Archive | November 2014

SHSU Advances To Second Round of FCS Playoffs

Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information

A muffed punt and a blocked field goal set up two Donavan Williams touchdown runs as Sam Houston scored 14 fourth quarter points to defeat Southeastern Louisiana 21-17 in an FCS opening round playoff game Saturday at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium in Huntsville, Texas.

The Bearkats advance meet Jacksonville State in the second round at Jacksonville next Saturday.

The punt muff was recovered by Demartie Allen and the block by defensive end P. J. Hall set up runs of three and one yards, respectively by Williams.

Southeastern Louisiana quarterback Bryan Bennett had given the Lions a 17-14 lead with three-yard scoring run with 11:11 left to play. Bennett, who also scored a nine-yard touchdown in the second quarter, tied the SLU school record for career rushing TDs with 33 with his performance Saturday.

Bennett completed 17 of 48 passes for 181 yards. Sam Houston quarterback Jared Johnson was the game’s top rusher with 17 carries for 63 yards and passed for 119 more on 12 of 32 passes.

Hall was a key on defense for Sam Houston with four tackles for 22 yards in losses including one QB sack. Safety Michael Wade made 13 tackles including 11 solos for the Bearkat defense.

Sam Houston and Southeastern Louisiana, co-champions in the Southland Conference with identical 7-1 league records who did not play during the regular season, both own 9-4 records. The Lions knocked Sam Houston out of the playoffs in the second round last year with a 30-29 defeat in Hammond, La.

What was touted as an offensive battle during ESPN’s pregame turned out to be a defensive struggle in the opening half. The Lions’ Tyler Stoddard recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff at the Sam Houston 20-yard line to set up a 39-yard field goal by Ryan Adams just 1:20 into the contest.

Bryan Bennett extended the Southeastern Louisiana lead to 10-0 with a nine-yard touchdown 41 seconds into the second quarter following an eight-play, 64-yard drive.

On the ensuing drive, Sam Houston drove 68 yards in 14 plays to the Lion one-yard line. But safety Micah Eugene stopped Donavan Williams on a fourth-down option play to right for a five-yard loss.

SLU limited the Bearkats to 87 yards rushing and 78 passing on 7 of 22 attempts in the first 30 minutes.

Jalen Overstreet’s three-yard run up the middle with 7:14 remaining in the third quarter completed a six-play, 50-yard drive to put the Kats on the scoreboard. Jared Johnson’s 33-yard pass to LaDarius Brown to the Lion 14 set up the score as the SLU margin was cut to 10-7.

A muffed punt recovered by Demartie Allen at the Lion four-yard line at the end of the third quarter set up a one-yard scoring dive by Donavan Williams that gave SHSU its first lead 14-10 three seconds in the final period.

The Lions retook the lead 17-14 with a 10-play, 58-yard drive after the kickoff. Bennett scored with a three-yard dash around left end with 11:11 remaining. The score was Bennett’s 31st career rushing TD, tying a Southeastern Louisiana record.

A blocked field goal by P J. Hall (his fourth kick block of the season) set up a 65-yards in six plays for a five-yard touchdown on an option play by Williams as SHSU surged back in front 21-17.

8th Lesson In Podcasting: Network With Other Podcasters

By Cheval John

This post is the 8th and final lesson for my second book, “8 Lessons Every Podcaster Needs To Learn.”

I decided to take the challenge of blogging a book as part of Nina Amir’s “National Nonfiction Writing Month” which runs in the months of November and April.

Hope you enjoy this post.

Networking is one of the most tried and true ways to get yourself out there and promote your show.

One way you can network is by commenting on your fellow podcasters shows.

If you do that on a consistent basis, they will take notice and it can lead to them promoting your podcast or even landing a guest appearance on their podcast.

One thing you must remember is that networking is about providing value to the other person and not just asking for something.

If you go to a networking event and only hand out promotional materials about your show, you are sending a message that you are not interested in building a friendship and that your work is more important than theirs.

You must go into any networking event with a giver’s mentality and really be genuine about your fellow podcaster’s work.

