(1) I decided on Friday night to make it down for the Texas State
home opener against Tarleton State. If you weren't there or in the
area, I doubt you can understand the shock most of us had when a 90
minute thunderstorm caused over half of the tailgaters to leave and
still have 15,800 in attendance. It didn't break the record of 16,000
set in 1982 versus Angelo State (edit: game in 1981 versus Texas A&M
- Kingsville also had higher attendance, then known as Texas A&I)
but it was very impressive to see an almost full stadium in person.
The
game? Well, after seeing two games streamed over the internet it was
just nice to be able to watch them play in person. There were a couple
spectacular plays and a lot of mistakes. I can see the progress being
made and I wish I could answer the quarterback question for everyone. I
was very, very surprised to see Tyler Arndt not take even a single
snap. Shaun Rutherford's stats passing were 11-22 for 106 yards. Over
half of that was on two receptions to TE Kyle Doll. In person, I think I
understand why Rutherford is starting. The way this spread option is
run the QB has to carry the ball at least 10 times a game. There will
be times that number pops up to 20 if the defense starts keying in on
the tailback.
Texas State's going to be one dimensional on
offense and people are going to have to learn to live with that. There
are times where this can be incredibly effective but it will look
terrible against big, athletic front sevens until Texas State gets the
size to counter that. I think a lot of games with 100 yards of passing
are in the future.
I was scared of what the defense was going to
look like in person after they gave up over 1100 yards their first two
games. Tarleton couldn't run to save their lives against the front
seven. On the other hand, the secondary looks vulnerable and that's not
good with SFA up next. The Jacks got torched by Baylor in a lightning
shortened game in Waco last week but Brady Attaway will probably throw
50 times this week. He's not Jeremy Moses but he's capable and deadly
accurate if he gets time behind the line. I think Texas State can get
pressure on him but don't be surprised if this game we see 350 yards
passing out of SFA.
We live-tweeted and ran a game thread
this week sitting in the press box. This might have to be a necessity
in the future as we were given stat updates and drive summaries. I hope
you guys followed @bobcatreport this Saturday if you weren't there.
We were almost able to do play by play tweeting. I found it to be a
nice little feature and I'd like to think it was well received.
(2)
Information is loosening up regarding some of the intentions of the
WAC over the next year and I'm surprised at what's going on. It looks
for right now that the conference plans to only invite Cal State
Bakersfield (CSUB) and Dallas Baptist (DBU) as baseball-only affiliates
for the 2013 year. They will go forward as associate members, much like
Sacramento State (Sac State) is currently in baseball.
It's
interesting to view what the three schools have to offer. Dallas
Baptist has a school record 5500 enrollees this fall but the rest of
their sports outside of baseball draw very few fans and struggle at the
Division II level. Sacramento State would be a home run as a full
member of the WAC, as the Hornets play football in a 22,000 seat stadium
in proximity to current member San Jose State. They for now have
chosen to keep their gridiron team in the FCS-playing Big Sky. CSUB
would love to have a full-time home in the WAC, but lack of football and
other considerations prevented their membership.
I think CSUB
will work toward full membership in the future and DBU will enjoy being a
powerhouse in baseball with a permanent home in the WAC. I don't see
them enjoying full membership with the prior addition of UT Arlington
less than 25 miles away. Both teams are outstanding additions to the
WAC and lead me to believe we might see some other affiliate members in
the future for other sports.
The question was asked in the War
Room about Texas State talking to other conferences. I know first hand
how happy the school is with full WAC membership and all of their plans
point toward that. However, I've been told by a media member here in
DFW that pretty much every school in the country at the FBS non-AQ level
has talked things over with other conferences gauging interest. Texas
State's response has been that they want to stay with the WAC long term
and they support the long term goals and vision of the conference
leadership. However, if that is compromised, they would be willing to
have further discussions with two of the three leagues within their
footprint. Those two leagues are Conference USA and the Mountain West.
Let me repeat - Texas State wants to be in the WAC and for the league
to be successful. They find it the best place to grow into an FBS level
power if they can, and they like what the league is doing to sustain
itself. The goals of the membership match their own and their long-term
budgeting is for play in the Western Athletic Conference. However, if
league integrity is compromised, they are not going to play as an FBS
independent.
As for other matters around college football like
the ACC picking up Pitt and Syracuse, no non-AQs have been poached yet.
It's ludicrous to think that Texas State is a huge get for anyone as a
transitional unless another non-AQ league's desperate for another school
in Texas. That could happen but it's far too early to speculate much
further. Rest assured that Texas State is OK if the poop hits the fan
at the lowest level of FBS.
(3) Around the top 25:
Texas A&M 35, Oklahoma State 31
Alabama 27, Arkansas 17
Clemson 30, Florida State 16
LSU 21, West Virginia 20
Baylor 28, Rice 24
Around the state:
SMU 44, Memphis 6
TCU 51, Portland State 3
South Florida 41, UTEP 27
Texas Tech 44, Nevada 13
Houston 56, Georgia State 19
Around the WAC:
UTSA 31, Bacone College 10
New Mexico State 24, San Jose State 19
Fresno State 36, Idaho 21
Mississippi State 47, Louisiana Tech 17
Utah State 25, Colorado State 17
Hawaii 44, UC-Davis 13
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