Southland Saturday: Nov. 21

11/21/2009 6:00:00 AM

Stephen F. Austin and McNeese State find themselves tied atop the Southland Conference football standings with one game remaining. That means if each wins next week, the two will split the regular-season championship. Stephen F. Austin plays at Northwestern State and McNeese State will play host to Central Arkansas. The Lumberjacks hold the tie-breaker against McNeese State after a 16-13 victory on Oct. 10, and would be the Southland's automatic qualifier into the Division I Playoffs if they can beat the winless Demons. For McNeese to be the automatic qualifier, it would need to beat Central Arkansas and have Northwestern State pull the upset against Stephen F. Austin.

Should Stephen F. Austin and McNeese State both lose, the Lumberjacks would be the automatic qualifier. Stephen F. Austin holds all three-team tiebreakers for the AQ over McNeese State and Texas State, though all three teams could win part of the championship should both Stephen F. Austin and McNeese State falter. Texas State plays hots to Sam Houston State at 2 p.m.

No. 16/15 Stephen F. Austin (8-2, 5-1 Southland)
at Northwestern State (0-10, 0-6 Southland)

Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009; 2 p.m., CST
Turpin Stadium; Natchitoches, La.

Series: Northwestern leads 43-19-3 Last Meeting: 2008, Northwestern 34-24

Stephen F. Austin Game Notes | Stephen F. Austin Twitter
Northwestern State Game Notes | Northwestern State Twitter | Live Stats | Streaming

Stephen F. Austin Notes: The Lumberjacks won their eighth game this season with a 41-10 road victory at Southeastern Louisiana last Saturday ... the eight wins are the most since 1999, when they were co-champions of the Southland ... Stephen F. Austin totaled 512 yards on offense and limited the Lions to less than 200 ... QB Jeremy Moses completed 36-of-56 passes for 318 yards and four TDs ... SFA added 191 yards on the ground, led by Vincent Pervis, who tallied 77 yards and a TD on 14 carries ... WR Duane Brooks hauled in 11 passes for 85 yards and Aaron Rhea had six receptions for 66 yards and a TD ... SFA leads the nation in scoring (39.0) and passing (347.4) is second in total offense (484.3) and seventh in passing efficiency (153.86) ... Moses ranks fourth in total offense (320.9) ... SFA ranks third in sacks (3.60), fourth in fewest sacks allowed (0.8 per game) and 13th in tackles for loss (7.7) ... Tim Knicky leads the nation sacks, averaging 1.22 per game.

Northwestern State Notes: Northwestern lost 28-21 at Nicholls last Saturday and has just one more chance to gain a victory this season, the first under coach Bradley Dale Peveto ... the Demons' last 0-10 start was in 1974 and they beat Southeastern Louisiana in the final game of the season ... Northwestern was winless in two games in 1916 and in one game in 1907 ... QB Paul Harris was intercepted in the end zone on fourth-and-9 at the Nicholls 15 with a little more than one minute to go to seal the Demons' fate Saturday in Thibodaux ... Northwestern outgained the Colonels 402-336, but committed three turnovers to Nicholls' none ... Harris completed 18-of-30 passes for 261 yards and a TD ... he added 59 rushing yards on 15 carries ... WR Justin Aldredge caught four passes for 98 yards and a score ... the Demons are averaging 14.8 points and 330.3 yards per game, while allowing 38.2 points and 424.1 yards.

