Texas State football opened the 2025 season with a rematch of a 2021 game against Eastern Michigan. Texas State lost the first ever meeting between the two teams in 2021, a game that was played in Michigan.
A lot has changed since then though, and TXST came away with a revenge style win over the EMU Eagles.
This was also the debut start for quarterback Brad Jackson who saw limited playing time in 2024, but was named the starter earlier in the week leading up to game 1.
Brad Jackson had a stellar first start for the Bobcats to the tune of 18/26 for 214 yards passing and 4 touchdowns. He was also effective on his feet, rushing 10 times for 48 yards. Brad Jackson played every down until the game was well out of reach for the Eagles. QB Keldric Luster came in for cleanup duty in the 4th quarter going 0/1 with 2 rushes for 12 yards.
Overall the TXST offense was firing on all cylinders Saturday night.
Standout WR Beau Sparks had a phenomenal game tying a TXST record from 2007 of 4 passing TD’s in a single game. All 4 of Brad Jackson’s passing touchdowns found Sparks in the end zone and Sparks finished with a team leading 7 receptions for 82 yards.
As expected, the Bobcats are going to have a solid one two punch in the backfield with Lincoln Pare and Greg Burrell.
Lincoln Pare had a solid outing finishing with 12 carries for 167 yards and 1 touchdown. Burrell finished with 7 carries for 79 yards as well. Perhaps a surprise addition to the backfield for the Bobcats was Jaylen Jenkins, who came into the game late in the 4th quarter. Jenkins busted a huge 58 yard touchdown run for the final score of the game for the Bobcats to put TXST up 52-20. Jenkins showed real speed after breaking into the second level leaving all defenders in his dust.
GJ Kinne has stated he plans on being a run first team this year and that held true on Saturday night as the Bobcats combined for 39 carries and 392 yards on the ground.
On the defensive side of the ball, it was a different story.
The Bobcats defense is mostly new and may take some time to gel together before being really good. They are likely a bend but don’t break style team until they figure it out.
Early in the game, the EMU Eagles seemed like they were going to turn it into a shootout answering TXST scores with a field goal and a touchdown to make it 10-14 Bobcats early in the 2nd quarter.
The Bobcat defense was unable to get a stop allowing drives of 9 plays 68 yards and a field goal followed by 8 plays for 80 yards and a touchdown. TXST seemed to be in the right position on most plays, but weak tackling allowed EMU to break several drive extending runs early. TXST defense would go on to give up another long sustained drive of 11 plays for 65 yards and a touchdown with just 12 seconds left in the half making it a one possession game 17-24 at halftime.
The Bobcat defense however, would make adjustments at halftime and came out fired up.
GJ Kinne stated in the post game press conference that he thought the tackling wasn’t great in the first half, but got much better in the second half. He also stated that they only got 3 practices with live tackling in fall camp and that it sometimes takes a little bit to get used to the speed of the game.
All of that was very evident in the second half for the Bobcats defense.
The defense held strong in the second half forcing 3 punts in a row with 0 sustained drives for EMU. It wasn’t until 6:29 left in the 4th quarter that EMU was able to find points again with a field goal to make it 20-45 in favor of the Bobcats.
Overall the Bobcat defense had a slow start, but showed flashes of greatness at times. The Bobcats won’t have the luxury of starting slow in next week’s matchup against a much stronger offensive team in UTSA though.
GJ Kinne was most proud about the defense the way they responded in the second half.
“That game at halftime could have gone one of two ways. I think the way they [the defense] responded in that second half just kinda tells you about the guys in that room and what they’re made of.”
TXST finished with a final score of 52-27 improving to 1-0 on the season.
TXST will now turn their attention to UTSA and the I35 Rivalry game. Last year the Bobcats won handily 49-10, the largest margin of victory for either team in the short series.
However, playing in the Alamodome is always challenging as UTSA is 28-3 in the Dome under coach Jeff Traylor. UTSA is also expected to be a much more challenging opponent than EMU.
The Bobcats will have to show up on both sides of the ball if they want to walk out of the Alamodome with the victory next week.
