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Texas State knew it was coming.
Head coach Jake Spavital called back-to-back timeouts to warn his defense. Louisiana-Monroe used the same tactic to seal a 20-14 win over the Bobcats in Monroe, Lousiana on Oct. 20, 2018.
And yet, it still worked. The Bobcats walked back out on the field trailing by three points with 2:26 left in the fourth quarter. The Warhawks had 4th and 1 on the Texas State 24-yard line. A stop would give the maroon and gold one last shot to score.
ULM senior quarterback Caleb Evans lined up under center and called out a hard count, attempting to sell a QB sneak, just as he had last season. Sophomore defensive lineman Nico Ezidore bought it, drawing an offsides penalty that moved the Warhawks inside the red zone with a new set of downs.
The visitors ran into the end zone two plays later, clinching a 24-14 victory Thursday night inside Bobcat Stadium.
“What it came down to is doing the little things,” Spavital said. “The attention to detail, the efficiency that we talk about. And I thought we played sloppy as a team all the way across the board.”
It wasn’t that Ezidore had a bad game. In fact, the sophomore racked up six tackles and set the hosts up for one of their two scores of the night.
Near the end of the third quarter, the Warhawks (3-3, 2-0 Sun Belt) handed the ball off to redshirt junior running back Josh Johnson inside the Texas State red zone. Ezidore punched the ball out for the first forced fumble of his career. Senior linebacker Clifton Lewis Jr. scooped the ball up and returned it 26 yards to the Bobcats’ 38. Sophomore quarterback Tyler Vitt found sophomore wide receiver Trevis Graham Jr. on the next play for a 62-yard touchdown pass.
It wasn’t that Ezidore’s mistake led to a score, either.
It was that Ezidore — along with several of his teammates — made a mistake at all.
“That's the thing I take a lot of pride in, is disciplined, efficient football,” Spavital said. “Like I've said before, we're not talented enough to just roll the ball out there and do undisciplined football. We gotta do the little things right, we have to be assignment-sound, we have to play as one. And that's where I'm disappointed in myself. And I didn't get these guys ready to play in terms of doing the little things right and making sure that they're playing sound football.”
Spavital said the offense had six snap issues in the first half and a few more in the second. Multiple wide receivers dropped passes. The defense gave up too many broken tackles.
Many of the team’s top playmakers went down with injuries during the game. Junior running back Caleb Twyford picked up 78 yards on 10 carries in the first half, but was pulled at halftime for what Spavital believed was a bad shoulder. Junior quarterback Gresch Jensen completed 16-30 passes for 170 yards, but was placed in the concussion protocol in the third quarter. Senior safety JaShon Waddy snagged his second interception of the season in the opening quarter, but never returned to the field.
But Spavital said that’s no excuse. Texas State should be playing sound football, regardless of who is on the field.
“I feel like we had beat ourselves,” said senior offensive tackle Aaron Brewer, who came off the field hobbling in the third quarter, but re-entered after receiving fresh tape on his right ankle. “We played decent but it was a lot of mistakes. We had a lot of opportunities to win the game. But people make mistakes and we've just gotta learn from it and improve.”
The Bobcats (2-4, 1-1) will have 16 days to heal up and prepare for their next test against Arkansas State (3-3, 1-1) in Jonesboro, Arkansas on Oct. 26. Spavital said they’ll have some tough conversations to decide on what’s best for the team.
Texas State was disciplined enough to find two wins. But it’ll have to sharpen up to find a few more.
“Everybody messed up on both sides of the ball, little mistakes. We killed ourselves tonight, shot ourselves in the foot a lot,” senior defensive lineman Caeveon Patton said. “It didn't go as we expected it to or plan for it to go. But we gotta bounce back.”
