Bearkat Bites: What Are Sam Houston's Winnable Games?

Also, a kicker battle? Plus, Phil Longo provides an offensive update

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Offseason Ground Rules
Now that spring ball has concluded, we now embark on the four month slog between now and the August 23rd start of football season. Along our path will be endless glances at the schedule, preview magazines, conference media day, and hot takes all around. Bearkat Bites will be here for you all offseason long creating a lot of those previews and takes. Opinions get heated this time of year, so I want to lay some offseason ground rules for how we will be approaching the summer.

1. We are literally shooting in the dark when it comes to the Sam Houston roster

   I thought about doing a few sample depth charts for the Bearkats for fun here…but the reality is we have no clue on what things will look like come the season. The team is still signing guys out of the portal and these are all new faces. So anything I write about when it comes to Sam Houston’s personnel are just educated guesses at this point.

2. I reserve the right to change my mind on any pick on anything prior to gameday

   This is in reference to games (which you can see below). There is always some sort of surprise around CUSA football that we do not see coming. Until game kickoff I can flip more times than Simone Biles.

3. It’s totally cool to voice your opinion

   At this point of the season, reporter and fan alike are all just throwing things out there as far as what we think will happen during the season. As long as you keep it classy, feel free to disagree with anything down in the comments.

Phil Longo Speaks
As the new head coach continues to settle into his digs in Huntsville, Longo sat down with the school’s sports network to discuss how things are going in the first few months on the job. It’s mostly the safe back and forth that one would expect from a school-sponsored podcast, however, there were a few tidbits I found interesting.

1. Longo will call the plays on offense this year
   While not a huge surprise, it is worth mentioning. Longo said he would call the plays this year and look at slowly handing the controls over to OC Zack Patterson. Long term, this confirms that Longo is here for the long haul and that they may look at grooming a replacement for him if/when he decides to step away.

2. Longo and the ‘Kats are still in process of transitioning from FCS to FBS
   Oh, you thought that New Orleans Bowl victory meant that Sam Houston had planted its FBS flag? Not so fast, insists Longo, who said there is still work to be done to catch the Bearkats up to where they need to be on this level of competition. The results from the other sports around the school shows there is still work to be done.

3. Sam Houston moved to FBS without knowledge of the new NIL world
   Sam Houston thought it was entering a completely different FBS environment than the one currently existing. When the ‘Kats announced their move up, there were no House settlements forcing teams to pay players and NIL still had the false face of “it’s just a little money in exchange for a commercial”. College football is now pay to play and Sam Houston is scurrying to catch up to the contenders of Conference USA. One has to wonder would they have made the move knowing what they now know?

4. Focus will be on retaining players vs more of recruiting

   This makes sense, given the sheer number of faces peppering the Sam Houston roster. Longo has sad he wants to focus on retaining the best players while using the portal for depth and HS recruiting for development. Sounds kind of similar to what former head man KC Keeler said a year ago. Longo is here for the long term so this plan will be exciting to see branch out.
   

A New Batch of Bearkats
Sam Houston continued to make moves in the portal this past week, grabbing a handful of guys that you can see below and here.

We discussed Alton McCaskill last week, and outside of him, there is not much to get excited about here. Most of these guys are undersized and/or did not play a season ago.

A few names that did stand out to me are safety CJ Brown and o-lineman Kevin Kolonji. Brown had a nice 2024 at Bowling Green during head coach Scott Loffler’s final season, and while Kolonji was not in the o-linemen rotation for Maryland, His 6’5, 327lb frame is a welcome addition to an offensive line in need of depth.

The rest are names that you hope fill in a few gaps and snaps here and there. A few more may be announced as we enter summer.

Grouping Sam Houston’s Games
One thing we can all agree on is that Sam Houston’s slate of games…..aren’t exactly for the faint of heart. First year head coach Phil Longo kicks off the season with a ROAD CONFERENCE GAME against perennial conference contender Western Kentucky. That pretty much sets the tone for the Bearkats’ not-at-all-easy schedule. So when can you as a fan expect a ‘Kats victory? When will they be up against the wall? I broke down the games into tiers.

TIER ONE: THE GHOST OF SAM HOUSTON WILL NEED TO WORK A MIRACLE
at Western Kentucky (August 23)
UNLV (August 30)
at Texas (September 20)
JaxSt (October 9)
at Oregon St (November 8)
Let’s face it, these games are just not going to happen for the ‘Kats. A conference road opener, followed by Dan Mullen’s UNLV team? Then AT Texas? Where God’s gift to football Arch Manning (kidding!) will make more than the entire Bearkats football team (possibly not kidding!) Forgetaboutit. The team should be improved from these experiences, but the lessons learned will not be enough against defending CUSA champ Jacksonville(ALABAMA) St. and (likely) a cold night at Oregon St. But hey, miracles happen, I just don’t see it.

TIER TWO: LUCKY BOUNCE HERE, FAVORABLE CALL THERE…
at Hawaii (September 6)
at Middle Tennessee (November 22)
at LaTech (October 31)
These games may be on the road, but they are all against coaches under various degrees of pressure. Timmy Chang has to battle his own administration as well as the opponent on the field, while Sonny Cumbie needs a big season in Ruston. Meanwhile, Middle Tennessee didn’t exactly light the world on fire during Derek Mason’s first year in Murfreesboro. Given that two of the games are later in the year, I figure Sam Houston can scrape out one or two of them.

TIER THREE: MAKE SURE YOU WATCH THESE W’s
at New Mexico St. (October 2)
UTEP (October 15)
Delaware (November 15)
FIU (November 29)
For a variety of reasons, these are the games that should result in a W for the ‘Kats. New Mexico St. and UTEP are….still those teams and until I see differently, I will pencil them in as wins. Additionally, Delaware is a new face on the FBS block so who knows how banged up they will be when the visit Houston in November. Meanwhile, FIU has a fellow first year coach and that shapes up to be the type of season finale game where the road team just does not have the right energy.

What do you think? Am I being too generous? Or too mean? I will also be breaking down each team on the schedule this summer so stay tuned for that as well!

Kicker Battle?
That’s right, a real, live kicker battle! The addition of RJ Lopez from Purdue means that he along with last year’s kicker, Christian Pavon and freshman Tate Ryan will enter a three way cage match in August to decide who will have the golden toe for the Bearkats.

Okay, it won’t be that intense, but it after 2024, it is refreshing to see more attention given to this position. The Bearkats will need to eek out some games this year and a solid kicker goes a long way in accomplishing that task.

We have discussed Pavon’s 2024 struggles previously, while Tate Ryan was recruited as a five star out of The Woodlands and was ranked #3 in the state at his position. Lopez, meanwhile did not attempt a single kick during lone year at Purdue after transferring from UCLA, where he was 6/11 in 2023.

For those who are curious, kicker Colby Sessums is no longer with the team.