San Marcos — If you’re the Texas State Bobcats, there aren’t many games in 2010 you can circle in red as sure wins.

Every game has a possibility of being close — with exception of the season-opening 40-point loss to Houston — since Texas State is pinning its hopes on the backs of two unproven quarterbacks (true freshman Tyler Arndt and sophomore Tim Hawkins).

Yet if there is one game the Bobcats can circle with invisible ink, it’s their match-up with Southern Arkansas this Saturday.

The Muleriders (0-1) are in their second year of rebuilding under head coach Bill Keopple. Last season, SAU limped to a 3-7 finish and only scored 19 total touchdowns.

It hasn’t been an easy start to 2010 as the Muleriders fell 20-0 at the hands of Harding in their season opener. SAU only put up 164 yards of total offense and allowed the Bison to rush for 224 yards.

“It was a tough opener for us because we expected to beat them and we didn’t handle business,” Keopple said. “Our offense didn’t click and things didn’t go as well defensively as we hoped.”

While the stats show the Muleriders aren’t at the top or middle of Division II football, Texas State doesn’t want to relax how it plays.

“It would be easy to take a team like this lightly, but that’s not what we’re going to do,” Bobcats wide receiver Da’Marcus Griggs said. “We know the minute we let up or don’t focus, their playmakers could hurt us.”

SAU’s best player — might be and probably is — defensive tackle Cedric Thornton.

Last season Thornton compiled a gaudy stat line — 80 tackles (49 solo), 8.5 sacks and two forced fumbles — and is already building on it in 2010 (eight tackles and one sack against Harding). In fact, several scouts from teams in the NFL have inquired about Thornton to both Keopple and Wright.

“We’ve been out there and had several NFL scouts asking about what he looks like on tape,” Wright said. “I’ll tell you what, he’s a big son of a gun that can play football.”

Offensively, the Muleriders struggle to move the ball both through the air and on the ground.

SAU only averaged 72.6 rushing yards per game in 2009, but that might be expected of a team that runs a spread offense. Yet, the Muleriders didn’t fare too much better passing, averaging 187.8.

“I think what you saw last season was a bunch of guys trying to get used to a new system,” Keopple said. “They ran the option until 2008 and we had a short time to get their mind around a new scheme. This year, we’re still going to have some struggles because our receivers are a bit young and they are getting used to the game speed, but we finally have a quarterback ready to produce.”

Midway through last season, Austin Civita won the starting position at SAU but didn’t prove himself worthy. Civita completed just 51 percent of his passes for 1,441 yards and posted an 8:13 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

This fall, however, Keopple said Civita reaffirmed why the coaching staff decided to name him starter.

“It was his first season with us after transferring, but Austin definitely began to settle in as the year went on and he knows what we want to accomplish,” Keopple said. “If he continues to improve and the wide receivers settle into the game speed, we can turn this around.”