TXST Release:
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – In a defensive battle between I-35 rivals, Texas State suffered its first loss of the season in a 20-13 defeat against UTSA in the Alamodome on Saturday.
Both teams averaged only four yards per play, but Texas State (1-1) totaled 242 yards of offense on 59 plays while UTSA (1-1) had 372 yards on 92 plays. The Roadrunners won the time of possession, 37:23 to 22:37.
Texas State overcame a 10-0 deficit early in the game with 10 points in the final five-plus minutes of the second quarter. In the second half, UTSA took the lead at 17-10 with a 20-yard connection between Frank Harris and Willie McCoy to cap an eight-play, 68-yard drive with three minutes left in the third quarter.
The Bobcats were the beneficiaries of a UTSA fumble early in the fourth quarter, in which they quickly flipped into a big play when TJ Finley found a wide-open Kole Wilson for a 55-yard pass over the middle of the field. However, Wilson tripped up inside the 10-yard line to end a certain-touchdown play. An intentional grounding call and six-yard sack of Finley – one of six by the Roadrunners on the day – stalled the drive before Mason Shipley made it a 17-13 game with a 43-yard field goal.
On the following drive, UTSA worked its way down the field and used two-third down conversions, including one on a pass interference by the Bobcats, and a successful fourth-and-one play to set up a 43-yard field goal by Chase Allen that made it 20-13 Roadrunners with 5:47 to go.
The Bobcats were forced into a three-and-out on the following drive and never gained the ball back in the final five minutes of the game.
Despite the 92 plays by the UTSA offense, the Texas State defense had 11.0 tackles for loss, five sacks and the forced fumble. It also had five pass breakups and four quarterback hurries.
Brian Holloway had a career-high 16 tackles to lead the Bobcats. Ben Bell had two sacks among his six tackles.
Quarterback TJ Finley finished 16-of-30 with 211 yards. Drew Donley had a career-high five receptions for 79 yards.
From Head Coach GJ Kinne
On injuries …
“I don’t ever want to make excuses. Obviously the injuries never help, you know, losing Nash (Jones) like that that, you know, not good. Nash is the leader and really good player. And that’s part of the game. So, we’ll get back tomorrow get to work and get a game plan. Got to prepare the guys that are going in there to play this week. We know those guys are out, and we’ll have a game plan moving forward.”
On what UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor said to him after the game…
“(Jeff Traylor) just told me how proud he was of me and told him really good game and like I said, credit to those guys. I mean, (UTSA is) a really good team and they beat us. They they’re just really good. You know, Coach Loepp did a really good job with his game plan and, and didn’t do a lot of things different than we thought. They’re just they’re really good physically up front, that we struggled running the ball which hurt us and we got to we get those opportunities to win our one on ones. We got to throw it and catch it better and but it’s not on the players. We got to do better.”
On TJ Finley’s performance …
“I thought he was a little bit up and down. But like I said, this is a really good team. It’s not like they’re picked first in the American (Athletic Conference) for reason. And they’re a good team. That’s no excuse to go out there and play the way we did on offense, so we just got to continue to get better and we will, this is still our second game. So we’re going to continue to get the wrinkles and iron out what we need to and but the takeaway from this one is they’re a really good team and we had our moments there. We just got to capitalize better.”
On the lack of rushing offense …
“We’ll get back to work and, and, you know, played two really good teams. (Baylor) went toe to toe with Utah today. And obviously, like I said, UTSA is a really good defense and a really good team. So we just got to get back to work. And continue to get better every day over practice. We continue to get better.”
On the defensive performance …
“I thought the defense played really well. You know, Frank Harris is a really good player and they have some really good guys on offense and I thought our defense went toe to toe with them all day and they played really well played too many snaps. So you’ve got to play complimentary football and it’s a whole group – Offense, Defense, special teams all about that. Special teams played really well today. (Mason) Shipley made some really good kicks when we need them to so that was really good to see.”
On the Alamodome atmosphere …
“That was a great atmosphere and really appreciate our fans coming out and supporting us. We need a big crowd home crowd next week. There’ll be a huge game for us, the home opener. Really, really appreciate those guys. Looking forward to that home game.”
Stats To Know
Texas State dropped to 0-5 all-time against UTSA and 0-3 on the road in the series.
The crowd of 49,344 was the second-largest crowd in UTSA’s program history. It was the largest road crowd for the Bobcats since the 2019 season opener at Texas A&M (98,016).
The 11.0 TFLs were the most by Texas State since it had 12.0 against ULM on Oct. 15, 2016.
The last time Texas State had five sacks in a game was Nov. 27, 2021 vs. Arkansas State (5.0).
Jahmyl Jeter had the only Texas State touchdown of the day with a three-yard rush in second quarter. He now has back-to-back games with a rushing touchdown, which is a first for him since he had one in 4 straight to end the 2021 season.
Mason Shipley was 2-for-2 in field goals as he improved to 3-for-3 in his career. All three of his career field goals made are 40 yards or more.
Both teams combined for 21.0 TFLs, 11 sacks, and seven quarterback hurries.
UTSA had 28 first downs to Texas State’s 13.
The Bobcats finished 3-of-14 on third downs. UTSA was 12-of-21.
Texas State had six penalties for 40 yards. UTSA only had one penalty, a false start late in the first quarter.
Texas State’s Standout Performers
- LB Brian Holloway: 16 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 0.5 sack, 1 fumble recovery and 2 quarterback hurries
- S Tory Spears: 12 tackles, 1 quarterback hurry
- S Shawn Holton: 11 tackles, 1 forced fumble
- DE Ben Bell: 8 tackles, 1.0 TFL
- DE Ben Bell: 6 tackles, 2.0 sacks
- RB Jahmyl Jeter: 2 attempts, 9 rushing yards, TD
- WR Drew Donley: 5 receptions, 79 yards
- WR Kole Wilson: 4 receptions, 69 yards
- K Mason Shipley: 2-of-2 field goals (43 yards, 42 yards)
- RB Ismail Mahdi: 142 all-purpose yards (23 rushing, 119 kick return)
Up Next
Texas State will open its 2023 home schedule at Bobcat Stadium on Sept. 16 against Jackson State (7:30 pm). It is the first meeting between the two schools.
