Head Coach: GJ Kinne is in his 2nd year with the program with an 8-5 record. He brought the Bobcats to the program’s first ever bowl appearance and won it. Not too shabby! Kinne was also a star QB for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane from 2009-2011.
Program Outlook: Kinne transformed this program overnight. There was always potential but no one could get the Bobcats off the ground and they struggled until Kinne got here. Now in year 2 of his tenure, Texas State is a popular pick to make the College Football Playoff!! From never making a bowl to playoff in 2 years would be an incredible transformation. It’s really awesome to see the buzz around this program.
How does the 2024 Roster look?: I tipped my hand a bit mentioning them as a contender for the playoff but this is an exciting roster. Their QB position went in flux a lot of the offseason because they brought in Jayden de Laura which led to TJ Finley transferring out, only there was a controversy around de Laura and he left too. No worries, Texas State ended up landing JMU transfer Jordan McCloud who led the Dukes to an 11-2 season in the Sun Belt last year, I think Texas State ended up alright! QB may take all the headlines but you’d be mistaken to miss out on RB Ismail Mahdi who is an absolute electric factory. There’s not shortage of talent at receiver either with Joey Hobert and Kole Wilson leading a deep group. Keep in mind they utilized the portal to bring in additional depth at all these positions. The defense was aggressive as hell last year. They disrupted opposing offenses a lot, but the downside is if the opposing offense kept their wits about them they ripped off huge chunk plays on the Bobcats. The Bobcats will continue to bring the heat with talented transfer Tunmise Adeleye from Michigan State and Steven Parker from Incarnate Word, but they will be hoping that additional experience for their returning starters or the additional help they brought in the portal can bring some more consistency on the backend. In case you couldn’t tell, Texas State had some wild swings throughout the year. They led Southern Miss 42-10 at halftime, the Golden Eagles got back within a score with 6 minutes left before Texas State scored to put the game away in a 50-36 win. Texas State jumped out to a 24-0 lead on South Alabama in the first quarter and had to hold on for a one score win, and perhaps the wildest result was a 77-31 loss to Arkansas State where the Red Wolves scored 4 non-offensive TDs. You can tell there’s a scary good side to Texas State but avoiding mistakes will make or break their season.
Screenshot from fbschedules.com1
2024 Schedule Thoughts: This schedule isn’t bad. The Bobcats get UTSA at home as well as Arizona State, and revive an old rivalry with Sam Houston in NRG stadium. Their draw from the East division is Georgia State and Old Dominion which definitely isn’t the worst draw. The biggest obstacle for the Bobcats will be having to face Troy and South Alabama on the road. The Troy game in particular is a challenging one, the Bobcats have yet to ever beat them.
Vegas Projection: Texas State’s win total is set at 8.5 with the odds geared toward the under. This projection seems to indicate that Vegas thinks the Bobcats will be improved but isn’t buying the hype of them making the playoff. Yet they’re 2nd in Sun Belt title odds at +450.
2024 Best Case: The offense remains explosive but keeps the turnovers to a minimum while defense remains disruptive but becomes consistent on the backend. This helps Texas State roll past UTSA and Arizona State in back to back weeks. The Bobcats blow out Sam Houston and beat Troy on the road for their first win over the Trojans. This sets the tone for the Bobcats to go unbeaten the rest of the way. They find a highly ranked Appalachian State team awaiting them in the Sun Belt championship, but the Bobcats jump on them early and coast to a Sun Belt championship. The undef
2024 Worst Case: The offense can’t help but to turn the ball over while the pass rush doesn’t home as quickly as expected leaving them exposed on the backend. Their troubles become apparent right away during the key 5 day non-conference stretch as the Bobcats lose to both the Roadrunners and Sun Devils at home. It gets even worse in conference play when the Bobcats lose their first 4 conference games. Suddenly they’re no longer contending for the Sun Belt, they’re just hoping to make a bowl. Alas they lose again down the closing stretch and don’t even make that. Unfortunately the disappointing season doesn’t make Baylor forget about Kinne, they make a push for him and Texas State is starting over once again.
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