September 4, 2012

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Volume 122 / Issue 2

Student film group to go to Hollywood after Houston contest

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Blue Cross, Blue Shield of Texas underwrites new SHSU student health plan

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SGA VP: University took over ‘Kat Chat’ town hall event, left SGA little control BRANDON SCOTT Staff Reporter The Student Government Association spent the past two months organizing “Kat Chat,” scheduled for Wednesday, where students were supposed to be able to ask questions to President Dana Gibson as well as other university officials.

But those plans have changed by way of the President’s Office, according to members of SGA. Originally, Gibson and the other officials were supposed to address the students with short introductory speeches (just as she is scheduled to address faculty and staff on Thursday). Then, students would submit questions for any of Follow us today! @TheHoustonian

the following officials on the panel: Dana Gibson, Ph.D., Frank Parker (V.P. of Student Services), Mark Adams (V.P. of Information Technology), Heather Thielemann, Ph.D., (V.P. of Enrollment Management), John Yarabeck (Dean of Students), Frank Holmes (V.P. of University Advancement).

Instead, Gibson will be the only speaker aside from moderator and SGA President Shane Rankin. It is unclear whether the aforementioned officials will still attend the event.

“We’ve been planning this for two months,” SGA Vice President Kolby Flowers said. “That’s what our entire summer was about – planning this event.”

According to Flowers and another university official who spoke on conditions of anonymity, the student government had no input on the changes made, nor given reason for the changes “From what I was told, Dr.

Gibson is the only one who is going to be speaking,” Flowers said. “No one else is allowed to give a presentation and students can ask questions, but only about the information she (Gibson) presented.”

So if Gibson doesn’t talk about parking, students may not get their parking questions answered.

If Gibson doesn’t address financial aid, students may not get financial aid questions answered, etc.

“It’s 100 percent counterproductive to what we wanted to do,” Flowers said. “This was supposed to be an event where students could get their questions answered about all aspects of Sam Houston State University, not just what Dr. Gibson needs to say.”

SGA is still expected to pay the $130 cost of refreshments for Kat Chat, despite the university taking control.

SGA created a Facebook event for Kat Chat on August 13 and

there were 85 confirmed guests attending as of Monday night. The page also confirms the original plans.

Flowers said Rankin notified him of the changes on Thursday.

The Houstonian couldn’t reach him by press time.

The Houstonian also reached out to the President’s Office on Friday for comment on what to expect from Kat Chat, but was redirected to SGA. Kat Chat is scheduled for Wednesday at the James and Nancy Gaertner Performing Arts Center. The next day, Gibson will speak to faculty and staff at the same location -- what the school website calls the “state-of-theuniversity” address.

“This (Kat Chat) is something that student government created,” Flowers said. “This is something a lot of our senators put a lot of effort in to. We really want to get students involved.”

DNC to focus on improving economy T

E

Actor Michael Clarke Duncan, 54, dies Michael Clarke Duncan, best known for his role in “The Green Mile” died almost one month after having a heart attack, according to his family.

Duncan had a heart attack on July 13 “and never fully recovered” a statement from Joy Fehily, family representative, said.

Duncan was nominated for an Academy Award in 1999 for his portrayal of John Coffee in “The Green Mile.”

Windows 7 surpasses XP for most popular operating system Windows 7 is the world’s most popular operating system, Net Applications annoucned in their August report.

Windows 7 take up 42.76 percent of used systems.

Windows XP sits at second with 42.52 percent of systems.

Windows Vista is at a lonely third with 6.15 percent.

Mac software takes up less than 5 percent.

Heir to Red Bull creator charged in Thai officer’s death

(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

he Democratic N a t i o n a l Convention being held in Charlotte, North Carolina gets into full swing today. DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) (right) will be one of many speakers at the event held to nominate the party president for candidacy. Schultz is a a Representative from Florida’s 20th District. va Longoria (bottom), cochair of Pres. Barack Obama’s campaign, will also speak to the delegates and crowds.

