The 2017 Sam Houston State Bearkats football team represented

Sam Houston State University Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...

in the

2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season The 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, was organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. The FCS Champions ...

. The Bearkats were led by fourth-year head coach K. C. Keeler and played their home games at

Bowers Stadium Elliott T. Bowers Stadium is a 12,593-seat multi-purpose stadium in Huntsville, Texas. The stadium has been home to the Sam Houston State University Bearkats football since 1986. Previously, the team played their homes games at Pritchett Field, whi ...

. They were a member of the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it pa ...

. They finished the season 12–2, 8–1 in Southland play to finish in second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS playoffs where they defeated

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

in the first round and

Kennesaw State Kennesaw State University (KSU) is a public research university located in the state of Georgia with two different campuses in the Atlanta metropolitan area, one in Kennesaw and the other in Marietta on a combined of land. The school was found ...

in the quarterfinals before losing in the semifinals to

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as th ...

Previous season

The Bearkats finished the season 12–1 overall and 9–0 in Southland play to win the Southland Conference title. They went undefeated (11–0) during the regular season. They received the Southland's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Chattanooga the second round, only to lose in the quarterfinals to FCS national champion James Madison.

Schedule

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Game summaries

Richmond

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@ Prairie View A&M

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Nicholls

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@ Central Arkansas

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vs. Stephen F. Austin

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Northwestern State

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Lamar

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@ Southeastern Louisiana

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Incarnate Word

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@ Abilene Christian

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Houston Baptist

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FCS Playoffs

South Dakota–Second Round

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Kennesaw State–Quarterfinals

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@ North Dakota State–Semifinals

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Ranking movements

References

{{2017 Division I FCS playoff navbox

Sam Houston State Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...

Sam Houston Bearkats football seasons

Sam Houston State Bearkats football The Sam Houston Bearkats football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Sam Houston State University located in the U.S. state of Texas. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a me ...