Oct. 18, 2008

Final Stats

Texas State vs. Central Arkansas game stats in PDF Format

SAN MARCOS, Texas- In a game that wasn't decided until the final minute, the Texas State football team suffered a 31-24 loss against Central Arkansas in its annual homecoming game on Jim Wacker Field and Bobcat Stadium.

"I think these are the hardest ones for us to take," Texas State head coach Brad Wright said. "We had chances to make the plays, but didn't make them.

Central Arkansas scored the first 14 points of the game when Leonard Caesar scored on a five-yard touchdown run to cap a 12-play, 81-yard drive to give the Bears a 7-0 lead through the first quarter. Then, Nathan Brown hit Willie Landers for a 31-yard touchdown pass with 12:30 left to play in the first half.

Texas State answered with a touchdown of its own on its next offensive drive. The big play in drive came when Mishak Rivas had a 40-yard run to take the ball down to UCA's 13-yard line. Senior tailback Stan Zwinggi; scored on a 13-yard run up the middle for his third touchdown of the season. The touchdown brought the Bobcats to within 14-7 with 9:44 left to play in the opening half.

After both teams exchanged punts, Central Arkansas increased its lead to 21-7 when Brent Grimes had three runs for a combined 30 yards in the final two minutes. He scored on a one-yard plunge into the endzone with 53 seconds left.

Texas State took the ball on its own 23-yard line in the closing seconds looking to close the gap and did exactly than. First Bradley George hit Karrington Bush for a 17-yard pass to the Texas State 43 yard line. Then, George ran around the left end for 11 more yards. After George hit Rivas for an eight-yard pass, Central Arkansas was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty when Anthony Gambles hit Rivas out of bounds to give the Bobcats the ball on UCA's 18 yard line.

Texas State took advantage when George hit

Cameron Luke for his 11th touchdown of the season with 10 seconds left to go in the half. That touchdown catch puts Luke one TD reception shy of tying his won school record for touchdowns in a season and one shy of breaking the Southland Conference career record in most touchdown recpetions.

Not only did Texas State trail at halftime, but they were out-rushed by Central Arkansas 123-75 yards and outgained on offense 246-203. George did complete 9 of his 15 passes for 128 yards and one TD to give the Bobcats a 128-123 advantage in passing yards.

One bright spot for Texas State in the opening half was the strong play of its defense that made crucial stops to keep Texas State within striking distance. Courtney Smith and Brian Williams combined for 13 tackles. Smith had seven stops, including two solo tackles entering halftime.

Also playing a big role for the defense with junior cornerback Will Thompson who returned midway through the first quarter after sitting out three games with an injury. Thompson had a tackle-for-loss of four yards on a wide-receiver screen play when he took down Landers on a third and 11 three minutes into the second half.

Marcus Clark had a quarterback sack with 2:55 to go in the third that forced the Bears to attempt a field goal that missed wide to the right and set up an exciting finish that went down to the final minutes of the game.

Both teams failed to score in the third quarter as each team's defensive units continued to make stops until Texas State took over with 2:49 left in the period. The Bobcats had the ball on UCA's 18 yard line when the quarter ended. When George's pass to John Gilley was incomplete, Andrew Ireland was called into the game to kick a 35-yard field goal as Texas State closed to within 21-17.

After Central Arkansas missed their second field goal attempt of the day as Eddie Carmona's 33-yard attempt sailed wide right, the Bears got the ball right back as Bush fumbled the ball on Texas State's 25-yard line and UCA's Quad Sanders returned the ball 17 yards down to the Bobcat eight-yard line. Grimes ran for seven yards on the first play, but Smith gave the Bears a double dose of wall blocking stops bring the Bears to a fourth-and-goal play. Central Arkansas decided not to attempt another field goal, and Brown hit Nick Cowger on a roll-out pass to the right side to give the Bears a 28-17 lead with 6:22 left to play.

After Central Arkansas held Texas State on a fourth-and-20 play from the Texas State 42-yard line, Central Arkansas increased their lead to 14 points when Carmona was successful on 35-yard field attempt to make the score 31-24. with 3:15 left to play.

The Bobcats didn't go away quietly however as Texas State answered with a five-play, 53-yard drive of its own as George hit Daren Dillard with a three-yard touchdown pass to pull Texas State to within 31-24.

Ireland attempted an on-side kick with 51 seconds left in the game, but UCA recovered on Texas State's 42-yard line and ran off the remaining seconds to win the game.

"The promising part is that we fought to the very end against the No. 13 team in America," said Wright. "They (the players) fought hard all four quarters. We have to go after each one of them from this point on."

Smith led the Texas State defense with 14 tackles as he recorded seven solo and seven assisted tackles throughout the game. It marks the fifth straight game the he has led the Bobcats in tackles.

Luke led all receivers with six catches for 83-yards, while Rivas added 65 receiving yards on four catches. Bush ran for 63 yards on nine carrries, but ended his consecutive streak of four-straight 100-yard games.

George completed 19 of his 33 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns. It was his third straight game with 200-yards passing.

Texas State continues its Southland Conference schedule next week when the Bobcats travel to Stephen F. Austin on Oct. 25. That game kicks off at 2:00 p.m. CT.

Following the Stephen F. Austin contest, Texas State returns home to play host to Northwestern State at 3:00 p.m. on November 1.