She is one of many high-profile women speaking at the conference including women’s rights activists Lily Ledbetter, Georgetown law graduate Sandra Fluke who Rush Limbaugh famously called a “slut” on his radio news-commentary show.

NATION & WORLD

Vorayud Yoovidhaya, 27, has been charged in the death of a Thai police officer after allegedly crashing his Ferrari into the officer, killing him, and then feeing the scene, Bangkok police said to CNN Monday.

Police Sgt. Major Wichien Klanprasert was responding to a robbery when the grandson of Red Bull creator hit the officer at 5 a.m. according to witnesses.

Officials followed a trail of oil to Yoovidhaya’s home after he fled the scene.

European Union at risk of economic downgrade (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

(AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Moody’s rating service has told European Union officials that they are at risk of losing their AAA rating because of the ongoing debt crisis across the continent.

The United States lost their AAA credit rating for the first time in history on Aug. 6, 2011 from Standard & Poor’s from the continued economic dive.

Debate team coaches leave, student coaches take over SOPHIE NELSON Staff Reporter The Sam Houston State University speech and debate team has been striving to pull together its program in time for the 2012 season after both of the debate coaches were compelled to leave unexpectedly at the beginning of summer.

Adam Key and Jeremy Coffman restarted the debate program from scratch four years ago and quickly rose to success, winning 11 national titles in the last three years as well as Key being the youngest to receive the Bennett Strange Coach of the Year Award, which he received last season..

Their short lived legacy is being handed down temporarily to two of their former students, Fabiola

Sanchez and Robert Trevino, in whose abilities Key has complete confidence.

“I have full faith in them,” Key said. “They have been on the team for three years and I trained them myself.”

Sanchez and Trevino were more skeptical of their abilities and said they were half prepared and half terrified. They spent all summer preparing for the season and are currently working on stepping up as leaders, a change they felt is a huge leap from being a team member.

“We have our first tournament on Friday and it’s a little scary to think that we’re the ones who will have to do all planning and talking to officials,” Trevino said. “It’s a first time for everything.”

Both Key and the new coaches

feel as though the team will continue to do as well as it has in the past. Key said he is satisfied Trevino and Sanchez are on the right path. The new coaches feel like despite their lack of experience, the team will be carried on by its members.

“The foundation has always been its members,” Trevino said.

“It is the individual’s skills and commitments that will continue to make this program a success.”

Key is currently working in El Paso at Burges High School as a debate coach, but says he will never forget where he started coaching and would love to come back into the college circuit, especially at SHSU. “The team members at Sam Houston are my kids and I am truly heartbroken to leave them,”

Key said.

Sanchez and Trevino are careful to keep in mind that their positions are temporary, since SHSU is currently on a hunt for a debate coach with a Ph.D. “Even though it would be hard to give up what we have worked for here,” Trevino said, “I know that SHSU will always have debate, and that is what truly matters.”

Last year the SHSU debate team took home the national title in the professional debate division, and season-long title in team debate.

Key won both the season-long title in the professional division and coach of the year award.

Trevino is a senior political science major and competed in team debate, and in the varsity and professional divisions last year. In addition, he was one of the SHSU

delegation to an international tournament in Rome.

Sanchez is a junior political science major who competed in varsity and team debate last season. She and her partner, Stacy Hood, took second place in the season long team debate format.

The coaches said this year the team will expand the number of styles of debate they compete in, including Lincoln-Douglas, Parlimentary and individual events.

The team will start their season Sept. 7 and 8 at the University of Houston.

Visit our website! www.HoustonianOnline.com

Page 2

News

Tuesday, September 4, 2012 houstonianonline.com/news

New physics, communication courses added to help department, students grow The new semester has brought the addition of new courses to Sam Houston State University. Among these additions are “Humor in Communication” and “Physics Boot Camp”.

“Humor in Communication” is a Communication Studies course (COMS 3365) taught by France Brandau-Brown, Ph.D., that discusses how humor works and what functions humor serves in communication.

