# 2020 Houston Baptist Huskies football team

The 2020 Houston Baptist Huskies football team represented Houston Baptist University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Huskies played four non-conference games in the fall of 2020 and opted out of the Southland Conference season played in the spring of 2021 and instead competed as an FCS independent. Led by eighth-year head coach Vic Shealy, Houston Baptist compiled a record of 1–3. The team played home games at Husky Stadium in Houston.

## Preseason
### Preseason poll

The Southland Conference released their original preseason poll in July 2020. The Huskies were picked to finish ninth in the conference, prior to their schedule split from the rest of the league. In addition, five Huskies were chosen to the Preseason All-Southland Team
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Central Arkansas* | 190 (12) |
| 2 | Sam Houston State | 170 (4) |
| 3 | Nicholls | 169 (6) |
| 4 | Southeastern Louisiana | 157 |
| 5 | McNeese State | 113 |
| 6 | Incarnate Word | 104 |
| 7 | Abilene Christian* | 101 |
| 8 | Stephen F. Austin* | 60 |
| 9 | Houston Baptist* | 59 |
| 10 | Northwestern State | 49 |
| 11 | Lamar | 38 |
(*) These teams opted out of playing in the revised spring 2021 Southland schedule, and instead played as Independent in the fall of 2020.

### Preseason All–Southland Teams
## Schedule

Houston Baptist had a game scheduled against Texas Southern, but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 22, Houston Baptist announced that it had added a game against Louisiana Tech as a replacement for Texas Southern.
| Date | Time | Opponent | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 5 | 6:30 p.m. | at North Texas | Apogee StadiumDenton, TX | ESPN3 | L 31–57 | 7,611 |
| September 12 | 7:00 p.m. | at Texas Tech | Jones AT&T StadiumLubbock, TX | ESPN+ | L 33–35 | 11,157 |
| September 26 | 6:00 p.m. | at Louisiana Tech | Joe Aillet StadiumRuston, LA | ESPN3 | L 38–66 | 7,140 |
| October 3 | 2:00 p.m. | at Eastern Kentucky | Roy Kidd StadiumRichmond, KY | ESPN+ | W 33–30 | 2,916 |
| Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Central time |||||||

## Game summaries
### At North Texas

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Huskies | 0 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 31 |
| Mean Green | 14 | 9 | 20 | 14 | 57 |
at Apogee Stadium, Denton, Texas
* Date: September 5
* Game time: 6:30 p.m. CDT
* Game weather: Cloudy, 77 °F (25 °C)
* Game attendance: 7,611
* Referee: Billy Williams
* TV announcers (ESPN3): Doug Anderson and LaDarrin McLane
* Box score, Recap
| Statistics | HBU | UNT |
| First downs | 28 | 33 |
| Total yards | 569 | 721 |
| Rushing yards | 89 | 360 |
| Passing yards | 480 | 361 |
| Turnovers | 0 | 1 |
| Time of possession | 31:41 | 28:19 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
| Houston Baptist | Passing | Bailey Zappe | 39/62, 480 yards, 3 TD |
| Houston Baptist | Rushing | Ean Beek | 12 rushes, 48 yards |
| Houston Baptist | Receiving | Ben Ratzlaff | 6 receptions, 108 yards, TD |
| North Texas | Passing | Jason Bean | 11/18, 217 yards, 3 TD, INT |
| North Texas | Rushing | Oscar Adaway III | 5 rushes, 118 yards, 2 TD |
| North Texas | Receiving | Greg White | 2 receptions, 76 yards, TD |

