The Sam Houston State Bearkats and the Liberty Flames meet in week 6 college football action from Williams Stadium on Thursday night.

Bearkats Blow Big Lead To Remain Winless

The Sam Houston State Bearkats had their best offensive showing of the season, but it still wasn’t enough as the Bearkats would fall to Jacksonville State in overtime by a final score of 35-28, dropping to 0-4 on the year. Keegan Shoemaker has thrown for 476 yards, 2 touchdowns and 4 INTs on 56.5% passing while Grant Gunnell’s thrown for 100 yards and an interception. John Gentry has a team-high 133 rushing yards while Noah Smith leads Sam Houston State’s receiving group with 17 receptions and 156 receiving yards. Gentry also has 123 receiving yards as well on the year. On defense, Trevor Williams has a team-high 48 total tackles while Kavian Gaither, Akeem Smith and Chris Scott each have a sack and Da’Marcus Crosby has an interception this season.

Sam Houston State Bearkats Team Facts

Sam Houston State has lost each of its last 11 games.
Sam Houston State has failed to cover the spread in three of its last four road games against non-AP-ranked teams.

Liberty Remains Unbeaten

The Liberty Flames managed to remain unbeaten, improving to 4-0 on the year after a 38-6 beatdown win over FIU last time out. Kaidon Salter has thrown for 919 yards, 11 touchdowns and an interception on 57.6% passing while also rushing for 268 yards and 5 TDs. Quinton Cooley has a team-high 323 rushing yards while Billy Lucas has 244 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns. Treon Sibley leads Liberty’s receivers with 12 grabs for 288 yards and 2 touchdowns while CJ Daniels has 11 grabs for 263 yards and 2 scores as well. Two more Flames have 100+ receiving yards as well this season. On defense, Tyren Dupree leads the Flames with 37 total tackles as well as 2 interceptions while Liberty’s defense as a whole has combined for 10 sacks and 10 interceptions this season.

Liberty Flames Team Facts

Liberty has won 12 of its last 13 games in October.
Liberty has covered the spread in seven of its last eight matches when playing with a rest advantage.
Seven of Liberty’s last nine games against non-AP-ranked teams at Arthur L. Williams Stadium have gone UNDER the total points line.

Matchup/League Facts

Liberty was one of only eight FBS teams to lose 3+ games when leading after Q3 last season.
Liberty ranked 21st among FBS teams for Q3 points allowed per game last season (3.8).

Chris’ Pick

I’m on Liberty here. I get why the points with Sam Houston could be tempting, as the Bearkats clearly figured some stuff out last week and were living and dying with their defense more often than not this season. However, it wasn’t good enough last week, and I don’t know if it’ll be good enough his week against a Liberty team that’s looking like the best team in C-USA this season. I look for this one to be all Liberty, so give me the Flames laying the big number here.