Bobcats look for another historic win against Troy

It was a history-making victory for the Bobcats as they came off the field last Saturday night after pulling off one of the biggest wins in Texas State FBS tenure against the Appalachian State, 36-24.

But as glorious as the win was, the mentality of the program has shifted towards their next opponent in the Troy Trojans.

“I’m happy for our guys but we are in the Funbelt/Sunbelt,” Spavital said. “(The win) was short lived and we enjoyed it and it is always a better feeling coming in on Sunday after a victory but these guys know we have a tough task at hand coming up against Troy.”

Now Texas State will also have to pull off another historic win and do something no other Bobcat football team has done, beat the Trojans on the road.

In the all-time series between Troy and Texas State, the Bobcats have never won at Veterans Memorial Stadium in the previous 12 meetings.

In fact, Texas State has only beaten Trojans just once back in 1997 when then-Southwest Texas State upset the #No. 7-ranked Trojans, 31-17.

Since the upset loss, Troy has won ten straight against the Bobcats as the Trojans lead the overall series 11-1.

But achieving that historic win will be another challenging task as the Trojans come into the game with a 4-2 record with two of their losses coming against App State where the Mountaineers won on a miraculous Hail Mary and a season-opening defeat against Ole Miss, who is currently ranked ninth in the nation.

For Spavital, the Trojans are one of the best teams in the Sun Belt.

“I think Troy is one of the better teams in our league right now,” Spavital said. “They are playing at a high level and Coach (Jon) Sumrall has those players playing sound…you look where they are at and they lost to App State to a last second Hail Mary then played Ole Miss very tough. This could very well be 5-1 right now or even 6-0.”

According to Bill Connelly’s SP+ ratings system, which is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency, the Trojans are currently ranked 55th overall which is the fourth highest Sun Belt team ranked behind James Madison at 37th, Coastal Carolina at 46th and App State at 49th.

The main driver behind Troy’s success has been the defense which SP+ ranks as the 37th best defense in the country when put up against all 131 FBS teams.

In fact, the defense is quite similar to a familiar opponent Texas State has played earlier in the season.

“It reminds me of the Baylor week,” Spavital said. “You sit there looking at the tape for hours upon hours and you don’t have anything on your call sheet because they play very sound in what they do.”

Led by senior linebacker Carlton Martial who leads the team with 52 total tackles and sophomore defensive end TJ Jackson who currently leads the conference in sacks with 5.5, the defense bolstered by upperclassmen leadership.

“You look at this team and it feels like this team has been there forever,” Spavital said. “There are a lot of three-four year starters. It’s the exact team we played in 2019. It’s just kinda crazy how the covid year and how great the players are that you wished some of those players were at this point.”

On the offensive side of the ball, there will be a mystery on who will be the starting quarterback come Saturday with starting Gunnar Watson being held out of the Southern Miss due to “precautionary reasons” and Jarrett Doege taking the reins at offense.

In Doege’s last start against Southern Miss, the transfer quarterback threw for 237 yards and two touchdowns in the Trojans 27-10 win over Southern Miss.

Regardless of who is starting at quarterback, for Spavital the Trojans will use efficiency to control the game and beyond.

“It’s the style of play in what they do,” Spavital said. “They are very efficient in what they do…they are going to get the ball in play, use ball control and huddle, and use unique tempos to catch you off guard.”

Kickoff between Troy and Texas State is set for Saturday at 2:30 p.m. with the game streaming on ESPN3.