Texas State looking for individual improvements during bye week

Over the course of his coaching career, Jake Spavital learned that there’s about three to five plays that decide a game’s outcome.

He pointed a few out that took place in Texas State’s 24-21 loss at Boston College last Saturday. In the fourth quarter, the Bobcats ran the ball on 3rd and 1 that resulted in a two-yard loss for sophomore running back Brock Sturges. On Texas State’s next drive, Brady McBride dropped back to pass on 3rd and 6 but was sacked for a 12-yard loss. 

The Eagles drove down to the Texas State 15-yard line on the next possession. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Phil Jurkovec missed on a throw on 3rd and 5 but the Bobcats were flagged for roughing the passer. BC scored two plays later to tie the game up at 21-21.

“The ones that stick out to me is our third downs in critical situations,” Spavital said. “Obviously we’ve done a lot of great things, we’re doing a lot of great things but we’re not finishing games. So we all have to look ourselves in the mirror individually and find how we can improve and find something we’re deficient at and focus on it, especially in this bye week, to get that fixed and move forward.”

Texas State currently ranks seventh in the Sun Belt with a 41.4% third down conversion rate. The team should see the percentage increase, though, as the Bobcats received the news on Sept. 23 that sophomore running back Jahyml Jeter, who transferred to the school this offseason from Oklahoma State, was granted a hardship waiver by the NCAA and deemed eligible to play.

Jeter’s initial waiver request was denied and the San Antonio Brennan graduate was held out of the Bobcats’ first three games. Spavital said the news that his appeal had been approved was a bit surprising.

“You gotta give credit to (Associate Athletics Director)  Kelsey Solis and (Director of Player Personnel) Connor Anderson for just the work that they put in on the appeal. You know, crazy how it came, like on that Wednesday after three games,” Spavital said. “But (I loved) just to see the kid smile and how fired up he was and how excited the team was for Jahmyl to actually get an opportunity to go out there and play.”

Jeter is listed at 6-foot and 200 pounds. Spavital said he intends to use Jeter as the team’s short-yardage back. The head coach didn’t have much time to implement Jeter into the game plan against the Eagles, but the running back still posted 36 yards rushing on four carries, including a 20-yard tote, and caught one pass for four yards.

Sturges and redshirt freshman tailback Calvin Hill were already averaging 151.3 yards on the ground before Jeter’s arrival, Texas State’s highest total since the 2015 season. Spavital said his best offenses in years past have always boasted three running backs he could lean on.

“(Jeter’s) a big dude. He's a little different from me and Calvin,” Sturges said. “Me and Calvin, we're kind of the smaller backs. When he was out, I was kind of looked at as the bigger back, I guess you could say. But with him, he's a big dude, he's a load to bring down. Not a lot of people can tackle him one-on-one. Nobody, really, I'd say. So he's going to bring a lot to our offense, a lot of experience. He played at a D1-level school, so he's a great addition to our running back room.”

But Jeter’s move to the active roster highlights one of the biggest issues that has challenged the Bobcats this season: the team’s depth chart.

Texas State has started both redshirt sophomore Brady McBride and junior Tyler Vitt behind center in two games each this year, but has yet to have both quarterbacks available in the same game due to COVID-19 and contact tracing protocols. Vitt did not travel with the team to BC last weekend and missed Tuesday’s practice while in quarantine. Spavital said he wasn’t sure exactly when Vitt would return, but expected it to be “soon.”

But Spavital also noted the quarterback spot tends to be magnified. Other positions have had multiple impact players ruled out either due to injury or quarantine, especially the team’s offensive and defensive linemen and its defensive backs. And most of the time, Spavital doesn’t know who he’ll have available to deploy until the day before a game.

“With the targeting foul (on junior cornerback Morris) and the potential of the targeting of (sophomore defensive back) DJ (Mask), we wouldn't have had enough DBs to actually, probably, finish the (BC) game. That's how close we are at other positions,” Spavital said. “At least in the SMU game, you had an idea that you didn't have tight ends. So like, it gave me a week to prepare. But like, the day before the game, that would've been a pretty tough one. So you just gotta work your way through it.”

The Bobcats (1-3, 1-0 Sun Belt) head to Troy next Saturday to take on the Trojans (1-1) at 2:30 p.m. Spavital’s hope is that the team uses the bye week to rest up and learn how to execute for a full four quarters as Texas State dives deeper into conference play.

“We are close, we know that. But we’re trying to break through and get over the hump right now,” Spavital said. “And to do that, we’ve got to continue to practice, we’ve got to continue to put our head down and grind and focus on the little things. And eventually, if we keep playing with the effort that we’re playing with and doing the things that we’re doing, the ball’s gonna bounce our way. And when it does, it’s gonna open up and we’re gonna make a run at it. And I think these kids understand that.”