Briscoe’s 5 TD passes fend off upset scare
HUNTSVILLE — Drenched, a bit cold but ultimately delighted, Sam Houston State players heard shouts of “12-0!” on their stroll from the Bowers Stadium field to the field house Saturday night.
The Bearkats are now three more victory walks from the program’s first Football Championship Subdivision national title. They outlasted Chattanooga 41-36 in the second round of the FCS playoffs on a rainy day in Walker County.
“There are only eight teams left,” Sam Houston State coach K.C. Keeler said. “Playing in December is pretty cool.”
The Mocs (9-4) were driving late, but star defensive end P.J. Hall deflected a pass on third-and-10 from the Bearkats’ 25-yard line with 25 seconds remaining. Chattanooga quarterback Alejandro Bennifield then launched a hurried fourthdownpass out of the back of the end zone to wrap up the Sam Houston State victory.
“We knew they were getting ready to pass, and I just got my hands up and was able to bat the ball down,” Hall said.
Yedidiah Louis hauled in three touchdown catches from Bearkats quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe, who threw five touchdown passes in the game. In so doing, Briscoe broke the FCS single-season record with 57 TD passes, the last coming on a 26-yard strike to Nathan Stewart early in the fourth quarter.
“None of that happens without the best receiving corps in the country,” Briscoe said of setting the mark.
Chattanooga had defeated Weber State 45-14 a week prior while Sam Houston State enjoyed last weekend off courtesy of earning one of the 24-team playoffs’ top eight seeds. The fifth-seeded Bearkats travel to Harrisonburg, Va., to face No. 4 seed James Madison (11-1), a 55-22 winner over New Hampshire on Saturday.
Sam Houston State has made at least the national semifinals in four of the last five seasons, with titlegame appearances after the 2011 and 2012 seasons — both losses to North Dakota State.
Sam Houston State figured it had put Saturday’s game out of reach early in sprinting to a 21-0 lead a little more than a quarter into the game, with two TD catches by Louis, including a 31-yarder on a spectacular one-handed grab in the end zone, and a 7-yard scoring run by Corey Avery.
But the Bearkats offense, in an occasional driving rain, went cold at the same time Chattanooga heated up. The Mocs scored three consecutive touchdowns to tie the game, the first time Sam Houston State had been tied in the second half this season. The Bearkats still haven’t trailed in the second half this year.
“We didn’t play our cleanest, and that’s usually because you’re playing a really good football team,” Keeler said. “We haven’t been in a game like this, and we needed to be in a game like this.”
Prodded by the 21-21 tie, Briscoe threw third-quarter touchdown passes to Davion Davis and Louis to give Sam Houston State a 35-24 lead entering the final quarter.
But Chattanooga declined to go quietly and started the fourth quarter with a 15-yard TD run by Derrick Craine. Stewart’s TD catch finally put away the Mocs.
“They’re as good as anybody in the country,” Chattanooga coach Russ Huesman said of the Bearkats.