Bearkats
Saturday, Sept 24th, 6 PM, Huntsville, Texas (FoxSW)

An Eye on the Kats: After taking their lumps against two Division I-A teams on back to back weeks, the Kats are back at home for a rematch against Missouri State. Then known as SW Missouri State, the Bears took out the Kats in Springfield, Missouri in a game that saw lots of late scores as the Kats came up short. This game is a big revenge game for the Kats who return many players from that team last year. The Kats will also look to get a win to even out the record at 2-2 before the usual off week prior to SLC play.

An Eye on the Bears: This is a good team, no doubt about it. The Bears finished 6-5 last year and should be on way to another winning season. They trounched rival SE Missouri State this past Saturday 45-21 after a loss on the road at Div I-A Arkansas and a win at home over Quincy. The coach for the Bears is the "Dean of the Gateway" similar to Ron Randleman was for the SLC as Randy Ball coached at Western Illinois prior to coming to Springfield. He has a history with the Kats as WIU and Sam played several times. He is 1-3-1 against the Kats.


Keys for the Kats:
1) Protect the QB. Nope. We're not talking about the Texans. Wade Pate struggled at QB against Bacone and Tech. He's not as mobile and I do not think he picks up who is rushing him as well as Noah Allen or Philip Daughtery for that matter. A concussion against Bacone came due to a sack. He's going to have get some good coverage and do a good job himself of protecting himself and the ball, even more critical due to rain possibilities. Turnovers were costly against the Bears last year and this will be crucial this go.

2) Get the lead AND hold it. The Kats struggled mightily against the Bears last year and if they fall down early, this will cause major problems as the Bears are a solid running team. They are currently ranked 16th in the nation averaging 211.67 yards a game on the run. They're passing game averages around 212 yards. Well balanced attack that can keep the clock running keeping the Kats off the field.

3) Penalties on Crucial 3rd Downs. 71 yards. That's the average penalty yards the Kats give up a game. This of course doesn't include the penalties that are waved off. This is a score each game, if not a few scores that have come from penalties especially on third-down plays. The Kats are successful 26% of the time on 3rd downs compared to 44% for their opponents. Penalties on third downs have kept our percentage lower and boosted our opponents' conversion including eight gift-wrapped first downs on penalties.

TT's Prediction: Sam 38-28 Missouri St. This is going to be a smash mouth football-type of game especially with the weather not looking so great in early forecasts meaning running. I'm seeing big games by Sam's Godfrey/Smith combination and MSU's Baker (coming off an impressive 134 yards game where he even threw a TD pass as RB) and Ikner (73 yards in the last game). The Kats are going to be licking their chops hoping to knock the ball out and get a nice pass rush going so their secondary, already weakened by injury doesn't have to deal with good timing for passes.

[BCisforBobcatTX]

What channel's this game on? FSN?

[TexasTerror]

What channel's this game on? FSN?

Fox Southwest

[Retro]

The game will also be on Fox Midwest and Fox College Sports - Central..