### At Texas Tech

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Huskies | 3 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 33 |
| Red Raiders | 14 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 35 |
at Jones AT&T Stadium, Lubbock, Texas
* Date: September 12
* Game time: 7:00 p.m. CDT
* Game attendance: 11,157
* Referee: Brad Van Vark
* TV announcers (ESPN+): Anish Shroff, Tom Luginbill, and Ian Fitzsimmons
* Box score, Recap
| Statistics | HBU | TTU |
| First downs | 28 | 35 |
| Total yards | 600 | 624 |
| Rushing yards | 28 | 194 |
| Passing yards | 572 | 430 |
| Turnovers | 1 | 1 |
| Time of possession | 26:56 | 33:04 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
| Houston Baptist | Passing | Bailey Zappe | 30/49, 567 yards, 4 TD |
| Houston Baptist | Rushing | Ean Beek | 16 rushes, 34 yards |
| Houston Baptist | Receiving | Josh Sterns | 5 receptions, 209 yards, 2 TD |
| Texas Tech | Passing | Alan Bowman | 38/52, 430 yards, 2 TD, INT |
| Texas Tech | Rushing | SaRodorick Thompson | 22 rushes, 118 yards, 2 TD |
| Texas Tech | Receiving | KeSean Carter | 6 receptions, 86 yards, TD |

### At Louisiana Tech

| Pregame line | Over/under |
| LT −23.5 | 71 |
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Huskies | 14 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 38 |
| Bulldogs | 17 | 21 | 14 | 14 | 66 |
at Joe Aillet Stadium, Ruston, Louisiana
* Date: September 26
* Game time: 6:00 p.m. CDT
* Game weather: Sunny • Temperature: 82 °F (28 °C) • Wind: 0 MPH
* Game attendance: 11,157
* Referee: Ken Antee
* TV announcers (ESPN3): Lyn Rollins (play-by-play) and Chris Mycoskie (analyst)
* Box score, Recap
| Statistics | HBU | LT |
| First downs | 26 | 32 |
| Total yards | 501 | 542 |
| Rushing yards | 95 | 182 |
| Passing yards | 406 | 360 |
| Turnovers | 2 | 1 |
| Time of possession | 29:37 | 30:23 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
| Houston Baptist | Passing | Bailey Zappe | 37/58, 406 yards, 5 TD, INT |
| Houston Baptist | Rushing | Ean Beek | 6 rushes, 35 yards |
| Houston Baptist | Receiving | Jerreth Sterns | 14 receptions, 138 yards, 3 TD |
| Louisiana Tech | Passing | Luke Anthony | 17/30, 314 yards, 5 TD, INT |
| Louisiana Tech | Rushing | Justin Henderson | 11 rushes, 77 yards, TD |
| Louisiana Tech | Receiving | Wayne Toussant | 3 receptions, 91 yards, 2 TD |

### At Eastern Kentucky

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Huskies | 14 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 33 |
| Colonels | 7 | 0 | 10 | 13 | 30 |
at Roy Kidd Stadium, Richmond, Kentucky
* Date: October 3
* Game time: 2:00 p.m. CDT
* Game weather: Cloudy 43% Humidity • Temperature: 62–69 °F (17–21 °C) • Wind: 1-3 SW MPH
* Game attendance: 2,916
* Referee: Steve Hazle
* TV: ESPN3
* Box score, Recap
| Statistics | HBU | EKU |
| First downs | 24 | 26 |
| Total yards | 520 | 480 |
| Rushing yards | 140 | 184 |
| Passing yards | 380 | 296 |
| Turnovers | 0 | 3 |
| Time of possession | 27:41 | 32:19 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
| Houston Baptist | Passing | Bailey Zappe | 35/46, 380 yards, 3 TD |
| Houston Baptist | Rushing | Dreshawn Minnieweather | 9 rushes, 38 yards, TD |
| Houston Baptist | Receiving | Vernon Harrell | 10 receptions, 98 yards, TD |
| Eastern Kentucky | Passing | Parker McKinney | 25/40, 296 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT |
| Eastern Kentucky | Rushing | Alonzo Booth | 17 rushes, 108 yards, TD |
| Eastern Kentucky | Receiving | Keyion Dixon | 6 receptions, 112 yards, TD |