Texas State regroups following tough loss to Troy, Georgia Southern on tap

Texas State was back on the gridiron this week as the Bobcats regroup following their tough loss against Troy.

Though he was proud of the way the Bobcats played against the Trojans, Head Coach G.J. Kinne said he was still disappointed in the amount of turnovers Texas State had.

“I thought we were the more physical team,” Kinne said. “But you can’t turn the ball over four times. We had one too many mistakes on the back end to beat a championship caliber team. The good thing is that we have another championship caliber team coming to our house again, so we get another opportunity.”

That message was echoed by Offensive Coordinator Mack Leftwich who expanded on how the Bobcats can overcome their recent problems in the redzone.

“It comes down to the turnovers, [especially] when you have four turnovers inside the opponent’s 40-yard line,” Leftwich said. “We are doing a good job of moving the ball and getting to those opportunities where we can score. It just comes down to execution and making sure we are designing the best plays , when the space gets a little more condensed down in the redzone. Making sure we are getting the ball to our playmakers who are able to make plays and win those one on ones.”

Despite the Bobcats gaining over 437 yards of offense, including 161 yards on the ground, Texas State was plagued by four turnovers, two fumbles and two interceptions, that doomed the Cats in the 31-13 loss.

As Texas State prepares for Georgia Southern this Saturday, the Bobcats will continue to focus on execution.

“Our philosophy on offense is going into a game you are going to have two or three new plays on offense,” Leftwich said. “A lot is just window dressing, finding the best ways to run your plays and moving pieces around to make sure the ball is going to the right guys down there to find the best match-ups. It’s a little bit more on that and putting more emphasis on executing and finishing drives.”

On the defensive side of the ball, the Bobcats held Troy running back Kimani Vidal to just 43 yards rushing, while holding the team to only 28 rushing yards.

But despite the great effort to stop the run, the Trojans picked apart the Bobcats through the air with 392 yards passing from Gunnar Watson.

Just like the offense, the defense will put the nose to the grindstone to prepare for one of the most prolific passing offenses in the conference in Georgia Southern.

“We focused all week on stopping the run,” Kinne said. “Credit to those [defense] because we did stop the run. [Troy] was able to come out there and throw the ball a little bit and make some plays. Their quarterback played really well and put the ball on the money a couple of times and their receivers made some plays. It just goes back to going back to work, focusing on us and getting better.”

But despite the tough loss, the Bobcats are refocused for the Eagles.

“We got back to work today,” Kinne said. “We have a really good team coming here that’s really well coached. Anytime you take a big loss like that you have to go back to work and focus on yourself. I feel like we had a really good Tuesday practice today. It was a little cold and windy so there was a little pep in our step.”

cmcwilliams@sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc