San Marcos — Texas State wants to have a physical defense.

The Bobcats hope to pride themselves on bruising hits and gang tackling.

After Texas State’s first Southland Conference game against Southeastern Louisiana, it looked as if the Bobcats were well on their way. Texas State played well enough defensively in its ensuing pair of losses to win each game.

The same couldn’t be said about the offense.

What happens when both the offense and defense don’t decide to show up? You get a result like Saturday afternoon on Senior Day.

The Bobcats fell flat in their final home game of the season, allowing Central Arkansas to run wild. Texas State couldn’t stop the Bears’ running backs or keep up offensively as UCA won in a rout, 49-17.

“This is the first one where we didn’t play well enough in any of the phases to win the game,” Bobcats head coach Brad Wright said. “We were flat. We played flat from the opening kickoff and why is that? If one of you guys can tell me, I’d like to know.”

There weren’t many answers for Texas State other than the fact that it didn’t come out to play.

The Bobcats fell behind 14-3 after the first quarter and then watched UCA score 28 consecutive points in the second quarter. Before Texas State knew it, the Bears held a 42-3 halftime lead and half of the announced crowd of 10,120 had left Bobcat Stadium.

UCA entered Saturday rushing for 118.4 yards per game and only 3.6 per carry. By halftime, the Bears eclipsed both marks after rushing for 187 yards on 25 carries.

“It’s a terrible feeling to have them run it like they were,” Texas State senior linebacker Marcus Clark said. “It’s not like they were passing it over our heads. They were running it down our throats.”

All six of UCA’s (6-3, 3-2 SLC) touchdowns in the first half were on the ground as Terence Bobo led the way with three. Bobo got the scores but Jackie Hinton was the workhorse, rushing eight times for 102 yards.

When the Bears threw the ball, the Bobcats (4-5, 1-4) couldn’t wrap up their smaller receivers. UCA quarterback Nathan Dick feasted on bubble screens as his receivers racked up an average of 9.3 yards per completion.

“I just can’t explain it,” Wright said. “I’m not going to name names, but I saw one of our linebackers fall off an 150-pound wide receiver like he was Earl Campbell. It’s tough to play defense if you can’t tackle.”

With the defense regressing to its colander-like form, it was on the offense to turn a possible rout into a shootout. That wasn’t going to happen with the way redshirt sophomore quarterback Tim Hawkins played in the first half.

Hawkins looked timid in the pocket and took off for greener pastures even before the offensive line collapsed. He rushed for 53 yards in the first half but didn’t complete a pass and tossed two interceptions.

When Hawkins finally got on track, it was too late. While he completed seven of his nine passes for 82 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter, Texas State already trailed by a lot.

After Karrington Bush fumbled away the Bobcats’ first possession in the fourth quarter, it was evident the comeback kids from a week ago weren’t walking through the turnstiles.

“We’re pretty mad about this loss,” Bush, a senior, said. “Losing that bad, especially in our last home game, there’s no feeling to get it all better.”

Bobcat Notes — UCA is now 3-1 against Texas State, winning both games played in San Marcos ... During his post-game radio interview, UCA head coach Clint Conque pointed to the Bobcats’ 2008 SLC Championship banner painted on the wall lining the field and said, “Let’s be clear. That 2008 championship belongs to us but [the SLC] took it away. We came to this field two years ago when we finished 6-1 and beat [Texas State].” ... Conque also mentioned that since it’s known the Bobcats are going to receive an invite to the Western Athletic Conference, he wanted to make sure the Bears made “...their last trip to San Marcos a memorable one.”