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DALLAS—Texas State is making strides. The team just isn’t making enough.
The Bobcat defense stifled SMU (3-0) during the first half of Saturday’s game inside Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas. The Mustangs came into the matchup averaging 43 points a game, but were held to just 13 by Texas State and turned the ball over twice during the first two quarters.
The maroon and gold offense couldn’t capitalize, though. The Bobcats countered with three points on a 27-yard field goal from senior kicker Joshua Rowland in the first quarter — the first for Texas State in 11 games, dating back to Sept. 15, 2018, against South Alabama. But the drive was set up by a Jarron Morris interception that the sophomore cornerback returned for six yards to the SMU 19-yard line.
The team’s offense picked up in the second half, but the defense slowed down. The hosts outscored the visitors by 26 points in the final two frames to come away with a 47-17 victory.
“We've gotta get a little bit better, just in terms of, across the entire board, on just playing complementary football,” head coach Jake Spavital said. “Because the second the offense does something great, the defense, like, slacks and lets something up. The second the defense has been dominating, like the entire first half, the offense couldn't capitalize on anything.”
The Mustangs added two touchdowns on their opening two drives of the second half. Texas State got the ball back on their own 35. Junior quarterback Gresch Jensen launched a throw near the sideline on the first play of the drive to senior wide receiver Hutch White, who stayed in bounds to complete the 28-yard pass.
Jensen connected on his next three targets to push the Bobcats into the red zone for the first time. Anthony D. Taylor gained a yard on third down to give the team 1st and goal from the 10. Jensen sent a screen pass to Taylor on the next play, who beat SMU’s defender to the left corner and dove into the end zone, cutting the lead to 27-10 with the extra point.
But the hosts pulled away soon after, collecting two more touchdowns of their own before Texas State’s next score.
“I just feel like they made adjustments and we made mistakes,” senior linebacker Bryan London II said. “We came out and we didn't play with the same edge we had in the first half. So we just gotta figure out what went wrong.”
Sophomore quarterback Tyler Vitt took over for Jensen in the fourth quarter, two drives after Taylor’s touchdown. Vitt found junior running back Caleb Twyford on a wheel route for a 35-yard score, but SMU grinded down the clock and took the win, 47-17.
Jensen finished the night completing 22-37 passes, throwing for 185 yards, one touchdown and an interception. Vitt went 3-3 for 40 yards and a score. Twyford led the team with 53 yards on three receptions, but the team’s running game continued to struggle. Taylor and Twyford combined for 43 yards on 19 carries, a 2.3-yard average.
Senior safety Jalen Smith added a pick to go along with Morris’. London had a team-high 10 tackles, 2.5 of them coming behind the line of scrimmage. Senior defensive end Ishmael Davis forced a fumble in the fourth quarter, which freshman defensive back Kevin Anderson returned for 48 yards, leading to Vitt’s scoring pass to Twyford.
Spavital said he still likes the fight from his players and is encouraged by the growth he’s seen on the field. The Bobcats have increased their scoring average in each game this season.
But as the team heads into its first Sun Belt game, he needs to see more. And soon.
“I told them right now that the real season starts right now. We gotta put these three games behind us, those are three quality opponents that we played,” Spavital said. “And now, we gotta get back to work tomorrow, we have to have everything in place and just keep correcting and getting better as a team and go out there and compete versus Georgia State. Because this is where the real season starts for us”
Texas State (0-3) will host Georgia State (2-1) inside Bobcat Stadium on Friday, Sept. 21 at 6 p.m.
