Oct. 30, 2004

Final Stats

LAKE CHARLES, La. - In less than five minutes to start the second half, Texas State scored 23 unanswered points to negate any momentum McNeese State had conjured before intermission, survived a Cowboy rally then rolled to a 54-27 win.

With the victory, Texas State snapped a 17-game road losing streak dating back to a 20-13 win at Illinois State (Sept. 29, 2001). The win also ended a streak of eight Southland Conference losses. It was the most points scored by a Texas State team since beating Southern Utah 65-15 in 1995.

The Bobcats evened their record to 4-4 and improved to 2-0 in Southland Conference play. The `Cats remain in a tie for first place in the SLC with Sam Houston State, a 31-28 winner at Stephen F. Austin. McNeese State, the three-time defending SLC champions fell to 3-5 and 0-2.

Texas State's 4-4 start is the team's best since 2000 when the squad started 4-3 en route to a 7-4 season.

The Bobcats would take a 24-17 lead when McNeese returner Steven Whitehead fumbled a 67-yard Cory Elolf punt that Texas State's Dominic Giametta recovered and returned 17 yards for a touchdown. Giametta, the `Cats deep snapper, also had two tackles in the game.

The Cowboys next series would result in a punting situation but the ball went through the hands of kicker John Marino who would kick the ball out of the end zone for a safety.

On the ensuing free kick, Texas State returner William Heyward was able to reverse direction after getting bottled up and race 49 yards across the field to the McNeese State 30. On the first play from scrimmage Morris Brothers scored on a 30-yard run and the Bobcats' lead was 33-17 with 12:17 to play in the third quarter.

McNeese State's next series would end when Cowboy quarterback Scott Pendarvis, with open field ahead of him, pump faked and lost the ball. Wellington Deshield recovered for the Bobcats at the McNeese seven.

Brothers would score on a 7-yard touchdown run with 10:38 left in the quarter to make the score 40-17.

"This was unbelievable," said Texas State coach David Bailiff. "It was like spitting at a swinging jug and hitting it. We just got lucky and we played hard.

"It was just one of those nights. We were down seven starters offensively," he said. "To come into McNeese, which is a tough place to play, and show up with seven starters back in San Marcos, it is just a tribute to the kids. It shows how hard our offense, defense and special teams worked to make this happen."

After McNeese State pulled to 40-27, Jeremy Castillo intercepted a pass and returned it 54 yards to set up a 10-yard Barrick Nealy to John Tyson touchdown to extend the Bobcats' lead to 47-27.

Nealy entered the game in the second half after starter Chase Wasson became dehydrated in the first half. The decision not to start Nealy came in the first half as the junior had suffered a shoulder injury the previous week against Stephen F. Austin. Nealy completed 4-of-6 passes for 28 yards and also had four carries for 16.

"He did what he had to do when he got in there," Bailiff said. "I thought (co-offensive coordinator and quarterback coach) Frank Hernandez and the offensive coaches did a great job when we had to establish some drives when we lost 75 percent of what we could do."

In its three previous road games, the Bobcats had been outscored 77-27 but against McNeese jumped out to a 17-0 lead by early in the second quarter. And the `Cats had the opportunity to score more.

Texas State's Nato James blocked a John Marino punt that Brothers recovered at the McNeese six.

The Bobcats' first offensive series began with a 1-yard run by Douglas Sherman. But on second down, Deshield fumbled and Robert Hooker recovered for the Cowboys.

The `Cats scored on their next offensive series when walk-on place kicker Stan Jones came on to kick a 34-yard field goal to give Texas State a 3-0 lead with 5:49 to play in the first quarter. Jones, a junior from Corsicana, had been on to attempt an extra point in the Florida Atlantic game but a bad snap led the failed rushing attempt on a conversion.

Texas State's Ramel Borner would force a Chris Thomas fumble on the second play of the Cowboys' next possession and Teddy Jones recovered at the McNeese 20.

The Bobcats overcame a holding penalty after Brothers appeared to score from the three as Wasson aired out a 10-yard touchdown pass to Markee White on a second third-down play. Jones' point after gave the `Cats a 10-0 lead with 3:32 left in the first quarter.

Wasson capped a 6-play, 55-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter as the Bobcats extended their lead to 17-0. The drive was aided by a 15-yard face mask penalty to give the `Cats a first down at the McNeese 27.

Down 17-0, Jones engineered second-quarter drives of 80 and 60 yards that resulted in touchdowns to pull the Cowboys to within three. Both series were aided by offsides calls on the Bobcats.

On McNeese State's first scoring drive, Walter Musgrove tackled Thomas for a 1-yard loss that would have led to a third-and-five but gave the Cowboys a first down at the McNeese 42. Jones would later complete a 15-yard touchdown pass to Thomas with 5:30 to play in the second quarter.

The Cowboys' second scoring series included a second-down play which in which Wade Lightsey tackled Jones for a 3-yard loss and would have resulted in a third-and-13 play. But another offsides flag gave the Cowboys a second-and-five opportunity.

McNeese State would go on to convert a fourth-and-one from midfield and on the next play, an end around, Carlese Franklin would complete a 35-yard pass to Andy Bertrand down to the Texas State 13.

Jones would later score on a 1-yard drive and McNeese was back to within a score at 17-14 with 1:24 to play in the half.

Texas State's next series was a three-and-out and the Cowboys got the ball back with 16 seconds to play in the half at the McNeese 47.

Jones completed a 13-yard pass to Henry Smith and after intentionally grounding the ball, scrambled for a 16-yard gain and got out of bounds at the Bobcat 24 with one second to play. Marino came on to kick a 41-yard field goal to tie the game 17-17 heading into halftime.

"We were back to 0-0 at the half and that is a heckuva lot better than what we were doing," Bailiff said. "That was marked improvement so we could walk in at halftime and say, `Guys, we're in it. We're on the road and we're in it.' To be 0-0 and starting over at the half, that was significant for us."