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Texas State football regrouped during the bye week and now looks toward ULM on Saturday. Above, sophomore wide receiver Ashtyn Hawkins scores a 74-yard touchdown against Southern Miss on Oct. 22. Daily Record photo by Gerald Castillo

Texas State regroups after bye week, looks toward ULM

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Texas State was back on the grind this week as the Bobcats prepare for a road trip across the Louisiana border to battle the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks.

After playing eight straight weeks, the off period has come at a perfect time for head football coach Jake Spavital and his team especially as the Bobcats recover from their injuries.

“We hit the bye week at a really good time,” Spavital said. “It was a great opportunity for us to get our legs underneath us. A lot of those guys that are banged up have been looking good when we were running through practice, especially today. There are still some bumps and bruises which running through eight straight weeks can do.”

Though Texas State has been in the process of recovery, the Bobcats are excited to get back to playing games, especially with the remaining games that will determine the Bobcats chances of making it to a bowl game for the first time in program history.

“We are fired up for these last four games,” Spavital said. “There is a lot to play for in the month of November. We are excited for that and these kids are anxious to get out there and start playing. You know you sit around watching college football last week and while you enjoy not sweating it out with those guys, your competitive nature comes out where you want to hook it back up and go out there.”

As for the Bobcats’ opponent, the Warhawks,  it will be a challenge for Texas State as ULM sits at home with a 2-1 record with a win over the rival Louisiana Ragin Cajuns and a seven-point loss to the Sun Belt East leading Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.

Meanwhile, Texas State remains winless on the road.

“We got a tough opponent in ULM who is playing very well at home,” Spavital said. “Coach Bowden has a lot of good energy at that program. Those kids are playing extremely hard. It’s a young team that is going through a lot of moving parts early in the season and he solidified that down. It’s going to be a tough challenge.”

Part of the challenge for the Bobcats has been the offensive struggles with Texas State averaging just 14 points per game in its last two games after scoring 36 points against App State in the upset win.

A contributing factor to those said issues, according to Spavital, has been the injuries to the offensive line.

“We have gone through a lot of injuries,” Spavital said. “Looking at the offensive line, we have played with a lot of moving parts. We still have a lot of guys beat up up front. That is going to be an issue moving forward trying to figure out where we go from here. But this was a good week to move people around to different positions so we can make sure we are putting the right guys out there.”

The wide receivers have also had their fair share of injuries to as the some of the positions have been switched to make up the depth issues.

“Even with the receiver play, we are down a few guys,” Spavital said. “We have had to move some of the inside guys to play on the outside. You are going to see a lot of that with Ashtyn, Toe, and Jules (Ashtyn Hawkins, Rontavius Groves, Julian Ortega-Jones) playing different positions inside and outside just from depth purpose.”

Regarding quarterback play, Spavital plans to stick with Layne Hatcher who received 100% of the snaps this season.

When asked about a potential switch, Spavital retorted with a short quick answer.

“Same as usual”

Kickoff against Louisiana Monroe starts at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon at Malone Stadium

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