TXST Release:
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Despite totaling 437 yards of offense against the Sun Belt’s top-ranked defense, Texas State turned the ball over a season-high four times and surrendered 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to fall to Troy, 31-13, on Homecoming on Saturday at Bobcat Stadium.
Texas State (5-3, 2-2 SBC) fell into a tie for second-place in the Sun Belt West Division standings with the loss, its first at home this season.
The Bobcats led 10-7 at halftime, but Troy scored on its first drive of the second half and forced Texas State to have four consecutive drives end in a fumble or turnover on downs in the final 18 minutes of the game. The Trojans (6-2, 3-1 SBC) scored on three of those four following possessions, including two touchdowns and a field goal, to pull away and claim their 12th straight win over the Bobcats.
Offensively, Ismail Mahdi ran for 128 yards on 20 attempts for his third 100-yard rushing game this season.
The Bobcats finished with 161 yards on the ground and held Troy to 28 rushing yards, the fewest allowed by Texas State in a game since 2013.
However, Troy’s Gunnar Watson threw for 392 yards and was responsible for four touchdowns (three passing).
Texas State’s defense had three sacks, its most in a game since Sept. 16 against Jackson State. Ben Bell had two sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss.
The Bobcats opened the game’s scoring when TJ Finley found Ashtyn Hawkins on a crossing route in Troy territory, which Hawkins turned into a 28-yard touchdown less than three minutes into the game.
The Bobcat defense forced Troy to back-to-back turnover on downs inside Bobcat territory, and Texas State worked its way into the red zone once again on its third drive of the game. However, Finley’s errant pass found the hands of Troy’s Jordan Stringer in the end zone to halt a 75-yard drive. The Trojans flipped the Texas State turnover into a touchdown on the following drive to tie the game at 7-7 with 14:02 to go in the second quarter.
Finley threw his second interception of the night on the next Texas State drive, but the Bobcat defense held Troy once again to force a punt.
Mason Shipley hit the first of his two field goals to make it 10-7 with under two minutes left in the second quarter and cap an 11-play, 76-yard drive.
Both sides traded punts with less than a minute to go in the first half, and the Bobcats carried their three-point lead into the break.
Coming out of halftime, Troy scored following a four-play, 75-yard drive – that lasted less than two minutes – with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Watson to Jabre Barber to make it 14-10 Trojans.
The Bobcats responded with another long drive – an 11-play, 69-yard march – that culminated with a 23-yard field goal by Shipley to make it 14-13 with 8:16 remaining in the third quarter.
The Trojans went on to force fumbles by Mahdi and Finley on two of the five final Texas State drives to help pull away.
From Head Coach GJ Kinne
On TJ Finley’s two interceptions…
I have to see them on film. It was a scramble on the first one, looked like the ball got tipped (but I) have to see that one. The second one is the same thing. It looked like maybe he got hit or the ball kind of floated, on one of the two. I’m not exactly sure on the second one either. So just got to learn from it and move forward. He’s a really good quarterback. He played really well at times. Just got to continue to get better.
On what led to the four turnovers…
We were running the ball against a team that hasn’t given up a lot of rushing yards. I mean, those guys are really good up front. (I) thought we were protecting them for the most part in the passing game. We got the ball out of his hands and we were moving the ball. You can’t move the ball that well and not score more points than that. So, it’s just going to come down to the red zone offense again, and then the turnovers. That’s kind of been the story so far when we’ve lost and so we got to continue to work those areas more and put these guys in a better position. And like I said, I’m going to take this one. I thought the guys came out ready to go out of the bye week. We were healthy for the most part. And I think that’s probably the biggest takeaway from tonight is it looks like we’re healthy for the most part after the game, too.
What is contributing to the red zone problems…
Credit to (Troy). But we just have to trust our reads and move forward and play free. Like I said, it’s not one thing or the other. It’s a group thing and so just collectively when we got to be better.
On how this team rebounds from a loss to Troy…
We got to flush it and move on to the next one. Another home game, versus a really good opponent, so we got to get back to work and then fix the corrections and then get back to work.
Offensive lineman Caleb Johnson
On what Troy was doing well defensively…
I think biggest thing they were doing is they’re very sound. They’re very sound like in their gaps. They get where they’re supposed to go. And then we got to eliminate the little mistakes. I mean, I think all of our turnovers are really just little mistakes that we made. We could have made a better choice and not had the same outcome.
On Troy’s defensive line…
I feel like interior-wise we were handling it pretty good, but on the edges, we already knew going into this game. They have really good defensive ends. They’re fast. They’re pretty quick guys. They’re not power guys, but they’re very quick. And so, you got to set accordingly. I think at some times our tackles were sitting accordingly. They were doing a great job and then sometimes, you know, you don’t do the little things right, and then it bites you.
Being one of the older players on this team, what do you say to these guys for the rest of the season?
I mean, kind of what Coach Kinne said, you got to flush this game and you got to look to the next. We’re going to come in tomorrow and we’re going to lift some weights. We’re going to run and we’re going to flush. Then, look forward to the next game because then the next game could be a win, you know, so you got to look forward to the wins you can make.
Stats To Know
Texas State became the first team this season to total more than 400 yards against Troy’s defense. The Trojans came into the game ranked 1st in the Sun Belt and 10th in the nation in total defense.
The Bobcats dropped to 3-1 at home this season.
Mahdi became the first Bobcat with three 100-yard rushing games in a season since Robert Lowe had four in 2014.
The four turnovers were Texas State’s most in a game since Oct. 1, 2022 at JMU (4).
Mason Shipley improved to 10-of-10 on field goals this season.
The 28 rushing yards by Troy were the fewest surrendered by Texas State in a game since Aug. 31, 2013 against Southern Miss (23).
Kole Wilson led all Texas State receivers with eight receptions and 71 receiving yards. Nine different Bobcats caught a pass.
Texas State’s Standout Performers
RB Ismail Mahdi: 20 att, 128 yards; 4 rec, 32 yards
WR Kole Wilson: 8 rec, 71 yards
WR Ashtyn Hawkins: 4 rec, 57 yards, TD
K Mason Shipley: 2-of-2 FG, 1-of-1 PAT
LB Brian Holloway: 10 tackles
DE Ben Bell: 6 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, 2.0 sacks
DL Tavian Coleman: 2 tackles, 1.5 TFLs, 1.0 sack
Up Next
Texas State finishes its stretch of three-straight home games with a matchup against Georgia Southern (6-2, 3-1 SBC) on Nov. 4 at 6 pm. The Eagles are second in the Sun Belt East Division.