“Humor’s used in so many ways,” Brandau-Brown said.

“There’s humor as aggression (like

making fun of others), humor said. in intimacy, children, families, The number of majors in organizations and healthcare.” the communication studies In science program has (and social recently increased; We’re hoping this addition will sciences) its students need raise the department’s portfolio the goal is to a greater variety to raise the number of students of social scienceunderstand, in the department e x p l a i n oriented upper and predict level courses to France Bandau-Brown, Ph.D. behavior. In choose from. This this course the course serves main purpose multiple purposes is to understand, explain and for the communication studies predict humor. department, not only adding a “We’re hoping this addition will class, but also potentially bringing raise the department’s portfolio to in more students. raise the number of students in A website called Teaching the department,” Brandau-Brown Humor lists almost 30 courses

“

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MCKINZIE BROCAIL Senior Reporter

2011-2012 Student Health Insurance Plan

being taught presently on humor including University of Maryland, Arkansas State University, Dartmouth College, Cornell University and Queens University of Belfast.

“Physics Boot Camp” (PHYS 1401) is an entry-level physics course for students who are interested in possibly majoring in physics or engineering without having taken any previous physics classes.

This four-hour class taught by Joel Walker, Ph. D., offers possible majors a chance to “try it out” with no prerequisites on coursework. “[It also ensures] that our incoming students have the

2012-2013 Student Health Insurance Plan

Photo courtesy of ahpcare.com

NEW PLANS. One of the largest changes is in the deductible for each plan. In last years plan, the deductible was $50 per person, per sickness or injury. The plan now states it is $100 per customer, per year. For a student with four illnesses a year, that’s a savings of at least $300.

Student health insurance plan rates increase, benefits expand MCKINZIE BROCAIL Senior Reporter The university-option student health insurance cost went up from the previous year after Academic HealthPlans changed companies that underwrite those plans.

The new 2012-2013 student health insurance plan is underwritten by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. The previous plan was provided

by ACE American Insurance Company, which was distributed by Academic HealthPlans.

Academic HealthPlans works with hundreds of colleges and universities in all 50 states.

The annual cost of the 2011-2012 plan was $798. The 2012-2013 plan costs each student $930, and increase of $132, or 16.5 percent.

One of the largest changes is in the deductible for each plan. In last years plan, the deductible was $50 per person, per sickness or injury. The plan now states it is $100 per customer, per year. For a student with four illnesses a year, that’s a savings of at least $300.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas is the largest health insurance provider in the state

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required leveling in quantitative and computational skills that will allow them to be successful once they start taking regular physics classes,” Walker said.

In the long run, the course is designed to aid students in either simplifying physics for them in the future or an easy transition into engineering colleges.

“We are looking to expand awareness among those students with an eye toward engineering that completing their first three years of physics and mathematics at SHSU forms an excellent foundation for transferring on to a dedicated engineering college,” Walker said.

and only one consumer-owned, covering companies such as American Airlines, Brookshire Grocery, Dell, the Employees Retirement System of Texas, Southern Methodist University (SMU), the Texas A&M System, and The University of Texas System.

Students who take six or more credit hours in a physical classroom are eligible for the plan.

Spouses and children of those who qualify are also able to get into the plan, but at a higher cost. Information is available online at www.

AHPCare.com/shsu.

Page 3

Viewpoints

Tuesday, September 4, 2012 houstonianonline.com/news

PAWS UP Huntsville tax increase will hurt your wallet Kendall Scudder encourages students to vote, help lower increasing property taxes With all of the political hype circulating around the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, it would not be difficult for a citizen of Huntsville to have missed out on the news from the city and the county about the massive, unprecedented tax hikes that are coming our way. In case you missed it, here’s a bit of a crash course.

The county and the city have both voted to leave the option of a tax increase on the table. The county has proposed a property tax increase of almost 19 percent (3/5 of which are allocated for the new county jail that is desperately needed) and the City of Huntsville has proposed a 10 percent hike with no large capital improvement projects to blame. This, to me, is why the city tax increase, though not as large as the county’s proposed increase, is still much more upsetting.

