How to watch SHSU vs. EWU: Preview, TV schedule and more
For the third straight season, these two FCS heavyweights collide. Only this time, it’s the first college football game of the year.
James Snook-USA TODAY Sports
The 2014 college football season gets started early with a rematch of a legendary 2012 FCS semifinal, as the Sam Houston State Bearkats face the Eastern Washington Eagles on the blood red turf of Roos Field. The August 23 opener marks the earliest start to the college football season in over a decade, and will be broadcast to a football-starved populace by ESPN.
Since 2010, Sam Houston State and Eastern Washington have combined for five conference titles, six FCS playoff appearances, five semifinal appearances, three championship games, and one FCS title. The two programs are a combined 82-28 over that period. When they met in the 2012 national semifinals, Sam Houston State raced to a 35-0 halftime lead only to watch Eastern Washington stage a second-half comeback that fell three points short. The Bearkats also took last year’s regular season rematch, the only regular season game that the Eagles lost to an FCS opponent.
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How to witness
TV: 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Radio: Sam Houston State fans can get the game on 101.7 KSAM. ESPN Radio 700 AM will broadcast for Eastern Washington.
Online streaming: WatchESPN will provide the streaming broadcast.
The numbers
Rankings and records: Eastern Washington starts the season ranked second in the preseason FCS coaches poll, while Sam Houston State is ranked 14th. Six coaches ranked Eastern Washington first on their ballots.
Weather forecast: The early forecast looks perfect: Clear skies with a high near 80 degrees.
Three names to know
Vernon Adams, QB, Eastern Washington: The junior signalcaller was second in FCS football in total yards per game last season, finishing his season just six yards shy of 5,000 yards passing. Adams ran for an additional 486 yards, totaled 59 touchdowns (55 passing, 4 rushing), and was runner-up for the Walter Payton Award (the FCS equivalent of the Heisman Trophy). He was named an FCS preseason first team All-American, one of five Eagles to earn that distinction.
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K.C. Keeler, Head Coach, Sam Houston State: The Bearkats will be playing their first game without former head coach Willie Fritz, who left the program this offseason to guide Georgia Southern into FBS football. K.C. Keeler, who had previously coached at fellow FCS powerhouse Delaware, takes the reins for the first time Saturday. Keeler made four playoff appearances and won a national title in eleven seasons with the Fightin’ Blue Hens, but went just 12-10 in his last two seasons at the school.
Cooper Kupp, WR, Eastern Washington: Kupp led the Eagles with 93 catches for 1,691 yards and 21 scores last season, leading the nation in both receiving yards and scores. It was enough to earn the 6’2, 195-lb. receiver first team All-American honors from the Associated Press and the American Football Coaches Association. Oh yeah, and he did all of that as a redshirt freshman.
Two things at stake
For Eastern Washington, Saturday’s opener represents a chance to exorcise the demons of the last two seasons and stake a legitimate claim to the No. 1 poll ranking that North Dakota State has held for three seasons. The Eagles are just two weeks from a trip to FBS No. 25 Washington, and two losses to good teams in the season’s first three games could put them in a hole before the season ever really starts.
Sam Houston State faces its own dilemma: Coming off its worst season since 2010 and playing with a new coach, the Bearkats must shake the feeling that their run could be coming to an end. Nothing would catapult SHSU back into the national championship picture like a road win over No. 2, but did the magic touch against the Eagles leave with Fritz? The Bearkats also face their own scheduling problem, as a visit to LSU on September 6 looms large.
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