Matt Viator did say that Sam Houston State was a \u201cdifferent animal\u201d compared to McNeese\u2019s earlier three opponents, which were beaten by an average of 42 points.<\/p>\n
The BearKats were more like bears than mild-mannered cats as they brought the Cowboys back down to earth with a convincing 38-22 conference win in Huntsville.<\/p>\n
The loss put the Pokes at 3-2 overall; 1-1 in Southland play; and shoved them out of the Top 5 rankings in both national polls. It also revealed some telling needs for McNeese if the team intends to build on its established winning foundation over the first four games.<\/p>\n
On top of that chalk board list is an effort to put the brakes on all the chatter about a national championship and focus all energies and efforts on the next game on the schedule.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not saying this team is not doing that. I believe its senior leadership and coaching staff have them dialed in on the next challenge. But there is merit in being aware of any hint of getting ahead of yourself.<\/p>\n
What I thought was a bit out of character, especially with the program\u2019s decade-plus drought in the playoff win column, was the public talk of winning a national title and the confidence of chasing that goal this year. For the past several weeks in post-game media sessions, players weren\u2019t dodging the subject of national championship goals.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, more than a few ushered in that kind of talk without any prompting by the sporting press.<\/p>\n
From the outside looking in, I felt a bit uncomfortable about title talk coming from a program that hasn\u2019t won a post-season game since 2002. These \u2018Boys aren\u2019t in the same post-season rut as those Cowboys from Dallas (NFL), but they are not that far off.<\/p>\n
When your playoff resum\u00e9 is 0-5 over the past 11 years, you may want to circle the wagons, avoid comments on championship dreams and target in on beating the next man up.<\/p>\n
Defensive coordinator Lance Guidry takes a different slant on this issue, saying the players\u2019 playbooks are covered with bold words to the effect that winning conference championships is a \u201cresponsibility\u201d and a national championship \u201cis our goal.\u201d He welcomes the public display of confidence and wants players talking and aiming toward a possible championship game.<\/p>\n
Who am I to argue with coaches who have been in the trenches and in big games? My point is that this team, at this time, as they fight to remain among the FCS elite, may want to keep those goals and rah rah stuff in house, behind closed locker room doors and under wraps, so as not to give future opponents any additional motivation.<\/p>\n
I applaud the confident belief and passion of senior safety Aaron Sams, senior defensive end Everett Ellefsen, junior Brian Hine and receiver Khalil Thomas. But they have to know that any public comment about playing for a national championship and their belief that this team is capable of doing just that is captured on video and can be picked up by any opposing player and coach via the internet and various social media sites.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know whether Sam Houston head coach K.C. Keeler, who won an FCS national title in 2003 and was a two-time runner up as recently as 2007 and 2010 while coaching Delaware, retrieved any of that sort of rah rah talk. But I would not have doubted it, after seeing how well his BearKats played in their 16-point defeat of McNeese, which enable the BearKats to improve to 2-0 in the conference race.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got outplayed and outcoached.\u00a0 That\u2019s the bottom line,\u201d said Viator after the disappointing road loss.<\/p>\n
The Cowboys got out everything.<\/p>\n
McNeese tallied 209 yards rushing, but only 79 from the running backs after they were led by quarterback Daniel Sams\u2019 130 yards on the ground.\u00a0 Their 44 rushing attempts resulted in a below average 4.7 yards per carry.<\/p>\n
Sams and Tyler Bolfing could only muster up 89 yards passing on 13 of 31 tosses. You can go old school, running the ball all you want, but eventually you will have to complete a pass longer than five yards in hopes of emptying the defensive box, which Sam Houston loaded up to the max.<\/p>\n
It was clear Keeler wasn\u2019t going to let McNeese\u2019s running attack beat him.\u00a0 He dared Viator to throw and the Cowboys could not.<\/p>\n
The Pokes, who\u2019ve had little to no production from the return game, got minus one yard in that department. If it wasn\u2019t for a heads-up fumble recovery by freshman running back Ryan Ross on a muffed punt, it could have been much worse.<\/p>\n
The tale of the tape on this game offensively was McNeese\u2019s dismal execution on critical third downs. Going into Sam Houston, the Cowboys were second in the SLC, with an impressive 45 percent third down conversion rate. But the chains barely moved in Huntsville, as the offense struggled with down and distance all game, going a puny 5 for 17 on third downs.<\/p>\n
Four false start penalties, numerous plays for negative yards and a near complete disconnect in the passing game kept McNeese \u201cout of rhythm\u201d (Viator) and out of whack offensively, despite 32:38 minutes of possession time.<\/p>\n
Eight three-and-out possessions means the BearKats offense got more cracks at big plays (and there were many) and won the battle of field position.<\/p>\n
The Cowboys\u2019 defense will undoubtedly fall in the conference rankings in several key categories that they led the league in prior to giving up nearly 300 yards rushing and 192 yards passing to Sam Houston.<\/p>\n
Or should I say Jared Johnson?<\/p>\n