You see, last year, the city council knowingly

PAWS UP to Labor Day and a much needed three day weekend!

PAWS

UP to classes

starting back up at the Rec center this week...Zumba’s back!

PAWS UP to “Eastwooding” becoming the new “planking”

PAWS DOWN

Students have all seen the big bolded sentence in the countless syllabi that they have received throughout their journey at Sam Houston: Students are to turn off all mobile phones while in the classroom and phone use during class is prohibited.

After spending all summer texting and spending time on social media accounts on their phones, many students are hesitant to put their phones away.

I spoke with students from other surrounding schools in Texas and many believe that they are being treated like children and that the no phone rule is infringing on their rights as adults, believing that they are able to correctly judge when it is right and wrong to use their phone during class.

Others feel as if the rule is a good thing, keeping students from using their phones to cheat.

One student, Tyler Arnold from Angelina College in Lufkin, Texas, stated that “students would play on their phones instead of listening to the lectures in class, so what is the point of paying all this money for a class that they are just going to waste their time playing on their phone in?”

Another student, Brittany Fajkus, a current student here at SHSU, believes the rule is appropriate for the classroom because, “out of respect, people should not be playing on their

at Old Main getting longer and longer.

PAWS DOWN to books being so expensive that some of us are almost broke as a result.

The individual opinions on the Viewpoints page are not necessarily affiliated with the view of The Houstonian or SHSU. The Houstonian is temporarily published weekly on Tuesdays during the summer. It is a news publication of Sam Houston State University, a member of the Texas State University system and is produced by students. It is selfsupporting and welcomes all advertisers. Those interested in placing ads or classifieds should call 936294-1495. The Houstonian is a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association and Associated Collegiate Press.

Editorial Staff 936-294-1499

Stephen Green Editor-in-Chief 936-294-1505

sgreen@houstonianonline.com

George Mattingly

News Editor gmattingly@houstonianonline.com

Misti Jones

Viewpoints Editor mjones@houstonianonline.com

Cody Lewis

Sports Editor clewis@houstonianonline.com

councilman to attend a one day airport summit and stay at a fancy hotel, waste within our city budget is rampant. Council simply accepted the first budget offers put on the table by department heads instead of acknowledging the corporate strategy of departmental padding (where departments ask for more than they need to get what they actually want).

As a student, you’re probably wondering

Morgan Mears discusses cell phone usage in class

PAWS DOWN to the lines

Faculty Adviser

KENDALL SCUDDER Guest Columnist

how these property tax increases and water rate increases would affect you, seeing as most students do not own property in Huntsville.

Though the increase in the average household would be below $100 a year (still out of the price range for working class, Huntsville families), the increase on an average apartment complex would be far greater. In order for apartments to be able to pay for these increases, your rent will go up--and not just a small amount.

In addition to being affected by skyrocketing rent, the cost of living in our community will increase exponentially and economic development (what little we are actually seeing) could come to a halt. For far too long, Huntsville has been a place that remains stagnant in the realm of economic development and an increase in property taxes will not only deter retail businesses from moving into Huntsville, but it

Out of service:

PAWS DOWN - to getting ghost tickets from UPD without a citation.

Robin Johnson

approved a budget that was almost $400,000 in the hole. What’s worse is that the city council has still increased spending between last year and this year by almost $5 million.

These increases aren’t for ambitious sidewalk projects, promotion of economic development, or investments in the arts; these increases are, instead, to help pay back accumulated debt and to give pay increases across the board. But not only are we seeing a large tax hike from the city, we are also, as we did last year and will see again next year, seeing an increase in our water rates of almost 40 percent.

These water rate increases are coming to fruition despite the millions of dollars that are transferred from the water fund every year into the general fund.

Moreover, the increases aren’t being met with efficiency and accountability in the current budget. Whether its $285,000 on fruitless studies or $1,000 for one

will also deter industry, research parks and other types of development that would actually yield high paying, stable jobs for our citizenry.

