Kinne Lights up the Scoreboard
Texas State returned to the Wack last Saturday and put on a show in front of 24,118 fans. The Bobcats stormed to a 77-34 victory over Jackson State, a record-setting offensive explosion.
In last week’s preview, I mentioned that I wanted to see the Bobcats succeed on the ground. They responded with eight rushing touchdowns and 399 yards rushing. T.J. Finley was lights out, tallying five touchdowns, three through the air and two on the ground. He only completed one half, as he was taken out of the game after halftime due to the huge lead.
For the first time this season, we were able to see transfer QB Malik Hornsby. He led four drives that resulted in three touchdowns for the Bobcats. He showed off his electric speed with 10 carries for 133 yards. G.J. Kinne played four different quarterbacks in the blowout, as C.J. Rogers and P.J. Hatter made their debuts as well. Neither quarterback attempted any passes, but Hatter showcased his speed on a long touchdown run that was called back due to a penalty.
It was far from a perfect game defensively by the Bobcats, a handful of unfortunate penalties kept Jackson State drives alive and led to points for the Tigers. However, the defense continued to make plays in the backfield, racking up 13 TFLs to go along with six sacks. It was a particularly good night for Boise State transfer Deven Wright, who ended with two sacks.
After bouncing back from a loss in San Antonio, G.J. Kinne’s team will host the Nevada Wolf Pack in hopes to begin the season 3-1 for the first time since 2013.
A Look at Nevada
Texas State and Nevada matched up last season in Reno, with the Wolf Pack embarrassing Layne Hatcher and the Bobcats 38-14. The following week, Nevada matched up with G.J. Kinne and Incarnate Word. UIW came out victorious 55-41, and the Wolf Pack have not won a game since.
After a 2-10 campaign last year, Nevada has begun the 2023 season 0-3. They were steamrolled by USC and Idaho, a very good FCS team. Nevada showed more life last week though, in a 31-24 loss to the Kansas Jayhawks.
Nevada is not a good team on either side of the ball, but they’re slightly better offensively than defensively. Their offense is led by Colorado transfer quarterback Brendon Lewis. Lewis has yet to throw a touchdown this year, but he is much more talented than the stats would have you believe. He’s a decent passer, but he is very dangerous on the ground while also being very hard to sack.
A quarterback that can run does wonders for your team’s overall rushing attack. At the very least, Nevada has an efficient ground game. They utilize both of their running backs Sean Dollars and Ashton Hayes, although Dollars is certainly the RB1 for the Wolf Pack.
Jamaal Bell is their most talented receiver, he has 21 receptions through three games. No other receiver or tight end has more than six catches, the matchup of Bell against this TXST secondary will be fun to watch.
This Wolf Pack offense has been mediocre, and they lack explosiveness in the passing game. If you are able to stop the run, their offense will be stagnant.
I know that’s a less than stellar review of the Nevada attack, but their defense has been even worse. I expect the Bobcat offense to have another excellent performance this Saturday.
They are not an intimidating pass rush to face, not a single player on the team has more than one sack. In the Wolf Pack’s three previous games, every quarterback they have faced has had time to sit in the pocket and pick apart a weak secondary. Passing the eye-test, however, is senior linebacker Tongiaki Mateialona who has one sack on the year, 15 tackles, and has forced two fumbles and may be the most talented player on the Wolf Pack defense thus far this season.
Nevada has been one of the worst secondaries in the FBS, allowing teams to throw the ball against them with unbelievable efficiency. They are one of the worst teams in all of college football when it comes to success rate on passing plays, at a rate of 43.2%. They are not much better against the run, with a success rate of 35.8% for offenses when they run the ball against them.
What I Want to See
There is a reason Nevada has lost 13 games in a row. They are not well coached, they are not dynamic, and they are not big or imposing. They’re a team with virtually zero strengths. In previous years, with previous coaches, maybe this is a team that I could see keeping up with Texas State.
With Kinne coaching and Finley at quarterback, I don’t predict Nevada to provide much of a challenge for the Bobcats. I recognize that on paper, Nevada played a close game with a Big 12 team last week. In reality, the game was not as close as the score indicates. Kansas had nearly 200 more total yards than Nevada, and 10 more first downs. Nevada fumbled the ball four times, and somehow recovered all of them. There was a lot of luck that went into Nevada’s 31-24 loss at home last week and I don’t think they played a style of football that can be carried over into this Saturday.
On offense, I want to see the rushing attack thrive again. They steamrolled an inferior opponent last Saturday and I want to see them repeat it this week. Again, the Wolf Pack have not been able to stop teams from throwing against them, I expect to see huge games from Wilson, Donley, Hobert, and Hawkins. I hope to see some of Texas State’s depth players get some playing time like they did last week.
The defense definitely has aspects of the game to improve on following the win over Jackson State. Penalties are the biggest issue that stand out to me. They were too undisciplined last week, and it gave Jackson State more opportunities to score. They can’t give teams second chances, especially as they get into conference play where the stakes are higher.
Jackson State was able to score 20 on the Bobcats before the TXST D settled in and strung together stops. The defense plays a “bend but don’t break” style and will sacrifice yards to try and get to the quarterback or make plays in the backfield, I understand that. I still want to see slightly less “bend,” however.
Texas State has played great through their first three games and the tempo that the offense plays with gives their defense less time to rest, so this is definitely nitpicking. Still, I would like to see improvement from what we saw last week here against Nevada.
Final Thoughts
In Texas State’s final game before conference play, they match up with an inferior opponent for the second straight week. After seeing how the Bobcats dealt with a lesser opponent last week, I am confident that G.J. Kinne and the Bobcats will light up the scoreboard again and cruise to victory.
