Commentary: After gut punch against Nevada, Texas State rises up in win over FIU

Texas State rose off the mat Saturday night. 

Dusted itself off after getting “punched in the mouth” in the season-opening loss to Nevada. After a week off “tough conversations” and “a lot of looking in the mirror situations,” head coach Jake Spavital’s Bobcats were rewarded with a night of firsts during a 42-12 win over Florida International in front of 18,757 inside Bobcat Stadium. 

Texas State earned its first home-opening win under Jake Spavital,first victory in a home opener since 2018 and first non-conference home win since 2019. The Bobcats saw a running back eclipse the most rushing yards since 2015 with redshirt sophomore Calvin Hill’s 195 yards on 28 carries. 

“Regardless of what happened, just keep swinging,” Spavital said. “...These kids, I’m happy for them just because I know the work they put into it and just to see them celebrate in the locker room, it’s always a great feeling and understand why you’re struggling and straining to overcome adversity. We still got a lot more ball left to play and we still are not even close to playing our best ball.” 

Texas State made strides Saturday night, albeit, with a few hiccups. The Bobcat defense stood tall in the opening half, limiting the Panthers to 127 total yards and six points. Redshirt junior quarterback Layne Hatcher connected on two long touchdown passes — a 67-yard connection with redshirt freshman Charles Brown and a 52-yard-scoring grab by senior Javen Banks — to put the Bobcats in command. 

But beyond the two touchdown passes, Texas State’s offense struggled to find its groove in the opening half. The Bobcats were held to 56 yards on the ground and just 59 yards through the air excluding Hatcher’s scoring throws. 

Texas State got into rhythm late in the second half as Hill continued to pound the ball, gashing FIU’s defense for 140 yards and a touchdown. Redshirt senior cornerback Kordell Rodgers punished Panther quarterback Grayson James with a pick-six to put the Bobcats firmly in control 41-12. 

“The defense gets a lot of credit because they’re playing at an extremely-high level right now,” Spavital said. “And, offensively, we got to keep coming along because there’s gonna be a moment where we need to elevate our play on offense because there will be a moment when the defense goes through a lot of adversity.” 

Following Texas State’s first home-opening win during Spavital’s tenure, the fourth-year head coach didn’t want to dwell on that fact. Instead, Spavital would rather figure out how his team can continue to improve. 

“I think we’ve improved every single year,” Spavital said. “Now, we just got to keep translating onto the field. I think our roster’s changed. Our schemes are changing. We’re getting better players in here. We just got to continue to just take it one step at a time. But it is a good feeling to get a win here in Bobcat Stadium in front of our home crowd.” 
 
Spavital said he saw improvement from his team between its loss to Nevada and its rebound win against FIU. But he recognized that the Bobcats have to continue to improve if they want any chance to be successful as the season progresses. 

“Let’s just show up and keep working and keep swinging,” the head coach said. “Just keep the energy and optimism up. And, have the transparency to look yourself in the mirror and correct what you're deficient at and just keep moving forward. I think if you can do that, you’ll be playing your best ball at the end of the year and I think that’s what’s the most important thing.” 

If Texas State had to rise off the mat Saturday night, the Bobcats may just have to avoid another gut punch as they prepare to face the defending Big 12 champions, Baylor, next weekend in Waco. But the Bears represent just one of 12 rounds in Texas State’s bout to bowl eligibility. 

Texas State knows it just has to keep swinging. 

“We got to keep improving each week,” Hill said. “We still got however many games, like 12? It seems like a lot of games but to reach what we want to accomplish we just got to, as I say, ‘come back tomorrow and get back to work.’”