If you’re tired of the city’s lackadaisical approach to economic development, the boring weekends with nothing to do, or even the lack of money you have in your wallet after paying your rent, then this tax increase isn’t for you.

This tax increase won’t get you the sidewalks or bike paths you’ve been wanting, it won’t get you the infrastructure replacement you’ve been asking for and it won’t get you the development you want to see.

This tax increase goes beyond just increasing taxes and puts a rubber stamp on inefficient budgeting for Huntsville’s future. Register to vote and teach these folks that we mean business. *Kendall is a senior Political Science major and City Council candidate

COMICS

MORGAN MEARS Staff Reporter phones during a lecture or when a professor is speaking to them.”

According to a recent study published in the journal Communication Education, college students who text during class have difficulty staying attentive to classroom lectures and don’t learn class objectives.

Personally, I feel as if the no cell phone in class rule is a great thing at SHSU. I like the rule because I feel like if I am going to pay so much money for one class, then I should pay attention and so should other students. Why waste your money and a good education just to play or text on your cell phone?

Letter to the Student Body Dear Sam Houston Students, Staff and Faculty and Alumni: The Houstonian would not survive were it not for the continued involvement and dedication of the SHSU student body. We welcome all column submissions and letters to the editor. If at any time you feel the need to express an opinion, please do not hesitate to email your thoughts or drop by our office in the Dan Rather communications building. We look forward to hearing from you and thank you as always for your continued support of the Houstonian.

Misti Jones, Viewpoints Editor, mjones@houstonianonline.com

Molly Waddell

A&E Editor mwaddell@houstonianonline.com

Matt Frazier

Web & Multimedia Editor mfrazier@houstonianonline.com

McKinzie Brocail

Senior Reporter mbrocail@houstonianonline.com

Connor Hyde

Sports Reporter chyde@houstonianonline.com

Staff Reporters

Brandon K. Scott

Business Staff

bscott@houstonianonline.com

Paty Mason

Sophie Nelson

936-294-1500

snelson@houstonianonline.com

Karmen King

kking@houstonianonline.com

Cheyenne Simpson

csimpson@houstonianonline.com

Jasmine Brown

jbrown@houstonianonline.com

Morgan Mears

mmears@houstonianonline.com

Business Manager

Account Executives Steve Sears

pmason@houstonianonline.com

ssears@houstonianonline.com

Stacy Hood

Keelani Cabrera

Advertising Manager shood@houstonianonline.com

kcabrera@houstonianonline.com

Brianna Smith

Production Manager bsmith@houstonianonline.com

Ad Deadlines Tuesday’s issue: Friday at 5 p.m.

Thursday’s issue: Tuesday at 2 p.m.

Page 4

Arts&Entertainment

Tuesday, September 4, 2012 houstonianonline.com/a-e

Photo courtesy of Raven Films OrgLink

BEHIND THE SCENES. Raven Films, SHSU’s film organization, competed in the 48 Hour Film competition in Houston and took home 11 awards.

Raven Films to compete in Hollywood film festival JASMINE BROWN Staff Reporter On-campus film group Raven Films will be heading to Los Angeles to compete in an international film competition after taking top honors in the 48-Hour Film Competition in Houston.

The international competition in Los Angeles, Filmapalooza, will be held in March. If Raven Films is chosen as one of the top 10 groups, they will be invited to attend and have their short film screened at the Cannes Film festival in France.

The group will be raising the money for the trip to Los Angeles, Calif. through several fundraisers.

Raven Films was the only college group to compete in the 48 Hour Film competition, taking home a total of 11 awards including “Best Film”. The premise of the competition is to

weed out true film-makers by giving them a random topic and 48 hours to make a short film, no longer than seven minutes.

The competition provides random props and lines to use in the film so that there is no way the participants can use any previous work.

“You literally have 48 hours to write, shoot, edit, and submit a film,” said Robin Carter, vice president of Raven Films and first time participant in the competition.

