The Sam Houston State Bearkats were outlasted this weekend, 63-42, in an offensive showdown with the McNeese State Cowboys.
Saturday night’s loss drops Sam Houston’s record to 4-5 overall and 2-3 in the Southland Conference. The Bearkat defense surrendered a season-high 63 points and allowed 608 yards, including 418 yards on the ground. The defense also gave up six plays of 30 or more yards and allowed McNeese to convert six of eight third down conversions.
The defense had no answer for McNeese State running back Todd Pendland. The Southland Conference’s leading rusher ran wild on the Bearkat defense with 20 carries for 171 yards and four touchdowns. Cowboys quarterback Derrick Fourroux also ran the ball 10 times for 118 yards and completed eight of 16 passes for 191 yards with two total touchdowns.
“This was McNeese’s best effort of the year,” Head Coach Todd Whitten said. “They’re very explosive offensively. I think their quarterback’s a wonderful player and what can you say about their running back?
“We’re young defensively and we know that. We’ve got some things to work on. The big play has been our thing all year. When they got in the open field, we couldn’t catch them.”
Led by quarterback Blake Joseph, the Bearkat offense played well and kept pace with the Cowboys for much of the game. Joseph completed 20 of 28 passes for 300 yards and four touchdowns, leading Sam Houston to its fourth game of the season with 40 or more points.
Jason Madkins and Chris Lucas were major forces in the passing game. Madkins caught six passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns. Lucas caught a game-high seven passes for 112 yards and a touchdown.
With James Aston out for the game with a knee injury, Chris Poullard led the rushing attack. Poullard had 20 carries for 73 yards and a touchdown and also caught five passes for 38 yards and a touchdown.
“I felt like our offense played well tonight,” said Joseph. “It was one of those things where we would trade scores back and forth. I felt that our offensive line and our receivers played well. We moved up and down the field pretty easily.”
The Bearkat defense looked good opening the game. Following a quick score by McNeese, the defense stiffened and forced back-to-back turnovers to give Sam Houston its only lead at 14-7.
Forcing turnovers hasn’t been a strong point for Sam Houston this season, but they have continued to force more turnovers as the weeks go along. Following a multi-turnover game last week, the Bearkats forced two more turnovers this weekend.
“Anytime you force turnovers on defense it’s always a good thing,” said defensive tackle Kevin Smith, who intercepted a pass in the first quarter. “When you have a plus in the turnover ratio, you always seem to win.
“But tonight, we tackled very poorly and we gave up a lot of big runs that they shouldn’t have had. There’s no other way to put it.”
McNeese State started the game with an eight play, 74 yard drive to open the game. The drive ended with a 31-yard touchdown run by Pendland, his first of four in the game.
Following a three-and-out, the Bearkats were forced to punt the ball. On the second play of the drive, Smith intercepted a Fourroux pass to give the ball back to Sam Houston. Five plays later, Poullard ran a one-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7-7.
On the ensuing kickoff, Kenneth Jenkins forced a fumble and Madkins recovered. On the next play, Joseph hit Lucas for a 23-yard touchdown pass, to give the Bearkats their only lead of the game at 14-7.
The Cowboys responded on the next drive with a 10 play, 62-yard drive capped off by another Pendland touchdown. The score tied the game at 14-14, and from there the Bearkats played from behind.
Sam Houston’s next four drives resulted in three punts and a blocked field goal. McNeese built on this momentum and went on to score two more touchdowns before the half on another touchdown run by Pendland and a touchdown pass from Fourroux to Chad Davis. Going into the half, McNeese led 28-14.
The Bearkats came out of the half with the ball, looking to catch ground on the Cowboys. But they lost their opportunity after Madkins gave the ball back to McNeese State on a fumble.
On the next play, Richard Conner ran for a 43-yard touchdown to put the Cowboys up 35-14. From that point on, McNeese and Sam Houston traded touchdowns to reach the 63-42 final score.
The Bearkats are now 0-4 on the road, where they are allowing 49.5 points per game. Sam Houston has allowed opponents to score just 26.2 points per game at Bowers Stadium this season, which is over 23 points less than what they allow on the road.
The Bearkats will be back in action this Saturday, when they host Central Arkansas in the final home game of the season.
Sam Houston looks to get back to .500 and improve their record to 5-5 overall and 3-3 in the conference.
