# 2014 Sam Houston State Bearkats football team

The 2014 Sam Houston State Bearkats football team represented Sam Houston State University in the 2014 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Bearkats were led by first-year head coach K. C. Keeler and played their home games at Bowers Stadium. They are a member of the Southland Conference. They finished the season 11–5, 7–1 in Southland play to finish in a share of the Southland Conference title. They received the Southland's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Southeastern Louisiana, Jacksonville State, and Villanova to advance to the Semifinals where they lost to North Dakota State. But, along the way they lost to eventual D-2 Champion CSU-Pueblo.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| August 23 | 2:30 pm | at No. 1 Eastern Washington* | No. 17 | Roos FieldCheney, WA (FCS Kickoff) | ESPN | L 35–56 | 10,310 |
| August 30 | 6:30 pm | Alabama State* | No. 17 | Bowers StadiumHuntsville, TX | | W 51–20 | 7,595 |
| September 6 | 6:30 pm | at No. 12 (FBS) LSU* | No. 15 | Tiger StadiumBaton Rouge, LA | SECN | L 0–56 | 100,338 |
| September 13 | 6:30 pm | No. 2 (D-II) CSU–Pueblo* | No. 15 | Bowers StadiumHuntsville, TX | BSN | L 21–47 | 9,678 |
| September 27 | 7:00 pm | at Lamar | | Provost Umphrey StadiumBeaumont, TX | | W 42–10 | 9,308 |
| October 11 | 3:00 pm | No. 5 McNeese State | | Bowers StadiumHuntsville, TX | SLCTV | W 38–22 | 8,418 |
| October 18 | 3:00 pm | at Northwestern State | No. 24 | Harry Turpin StadiumNatchitoches, LA | SLCTV | L 27–31 | 7,895 |
| October 25 | 3:00 pm | Abilene Christian | | Bowers StadiumHuntsville, TX | BSN | W 38–21 | 7,073 |
| November 1 | 3:00 pm | vs. No. 24 Stephen F. Austin | | Reliant StadiumHouston, TX (Battle of the Piney Woods) | SLCTV | W 42–28 | 26,788 |
| November 8 | 6:00 pm | at Incarnate Word | | Gayle and Tom Benson StadiumSan Antonio, TX | | W 40–19 | 3,476 |
| November 15 | 3:00 pm | at Houston Baptist | | Husky StadiumHouston, TX | FSSW | W 76–0 | 3,124 |
| November 22 | 12:30 pm | Central Arkansas | No. 23 | Bowers StadiumHuntsville, TX | SLCTV | W 38–31 | 5,717 |
| November 29 | 1:00 pm | No. 11 Southeastern Louisiana* | No. 19 | Bowers StadiumHuntsville, TX (NCAA Division I First Round) | ESPN3 | W 21–17 | 4,758 |
| December 6 | 1:00 pm | at No. 3 Jacksonville State* | No. 19 | JSU StadiumJacksonville, AL (NCAA Division I Second Round) | ESPN3 | W 37–26 | 10,832 |
| December 13 | 12:00 pm | at No. 5 Villanova* | No. 19 | Villanova StadiumVillanova, PA (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal) | ESPN3 | W 34–31 | 2,333 |
| December 19 | 7:00 pm | at No. 2 North Dakota State* | No. 19 | FargodomeFargo, ND (NCAA Division I Semifinal) | ESPN2 | L 3–35 | 18,025 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from The Sports Network Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Central time |||||||||

## Game summaries
### At Eastern Washington

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #14 Bearkats | 0 | 21 | 0 | 14 | 35 |
| • #2 Eagles | 7 | 14 | 7 | 28 | 56 |

### Alabama State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Hornets | 7 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 20 |
| • #14 Bearkats | 14 | 24 | 10 | 3 | 51 |

### At LSU

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #15 Bearkats | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| • #12 (FBS) Tigers | 20 | 15 | 7 | 14 | 56 |

### CSU-Pueblo

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #2 (D-II) ThunderWolves | 14 | 13 | 17 | 3 | 47 |
| #15 Bearkats | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 21 |

### At Lamar

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Bearkats | 13 | 6 | 7 | 16 | 42 |
| Cardinals | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 10 |

### McNeese State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #5 Cowboys | 0 | 7 | 0 | 15 | 22 |
| • Bearkats | 14 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 38 |

### At Northwestern State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #24 Bearkats | 14 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 27 |
| • Demons | 7 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 31 |

### Abilene Christian

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Wildcats | 0 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 21 |
| • Bearkats | 7 | 17 | 7 | 7 | 38 |

### Stephen F Austin (Reliant Stadium)

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Wildcats | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 28 |
| • Bearkats | 7 | 14 | 14 | 7 | 42 |

### At Incarnate Word

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Bearkats | 23 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 40 |
| Cardinals | 0 | 16 | 0 | 3 | 19 |

### At Houston Baptist

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Bearkats | 35 | 20 | 7 | 14 | 76 |
| Huskies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Central Arkansas

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 7 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 31 |
| • #23 Bearkats | 14 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 38 |

## FCS Playoffs
### Southeastern Louisiana (FCS Playoffs First Round)

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Lions | 3 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 17 |
| • #19 Bearkats | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 21 |

### At Jacksonville State (FCS Playoffs Second Round)

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #19 Bearkats | 7 | 17 | 13 | 0 | 37 |
| #3 Gamecocks | 14 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 26 |

### At Villanova (FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals)

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #19 Bearkats | 7 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 34 |
| #5 Wildcats | 13 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 31 |

### At North Dakota St (FCS Playoffs Semifinal)

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #19 Bearkats | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| • #2 Bison | 7 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 35 |

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | 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 | 13 | Final |
| Sports Network | 17 | 15 | 15 | 25 | RV | RV | RV | 24 | RV | RV | RV | RV | 23 | 19 | 6 |
| Coaches | 14 | 13 | 15 | 25 | RV | RV | RV | 25 | RV | — | RV | RV | RV | 19 | 6 |