Sam Houston Hosts Aggies in Final Saturday Game at Bowers Stadium for 2024
Press Release from GoBearkats.com
HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkats will go after their second win in a row when they open Conference USA play on Saturday night when they host NM State at Bowers Stadium.
Kickoff of Saturday’s contest is set for 6:00 p.m. at Bowers Stadium. It will be aired on ESPN+ with Tom Franklin and Ken Moore on the call. The game can be heard online on the Bearkat Sports Network, the Bearkat Athletics app and Sirius XM 987 with Carlos Zimmermann and Brian Adams on the call from the radio booth.
HOME OPENER UP NEXT FOR THE BEARKATS
- Conference USA play begins for the Bearkats on Saturday when Sam Houston hosts NM State at Bowers Stadium
- Sam Houston is 6-3 all-time in conference openers under head coach KC Keeler
- In an odd scheduling quirk, Saturday’s game vs NM State will be Sam Houston’s final Saturday game played at Bowers Stadium in 2024
- The game vs Hawaii officially drew 15,134 fans to Bowers Stadium on Saturday. That attendance is the second-largest in Bowers Stadium history and the most since 16,148 were tallied in October of 1994 when the Bearkats hosted Steve McNair and Alcorn State in a regionally-televised game on ABC
- The Bearkats dominated on the ground in Saturday’s win over Hawaii, outrushing the Rainbow Warriors by a 257-56 margin. In the Kats’ 2 wins this year, Sam Houston is outrushing its opponents by an average of 217.5 to 51.5
- Sam Houston will be wearing throwback decals on their helmets on Saturday, with the iconic KATS in white on the orange hats. The Bearkats wore that mark on their helmet from 1998 to 2004 before shifting to the widely-known SH-paw mark in 2005. Iconic players such as Josh McCown and Dustin Long each donned this mark during their time as Kats
- The game will be one of the centerpieces of Homecoming Weekend with a strong contingent of Bearkat family and friends expected to be in attendance. Sam Houston is 47-41-1 in games played on Homecoming Weekend has won 13 of its last 14 with the lone loss coming in the 2022 season finale to Southern Utah
- Defensive back Caleb Weaver was named the CUSA Defensive Player of the Week on Monday after a strong performance in the win over Hawaii. The Bearkat safety picked off his first pass of the season and had 3 more pass breakups to go along with 3 tackles, helping stifle a high-powered passing attack from the Rainbow Warriors
SERIES HISTORY
- Sam Houston and NM State will be meeting for the second time in series history on Saturday in Huntsville
- Saturday will mark the first time a team from the Land of Enchantment has come to Huntsville
- Sam Houston is 2-2 all-time vs teams from the State of New Mexico, having previously played NM State (0-1), New Mexico (1-1) and Eastern New Mexico (1-0)
- The Bearkats will be opening CUSA play against the Aggies. NM State opened CUSA play in Week 2 when it hosted Liberty in a rematch of last season’s CUSA Championship Game
SAM HOUSTON >> NM STATE CONNECTIONS
- There are lots of connections between the Aggies and Bearkats in 2024, especially on the defensive side. It starts in the booth where Aggie defensive coordinator Joe Morris is in his first season in Las Cruces after spending each of the past 3 seasons as the Bearkats’ defensive coordinator
- Morris also took linebackers coach Jared Hensley with him from Huntsville to Las Cruces after Hensley had spent 8 years of his own in Huntsville, including the final 5 coaching the Bearkat linebackers.
- Additionally, NM State State defensive back Da’Marcus Crosby earned first team all-CUSA honors in 2023 at Sam Houston before going in the portal and ending up with the Aggies this year. He is joined in the NMSU secondary by DaKerric Hobbs who also wore Bearkat orange a year ago
- Crosby and Hobbs did not play with current Bearkat receiver Michael Phoenix II in Huntsville, but the trio were teammates on the 2022 Kilgore College squad
- The Kats did get one transfer that went the other way, as defensive lineman Denver Warren suited up for last year’s NMSU squad which played in both the CUSA Championship Game and the Isleta New Mexico Bowl
QUICK HITTERS FROM THE WIN vs HAWAII
- The Kats rushed for 257 yards vs the Rainbow Warriors, the most in a single game since having 304 at Tarleton in 2022
- Jay Ducker had an 86-yard rush in the third quarter. The play is the longest run from scrimmage since 1993 and the sixth-longest run in Bearkat history
- Ife Adeyi has now caught a pass in 27 consecutive games, while teammate Noah Smith has caught a pass in 22 straight
- Adeyi got into the end zone for the second time in 2024 on a 9-yard rush in the second quarter. It was his fourth career rushing touchdown and 23rd career score. His last rushing touchdown came in the Spring 2021 regular-season finale at UIW
- Qua’Vez Humphreys hauled in a pair of touchdowns from quarterback Hunter Watson and finished with 106 yards receiving for his first career 100-yard game
- The Kats were outstanding on third down vs the Rainbow Warriors, holding Hawaii to 2-for-14 on third down
- Sam Houston’s secondary made it tough for Hawaii quarterback Brayden Schager all night, finishing with an interception and 9 pass breakups. The 9 breakups are the most since the Kats had 10 PBUs in the 2019 season opener at New Mexico, while the 10 total passes defended are the most since the 2019 season finale vs HBU (2 INT, 8 PBU)
- Caleb Weaver’s interception was the first takeaway of the game for the Kats and marked the ninth straight game in which the Sam Houston defense has had caused a turnover
- Chris Murray got to the quarterback once again vs Hawaii, sacking UH’s Brayden Schager in the fourth quarter. It was the second consecutive game Murray picked up a sack
