McNeese and HBU Kickoff Seasons

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This Week’s Schedule:
Saturday, Sept. 6
No. 7/6 McNeese St. at Nebraska, 11 a.m. (ESPNU)
Nicholls at Arkansas, 3 p.m. (SECN)
No. 25 Northern Arizona at Abilene Christian, 6 p.m.
Tennessee-Martin at Central Arkansas, 6 p.m.
UIW at Stephen F. Austin, 6 p.m.
Northwestern St. at Baylor, 6:30 p.m. (FSN)
Lamar at Texas A&M, 6:30 p.m. (SECN)
McMurry at Houston Baptist, 7 p.m.
No. 15/13 Sam Houston St. at LSU, 7 p.m. (SECN)
Southern Utah at No. 3/3 Southeastern La., 7 p.m.
 
FRISCO, Texas – The McNeese State Cowboys and the Houston Baptist Huskies will open up their 2014 campaign Saturday. The Huskies will officially begin its first season of football at 7 p.m. when they host McMurry at Husky Field. The Cowboys will kick off early at Nebraska for an ESPNU broadcast. McNeese, which starts at 11 a.m. against the Huskers, will be one of five Southland teams on national television Saturday. Other television games include:
    • Nicholls at Arkansas, 3 p.m. (SECN)
    • Lamar at Texas A&M, 6:30 p.m. (SECN)
    • Sam Houston State at LSU, 6:30 p.m. (SECN) 
    • Northwestern State at Baylor, 6:30 p.m. (FSN)
 
McKenzie, Corbett and Coto Earn Weekly Southland Football Honors: Abilene Christian redshirt-sophomore quarterback Parker McKenzie was named the Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week while Southeastern Louisiana senior linebacker Isiah Corbett was named the defensive player of the week and UIW freshman placekicker/punter Ramon Coto, Jr. was named the special teams player of the week.
    • McKenzie Parker, ACU: In the greatest passing game for a first-time ACU starter, McKenzie went 30-for-40, 403 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. He threw touchdown passes of 60, 24, 23 and seven yards.
    • Isiah Corbett, SLU: In Southeastern’s shutdown effort against Jacksonville, Corbett led the Lions with seven tackles, including two tackles for a loss, and a half a sack. The Lions limited Jacksonville to just three points on 222 total yards of offense
    • Ramon Coto, Jr., UIW: Coto had one of the best place-kicking games in school history in his collegiate debut after connecting on field goals of 47 and 49 yards. His 49-yard field goal was the longest field goal in Benson Stadium history and is the second-longest field goal in school history.
 
Southland Pioneers Instant Replay for FCS Conferences: The Southland Conference and DVSport, Inc., the leader in collegiate football high-definition (HD) replay technology, have partnered to provide the league and its 11 football-playing institutions with the cutting-edge technology and efficient workflow of DVSport’s HD Replay™ system beginning with the 2014 season. The Southland Conference is the first NCAA Football Championship Subdivision league to implement a full-time instant replay solution for all home games, regardless of television coverage.  
 
Coaches Conference Call for Sept. 2: The weekly football coaches conference call will revert back to its regular schedule Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 10:30 a.m., CT. All calls will be streamed live and archived at southland.org/watch. Contact Calhoun Hipp at the conference office for call-in information.
    • Southland Notes – Calhoun Hipp, 10:30 a.m.
    • Central Arkansas – Steve Campbell, 10:35 a.m.
    • Nicholls – Charlie Stubbs, 10:42 a.m.
    • Southeastern Louisiana – Ron Roberts, 10:49 a.m.
    • Northwestern State – Jay Thomas, 10:56 a.m.
    • McNeese State – Matt Viator, 11:03 a.m.
    • Lamar – Ray Woodard, 11:10 a.m.
    • Houston Baptist – Vic Shealy, 11:17 a.m.
    • Stephen F. Austin – Clint Conque, 11:24 a.m.
    • Sam Houston State – K.C. Keeler, 11:31 a.m.
    • UIW – Larry Kennan, 11:38 a.m.
    • Abilene Christian – Ken Collums, 11:45 a.m.
 
Southland Has Three Ranked Teams in National Polls: The Southland Conference has three teams ranked in both major FCS Polls. Defending Southland Conference champion Southeastern Louisiana remained the league’s top-ranked team, coming in at No. 3 in both the Sports Network poll and the FCS Coaches’ Poll.
    • McNeese State, which is the only top 10 team yet to begin its season, jumped to No. 7 in the Sports Network poll and No. 6 in the coaches’ poll
    • Sam Houston State moves up to at No. 15 in the Sports Network poll and No. 13 in the coaches’ poll
    • Central Arkansas received votes in both polls while Stephen F. Austin received votes in the Sports Network poll and Abilene Christian picked up votes in from the coaches.
 