Once you establish the friendship, then they will be eager to help you to take your podcast to the next level.

The only question now is where do you meet your fellow podcasters?

The places you can network with your fellow podcasters is at conferences, online groups, etc.

One conference that comes to mind is the World Domination Summit (WDS), an annual conference held in Portland, Oregon.

WDS is the place where you can meet fellow bloggers and podcasters like Jaime Tardy, John Lee Dumas and Chris Drucker.

They have an established audience and always share what worked for them and how their strategies of growing an audience can work for you.

So if you want to grow your audience, network with your fellow podcasters because you will build your credibility as a thought leader and also lift up the people who are doing great things in the world.

Video courtesy of The Verge

Seventh Lesson In Podcasting: Send A Thank You E-mail

By Cheval John

I want to say that I am very sorry for not writing this post yesterday due to Thanksgiving.

I understand that you were expecting it and I promise you that it will not happen again.

The post is the seventh lesson of the second book I am blogging, “8 Lessons Every Podcaster Needs To Learn” as part of Nina Amir’s “National Nonfiction Writing Month” challenge.

Without further ado, here is the post.

When you finish your show, the first thing you should do is send a thank you e-mail to either the guest or the representative of the guest who made it possible for your show to happen.

The reason is it shows proper etiquette to the person who worked behind the scenes to connect you to their client.

Another reason is the person might be connected to someone who you admire and want to have on the show.

Let’s say you don’t send the “thank you e-mail” or even a thank you note to the person, you might think you are not hurting anyone.

However, your guest will remember how you showed no appreciation for them taking the time out of their busy schedule to be on your show.

Secondly, the person will tell their friends about how you did not send them a thank you e-mail.

Once that happens, it will be hard for you to gain more guests because of the negative perception you have created because you did not send a thank you e-mail.

On the flip side, when you send the thank you note, your “guest” will speak well of you because they have seen you have taken the time to thank them for being on your show.

When you least expect it, the person will connect you to their clients that would make great guests for your show.

As a result, your podcast will go to the next level.

Video Courtesy of BookGirlTV

Sixth Lesson In Podcasting: Be A Good Listener

By Cheval John

This post is the sixth lesson (chapter) on podcasting.

It is part of a series of posts for my second book “8 Lessons Every Podcaster Needs To Learn.”

To read the back story on why I decided to blog the book, you can click here.

Here is the 6th lesson below, short and sweet.

One of the most important things a person can do during a podcast is listening carefully to what their guest are saying.

Most of the time, the interviewer will ask a question and then focus on what they are going to ask next.

When a person only focus on what they are going to ask instead of listening to their guest, they miss out on an answer so insightful that can benefit the listener.

If you don’t listen, the guest will believe that you do not care about what they have to share with you and your audience.

When that happens, your podcast might suffer and it will be hard to build it back up again.

So if you want to gain insightful information during your podcast that will benefit your audience, be a good listener.

Your guest will appreciate it so much that they will give you praise when they are showcasing their appearance on your podcast.

Video courtesy of Psyche Truth

Fifth Lesson In Podcasting: Be Yourself

By Cheval John

This is the fifth lesson (chapter) on podcasting as part of a series of posts for my second book “8 Lessons Every Podcaster Needs To Learn.”

I have taken part in Nina Amir‘s “National Nonfiction Writing Month” challenge.

To find out more about the challenge, visit the website at www.writenonfictionnow.com

Without further ado, here is the post below:

Even though it is very important to have talking points from your research, you should not stick to the script.

You should try and be as conversational as possible with your guest and show your personality because a audience loves a person who is very authentic and willing to be real.

That does not mean you should talk about yourself the majority of the time while you are doing the show because it will come across as self-promotion.

Your main job is to showcase the guest and lift them up to your audience, not in the way that you do not have some disagreements about a particular subject.

If your guest ask you about your work, then you can chat about yourself for a bit.

Always keep in mind the 80/20 rule.

80% of the show is focused on the guest while 20% is focused on you.

Video courtesy of CenturyBooks