The top ranked Sam Houston State Bearkat football team wasted no time in dispatching the Texas Southern Tigers Saturday night at Bowers Stadium.
The Kats scored on their first offensive play, a 79-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe to sophomore wide receiver Davion Davis. The Kats led 28-0 after one quarter, and led 45-10 at halftime. The game would be no match, as SHSU would go on to win 66-17 in a wire-to-wire victory to remain undefeated.
Briscoe, who threw for 325 yards and five touchdowns on the evening, led the Bearkat offense. Briscoe’s favorite target Saturday night was Davis, who caught six balls for 184 yards and three touchdowns.
“We think we have the best wide outs in the entire country,” Briscoe said. “If they are going to give us one on ones with those guys we are going to take advantage of it, and you saw what those guys are able to do.”
The Bearkat offense had another great day at office. Along with Briscoe’s 325 yards, the Bearkats rushing attack returned to form after a subpar performance against Nicholls State last week. The Kats rushed for 212 yards on 25 attempts. Junior running back Corey Avery was the team’s leading rusher with 84 yards on just 8 carries. Sophomore running back Remus Bulmer had 62 yards on five carries, and junior Ragan Henderson ran for 22 yards and two touchdowns on six carries.
The Bearkats defense was also stellar, as they held the Tigers offense to just 5 yards per play and 17 points. The defense also forced two turnovers, a fumble recovery by junior defensive lineman Codie Brooks, and an interception by senior cornerback Darion Flowers.
Head coach Keeler had some very kind words for Flowers after the game.
“The guy to my left of me [Flowers], I think is a big reason why we have been playing better defense,” Keeler said. “I think Darion is one of the best corners in the country this year.”
The defensive line was all over Tiger quarterback Averion Hurts, as he spent most of the night trying to run away from the Bearkat pass rushers. When the defensive line is getting after the quarterback the way they did tonight, it makes the secondary’s job very easy, and makes them more effective in creating turnovers.
“We think we have a dominant defense,” Keeler said. “To be an elite defense we need to be consistent, and you can see us starting to come on right now. You can ask our offense, and the best defense they play is the one they see in practice every week.”
The Bearkats special teams’ even got in on the action tonight, as they returned a blocked punt for a touchdown in the first quarter. The star of the night for the special teams’ unit though was senior kicker Luc Swimberghe, as he became the Bearkats all-time leader in points.
“This might be the best team I’ve coached in terms of special teams,” Keeler said. “Kyle Segler [the special teams coordinator] has done a phenomenal job. We held down one of the top kickoff returners in the country.
Saturday night’s win was a great example of an overall team win. The Bearkats (8-0, 6-0 SLC), now entering the final stretch of the season, will face off against the McNeese State Cowboys (5-4, 4-3) on Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. in Bowers stadium.