Thirteen Southland Games Scheduled vs. FBS in 2014: In 2012, the Southland picked up two more wins against FBS opponents with McNeese State crushing South Florida, 53-21, and Nicholls defeating Western Michigan, 27-23. In 2014, the Southland faces 13 FBS opponents with Nicholls leading the way with three. So far this season, the Southland is 0-4 against FBS programs with both Abilene Christian and Central Arkansas suffering close losses. Five more teams will vie for the FBS upset this weekend with Nicholls, Lamar, McNeese, Sam Houston and Southeastern Louisiana.
• Nicholls – at Air Force (L, 16-44); at Arkansas (Sept. 6); at North Texas (Sept. 20)
• Abilene Christian – at Georgia State (L, 37-38); at Troy (Sept. 13)
• Northwestern State – at Baylor (Sept. 6); at Louisiana Tech (Sept. 20) 
• Central Arkansas – at Texas Tech (L, 35-42)
• Lamar – at Texas A&M (Sept. 6)
• McNeese State – at Nebraska (Sept. 6)
• Sam Houston State – at LSU (Sept. 6)
• Southeastern Louisiana – at Tulane (Sept. 6)
• Stephen F. Austin – at Kansas State (L, 16-55)
 
Sam Houston Owns Division I-Best 23-Game Home Win Streak: With wins in each of its last 23 home games, Sam Houston State not only leads the FCS but it also has the longest home win streak in all of Division I. The Bearkats were 8-0 at home last season, and have started the 2014 home campaign off with a 51-20 win over Alabama State. Sam Houston returns home Sept. 13 with to face Colorado State-Pueblo. The Bearkats streak dates back to a 33-28 loss to McNeese State on Nov. 13, 2010. The 23-game streak at Bowers Stadium is the 12th-longest streak in FCS history. The record is 39 set by Georgia Southern from 1997 to 2001. The Bearkats are 104-42-1 all-time at Bowers, which opened in 1986.
 
Preseason Awards Watch Lists: The Southland Conference one candidate on the Walter Payton Award initial Watch List and two players named to the initial Buck Buchanan Award Watch list. The Payton Award, which is awarded to the outstanding player of the Football Championship Subdivision while the Buchanan honors the nation’s top defensive player in FCS.
    Payton Award Candidates – Bryan Bennett, QB (Southeastern Louisiana)
            Former Southland Winners: Jeremy Moses, QB, Stephen F. Austin (2010)
Buchanan Award Candidates – Jonathan Woodard, DE (Central Arkansas); Harlan Miller, DB (Southeastern Louisiana)
 
Southland TV Entering Seventh Season: The league’s award-winning syndicated network will broadcast 10 games in 2014, all set to air on over 25 affiliates. While most are in the Southland’s footprint of Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, SLCTV is also carried by stations in Colorado, Florida, Kansas and Oklahoma, and available nationally via ESPN3 and ESPN GamePlan. In addition, ESPN3 will have exclusive coverage of several Southland match-ups. Southland teams are also set to appear on ESPN, ESPNU, SEC Network, Fox Sports Southwest and the American Sports Network this fall. Check southland.org/television for a full schedule and the SLCTV affiliate list.
 
Football Grows to 11 Teams in 2014: With the additions of Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist and UIW, the Southland Conference will feature 11 football teams in 2014: ACU, Central Arkansas, HBU, UIW, Lamar, McNeese State, Nicholls, Northwestern State, Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana and Stephen F. Austin. It marks the highest number of football-playing schools in the conference’s 51-year history. Abilene Christian and UIW will not be eligible to win a Southland Conference championship during their transition periods. Pending NCAA approval, they will become fully eligible for the 2017 football season.
 
Battle of Piney Woods Returns to Houston for Fifth Time: The Battle of the Piney Woods between Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin returns to NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, in 2014 for the fifth consecutive season. It will be the 89th football duel between the two rivals. The series is the second oldest FCS rivalry in Texas. The Battle of the Piney Woods dates back to 1923, with Sam Houston State holding a 51-35-2 edge in the series.
    Battle of the Piney Woods at NRG Stadium:
2010 – No. 4 Stephen F. Austin 31, Sam Houston State 28 (24,685)
2011 – No. 11 Sam Houston State 45, Stephen F. Austin 10 (25,083)
2012 – No. 9 Sam Houston State 51, Stephen F. Austin 43 (26,185)
2013 – No. 8 Sam Houston State 56, Stephen F. Austin 49 (26,213)
 
Frisco Will Host FCS Title Game through 2015 Season: Prior to the 2013 Division I Football Championship Game, the NCAA agreed to a three-year extension with Frisco, Texas, for title game to be held at Toyota Stadium and hosted by the Southland Conference, the city of Frisco and the Hunt Sports Group. Frisco has hosted the last four FCS title games, the last three of which have been sellouts. The extension will keep the championship game in Frisco through the 2015 season.
 
About the Football Championship Subdivision: There are 124 teams within 13 conferences competing in the NCAA Division I FCS. The championship bracket consists of 24 teams, 11 of which are selected via automatic qualification. The remaining 13 at-large teams are selected by the Division I Football Championship Committee, assisted by four regional advisory committees that serve in an advisory capacity only. At-large selections are based on multiple factors including overall record and strength of schedule. The championship is conducted via single elimination format. All preliminary-round games (first round, second round, quarterfinals and semifinals) are hosted on campus sites. Sites are selected and announced during the selection show and as teams advance throughout the championship. The remaining teams will be selected on an at-large basis. The top eight teams in the bracket will be seeded and receive a first-round bye.

 

 

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