It wasn’t the way Texas State’s seniors wanted it to end.
They wanted to put on a show for their home crowd. They wanted to be one step closer to bowl eligibility. They wanted to win.
The team had stacked together three victories inside Bobcat Stadium already, the most since 2015. The most recent win came just last week when Texas State beat South Alabama, 30-28. One more on the final evening at Jim Wacker Field would’ve been the perfect ending for the 22 seniors.
Their performance wasn’t perfect, though, and the Bobcats exited the arena Saturday with a 63-27 loss to Troy.
“(I’m) just a little sad,” senior linebacker Bryan London II said. “I'm a little upset. You know, this isn't how I planned on going out. I feel like we didn't play our best game tonight and it showed.”
The Bobcats (3-7, 2-4 Sun Belt) began the game holding the Trojans (4-5, 2-3) to a three-and-out. The hosts marched to Troy’s red zone on the opening drive, but stalled after being flagged for holding on first down. Senior kicker Joshua Rowland connected on a 33-yard field goal four plays later for the first score of the game, giving Texas State a 3-0 lead.
The visitors responded with an 11 play, 83-yard drive that ended with a 13-yard touchdown from senior quarterback Kaleb Barker to redshirt freshman running back Trevon Woolfolk. The Trojans never trailed again.
Junior running back Robert Brown Jr. reached the end zone for Texas State on a 21-yard run at the beginning of the second quarter.
But Troy scored three unanswered touchdowns to take a 35-10 lead into half time.
“(Troy’s) a very explosive team that we were playing. We talked about that all week and I thought that came out of hit us for a lot of plays in that first half, especially when you go in (at halftime) 35-10. You gotta give them a lot of credit,” Bobcats head coach Jake Spavital said. “That was something that we addressed all week. It was about, 'You got to keep playing. There's going to be a ton of opportunities in this game' … that was kind of the point to the team, that you gotta continue to play because they're gonna hit you with some big plays. But when you look at it overall, they hit us with a lot of them.”
The Trojans saw eight passes go for 15 or more yards and three runs that went for 10 or more yards. The team was flawless in the red zone, scoring on all seven of its trips, each of them touchdowns.
The Bobcats were perfect in the red zone, too, but only passed the 20 twice all night. The maroon and gold were flagged for a season-high-tying eight penalties and converted on third down just three times on 13 tries.
“You look at the end of the day, I thought we had a lot of mistakes, a lot of penalties. I don't think they had very many penalties, we had a lot. A lot of holdings, some, some (pass interference calls), just some things that kind of hurt us and put us behind the chains. So I'd say overall, we were sloppy with penalties,” Spavital said. “Gotta eliminate the explosive play. We still gotta understand momentum swings and when we get into shootouts, we gotta be able to respond.”
Sophomore quarterback Tyler Vitt completed 29-of-44 passes, throwing for 263 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions. Senior wide receiver Hutch White was his top target, receiving seven passes for 80 yards and a score. Brown led the team with 67 yards rushing on four carries. Senior linebacker Frankie Griffin and defensive back Anthony J. Taylor tied for most tackles with seven each. London finished with five stops.
Barker broke Troy’s single-game record with six passing touchdowns. He finished passing 30-of-43 for 363 yards.
The loss leaves Texas State ineligible for a bowl game for the fifth year in a row. Still, the team still has a chance to post its best record since 2014 with two games left on the schedule -- including next Saturday against Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina a 1:30 p.m.
The seniors didn’t get their perfect ending at home. But the Bobcats are getting closer.
“We won some tough ones that in past years ago ... we weren't able to come away with those ones. So you definitely see signs of progression,” London said. “It's definitely trending in the right direction. I feel like if we just finished strong, how we know we can do, it'd just keep the motion going.”
“They won three games here at Wacker Field and that's something that, when we look back, we're going to end up saying that they built something special,” Spavital said. “Now, we've still got two more games to go fight. You know, that's the whole thing. There's a lot of down heads in there, last time they're going to strap it up in Bobcat Stadium, but now it's the time to go and fight an App State team and try to make some memories out there and try to win some games. That's what this is about. They've won three, we need to see if we can win four.
