Published: September 29, 2007 02:15 am      

Kats trying to fix FBS problems

SHSU hoping for good start to have shot at knocking off Okie State

Sam Houston State hasn’t had much success when it comes to facing Football Bowl Subdivision opponents. In fact, the Bearkats (2-1) are 2-20 heading into today’s contest at Oklahoma State.

The two FBS wins came in 2000 (21-14 over Louisiana-Lafayette) and 2001 (a 20-9 victory over Louisiana-Monroe, long before head coach Todd Whitten took over the SHSU program. Since Whitten was named the head coach in 2005, the Bearkats are 0-4 when facing top level schools.

Granted, two of those losses have come to FBS top 25 teams (then No. 7 Texas last season and then No. 19 Texas Tech in 2005).

But the other two were supposed to be winnable or at least competitive matchups. The Bearkats just didn’t play up to their abilities. Before being drubbed by the Red Raiders 80-21, SHSU stayed with Houston only to have dropped passes, penalties and turnovers result in a 31-10 loss.

The same thing happened last year at SMU. The Mustangs jumped out to a 7-0 lead then turned two interceptions into touchdowns and blocked a punt for another on the way to a 45-14 victory (it was over before halftime).

So, how can the Bearkats get things turned around and have a better showing today in Stillwater, Okla.?

“I have thought about that so much over the last couple of years,” Whitten said. “We have fallen apart when we played up. I haven’t done a good job of getting these guys ready to play, and whatever that is, is what I’m trying to fix. We usually get off to a slow start and have a bad first quarter or first half.

“I thought last year at SMU we should have competed better. But we had three turnovers in the first quarter and all the sudden it was 28-0. So, somehow we have to avoid that, and we have talked about it all week.”

The Bearkats have the type of team that could make things interesting for the Cowboys. Two weeks ago, SHSU came close to upsetting North Dakota State (the Football Championship Subdivision’s fourth-ranked team), in Fargo, N.D. The Kats scored with 26 seconds left in the game, but gave up a touchdown in the closing moments to fall 41-38.

While the Bison aren’t technically an FBS school, they might as well be. They have sellout crowds of close to 19,000 when they play at home, and last week, they destroyed Central Michigan 44-14, an FBS school that won the Mid-American Conference last season, in Mount Pleasant, Mich.

The Bearkats did exactly what they needed to in order to compete with NDSU. They scored early, kept the game close and only turned the ball over one time. That kind of performance is exactly what the Kats need today to be in line for a potential shocker.

“Coach Whitten has talked to us a lot this week about how when we play the big teams, we always get off to a poor start,” SHSU tight end Blake Martin said. “When you play these Division I-A teams, the key is getting off to a good start. If you can keep it close going into halftime, that gets in the other team’s mind that we can play with them and it puts them in a bind. We need to put some drives together, come away with some points and put the pressure on them early.”

Oklahoma State (2-2) has been kind of a Jekyll and Hyde type of team this season. The Cowboys have looked really good in a 42-6 thumping of Florida Atlantic and picked up the biggest win of head coach Mike Gundy’s brief career by taking down Texas Tech 49-45 last week. Both games came in Stillwater at Boone Pickens Stadium.

But Oklahoma State has struggled in its two losses on the road, falling to Georgia 35-14 in its opener and allowing 562 yards of total offense in a 41-23 setback at Troy (a former Southland Conference program).

The Cowboys seemed to flourish under new starting quarterback Zac Robinson in the win over Tech. They compiled 610 yards of offense and put together a game-winning drive with under two minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Oklahoma State’s offensive explosion led to the resignation of Red Raiders defensive coordinator Lyle Setencich on Sunday.

The Bearkats defense could have their hands full today and will need a better showing than the one in Fargo two weeks ago where they allowed the Bison to go 55-yards in three plays in 19 seconds for the game-winning touchdown. SHSU has had problems defending the deep ball, and to make matters worse, star safety Byran Richmond will sit out today’s game with a shoulder injury to make sure he is fully healthy for next week’s SLC opener.

The Bearkats secondary stayed after practice to get in extra work this week in order to get better, and the coaching staff decided to pull the redshirt off promising freshman cornerback Randy Stewart, who should see some action today.

The defense has put the NDSU game behind it and today will be a good test to see where it stands with conference right around the corner.

“I think we have definitely improved over the last two weeks,” linebacker Nolan Bucek said. “It was hard on the defense because we thought (the NDSU) loss was on our shoulders and the offense played great. We have taken that as motivation to get better, be more aggressive and practices have been more high tempo. We are going to be more aggressive, have more schemes going on and we will be ready.”



Game notes

Big 12 dominance — The Bearkats are 0-5 against teams from the Big 12. SHSU lost to Baylor in 1990 (13-9) and 2003 (27-6), Texas A&M in 1997 (59-6), Texas Tech in 2005 (80-21) and Texas in 2006 (56-3).



Success against the Cowboys — Sam Houston State quarterback Rhett Bomar has been on the winning end of a game against Oklahoma State. While a redshirt freshman at the University of Oklahoma in 2005, Bomar led the Sooners to a 42-14 victory after completing 13-of-21 pass attempts for 206 yards and three touchdowns. He also carried the ball two times for 29 yards.



Kats’ first FBS game in Oklahoma — Today’s game with Oklahoma State will mark the first time the Bearkats have faced an FBS school from Oklahoma. But SHSU has played in Oklahoma before, recording a 3-3 record with Southwestern Oklahoma State in Weatherford from 1969 to 1984.