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Dec. 18—Sam Houston made the jump to Conference USA on July 1, 2023, and with that, it brought new opportunities at the Football Bowl Subdivision.
While the Bearkats wouldn’t be competing for FCS National Championships anymore, those would turn into bowl games and midweek games that gave them national attention.
But things came crashing down in year one. Following a nine-game schedule in 2022 to kickstart the transition, Sam Houston lost eight straight games and never found any sort of rhythm in year one of FBS play.
Of those eight losses, the Kats had four by one score. Two of those came in overtime and one was a three-play drive by UTEP that landed them in field goal range for the game-winner. The Bearkats wound up losing five games on five plays all of which led to their head hanging low.
But things really blasted off at the end of the year.
Sam Houston hosted Kennesaw State, who was also transitioning and grabbed a field goal from Colby Sessums to snap the streak. Sam Houston finished the season 3-9 winning three of their last four and setting the tone for 2024. That sparked a 12-16 run to leave the Bearkats here.
Over the offseason, Sam Houston lost one starter to the transfer portal but attacked it and brought in some key members. Former Sam Houston head coach K.C. Keeler and his staff went into the portal and found junior college transfer Hunter Watson to lead the offense.
Keeler noted they wanted to replace the bottom 10 of the roster with top 10 guys and they did. In the running back room, the staff pulled in Jay Ducker and DJ McKinney. The two combined for 1,198 yards and were the focal part of the Bearkats rushing attack.
But the addition of those guys wasn’t to have them take over games, it was to add to a roster that had already been built with guys like Noah Smith, Ife Adeyi, Elijah Sohn and Qua’vez…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/bearkats-bowling-first-time-fbs-201200862.html
Author : The Huntsville Item, Texas
Publish date : 2024-12-18 20:12:00
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