# 2017 Sam Houston State Bearkats football team

The 2017 Sam Houston State Bearkats football team represented Sam Houston State University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Bearkats were led by fourth-year head coach K. C. Keeler and played their home games at Bowers Stadium. They were a member of the Southland Conference. They finished the season 12–2, 8–1 in Southland play to finish in second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS playoffs where they defeated South Dakota in the first round and Kennesaw State in the quarterfinals before losing in the semifinals to North Dakota State.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 1 | 6:00 p.m. | No. 7 Richmond* | No. 3 | McLane StadiumWaco, TX | ESPN3 | W 48–34 | 8,048 |
| September 7 | 6:30 p.m. | at Prairie View A&M* | No. 3 | Panther Stadium at Blackshear FieldPrairie View, TX | ESPNU | W 44–31 | 8,465 |
| September 23 | 6:00 p.m. | Nicholls State | No. 3 | Bowers StadiumHuntsville, TX | ESPN3 | W 66–17 | 12,863 |
| September 30 | 6:00 p.m. | at No. 11 Central Arkansas | No. 3 | Estes StadiumConway, AR | ESPN3 | L 30–41 | 11,347 |
| October 7 | 1:00 p.m. | vs. Stephen F. Austin | No. 9 | NRG StadiumHouston, TX (Battle of the Piney Woods) | ESPN3 | W 27–16 | 26,792 |
| October 14 | 3:45 p.m. | Northwestern State | No. 9 | Bowers StadiumHuntsville, TX | ELVN | W 40–36 | 5,229 |
| October 21 | 3:00 p.m. | Lamar | No. 7 | Bowers StadiumHuntsville, TX | ESPN3 | W 63–27 | 8,031 |
| October 28 | 7:00 p.m. | at Southeastern Louisiana | No. 5 | Strawberry StadiumHammond, LA | ESPN3 | W 33–23 | 6,027 |
| November 4 | 1:00 p.m. | Incarnate Word | No. 5 | Bowers StadiumHuntsville, TX | ESPN3 | W 57–20 | 5,077 |
| November 11 | 6:00 p.m. | at Abilene Christian | No. 4 | Wildcat StadiumAbilene, TX | ESPN3 | W 44–35 | 5,995 |
| November 18 | 1:00 p.m. | Houston Baptist | No. 5 | Bowers StadiumHuntsville, TX | ESPN3 | W 53–33 | 6,515 |
| December 2 | 2:00 p.m. | No. 16 South Dakota* | No. 5 | Bowers StadiumHuntsville, TX (NCAA Division I Second Round) | ESPN3 | W 54–42 | 4,401 |
| December 9 | 7:30 p.m. | No. 18 Kennesaw State* | No. 5 | Bowers StadiumHuntsville, TX (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal) | ESPN3 | W 34–27 | 5,725 |
| December 15 | 7:00 p.m. | at No. 4 North Dakota State* | No. 5 | FargodomeFargo, ND (NCAA Division I Semifinal) | ESPN2 | L 13–55 | 18,279 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Central time ||||||||
* ↑ Game was originally scheduled for August 27, but postponed and relocated due to Hurricane Harvey.

## Game summaries
### Richmond

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 7 Spiders | 6 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 34 |
| • No. 3 Bearkats | 6 | 35 | 7 | 0 | 48 |

### @ Prairie View A&M

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • No. 3 Bearkats | 17 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 44 |
| Panthers | 3 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 31 |

### Nicholls

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Colonels | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 17 |
| • No. 3 Bearkats | 14 | 24 | 21 | 7 | 66 |

### @ Central Arkansas

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 3 Bearkats | 7 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 30 |
| • No. 11 Bears | 14 | 17 | 3 | 7 | 41 |

### Vs. Stephen F. Austin

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Lumberjacks | 0 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 16 |
| • No. 9 Bearkats | 17 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 27 |

### Northwestern State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Demons | 17 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 36 |
| • No. 9 Bearkats | 7 | 14 | 7 | 12 | 40 |

### Lamar

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Cardinals | 7 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 27 |
| • No. 7 Bearkats | 16 | 31 | 10 | 6 | 63 |

### @ Southeastern Louisiana

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • No. 5 Bearkats | 9 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 33 |
| Lions | 3 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 23 |

### Incarnate Word

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Cardinals | 7 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 20 |
| • No. 5 Bearkats | 23 | 13 | 21 | 0 | 57 |

### @ Abilene Christian

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • No. 4 Bearkats | 24 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 44 |
| Demons | 0 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 35 |

### Houston Baptist

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Huskies | 7 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 33 |
| • No. 5 Bearkats | 26 | 7 | 13 | 7 | 53 |

## FCS Playoffs
### South Dakota–Second Round

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 16 Coyotes | 7 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 42 |
| • No. 5 Bearkats | 14 | 27 | 0 | 13 | 54 |

### Kennesaw State–Quarterfinals

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 18 Owls | 7 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 27 |
| • No. 5 Bearkats | 14 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 34 |

### @ North Dakota State–Semifinals

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 5 Bearkats | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 13 |
| • No. 4 Bison | 21 | 20 | 14 | 0 | 55 |

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking ( ) = First-place votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final |
| STATS FCS | 3 (7) | 3 (2) | 3 | 3 (1) | 3 (2) | 9 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Coaches | 3 (3) | 3 (1) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 |