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Texas State’s main focus was to get healthy.
Following the team’s 24-3 win over Nicholls on Sept. 28, the Bobcats got a few extra days to recover with a bye week. Now, heading into a Thursday night matchup with Louisiana-Monroe (2-3, 1-0 Sun Belt), Texas State (2-3, 1-0) seems to have accomplished its goal. No player other than senior linebacker Gavin Graham (torn ACL) was ruled out for the game as of Tuesday.
“I'm really pleased with just kind of how the kids have approached it,” Spavital said. “There's a lot of excitement and energy, especially, having a win streak of two games. But they've approached it well, practiced with a purpose, like we talk about all the time.”
Spavital said he sees a lot of similarities between the two teams. Like the Bobcats, the Warhawks have faced a tough non-conference schedule, featuring two Power 5 schools and an undefeated Memphis team just last week.
Texas State’s defense will have the task of stopping the No. 4 offense in the league. ULM’s offense highlights the strengths of senior quarterback Caleb Evans, a third-year starter who’s thrown for 10 touchdowns this season and rushed for another five.
“He is a solid, consistent kid, is the way I look at it. And he can put you in some really bad spots because he's capable of doing anything,” Spavital said. “We know he can throw it, but his ability to use him in the quarterback run game in certain situations, it makes him tough to defend. And when a guy's seen about everything that you can possibly throw at him over his course of the past couple years that he's been playing, it makes it difficult for us.”
The Warhawks’ defense hasn’t fared as well, though those numbers may be skewed due to the quality of their opponents thus far. Spavital noted the team’s No. 1 coverage is man free, meaning ULM likes to stack extra players in the box to stop the run and leave its defensive backs in one-on-one coverage.
The scheme has resulted in the opposite of its intended effect, though. The Warhawks are second-to-last in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision at rushing defense, giving up 256.2 yards per game and 6.0 yards per carry.
“They do one-on-one battles across the board,” Spavital said. “So in the run game, we're going to have to make a free hitter miss … Our receiver battles, they're just going to put their guys who they want to match up on us. So it really, to me, it goes across the board. And the message all week is we gotta win the battles across the board with our 11 guys versus their 11 guys.”
ULM will go into Thursday’s game with four days of rest. Texas State will have 11. The Bobcats’ confidence has been brewing since the team went 2-0 in its “new season.”
“We knew we had to get on the same page and all do our job,” junior defensive tackle Caeveon Patton said. “We knew it was going to come. So all we gotta do is focus on being 3-0. It's very important because we've got a lot of seniors that this is their last season. And they want to go out on a big note. And I do, too.”
Texas State will host the Warhawks inside Bobcat Stadium at 8:15 p.m. Spavital said playing against Texas A&M helped the team learn how to prepare for a Thursday game. He hopes the players take advantage.
“(There's) a lot of moving parts, as you could say, of game planning for ULM and preparing and also doing a developmental side of things and actually get a lot of treatment and recovery in,” Spavital said. “And so I think our kids are ready to get out there for a Thursday night national TV game and get back out there in front of the home crowd and back in the (Jim Wacker Field) and I think these kids are ready to go.”
