TXST Release
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Trailing by 11 points in the fourth quarter, TJ Finley found Joey Hobert for two touchdowns in the final four minutes of the game to propel Texas State to a 21-20 come-from-behind win over ULM on Saturday and in front of the fifth-largest crowd in Bobcat Stadium history.
After ULM (2-4, 0-3 SBC) had a pick-six off Finley with nine minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the Bobcat offense – which ended seven of its 12 drives in ULM territory – put together back-to-back touchdown drives in the final minutes to take home its fifth win of the season.
The five wins are the most by Texas State (5-2, 2-1 SBC) in a season since 2014. The victory also moved the Bobcats to 3-0 at home this year and winners in seven of their last nine games in San Marcos.
Hobert finished with 10 catches – on 18 targets – and 110 receiving yards and two touchdowns. It was his third-straight 100-yard receiving game, which made him the first Bobcat to do that in the school’s FBS history.
The Bobcats had 452 yards of offense, including 230 yards on the ground.
The Texas State defense, though, held ULM to 285 yards of total offense, which was the fewest yards allowed by the Bobcats this season. The Warhawks only 14 first downs to Texas State’s 29, and they were a combined 3-of-15 on third and fourth downs.
The Bobcats led 9-7 going into halftime thanks to Mason Shipley’s three field goals and a defensive effort that forced the Warhawks to punt four times on their first seven drives. The Texas State defense also had a goal-line stop midway through the second quarter – stuffing the Warhawks on back-to-back plays on the Bobcat one-yard line – to maintain the two-point lead.
ULM took the lead with a 47-yard field goal midway through the third. It then added another field goal to take a 13-0 lead after it forced Texas State to turn the ball over on downs.
The Bobcats were able to move the ball on the subsequent drive, getting to the ULM 28-yard line before Finley threw an interception to Ja’Terious Evans who returned it for a 76-yard touchdown and helped make 20-9 ULM.
Finley and Texas State responded, though, with the back-to-back touchdown drives capped by touchdown catches by Hobert.
From Head Coach GJ Kinne
On the overall game…
(ULM is) a good team and you can see that on film. The way they played App State, the way they you know, they beat Army. I mean, this was a quality team with really good coaches. Those guys have coached a game or two over there. They get paid as well and those guys played hard. They believed they could come in here and win and I knew it was going to be a dogfight. Really proud of our guys for the way they responded and just a lot of belief. That’s one of those victories that’s going to be huge for this program going forward. It really is, you can feel the momentum. In a game like that it doesn’t matter how you win as long as you win, so I was really proud of them.”
On second-half adjustments…
“Really it was execution and penalties that got us. We were driving the ball and then we get a hold or something and then we convert the first down and they call it offensive pass interference. So you know, it was just kind of one of those games when you get out of the rhythm like that, it’s tough. So we found a way though and that’s all that matters.”
On the performance by the defense…
“There’s no doubt the defense came to play tonight. Think they kind of felt like their backs were against the wall. Talked about third downs I thought we were a lot better on third downs. That quarterback once again, could run the ball very well, had a good offensive line, and a couple of good receivers. So for us to come out there and play the way we did on defense was very promising and you can build some momentum off that one on defense.”
On the goal-line stand by the defense in the second quarter…
“Unbelievable. (That) goal line stand was unbelievable. Our defense man came to play. That’s a tough defense and give a lot of credit to our defensive staff for having these guys prepared. I think it says a lot about you when they tried to draw us off sides on fourth down and that was their plan on fourth and inches. That was a good feeling.”
On getting the fifth win for the first time in a season since 2014…
“It was huge. I talked about it all week. This is the dang Super Bowl. We let one slip away from us last week. In the big picture of things this game was the most important game of the season, obviously because it was the next one, but in the big picture it was huge for us.”
Stats To Know
This is the second year in a row that Texas State won its first three home games in a season.
This is the first season that Texas State is 5-2 since 2011.
GJ Kinne became the first Texas State head coach to win five of his first seven games at the helm of the Bobcats since John O’Hara in 1983.
This is the first season since 2014 that Texas State has won two of its three conference games.
Texas State’s opening drive in the game was 17 plays, a season-high. The drive lasted 6:04 and resulted in a 29-yard field goal by Shipley.
Shipley is 8-of-8 on field goals this season and 6-of-6 over the last two weeks.
Six of Texas State’s 12 drives were 11 plays or longer. ULM did not have a drive longer than nine plays.
Seven different Bobcats tallied a rushing attempt as the team finished 230 rushing yards. It was the second straight 200-yard rushing game for Texas State and its fourth this season.
Texas State’s Standout Performers
QB TJ Finley: 24-46, 222 yards, 2 TD, INT
WR Joey Hobert: 10 rec, 110 yards, 2 TD
RB Donerio Davenport: 15 att, 94 yards
RB Ismail Mahdi: 14 att, 57 yards
K Mason Shipley: 3-of-3 FGs
LB Brian Holloway: 8 tackles, 2.5 TFLs
DE Jordan Revels: 8 tackles, 2.5 TFLs
CB Alonzo Edwards Jr.: 6 tackles, 1.0 sack
Up Next
Texas State will have its bye week next week and return to action on Oct. 28 when it hosts Troy at Bobcat Stadium.
