Bobcats Win- Playoff Hopes Become Real

This could be called Texas State’s biggest win of the year, or at least the biggest win behind the defeat of previously #4 McNeese State in Lake Charles 45-42. Either way, it’s a huge win for a number of reasons: The Bobcats will be in the driver’s seat for the playoffs and conference championship with a McNeese win over Northwestern State tonight, Texas State has proven to the fans and most importantly themselves that they can play well at home as well as on the road, and this win is going to give the Bobcats some major momentum going into the Huntsville.

Props to the fans for showing up in much better numbers today. Hopefully they’ll keep the momentum going for the Southland Conference regular season champion Texas State volleyball team when they play Texas A&M – Corpus Christi tonight at Strahan Coliseum.

Nicholls State brought the blitz against Texas State numerous times today, and it's clear that after the 1st quarter jitters that OC Travis Bush and the Texas State offense made some adjustments and exploited the Nicholls secondary with quick dump-off passes and sharp routes over the middle. Colonel Head Coach Jay Thomas and Defensive Coordinator Steve Ellis will likely be tearing their hair out wondering how Cameron Luke and Karrington Bush got so wide open on their touchdown passes while watching film this week.

For those who have noted the Bobcats' legendary road woes coming into this year, the team's recent string of road wins as well as some shaky performances at home has to be making some scratch their heads. Coach Wright apparently decided to try and translate this road success to the previously friendly confines of Bobcat Stadium with an innovative idea. He reportedly had the team stay in a San Marcos hotel last night, presumably to simulate a road atmosphere as well as cut out any extracurricular distractions that could take the players’ minds off of the game. Given the focused, inspired performance by the team today perhaps we’ll see a trend for future home games?

Given Texas State’s woes on run defense against Southern Utah and mostly recently Northwestern State, today's performance has to be a huge confidence boost for the defensive unit. They’re going to need it against a dangerous mobile quarterback in Rhett Bomar next week.

The wind was a somewhat important factor in today’s game by keeping Nicholls from scoring 6 points in two missed field goals. However, it wasn’t nearly as crucial as it could have been.

Texas State improves their overall record to 7-4 and 4-2 in the Southland Conference. They will travel to Huntsville next week to play rival Sam Houston State next week. The game will start at 2 pm and you can listen to the game on 89.9 KTSW and online at KTSW.net. Just a reminder that there will also be another blog entry for next week’s game. Thanks for reading the KTSW blog, and go Bobcats!

Will Butler- KTSW Sports Staff Writer