According to Carter they finished so early that the competition wasn’t ready to take submissions yet.

“I really feel like the reason that we were so successful is because every single person that was there [with us] knew their job and knew what they were doing,” Carter said. “It ran like a well-oiled machine.”

The group did a period piece that fell just under the seven minute mark.

Film professor Tom Garrett has high hopes for the group after seeing their work and sees the competition as a great learning opportunity for the students.

“What [participants] accomplish in 48 hours I’ve found I can’t get out of students sometimes in four months,” said film professor Tom Garrett. Any opportunity for people to see your work is wonderful. [Things like this] help them build the paper trail of their success. It’s an opportunity to springboard

and meet other filmmakers and producers.”

Jean Bodon, Director of the Mass Communications department, shared his affinity for Raven Films and their work.

“They are wonderful filmmakers,” said Bodon “I think they have a chance to win [the competition in Los Angeles], they have the technical abilities and gifts to succeed.”

Bodon believes they will gain a lot from competing in Los Angeles.

“Win or lose, they will have made a Hollywood movie and they will gain great in sight and experience,” Bodon said.

Raven Films was founded in 2008 and aims to educate its members on fundamentals of the filmmaking process including lighting, audio, editing, cinematography and directing.

Raven Films meets every Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Dan Rather Communications Building room 125. Their first meeting will be on Sept. 11.

For more information on Raven Films and to see the winning film, visit Facebook. com/RavenFilms.

Film program looks to grow with speaker series, TIFN collaboration MOLLY WADDELL Arts & Entertainment Editor The Sam Houston State University film department is working on joining with the Texas Independent Film Network along with other associations to shed light on the program and students’ work.

According to Tom Garrett, an associate film professor, the TIFN is a part of Austin Film Society’s ‘Education and Outreach’ arm.

TIFN takes a different Texasmade independent feature film on a circuit across the state each month. According to Garrett, Texas is home to a thriving independent film community that TIFN strives to promote their efforts by taking the best films Texas has to offer and putting them on the road.

In every town TIFN visits, they partner with the most respected film organizations to help get the word out about and

attract audiences to film.

“This association is one of many bridges we hope to build and make connections regionally, domestically and internationally with film and media organizations which will get our SHSU students and program out there,” Garrett said.

Along with working on joining different film associations, the film program is also organizing a speaker series for students.

The first speaker is Susan Kirr, producer of Tree of Life, Spring Breakers and many more. Kirr will be on campus Friday from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. in the Mass Communications building Studio A. Other planned speakers are Martha Coolidge, director and first female president of Directors Guild of America; Bill Perkins, Houston film producer; Rod Lurie, director, writer and producer; Vince Gilligan, creator, writer and producer; and John Avildsen, director who will be doing a week long workshop.

For more information about the film classes that SHSU offers visit the Mass Communication website.

!"#$%&&'()*&($)+,,-.)&/)01"203" 456789:;<*&=)(01"()0%&>$)?@A B$C0$D()+,E@@@)F&>)G>($)=0H"I facebook.com/TheHoustonianSHSU

Page 5

Sports

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

First opponent takes season opener

University of Incarnate Word opens season with win one week before facing SHSU CODY LEWIS Sports Editor SHSU’s first football opponent, the University of Incarnate Word, let their first game of the season be decided in the final moments as they defeated Texas College 19-12 in San Antonio on Saturday.

UIW (1-0) earned the win under new head coach Larry Kennan. The Cardinals never trailed Texas College, but they also never led by more than seven points.

UIW’s last touchdown came from Georgia Tech-transfer Marcus Wright on a one-yard plunge into the end zone early in the fourth quarter, but their extra point attempt was blocked again and the Cardinals only led by seven (19-12). The Cardinals would hold this lead for the rest of the game.

The Cardinals fumbled the ball

Graphic by Eric Fite I The Houstonian

KICKING IT OFF: The SHSU Bearkats will host the University of the Incarnate Word, who just came off a win against Texas College, on Saturday.

seven times and three of them were recovered by the Steers of Texas College. This is a good omen for the Bearkats, whose defense forced over thirty turnovers in the regular season in 2011.

