Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Navy is 1-1, but their loss is to Ohio State, a team well equipped to handle the triple option. The Bobcat defense is going to have to dig deep to stop this kind of attack. The good news is that they can stay with Navy if it becomes a scoring fest.
San Marcos, TX -- Texas State quarterback Jordan Moore had little rust to knock off as he assaulted UTSA through the air for a Bobcats victory. He went 30/42 for 477 yards and 3 touchdowns. He did have three interceptions, but his confidence didn't seem to be shaken from it.
"This is a gunslinger offense", said Moore after the game. "Things are going to happen like interceptions, but it's my job to make sure more good things happen than bad things."
Wide receiver Brandon Smith was the player of the game with 191 yards and 2 touchdowns. Brice Gunter even looked like a number 1 receiver with 126 yards. Tight end Bradley Miller didn't look like himself, though, as he only had two catches for 35 yards and bobbled a catch which ended up being intercepted by UTSA who would ultimately score after the turnover.
The Bobcats tried to get the running game going, but the UTSA defense stuffed halfback Terrance Franks time and time again. He did score two goal line touchdowns, but ended up with only 29 yards.
Roadrunners quarterback Tucker Carter had a fairly big day with 322 yards and 3 touchdowns. His best receiver was Earon Holmes who had 146 yards and a touchdown. Two other Roadrunner receivers would have touchdowns, but it just wasn't enough to stay with Texas State's offense.
The Bobcats had a bye in the official week 1, so they will be kicking off the season in week 2 at Bobcat Stadium versus the UTSA Roadrunners in the I-35 Rivalry. The battle for the I-35 Trophy started in basketball, but expanded to all sports in 2012 as UTSA defeated Texas State 38-31 in their first football meeting.
UTSA is already 0-1 this season and is rated lower than Texas State. But everyone knows that rivalry games tend to be played a little bit differently and unpredictably. Having said that, I don't see the Bobcats having trouble putting up a ton of points to win this game.
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
The Bobcats will play their I-35 rival again like they did in years past, as they open the season with the UTSA Roadrunners. They also will play Army and Navy whose triple option offenses are always dangerous. Yeah I don't want to overlook the Sun Belt teams, but the academies pose a different and perhaps really tough challenge.
This year will also be different because the Bobcats are the favorites to win the conference. So this will be a challenge more of focus rather than one of "can we really beat this or that team?" But if there's another favorite in the Sun Belt, it's Louisiana-Lafayette. They've upgraded in talent and look to beat Texas State for the second time in a row. As for the rest, the Bobcats just need to play smart and don't get too overconfident.
9/6 - UTSA
9/13 - Navy
9/20 - Army
9/27 - BYE
10/4 - @SJSU
10/11 - Idaho
10/18 - ULL
10/25 - @GSU
11/1 - @ULM
11/8 - BYE
11/15 - Arkansas St.
11/22 - @South Alabama
11/29 - @Western Kentucky
12/6 - Troy
To start things off, Texas State has a national ranking of 53. This has indeed upset some of Bobcat nation as our team ended the 2013 season ranked #21. But we must temper expectations, as nobody could have predicted the wild ride last season. The Bobcats are a known commodity now, and you better believe defenses have spent plenty of time making adjustments and game planning to shut down this high powered attack.
Quarterback and preseason All-Conference pick Jordan Moore has returned as the starting signal caller for the Bobcats. Head coach Dennis Franchione says he has gotten even better on his throws and predicts a repeat performance of 2013. The coaching staff had been toying with the idea of having Moore compete with freshman Ryan Quinn due to Quinn's outstanding talents, but decided it was in their best interest to redshirt him and utilize his years of eligibility. Moore's backup will be redshirt freshman Tyler Jones, who has the quickness to be a dual threat, but is a dropoff from Moore in terms of passing ability.
Next we have the halfback, Terrance Franks, who looks even faster than he did last year and hopes to make an even bigger impact on this offense. He was also named to the preseason All-Conference team. Backing him up will again be Tim Gay, who looked more than capable to taking the load if Franks goes down. At fullback is freshman Roger Holmes who has the ability to break open some big holes for whoever is behind him. So the running game continues to look solid.
And now for what might be the most exciting part of this team, let's look at the receiving corps. Due to the graduations of 2nd team All-American Isaiah Battle and slot receiver Andy Erickson, the only player left from the original "Trio" is Brandon Smith. He held a top five spot in receiving yards in the nation for a few weeks last season, so I look for him to be a dangerous number one threat. The number two receiver will be Brice Gunter, who saw some decent playing time last season and looks good to step into the starting role. At the slot will be Demun Mercer, a speedy type who may be a little shaky on his pass catching abilities. This is really the only question mark I have on the new "Trio". At tight end, All-American Bradley Miller returns a bit faster and wiser, and looks to break records of his own this year.
