List of Sam Houston State Bearkats football seasons

This is a list of seasons completed by the Sam Houston Bearkats football team. The Bearkats compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as a member of Conference USA. Sam Houston's first football team was fielded in 1912. The team plays its home games at the 12,593-seat Bowers Stadium in Huntsville, Texas.

Sam Houston has two national championships in their history, the first coming in 1964 as a member of the NAIA. The most recent title was in the 2021 spring season when Sam Houston defeated South Dakota State 23–21 in the NCAA Division I FCS national championship game.

The head coach of the Bearkats is K. C. Keeler, who has led the team since 2014. Keeler guided the Bearkats to six postseason appearances and is the all-time winningest head coach in FCS playoff history. The Bearkats were members of FCS (formerly I-AA) from 1984 to 2022, before moving up to join the FBS in 2023.

Seasons

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Legend

 National champions
  Conference champions
   ^ Bowl game berth / playoff result

List of Sam Houston Bearkats football seasons[1]
Season Team Head coach Conference Regular season results Postseason results Final ranking
Overall Conference Bowl game/Playoff result AP/NCAA Poll Coaches' Poll
Win Loss Tie Win Loss Tie Finish
Sam Houston Normal
1912 1912 S. R. Warner Independent 2 2 0
1913 1913 3 1 1
1914 1914 Gene Berry 3 2 0
1915 1915 5 1 1
1916 1916 5 2 0
1917 1917 1 3 0
1918   No team due to World War I
1919 1919 0 7 0
1920 1920 Mutt Gee 1 3 2
Sam Houston Normal Bear Cats
1921 1921 Mutt Gee Independent 3 1 2
1922 1922 2 3 0
Sam Houston State Bearkats
1923 1923 J. W. Jones Independent 4 4 0
1924 1924 TIAA 2 5 1 2 3 1 4th
1925 1925 5 4 0 2 4 0 5th
1926 1926 5 2 1 4 1 0 2nd
1927 1927 4 4 1 3 2 1 3rd
1928 1928 5 5 1 5 3 0 4th
1929 1929 5 3 1 3 1 1 3rd
1930 1930 9 1 0 5 0 0 1st
1931 1931 4 5 0 3 2 0 4th
1932 1932 Lone Star 2 5 1 1 3 0 3rd
1933 1933 3 4 2 1 2 2 5th
1934 1934 3 4 2 2 3 0 4th
1935 1935 3 6 0 0 5 0 6th
1936 1936 Henry O. Crawford 2 7 0 1 4 0 5th
1937 1937 5 5 0 3 3 0 4th
1938 1938 Puny Wilson 8 2 0 5 1 0 2nd
1939 1939 6 2 2 4 1 1 2nd
1940 1940 8 2 0 5 1 0 2nd
1941 1941 2 7 1 2 3 0 4th
1942 1942 5 3 0 3 1 0 2nd
1943   No team due to World War II
1944
1945
1946 1946 6 2 1 3 1 1 2nd
1947 1947 3 6 0 1 4 0 5th
1948 1948 0 9 1 0 4 0 5th
1949 1949 3 7 0 0 4 0 5th
1950 1950 5 5 0 2 2 0 3rd
1951 1951 4 4 1 1 2 1 3rd
1952 1952 Paul Pierce 6 4 0 3 2 0 3rd Won 1952 Shrimp Bowl vs. Northeastern State (OK), 41–20 ^
1953 1953 9 1 0 4 1 0 2nd Won 1953 Refrigerator Bowl vs. College of Idaho, 14–12 ^
1954 1954 6 4 0 2 3 0 4th
1955 1955 6 1 2 4 1 1 1st
1956[a] 1956 10 0 0 6 0 0 1st Won 1956 Refrigerator Bowl vs. Middle Tennessee State, 27–13 ^
1957 1957 3 5 1 2 3 1 4th
1958 1958 7 3 0 4 2 0 2nd Lost 1958 Christmas Festival Bowl vs. Northwestern State, 11–18 ^
1959 1959 5 5 0 3 4 0 5th
1960 1960 3 6 0 2 5 0 6th
1961 1961 8 1 0 7 0 1st
1962 1962 5 3 1 4 2 1 3rd
1963 1963 4 3 1 2 3 1 4th
1964 1964 9 1 1 5 1 0 1st Tied 1964 Championship Bowl vs. Concordia, 7–7 ^ 2 9
1965 1965 4 6 0 1 5 0 6th
1966 1966 6 3 1 4 2 1 3rd
1967 1967 3 6 0 1 6 0 7th
1968 1968 Tom Page 5 4 1 4 3 1 4th
1969 1969 3 6 1 3 4 1 4th
1970 1970 8 2 1 7 2 0 2nd T-20[b]
1971 1971 4 7 0 3 6 0 5th
1972 1972 Allen Boren 5 6 0 4 4 0 4th
1973 1973 2 8 0 2 7 0 7th
1974 1974 Billy Tidwell 4 7 0 4 5 0 5th
1975 1975 3 8 0 3 6 0 6th
