BobcatReport has confirmed with sources at Texas Tech
University that the home opener at the newly renovated Bobcat Stadium will be against
the Red Raiders on September 8th, 2012. This will be the first appearance by a Bowl
Championship Subdivision team in San Marcos, followed three weeks later by
Mountain West (and former WAC) school Nevada on September 29th. Texas State will also travel to play the
University of Houston and the Naval Academy in their first year of WAC
participation.
Texas Tech, a member of the Big 12, is led by former Auburn
and Ole Miss coach Tommy Tuberville. The
Red Raiders were 8-5 in 2010 and beat Northwestern in the inaugural TicketCity
Bowl January 1st, 2011. Their
legendary high powered offense is maintained by former Troy offensive
coordinator Neal Brown, who at age 30 has firmly planted himself among the
rising stars of the sport.
Led by longtime commissioner Karl Benson, the 2012 WAC will
be home to the Bobcats, longtime rival Texas-San Antonio, the University of
Denver, San Jose State, Utah State, Idaho, New Mexico State, and Louisiana
Tech. Denver does not field a football
team. The conference is still looking at
further expansion after the defection of Boise State, Nevada, and Fresno State
to the Mountain West.
Texas State’s transition starts in 2011 as a
postseason-ineligible member of the Southland Conference and will continue as a
bowl-ineligible member of the Western Athletic Conference in 2012.
Bobcat Stadium’s renovation is slated to begin at the
conclusion of the 2011 football season, adding 13,500 seats to the north end of
the complex. This will increase total
capacity to 29,500 – and eventually with additional planned construction, the
facility could hold 35,000 spectators. The
estimated cost of the project is $32 million dollars, raised by donations plus
the sales of luxury suites and club seats.
An annual game hosting current Southland Conference foes Sam
Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, or WAC expansion hopeful Lamar is likely once
Texas State transitions into the Bowl Championship Subdivision.