While the offensive line picked up some good transfers, they won't be eligible to play until the 2015 season. So this is the only part of the offense that will be taking a step down this year. Freshman left tackle Tim Wright will need to step into the role immediately, and the rest of the line is suspect at best. Let's hope they can protect Moore enough to keep this team on the right track again this year.
On the defensive side of the ball, look for middle linebacker and defensive captain David Mayo to keep this defense relevant. He will be leading a squad that will miss Damien McMiller and D.J. Yendrey, but welcomes back cornerback Xavier Daniels and safety Trey Garrett, two players that should make big plays this season in the absence of the graduating second team All-Americans.
New defensive ends Tevin Beanum (6'5" 251lbs, 72OVR) from Arkansas and Tyrone Taylor (6'3" 210lbs, 75OVR) from Texas A&M can be the bookend rushers that this team needs to get to the next level.
Tackle Josh Thomas (6'7" 336lbs, 70OVR) from Houston and guard Kyle Marrs (6'5" 300lbs, 79OVR) from Oklahoma are immediate upgrades to the offensive line.
And wide receiver Kyrion Parker (6'3" 185lbs, 76OVR) from Texas A&M will fit in well with this Trio system and more.
Monday, July 17, 2017
"Yes, I was offered head coaching jobs at various schools in the Sun Belt, Conference USA, and the MAC", said O'Bradovich. "I even got calls from Texas A&M, Cal, and many other power 5 conference schools to be their offensive coordinator. But I feel like we just started something here in San Marcos. We started building a foundation for even greater things in the future. I want to see where this goes."
Translation: O'Bradovich doesn't buy into his own hype after just one season in the FBS. I think we will see him move on to bigger things when he knows he's ready to take on the responsibility of a head coach.
The second recruit is Cory Levine, a 5'11" 264 lb defensive tackle from Lake Providence, Louisiana. The coaches say he has the ability to start day one due to the lack of talent at that position.
Number 2 has beaten number 1 as Johnny Manziel and the Aggies defeated the Crimson Tide of Alabama. The Heisman winner was unstoppable through the air as well as on the ground. You would have never thought an Alabama defense could give up 59 points, so Texas A&M definitely deserves the crown.
New Orleans, LA -- Nobody was going to deny Texas State of this victory. Bobcat nation traveled well and represented with a loud presence as their team defeated Tulsa handily. The Bobcats jumped on top of the Golden Hurricane early and often. In fact, the score was 31-0 Texas State before Tulsa finally got a big play off. It was a 67 yard pass for a touchdown. But that was all they could muster.
Down 45-7 in the 4th quarter, Tulsa had one more chance to save face. But the Texas State defense came up big and got the ball back. Dennis Franchione decided to call off the dogs and milk the clock for the majority of the 4th.
"We proved our point", said Franchione on his decision to take the foot off the pedal for the first time this season. "We could have scored again, maybe twice more, but I wanted to give our guys the opportunity to soak in the experience."
Bobcats offensive coordinator Sean O'Bradovich was asked after the game about his importance to this team.
"I feel very lucky that coach Franchione brought me along for this ride", said O'Bradovich. "I've heard about the tweets and the talk about "my system", but I think we made it look so easy this year that people forget how much of a team game this is. We can't do any of this without each other."
Whether it's O'Bradovich's system, a maturation of Franchione's first recruits, or the stars aligning, none of that matters as far as I'm concerned. The time for enjoying this magical season is now. And right now it's time to party in the Big Easy!
"I applaud the job that the kids at Texas State did this year, but All-Americans?" remarked Tulsa head coach Bill Blankenship. "It's kind of a slap in the face to the players in this country who had to face power 5 conference talent week after week. We're not going to roll over just because they achieved stats in the Sun Belt."
Bobcats head coach Dennis Franchione had a response.
"We're not going to apologize for going 11-1 against the schedule laid out before us", said Franchione. "Especially to a team that went 7-5."
So clearly the lines have been drawn. It seems to have taken a Sun Belt versus Conference USA narrative even if it doesn't deserve to be. But we'll take the added drama to an already exciting upcoming game.
"I'm really proud of what our guys achieved this year", said Bobcats head coach Dennis Franchione. "The good news is that some of these kids are coming back next year."
Indeed there are building blocks for an even brighter future. The magic in San Marcos this year is really something to behold.
OBinKC
0
356 Forum Posts
218 Blog Entries
220 News/Blog Comments
0 Reader Score Votes
1 Friends
0 Chalkboard Messages
0 Screenshots
0 Videos
54,336 Arena Visits
OBinKC's Screenshots (0)
OBinKC does not have any albums to display.
OBinKC's Friends
Recent Visitors
The last 10 visitor(s) to this Arena were:
OBinKC's Arena has had 54,336 visits
- closz
- Funkycorm
- JackNCoke
- MJDrocks
- motormooseAJC1
- rakernk
- Skyflame21
- SoulessGuard1an
- thinwhiteduke
- TrueInvictus
OBinKC's Arena has had 54,336 visits
Working...