Sam Houston State meets one of the four teams tied for first place in the 2009 Southland Conference football race Saturday in Lake Charles, LA, when the Bearkats take on the Cowboys of McNeese State.

McNeese, Southeastern Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin and Texas State all own 3-1 league records. The Cowboys are 6-2 for the season. Sam Houston comes into the contest with a 2-2 Southland record and a 4-4 mark overall. Sam Houston is 0-4 on the road this season and McNeese is 4-0 at home.

Louisiana traditionally is a tough venue for the Bearkats. Sam Houston State has won 18, lost 51 and tied three times in their 72 football appearances in the Pelican State. The Kats fell to Southeastern Louisiana 37-21 in Hammond in their most recent visit to Louisiana. Sam Houston's last victory east of the Sabine River was a 47-37 win over Nicholls in 2008.

McNeese State leads the all-time series with Sam Houston 22 victories to seven. There has been one tie.

Since Sam Houston joined the Southland Conference in 1987, the Cowboys hold an 18-3 advantage over the Kats. The Bearkats are 1-10 in Lake Charles. Sam Houston won 20-3 there in 1999. The other two Bearkat victories over McNeese were a 30-25 win in 1996 and a 52-47 thrilled in 2004, both in Huntsville.

McNeese has won the last four meetings between the pair.

McNeese defeated Sam Houston 28-17 in last year's game in Huntsville. Running back Todd Pendland rushed 24 times for 194 yards and three touchdowns on runs of 3, 68 and 12 yards. Down 14-3 at halftime, Sam Houston fought back to cut the margin to 14-10 thanks to an 80-yard Rhett Bomar to Chris Lucas scoring strike. The TD throw has Bomar's longest pass in his two years at Sam Houston.

Jeremy Haynes returned an interception 45 yards for a late third quarter touchdown and Pendland's third touchdown with 7:28 remaining put the game out of reach. Bomar hit Trey Payne for a 14-yard score with 18 seconds remaining.

McNeese out-gained Sam Houston 410 to 269 yards total offense.

Sam Houston stands 4-4 for the 2009 season and 2-2 in Southland Conference play. All four of SHSU's victories have come at home in Bowers Stadium.

The Bearkats defeated Northwestern State 34-30 Saturday in a contest that saw eight lead changes. The victory snapped a two-game losing skid for the Kats who had lost to Southeastern Louisiana 37-21 and No. 15 ranked Stephen F. Austin 42-3 loss in a pair of road games.

Quarterback Blake Joseph hit Jason Madkins for a 39-yard scoring pass with 5:37 to play for the winning points.

The Kats opened the season with a pair of thrillers with NCAA Division I FCS foes that both went to the final gun. Sam Houston lost its opener 35-28 to Western Illinois after failing to force overtime with an incomplete pass into the end zone from the WIU three-yard-line on the games final play.

In the Bearkats' second game, Joseph and Madkins hooked up for a 51-yard pass to set up freshman Miquel Antonio's game-winning field goal as Sam Houston earned a 48-45 victory over North Dakota State.

Conference USA member Tulsa handed the Kats a 56-3 loss in Sam Houston's first road game.

Sam Houston defeated Saint Joseph's of Indiana 41-0 in its final non-conference contest before opening Southland Conference action with a 44-21 victory over Nicholls.

Sam Houston averages 378.2 yards per game total offense this year.

Quarterback Blake Joseph, a senior from Bryan who transferred to Sam Houston this August from the University of Houston has passed for 1,734 yards and nine touchdowns in seven games. He missed SFA contest with an injury, but returned to throw for 332 yards and two scores and run 65 yards for a touchdown in the 34-30 victory over the Demons.

Senior 6-5 wide receiver Jason Madkins has made 37 catches for 748 yards and six scores.

Running back James Aston, a senior from Katy, leads the Southland Conference in all-purpose yards. He has rushed for 566 yards, caught 23 passes for 235 yards and returned 20 kickoffs for 502 yards (including an 89-yard TD at Southeastern Louisiana). He has scored 10 touchdowns. Aston's status for the McNeese game is uncertain after leaving the Northwestern State contest last Saturday with an injury.

Chris Poullard, who along with Aston has rushed for more than 1,000-yards in his Bearkat career, has carried 86 times for 326 yards and three touchdowns this year. He was an All-Southland Conference selection at running back in 2007.

Aston and Poullard both have rushed for more than 1,000-yards during their Bearkat careers. Aston has carried 277 times for 1,457 yards and 19 touchdowns. Poullard's career total is 285 carries for 1,345 yards and 15 scores.

With only two starters from the 2008 season back on defense and seven freshmen and three sophomores listed in the two-deep, Sam Houston's defense has struggled at times this fall.

Sam Houston has surrendered 426.2 yards per game. But the unit has had bright moments. The Bearkats shut out Saint Joseph's, limiting the Pumas to only 126 yards total offense. After Nicholls took a 21-17 lead five minutes into the second half, the defense rallied and shut out the Colonels for the rest of the game while the offense produced 27 unanswered points.

In the 34-30 victory over Northwestern State, the Bearkats came up with two big fourth quarter turnovers to help preserve the win.

Linebackers Will Henry (56 tackles) and Luke McCall (52 tackles) and defensive backs Kenneth Jenkins (54 tackles) and Victor Carmichael (52 tackles) lead the Bearkat defense. Defensive end Chris Brown leads the Bearkats in quarterback sacks with three. Brown ranks fifth in career sacks at Sam Houston with 15.

Sam Houston will return home next Saturday, Nov. 14, for the Kats' final home 2009 game at Bowers Stadium. Tickets are $25 for reserved chairbacks and $15 for general admission. Order tickets on line at www.gobearkats.com or contact the Sam Houston State ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The SHSU Athletic Ticket office telephone is 936 294-1729.