"Sam Houston State has a lot of tradition at that University and they have been good for a long time," Head Coach Reggie Barlow said.  "Obviously whenever you change coaches, or get a new coach there's going to be some changes, but they are a good team and have 22 transfers on their roster.  A lot of them played last week in the game against Eastern Washington.  They are from TCU, Texas Tech, Baylor, so they're from all over the place."
 
In SHSU's loss at top-ranked Eastern Washington last week their offense showed how good they were by scoring 35 points and putting up 542 yards of total offense, throwing for 317 yards and two scores while rushing for 317 yards and another two scores.
 
"They are an explosive team and their quarterback Jared Johnson is a very, very athletic guy," Barlow said.  "Their offensive line is probably the group that has probably been playing together the longest so there's a lot of continuity there.  Those guys understand the game and play well together as a group."
 
"They want to play fast.  They have athletes with the receivers, one transferred from TCU where he was the leading receiver last year.  They have another young man that transferred from Colorado that is 6'3", 220.  Their backs are explosive so it will be a really good game to see how we measure up against this team."
 
Defensively the Bearkats had their struggles allowing 624 yards, but they have plenty of athletes on that side of the ball and they show a variety of defensive fronts and coverages and with one game under their belt they will be a lot better in their second game.
 
"Defensively their coach does a good job of mixing it up," Barlow said.  "They play quarter's coverage, he will be aggressive when he needs to, bring some pressure, and they also put three men down and have an odd front."
 
SHSU has been a tough place to play for their opponents and the Hornets will enter the game looking to knock off the Bearkats who have a program and FCS-best 22-game home winning streak going.  They started the streak with a win over Texas State back in 2010.
 
"Of course we will be in a hostile environment in playing on the road," Barlow said.  "Our first game and they already have the first game jitters out so it will be a challenge.  We are going in to try and give them a loss for the first time in over 20 home games, but it is the first game and we are going to play and see how it comes out."
 
The game is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. with live broadcast of the game being heard on BamaStateSports.  The broadcast will begin at 6:15 with the exciting coverage of the 2014 opening game coming from Duane Lewis and former ASU and NFL standout Eddie Robinson.