TXST FOOTBALL
This is the fourth part of a multi-part series on the 2005 Bobcat football season and its impact on Texas State University 20 years later. The support for Texas State had reached a fever pitch following the Bobcats thrilling 50-35 win over Georgia Southern in the 2005 FCS playoffs.
Director of Athletics Don Coryell, who at the time worked as Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Operations, saw first-hand the swell of support continue to rise for the Bobcats and the number of tickets being sold for the playoff games at a fast rate.
“I just remember this shift in momentum,” Coryell said. “The crowds just continually got bigger and bigger as we continued to win more when we hosted those FCS playoff games.”
Being in charge of ticket sales, Coryell and his staff started handing out tickets to students in the quad on campus.
As the Bobcats went deeper in the playoffs, those tickets, that in the past would gather more cobwebs than buyers, soon turned to the hottest thing around.
“We were issuing tickets to our students, being on campus for each game, we would start like a countdown,” Coryell said. “Essentially, we were just up there handing out tickets. I think we had a bullhorn, and we would say, ‘Hundred tickets left.’ Students would run up to the table where we were at. I remember the countdown, you know 10 [tickets] left and people were scrambling.
“At one point we had one ticket left. This guy’s running across the quad to get this ticket from us. I remember we took a picture of them afterwards and posted it on our website and had some fun with it, but the interest was just through the roof as the team started to win.”
Though he didn’t see it at the moment, Coryell slowly began to realize how important the 2005 season was becoming.
“I was relatively new. I didn’t realize at the time what a big deal that was,” Coryell said. “Based on maybe some of the history here, because you know they hadn’t had a lot of wins [since] the early 80s, it was just the level of interest with something that I don’t think the university had seen for an awfully long time.”
In the FCS Quarterfinals, Texas State hosted the Cal Poly Mustangs in a rematch from last season where the Bobcats fell 38-21.
Over 15,400 fans packed Bobcat Stadium in a sellout as the game turned into a defensive slugfest. The Bobcat defense held Cal Poly to 263 total yards of offense, forcing two turnovers and holding the Mustangs to just one touchdown.
Though the Bobcat offense was held to their lowest offensive output of the season, it was just enough as Texas State defeated Cal Poly 14-7.
With No. 1 seed New Hampshire losing in the quarterfinals, the Bobcats were set to host their third playoff game in a row as Texas State battled Northern Iowa in the semifinals with the winner advancing to play in Chattanooga for the national championship.
The largest crowd of the season was another sellout. There were 15,712 fans cheering the Bobcats and Panthers put on an exciting show.
Trailing 14-0 at the end of the first quarter, Texas State began their comeback before taking their first lead of the game in the third quarter when quarterback Barrick Nealy hit Justin Williams for a 14-yard touchdown pass to put the Bobcats up 30-29.
Texas State extended the lead to 37-29 when Daniel Jolly scored his second touchdown of the game on a two-yard run with five minutes remaining in the game.
Northern Iowa soon tied the ballgame on a two-yard touchdown run before converting the two-point conversion, making it a 37-37 game.
On the next possession, Texas State started on their own 25-yard line with one minute, 27 seconds left in the game with all three timeouts remaining.
In what would infamously become known as ‘The Knee,’ Nealy kneeled down to drain the rest of the clock to send the game into overtime.
Immediately after the game, Bailiff told the Daily Record his reasoning for the decision that has haunted Bobcat fans for years.
“We played the percentages right there,” Bailiff said. “It’s hard to score in a minute, 27 seconds and move 80 yards. Had we turned it over then, we wouldn’t have gotten into overtime. They had a great field goal kicker, and if we turned it over right there, I would have been a bum. No matter what you do, you are going to get questioned about it and that’s fine because it’s part of the job.”
It’s still a question senior captain Randy Moshier gets asked today 20 years later. Why did the team decide to kneel instead of going for the game-winning drive? However, Moshier still stands by his coach.
“Everybody looks at that game and they ask about why did you kneel the ball with less than two minutes,” Moshier said. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t question the decision at all. When Coach Bailiff made the call at the time I firmly thought, much like [we did against] Sam Houston, we are going into overtime, and we’ll win it again.”
Similar to how the overtime game against Sam Houston started, the Bobcat defense held the Panthers to a field goal, giving the ball back to the offense.
Unfortunately for the Bobcats, the ending was not the same. Nealy’s pass was intercepted by the Northern Iowa defense, giving the Panthers a 4037 win “Quite frankly, I didn’t get it done,” Nealy said. “It was tough. I’ll be honest with you man. It is one of those moments that we don’t always talk about with the former players. It left a bitter taste in my mouth for a very long time. Quite frankly – honestly – it wasn’t until this past [2024] season where that feeling kind of started to settle with me. … It’s amazing how those tough losses really stay with you.”
The gut punch loss in the semifinals may have ended what is still the most successful season the Bobcats have had on the football field in more than 40 years; however it did not damper the importance of what the Bobcats accomplished. It marked the first time Texas State won the conference title since 1983, and it was also the first time Texas State won multiple playoff games since the 1982 season.
But the most significant impact of the 2005 season would not be what Texas State did on the field. A new record was set for total attendance at 128,751 with an average attendance of 12,875. For the first time in decades, the Bobcat faithful got a taste of what winning felt like. The feeling kindled the coals of Bobcat football, and perhaps the university as a whole. In the coming years that fire reignited the student body into a movement that eventually resulted in what came to be known as The Drive to FBS.
Part fourth of this series will be run in the Sunday, Aug. 23 issue of the San Marcos Daily Record.