1976 1976 3 5 1 2 5 0 6th
1977 1977 1 10 0 1 6 0 7th
1978 1978 Melvin Brown 6 5 0 4 3 0 3rd
1979 1979 1 9 0 0 7 0 8th
1980 1980 3 7 0 2 5 0 6th
1981 1981 2 8 0 2 5 0 6th
1982[c] 1982 Ron Randleman 3 8 0 1 5 0 8th
1983 1983 4 7 0 1 6 0 7th
1984[d] 1984 Gulf Star 8 3 0 3 2 0 2nd
1985 1985 8 3 0 4 1 0 1st
1986 1986 9 3 0 3 1 0 1st NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs — First Round ^ 11
1987 1987 Southland 8 3 0 5 1 0 2nd 19
1988 1988 3 8 0 0 6 0 7th
1989 1989 3 8 0 2 4 0 5th
1990 1990 4 7 0 3 3 0 3rd
1991 1991 8 3 1 5 2 0 1st NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs — First Round ^ 12
1992 1992 6 3 2 3 3 1 3rd
1993 1993 4 7 0 2 5 0 5th
1994 1994 6 5 0 1 5 0 5th
1995 1995 5 5 0 2 3 0 3rd
1996[e] 1996 4 7 3 3 3rd
1997 1997 5 6 3 4 4th
1998 1998 3 8 1 6 8th
1999 1999 6 5 4 3 4th
2000 2000 7 4 4 3 4th
2001 2001 10 3 5 1 1st NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs — Quarterfinals ^ 7
2002 2002 4 7 2 4 5th
2003 2003 2 9 1 4 4th
2004 2004 11 3 4 1 1st NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs — Semifinals ^ 4
2005 2005 Todd Whitten 3 7 2 4 5th
2006 2006 6 5 4 2 2nd
2007 2007 7 4 5 2 2nd
2008 2008 4 6 2 5 6th
2009 2009 5 6 2 4 5th
2010 2010 Willie Fritz 6 5 4 3 3rd
2011 2011 14 1 7 0 1st NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs – National Championship Game ^ 2 2
2012 2012 11 4 6 1 1st NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs – National Championship Game ^ 2 2
2013 2013 9 5 4 3 3rd NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs — Second Round ^ 14 13
2014 2014 K.C. Keeler 11 5 7 1 1st NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs – Semifinals ^ 6 6
2015 2015 11 4 7 2 2nd NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs — Semifinals ^ 3 4
2016 2016 12 1 9 0 1st NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs — Quarterfinals ^ 5 5
2017 2017 12 2 8 1 2nd NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs — Semifinals ^ 4 3
2018 2018 6 5 5 4 4th
2019 2019 7 5 6 3 4th
2020[f] 2020 10 0 6 0 1st NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs — Champions ^ 1 1
Sam Houston Bearkats
2021 2021 K.C. Keeler WAC 11 1 5 0 1st NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs — Quarterfinals ^ 5 4
2022[g] 2022 5 4 0 0
2023[h] 2023 C-USA 3 9 2 6
Totals All-time:
564–486–36
(.536)
Conference:
309–285–16
(.520)
  Postseason:
28–13–1
(.679)
 

Notes

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  1. ^ Sam Houston State was classified as an NAIA program, which began sponsoring football in 1956.
  2. ^ Ranking from the 1970 small college poll.
  3. ^ Sam Houston State joined the NCAA in 1982 as a Division II program.
  4. ^ The Bearkats moved up to NCAA Division I-AA (now FCS) status in 1984.
  5. ^ Overtime rules were added for NCAA football in 1996, thereby eliminating ties.
  6. ^ The Fall 2020 Southland football season was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with league play resuming in a shortened Spring 2021 season.
  7. ^ Sam Houston was ineligible for the WAC championship and FCS postseason due to their FBS transition. They played a WAC schedule but their games did not count in the conference standings.
  8. ^ Sam Houston moved up to the Division I FBS ranks in 2023 as a member of Conference USA.

References

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  1. ^ "Sam Houston Football Record Book" (PDF). GoBearkats.com. Retrieved December 12, 2023.