The BearKats\u2019 sophomore quarterback put on his best impression of Daniel Sams. The muscular and deceptively fast Johnson took off running 11 times for 190 back-breaking yards. He singlehandedly beat the Cowboys\u2019 defense, with scoring runs of 67 and 73 yards to go with 192 yards passing and two touchdown passes.<\/p>\n
If you lost count, that\u2019s four touchdowns for Johnson, who Aaron Sam admitted they \u201cunderestimated.\u201d<\/p>\n
This Sam Houston squad came in with a first-year head coach (did I note Keeler does have an FCS national championship to his credits?) and without three all conference, nationally rated, offensive stars from last year, including quarterback Brian Bell, running back Timothy Flanders and receiver Richard Sincere.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t seem to matter against a McNeese defense that clearly played its worst game of the year.<\/p>\n
The Cowboys\u2019 defenders were feeding off turnovers and scoring touchdowns in three straight games to start the season. They were constantly in the opposition\u2019s backfield for negative plays, sacks and overall disruption.<\/p>\n
None of that came to bear (no pun intended) in Huntsville.<\/p>\n
The front four got no pressure on Johnson except for maybe one sack by Hine. When defensive coordinator Guidry called a blitz, it was picked up cleanly by Sam Houston, leaving the Cowboys\u2019 coverage susceptible to big plays and gains. And there were more than a few.<\/p>\n
When Johnson threw to receivers who were covered, McNeese\u2019s defensive backs limited receptions to acceptable gains \u2014 manageable to say the least. But the BearKats\u2019 strong-armed quarterback found numerous targets roaming free and open due to busted coverages that resulted in what are now called \u201cexplosive plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s not even counting Johnson\u2019s two quarterback-designed draws that had nary a Cowboy within 10 yards of him before he took them to the house twice. The second touchdown romp put the game away at 35-7 with six minutes to play in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
Nothing got on track for McNeese from the opening kickoff. You have games like that sometimes.<\/p>\n
When you do, men like Viator still expect his players to work hard and perform to the final whistle, which the Cowboys did, cutting the deficit to a respectable 16 points.<\/p>\n
With more spread offenses to come down the line, this McNeese defense must find ways to put pressure on the quarterback without blitzing every down to allow for extra bodies to cover extra receivers.<\/p>\n
They had limited big plays of over 20 yards to a minimum before Sam Houston. They need to find solutions to that issue and quickly.<\/p>\n
Before the season even began, Daniel Sams, a newly minted Cowboy with his transfer from Kansas State, told me he could make all the throws necessary to play quarterback. It has been slow progress with him in the passing game, but there appears to be light at the end of this tunnel.<\/p>\n
He made some nice throws late at Sam Houston, with two coming on must-have fourth-down passes.<\/p>\n
I believe Sams can develop into a 50-55 completion percentage quarterback and can throw both in the pocket and on the run. But he must be given more passing opportunities. It falls on him to make his reads and progressions and take the check-down completion instead of simply running the ball when plays break down.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019m not blind, mind you. He is an exciting runner, and can be a game changer with his legs. (He leads McNeese with 466 yards rushing.)<\/p>\n
It seems Sams has edged out Bolfing for the starting quarterback position, while Bolfing will continue to rotate in to test defenses with a different formation and skill set.<\/p>\n
For McNeese to truly contend in the SLC (no mention from me on anything else), it starts and ends at quarterback. Sams must establish a balance between his arm and legs. Production can come from both, but when the game plan leans too heavily on his running, defenses will scheme and execute ways to contain him.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when he must win with his arm.<\/p>\n
Those season-ending injuries to receivers Wes Briscoe and Kent Shelby are beginning to hamper the passing game. That\u2019s two big targets the Cowboys could use right about now.\u00a0 Khalil Thomas has caught a touchdown pass in his third consecutive game, while the tight ends have disappeared in the game plan.<\/p>\n
Freshman tailback Ryan Ross has emerged from the redshirt ranks and has been impressive in the open field and in close quarters, tying fellow tailback Derrick Milton with a team-high five touchdowns. This kid\u2019s power and moxie are on equal terms.<\/p>\n
An early loss to rival Sam Houston on the road will not derail McNeese from its mission.<\/p>\n
As Viator says, this team loves to practice and compete. It will most assuredly go back to work to regroup and rebound for its homecoming weekend against Abilene Christian.\u00a0 Road games at Incarnate Word and longtime nemesis Northwestern State will follow in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
The Cowboys\u2019 goal and responsibility needs to be next game up. The team needs to silence all this national championship talk.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Get Rick Sarro\u2019s perspectives on sports on Soundoff 60, which airs Monday through Sunday nights at 9 pm on Suddenlink Channel 60 and Saturday and Sunday mornings at 10 am as well.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Matt Viator did say that Sam Houston State was a \u201cdifferent animal\u201d compared to McNeese\u2019s earlier three opponents, which were beaten by an average of 42 points. The BearKats were more like bears than mild-mannered cats as they brought the Cowboys back down to earth with a convincing 38-22 conference win in Huntsville. The loss [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,33,494],"yoast_head":"\n