Bobcat Football Back On Top!

Hopefully your heart has recovered by now if you listened to or were at the game where the Texas State Bobcats came out victorious 48 to 45 in overtime against Sam Houston State. This rivalry has produced some extremely close, exciting finishes the past few years, and this game was no different. Sam Houston State deserves credit for fighting Texas State down to the very end when they really had nothing to play for but pride.

There were a ton of momentum shifts in this game, but none were more important than the successive touchdowns by Karrington Bush and Stan Zwinggi with 10:35 and 6:42 left to go in the 3rd quarter, respectively (K-Bush’s winning touchdown run in OT excluded). The 80-yard Bush kickoff return and the 91-yard Zwinggi reception off of a Bradley George screen cut a 28-13 deficit to 28-28 and arguably hurt the Bearkats’ confidence a bit. But what was most important about those scores was that you could tell on the Bobcat sideline the players knew they could win this game, something that was lacking when Texas State fell into a shocking 21-0 hole early in the 2nd quarter.

Two words that are going to haunt everyone affiliated with the Sam Houston State program: missed opportunities. Texas State was actually outgained on offense 553 yards to 427 and Sam Houston had 34 first downs to Texas State’s 21. Sam Houston State quarterback Rhett Bomar is likely hoping that he’ll be able to throw to receivers in the NFL that will actually catch his passes, as the amount of dropped balls by the Bearkat receivers bordered on the absurd.

Texas State brought the blitz early and often on defense, and you could tell it frustrated the former OU quarterback. The Bobcats picked Bomar off twice (one of those wasn’t his fault, however), and he attempted to force passes between 3-4 Texas State defenders multiple times. Linebacker Joe Bell’s monster sack of Bomar on 4th down in the third quarter stalled a Sam Houston State drive at the Bobcat 25 and likely left Bomar seeing stars looking up at the Huntsville sky.

However, Bomar was still an integral part in keeping Sam Houston State alive as the game wound to a close. His 27-yard touchdown pass to James Madkins with 4 seconds to go in regulation that tied the game at 42 likely gave some Bobcat fans heartburn.

One could tell that former Texas State running back James Aston wanted to take it to his former team. The former Ohio State wrestler left Texas State for Huntsville because of minimal playing time, and he took it to his former team with 179 yards on 33 carries and 1 touchdown. Bomar and Aston ran wild on Texas State’s defense with a simple zone read attack for about 3 and a half quarters, until the Bobcats’ bend but don’t break defense was finally able to shut the Bearkat rushing attack down late in the 4th.

Texas State fans deserve some major kudos for the way they showed up in Huntsville today. There were a few thousand wearing maroon and gold on the far side of Bowers Stadium, and with the band I would be willing to estimate there were about 2-4 thousand Bobcat fans there. It was amazing to see Texas State’s student section larger and louder than the so-called Bearkat “Krazies.” The fans rushing the field and celebrating with the players after Karrington Bush’s 5 yard winning touchdown run was quite a sight to see.

Sam Houston State's crowd, by comparison, was fairly flat. There may have been 2/3 more Bearkat fans than Bobcat fans, but you could tell that their passion for the season had been drained by a soul-crushing loss in overtime to Southeastern Louisiana last week that knocked Sam Houston State out of playoff contention. The Bobcat crowd was often louder than the home crowd, but even when Texas State was down 21-0 the Bearkat fans never really got much louder than those who had made the 4-hour trip to Bowers Stadium.

Texas State is now the official Southland Conference Champion and will receive an automatic bid to the FCS or 1-aa playoffs. The team will learn today who they are playing at 6 pm, and it will likely be a road game at FCS juggernaut Montana or at Weber State. With Texas State’s 8-4 record and the bad loss to Southern Utah earlier this season, the likelihood of a game in San Marcos during the playoffs looks increasingly slim. However, this team has had a fantastic season and as of right now could play with the best teams in the country when firing on all cylinders, so don’t count the Bobcats out in the FCS Championship race.

You can listen to the selection show at 6 pm to find out just who and where Texas State is playing next week on 89.9 KTSW and online at KTSW.net. Our very own Brant Freeman and Bill Culhane will cover all of the playoff matchups and will interview Texas State players and coaches about their thoughts on the playoffs as well as the season in general. Thanks for listening, and Go Bobcats!

Will Butler- KTSW Sports Staff Writer