— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Over the last two weeks, Texas State has discovered all too well how fine the margins are.
Picked to finish second in the Sun Belt Conference’s West Division, the Bobcats have suffered consecutive league losses in tough fashion, first 31-30 two weeks ago at Arkansas State and more recently, a 48-41 setback in overtime at home to Troy last week.
Seeking to turn things around, Texas State (3-3, 0-2) plays at Marshall at 3:30 p.m. Saturday while still in search of its first Sun Belt victory.
The matchup at Joan C. Edwards Stadium and can be seen on ESPN and serves as the Homecoming contest for Marshall (3-3, 1-1).
GJ Kinne is in his third season as the Bobcats’ head coach and has a 31-15 career record, including 19-13 at Texas State.
“We’ve got to get about 10 percent better on defense and make a couple of kicks and we’re sitting here 2-0 in conference,” Kinne said. “We’ve got to finish games on offense, too. These have all been team losses in all three phases and coaching losses as well.”
The Bobcats opened the season winning three of four games against Eastern Michigan (52-27), UTSA (43-36) and Nicholls State (35-3), while the loss was a 34-15 result at Arizona State.
The defense has struggled of late, and while Texas State averages a Sun Belt-best 36 points, opponents are averaging nearly 30, preventing Kinne’s team from producing the consistent results it desires.
The Bobcats are averaging better than 476 offensive yards per game, with more than half of that total on the ground.
Redshirt freshman Brad Jackson has thrown for 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns. Jackson’s legs are also a key factor of the offense as he’s the team’s second-leading rusher with 336 yards and seven rushing scores.
Lincoln Pare is the Bobcats’ top rusher with 581 yards and eight touchdowns. Greg Burrell has chipped in with 303 yards and three rushing touchdowns.
Top receiving targets Beau Sparks (33 catches, 506 yards, 5 touchdowns) and Chris Dawn Jr. (20 catches, 325 yards) have aided Jackson.
Texas State’s pass defense has been leaky, allowing nearly 236 yards per contest, while opponents average 159 rushing yards.
Defensively, the Bobcats’ heavily feature linebacker Treylin Payne and safety Ryan Nolan. Payne has a team-best 42 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. Nolan has 41 tackles and a pair of pass breakups and quarterback hurries.
This marks the first meeting between the two teams and likely they’re only one for the foreseeable future before Texas State becomes a member of a reworked Pac-12 Conference next year.
“We’ve created expectations around here where there weren’t any before, so we have to win these games and it’s really up to us as coaches and the players to call and make the plays, but we have to put them in better situations,” Kinne said. “We’re working hard to make sure it is corrected.”