Sam Houston State (5-5, 3-3 Southland)
at Texas State (6-4, 4-1 Southland)

Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009; 2 p.m., CST
Bobcat Stadium; San Marcos, Texas

Series: Texas State leads 48-33-4 Last Meeting: 2008, Texas State 48-45 (OT)

Sam Houston State Game Notes | Sam Houston State Twitter
Texas State Game Notes | Texas State Twitter | Streaming | Live Stats

Sam Houston State Notes: Vincent Dotson returned a blocked punt 36 yards for the go-ahead score to help lift the Bearkats past Central Arkansas, 17-14 ... the punt return gave Sam Houston a 10-7 lead with 8:12 to play in the third quarter ... a Chris Poullard TD extended the lead to 17-7 before the final UCA score with 9:12 to play in the game ... Cameron Jenkins ended a final UCA threat with an interception with 30 seconds remaining ... Poullard ran 19 times for 56 yards and caught five passes for 37 yards ... QB Blake Joseph completed 15-of-24 passes for 165 yards ... RB James Aston's average of 162.9 all-purpose yards ranks eighth in the FCS ... Madkins is averaging 97.0 receiving yards per game to rank sixth ... Joseph's 274.9 yards of total offense per game ranks 14th and his 142.74 pass efficiency rating is ranked 22nd ... Bearkats rank seventh in net punting (37.8) and 14th in punt returns (13.2) ... Brandon Closner is tied for 20th averaging 10.6 yards per punt return.

Texas State Notes: Coming off back-to-back wins over top-25 teams, the Bobcats came up short last Saturday against No. 10 McNeese State, falling 30-27 at home ... Texas State was threatening in the closing seconds, but QB Bradley George was picked at the McNeese 10-yard line ... that snapped a streak of 209 consecutive passes without an INT ... the Bobcats lead 20-7 early in the second quarter, but went into intermission tied at 20 ... George completed 23-of-40 passes for 285 yards and a TD ... Alvin Canady gained 60 yards with three scores ... Texas State ranks seventh nationally in passing (285.6) and 11th in total offense (424.8), ranks 18th in scoring (32.3) and 26th in passing efficiency with a rating of 139.23... George is averaging 283.5 total yards to rank sixth nationally ... Da'Marcus Griggs averages 6.9 receptions per game to rank 13th in the FCS and his 79.1 yards per game ranks 27th.

Central Arkansas (5-5, 2-4 Southland)
at No. 8/8 McNeese State (8-2, 5-1 Southland)

Southland Conference Television Network

Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009; 6 p.m., CST
Cowboy Stadium; Lake Charles, La.

Series: McNeese State leads 2-1 Last Meeting: 2008, Central Arkansas 47-30

Central Arkansas Notes: The Bears have lost three games in a row and four of their last five after last Saturday's 17-14 loss at Sam Houston State ... all five losses have been by five points or less and by an average of 3.6 points ... the Bears, which were held to a season-low 243 yards of offense, had a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown, a touchdown pass called back by penalty and a field goal attempt that never got off the ground because of a bad snap ... the UCA defense held Sam Houston to 256 total yards and forced four turnovers ... QB Robbie Park completed 11-of-30 passes for 106 yards and RB Brent Grimes had 68 rushing yards on 18 attempts ... he extended his school-record scoring marks to 56 touchdowns and 336 points ... UCA leads the Southland in scoring defense, limiting opponents to just 16.7 points per game, and in rushing defense, allowing just 100.8 yards per game ... the Bears also lead in kickoff returns, averaging 21.9 yards per return.

McNeese State Notes: A 28-yard field goal from Josh Lewis with 1:30 remaining in the game lifted McNeese State to a 30-27 win at Texas State last Saturday ... the Cowboys have won five in a row and are tied for first with SFA with one game to play ... TB Toddrick Pendland, who rushed for 187 yards, scored three TDs to lift his career total to 45, tying the school record ... QB Derrick Fourroux completed 17-of-23 passes for 222 yards and a TD ... his effort moved his career-record totals to 7,951 yards passing, 583 completions, 1,931 rushing yards and 91 combined rushing and passing TDs ... he has thrown 64 TD passes, three shy of the school record ... McNeese is second in scoring (38.6), fourth in total offense (462.3) and fifth in both rushing (229.3) and passing efficiency (155.45) ... Pendland leads the nation in scoring (12.4) ... he is sixth in rushing, averaging 105.3 yards per game ... Fourroux ranks 11th in pass efficiency (154.61) and ninth with 278.1 yards of total offense.