“That was a different team

that we have seen on film,” Kennan said in an interview with cardinalathletics.com.

“They played really hard and really well. I think it took our guys by surprise.”

The Cardinals were able to strike first by scoring a touchdown

in their first three offensive plays of the game. Senior quarterback Zach Rhodes completed a 48-yeard pass to wide receiver Devan Avery, who started on both offense and defense, and then running back Trent Rios scored the game’s first touchdown on a seven-yard run.

“I’ve played offense since high school,” Avery said to cardinalathletics.com. “This is my senior year so I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win.” Avery had two catches on offense for 99 yards and recorded five tackles on defense.

The Steers took advantage of a fumble by the Cardinals early in the second quarter and would end up scoring a touchdown from the turnover. But Texas College kicker Houston Creighton’s extra point attempt would miss wide right.

In the second half, Rios would

score his second touchdown of the night but Cardinal kicker Jake Wilcox’s kick was blocked by the Steers, making the score 13-6.

On their next two possessions, the Cardinals turned the ball over on fumbles and the Steers were able to cash in one of them for a touchdown. Luckily for the Cardinals, Creighton would miss his second extra point attempt sustaining the Cardinals’ lead at 13-12.

UIW is predicted to finish seventh in their conference in just their fourth year competing in football, while Sam Houston the favorite to finish number one in the Southland Conference.

The Bearkats hope to solidify their ranking as they kick off their season against the Cardinals this Saturday at Elliot T. Bowers Stadium at 6 p.m.

Bearkats add two more televised games to schedule CONNOR HYDE Sports Reporter After last year’s success of an undefeated regular season, the Sam Houston State University Bearkat football team adds two more regular season games to their televised schedule with the expectation to continue the winning success.

The Southland Conference TV network will broadcast away games against Central Arkansas, Stephen F. Austin and Lamar University. Fox will broadcast the game against Baylor University, while the KUBE in Houston will broadcast the Texas Southern game.

The televised games brings regional and national exposure to SHSU, increases the fan base population, and allows the other programs on campus to be publicized, according to Associate Athletic Director of Media Relations Paul Ridings.

“The athletic department is the front porch for the university,” Ridings said. “Dr. Gibson has performed interviews every year to expose other programs.”

Last year, the Bearkats’ final three playoff games were the only televised games during primetime; allowing national exposure to the school.

With the success of last year’s season, the Bearkat athletic

department found trouble scheduling home games, but compensated with the televised schedule as well as having games in Houston, Waco and College Station.

“It’s tough this year with how the way things turned out with three games here at Bowers Stadium…we’re the number one team in the nation going in as defending (Southland Conference) champions,” Ridings said. “While we only have three home games we have two games in Houston, one game in College Station, Baylor and Lamar. It’s not like you can’t get to the games.”

The five games at Waco, College Station, Lamar and the two games

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in Houston against SFA and Texas Southern University are within driving distance from Huntsville.

After moving up to Division 1 in the NCAA, SHSU football games have averaged between 17,000-18,000 fans for games in Houston and close to 25,000 at the Battle of the Piney Woods.

“We got a lot of alums down there,” Riding said. “Getting televised in Houston on the KUBE is really big to us because we have such a huge alumni base.”

The Bearkat football team has a record of 21-16 with games played on the regional and national broadcast stage since 1984, including a win on ABC network against Steve McNair

and Alcorn State in 1994.

“We’re the only school in the (Southland) conference that has been on a regular season ABC national telecast,” Ridings said.

Riding encourages students to make the drives to the Houston, Waco, and College Station games to help motivate the Bearkat football team with their travel heavy schedule.

“We don’t want the students to watch the game on TV,” Ridings said. “We want them to go to the game.”

For more information about the SHSU football schedule visit www.gobearkats.com for a full schedule and televised list.

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