Sam Houston State Plays Host to Northwestern State Saturday in Toyota Game of the Week
FRISCO, Texas - Northwestern State will play Sam Houston State Saturday in the Toyota Game of the Week on the Southland Conference Television Network. The telecast begins at 6 p.m. with kickoff scheduled for five minutes later.
Sam Houston is 3-4 and 1-2 in the Southland while Northwestern is looking for its first win of the season at 0-7 overall 0-3 in Southland play. The Demons, led by first-year head coach Bradley Dale Peveto, will be squaring off against their former head coach, Scott Stoker, who joined Todd Whitten's coaching staff at Sam Houston in the offseason as defensive coordinator.
The Bearkats will be trying to snap a two-game losing streak of its own after dropping a pair of road games at Southeastern Louisiana and Stephen F. Austin. Sam Houston averages 358.0 total yards of offense. Quarterback Blake Joseph, a senior transfer from the University of Houston, has passed for 1,402 yards and seven touchdowns in six games. Receiver Jason Madkins has made 30 catches for 601 yards and four scores, though James Aston is the work horse. The senior from Katy, Texas, leads the Southland in all-purpose yards. He has rushed for 538 yards and eight touchdowns. He also has caught 22 passes for 230 yards and a touchdown and has 20 kickoff returns for 502 yards and a touchdown.
Northwestern State averages 315.0 yards per game and has shown improvement in each of the last two games. True freshman quarterback Paul Harris made a big impression in his first start last week vs. Texas State. Harris accounted for 235 yards of total offense and guided a turnover-free offense to a season-best 285-yard rushing output and 402 total yards, the Demons' second-best total in 2009. He ran for 118 yards on 22 carries, becoming the first true freshman since 1998 to run for 100-plus yards in a game. He and William Griffin, who totaled a career-best 121 yards on 14 carries last week against the Bobcats, gave the Demons their first 100-yard rushing tandem in the same game for the first time in two years.
This will be the 32nd meeting in the series, which is led by Northwestern State 18-13. The Demons snapped a two-game losing streak to the Bearkats last season with a 24-16 victory in Natchitoches, La. The series is even in Huntsville with each team winning eight games.
The teams are no strangers to games on Halloween. Sam Houston State is 6-4 and Northwestern State is 5-5. The last time the Demons played on Halloween was in 2002 when they claimed a 38-10 victory over the Bearkats. Sam Houston also has a Halloween victory in the series, a 34-7 home triumph in 1987.
The Southland Conference Television Network is now in its second season. The 2009-10 slate includes 11 football games, 16 men's and women's basketball games and championship games of the soccer, volleyball, softball and baseball conference tournaments. The same broadcast team is back this year. Doug Anderson will handle play-by-play duties, while LaDarrin McLane will serve as the color analyst.
Currently, there are 10 affiliates in the three-state network, including KARZ-TV in Little Rock, Pine Bluff and Conway, Ark.; WBTR-TV in Baton Rouge, La.; WSTY-TV in Hammond, La.; KPXJ-TV in Shreveport, La. and Texarkana, Texas; KUIL-TV in Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas; MyTX 18 in Tyler, Longview, Nacogdoches and Lufkin; KTBU-TV in Houston, Baytown and Sugar Land, Texas; Suddenlink Communications in Lake Charles, La.; Time Warner Cable in Arlington, Austin, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Edinburg, Harlingen, Killeen, Plano, San Antonio, San Marcos, Temple and Waco, Texas; and Grande Communications on the Texas State University campus in San Marcos, Texas.
Fox College Sports will also broadcast the games on a tape-delayed basis each week. Saturday's game between Northwestern State and Sam Houston State will be rebroadcast on Fox College Sports Central Sunday at 4:30 p.m., CDT.
All Southland TV games will be streamed live to SLC NOW, the conference's live and on-demand video and audio channel on Southland.org. All SLC NOW programming is free to anyone who registers on the site.
For more information about Southland TV and SLC NOW, please visit the conference Web site, Southland.org.
Where to watch the game this week:
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ARKANSAS
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Location
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Station
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Channel
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Little Rock
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KARZ
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42 & Comcast Cable Ch. 9
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Conway
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KARZ
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42 & Conway Corp. Cable Ch. 9
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Texarkana
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KPXJ
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21
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LOUISIANA
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Location
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Station
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Channel
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Baton Rouge
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WBTR
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41
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Hammond
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WSTY TV
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23 & Charter Cable Ch. 22
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Lake Charles
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Suddenlink Cable
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74
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Natchitoches
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KPXJ
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Suddenlink Cable 16
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Shreveport
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KPXJ
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21
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TEXAS
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Location
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Station
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Channel
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Arlington
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Time Warner Cable
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185 & Video On Demand
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Austin
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Time Warner Cable
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888 & Video On Demand
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Baytown
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KTBU
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55
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Beaumont-Port Arthur
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KUIL/The U
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Time Warner Cable Ch. 15
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Brownsville
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Time Warner Cable
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888 & Video On Demand
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Corpus Christi
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Time Warner Cable
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100
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Dallas
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Time Warner Cable
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185 & Video On Demand
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Edinburg
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Time Warner Cable
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888
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Harlingen
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Time Warner Cable
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888
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Houston
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KTBU
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55
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Huntsville
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KTBU
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Suddenlink Cable 16
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Killeen
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Time Warner Cable
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888 & Video On Demand
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Longview
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MyTX 18
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WEHCO Cable 10
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Lufkin
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MyTX 18
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Suddenlink Cable 6
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McAllen
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Time Warner Cable
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888
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Nacogdoches
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MyTX 18
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Suddenlink Cable 8
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Plano
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Time Warner Cable
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185 & Video On Demand
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San Antonio
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Time Warner Cable
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888 & Video On Demand
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San Marcos
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Time Warner Cable
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888 & Video On Demand
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Sugar Land
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KTBU
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55
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Temple
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Time Warner Cable
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888 & Video On Demand
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Texas State Campus
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Grande Cable
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17
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Texarkana
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KPXJ
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21
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Tyler
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MyTX 18
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Suddenlink Cable 2
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Waco
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Time Warner Cable
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888 & Video On Demand
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NATIONAL
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Fox College Sports Central (Delay); Sunday, Nov. 1 at 4:30 p.m., CDT.
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